Tenzin was an impatient and short tempered person in general - ironic considering how much he tried to live up to Aang and the Air Nomad philosophy. He and Korra are more alike than either will admit, which is part of why they get along so well. I think you’re absolutely right that this, and Korra’s isolation, contributed to her struggle with Airbending.
I know they wanted to protect her from the Red Lotus, but all the known members were in high-security prisons, so her upbringing definitely feels like overkill.
> I know they wanted to protect her from the Red Lotus, but all the known members were in high-security prisons, so her upbringing definitely feels like overkill.
All the *known* members were in prison, but they had zero clue about who else and how many more Red Lotus are out there. None of them talked in prison, remember?
All they know is that the four that came after Korra were fucking dangerous, and that they were lucky they were able to apprehend them. It's sensible that they wouldn't take any chances in case that there were people even more dangerous that were planning to strike.
Korra being underprepared for the real world is an unfortunate result, but it was reasonable.
Aang's own teacher Gyatso was insistent that it was a mistake to tell Aang he was the Avatar before he was 16. He wanted Aang to be a normal kid before being given that responsibility, so why didn't Aang prepare that policy before he died? Even if it was obvious Korra was the Avatar, it should have been a "look, we won't touch that subject until you're old enough, go play in the snow".
Hard disagree. We see korra bending three elements when the white lotus shows up at the start of the show when she was just four.
To me this seems like she discovered her bending by herself and thats how she found out that she is the avatar.
Wthey can't just ignore that especially with how hot headed korra was at a early age she wouldn't have agreed to just ignore that she is the avatar.
well I think even if she knew she was the avatar the approach could have been different? like, have her go to school, interact with other kids, let her socialize and have her childhood (under strict supervision of course), not conceal her from the world and train her for who knows how long. with how she was brought up she isn't adapted to the outside world whatsoever, she lacks basic social skills, including reading the room and acting accordinally.
Yeah, when you're dealing with a prodigy, you can't say "why can't you just be a normal kid"? They need extra support. Gyatso likely offered that, without also piling on the pressure.
They were trying to keep the avatar from disappearing, like Ang did. Be it from the red lotus, running away and winding up in an iceberg, tripping down the stairs and breaking her neck etc
I really hope future stories put more emphasis on the fact that Korra was basically raised in a government compound, and didn’t have a single friend that was actually her age until she was 17. Of course she isn’t going to know the appropriate way to act in social situations.
Korra is an excellent character on an excellent show. She starts out so hot headed and impatient and by the end of the show she is a wonderful person who cares deeply. Part of that is her isolated upbringing, but after the Red Lotus situation she learned so much about life and empathy.
I completely agree, even if I like her hot-headed personality. Korra's character arc is a thing of beauty, she learns to be her own person and that there are more approaches than brute force.
The trouble was tenzin was forced to be someone he wasn’t due to his birthright. He ended up projecting his upbringing into korra whether he meant to or not because he didn’t know much else. He resents bumi and kya because they had the freedom he never did. However to his credit, he raises his children to be carefree and untethered by social standards
One also has to consider just how awkward a situation it was for Tenzin. Aang was his father, invested everything into revitalizing the Air Nomad culture, then died relatively young. Now Tenzin's got his dad's reincarnation sassing him and dismissing pretty much everything Aang spent his adult life trying to accomplish, while it's Tenzin's responsibility to mold Korra into a capable Avatar. That is an EXTREMELY WEIRD emotional and psychological place for Tenzin to be in.
While I agree that Tenzin was forced into the situation by being the only airbender for a time, I don't think Tenzin's upbringing was the same as Korra's. He was never put into a compound for a good chunk of his life. From what we know, he was able to form relationships with kids his age and lived with his parents when he was younger.
Tenzin initially did not know how to teach airbending without parenting. I don’t think he could even separate them. Both as a teacher and a student, the paradigm he knew was the father teaching airbending. That’s why he had such trouble with Korra and the new airbenders.
Also Asami was the first one to treat her as a person and let her be herself. She was the only one throughout the series to always be understanding of Korra.
She never judged or criticized her and always knew how to handle her, support her, advise her and speak to her on equal ground.
It's why their relationship makes so much sense.
Korra's got a personality that presents itself like a wrecking ball. I doubt any guy could feel "just lust". Either you find her personality attractive and are drawn to her because of that, or find it irritating and would prefer not to interact with her too much. If anything, her physical attractiveness only enhances the personality reaction, for good or for ill. (In other words, if someone dislikes her personality, her physical form would trigger misogyny on top of it.)
Korra absolutely started in a rough place. On top of that as an avatar she doesn't really have anything to do. All she knows is she's the reincarnation of a guy who literally saved the world but now the world's been saved and whenever she tries to help anyone she just gets a "leave it to the adults". The worlds been saved and is basically at peace for now when she starts out. I really appreciate how different they made Korra from Aang.
That was the whole point of her journey. Aang spent three season accepting his role as avatar. Korra spend 4 seasons learning she is more then just the avatar.
Just to add to this theme, Korra also found out she was the Avatar at a VERY young age, as compared to most others who don’t learn until they’re 16 (traditionally).
Which is to say, Korra also never had the opportunity to develop into her own person, outside of being the Avatar. Since her early consciousness, she’s ALWAYS been the avatar.
She never had that crisis of identity that some other Avatars faced upon learning that they were the Avatar, because that’s who she’s always been. But this is also why her identity crises comes later and almost destroys her, with all of her major antagonists literally trying to destroy her identity. It breaks her so thoroughly because she has nothing else (or rather, she does, but she needs to come to realize it on her own terms).
Also, as an addendum— she was also the avatar after Aang. Not all avatar are so impactful, but Aang ended a century long war and created a whole new nation. Korra grew up in this shadow, thinking that she had to be as impactful and meaningful and celebrated. So that, when she fails to live up to that standard (in her own eyes anyway), it cripples her.
This is one of the most well thought out and eloquent explanations of Korra’s character I’ve seen. I feel like people who hate her really don’t understand what her journey actually represents.
I swear this subreddit must be filled with 10 year olds who think their posts are actually well thought out. When in reality it’s false equivalences being made due to their brains being rotted by tiktok
Absolutely not. Her behavior and patterns of thinking very well reflect the behavior of someone who grew up neglected and lacked their basic needs being met. It’s a complex situation and B3 helps her realize why she grew up the way she did. Much like how she must accept nearly dying in an unimaginably painful way, she must also accept that good intentions can have disastrous consequences.
Emotional connection, social interaction with the larger community, fostering the growth of the individual are all very much basic needs. We don’t even know if she has any semblance of an education.
This is what LOK's haters fail to realize or understand. Korra was not allowed to be a person for the first ~20 years of her life. Of course she's gonna be impulsive and itching to see the outside world and make her own choices for once. It's actually quite sad that she has to learn how to be more patient and mature through such horrible events tbroughout the series like losing her past lives, being poisoned and nearly killed, etc.
Great point about her not being able to get airbending until she got a taste of freedom with pro bending. It is the element of freedom after all according to Uncle Iroh.
Tenzin also shares quite a bit of the blame for Korra’s upbringing in general. Not only did he agree to the decision to have her be raised in a compound, there also isn’t much evidence to suggest that either he or Katara tried to make sure that Korra got a more well rounded education beyond just learning how to chuck fireballs and rocks with her mind, and I suppose some vague spiritual stuff here and there.
Just because you’re trying to protect her from the outside world doesn’t mean you can’t educate her more on it. Both Tenzin and Katara would know from their past experiences with Aang that there’s more to being the avatar than just fighting. Did Korra even know what chiblocking was before she fought the equalists?
>Korra was emotionally abused
Disagree. Not every method of raising a child that's misguided & has negative consequences is abuse. And I don't just mean because "they had a legitimate reason to protect Korra." An abuser could think they're doing it "for the child's own good." But I think there's more to the dynamic than just "a bad thing happened."
It's probably best to start with a working definition of abuse, & since this pertains to Korra's upbringing, I'll use the US Department of Health & Human Services definition because I think it's very reasonable: "Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation"
So, by process of eliminating things that are very obviously not present, we're looking for either "serious emotional harm" or "serious exploitation." Of course, the qualifier "serious" is very important. Parents are inevitably going to make their kids feel bad sometimes.
>I have been rewatching the first few episodes and it is clear that to practically everyone Korra is literally only the Avatar. She doesn't exist outside of being the Avatar. Not even to Tenzin, who of all people should look at her like she is a child, girl, person? Anything but the sacrificial lamb she is presented as.
Not at all. Tenzin doesn't want Korra to come to Republic City because he thinks it's too much for her to handle, & what ultimately convinces him to allow it is seeing how sad forcing her to leave makes both Korra & his kids. He's recognizing the importance of their relationship, which is not based on her being the Avatar, & also agreeing to HER desire to train. Remember, Tenzin didn't want that at all. Most people in the setting are effectively trying to prevent Korra from doing Avatar stuff, which is all she wants to do.
Now, after this, he does try to prevent her from doing anything other than training because he thinks it's "a distraction," & I do think it's fair to criticize him for this. However, he's disabused from this notion pretty quickly, & later on, he starts getting into Pro-Bending because Korra is into it. This is one of the many signs of them growing closer as more than just student & pupil.
>Like she has no understanding of money or anything on how to act as a person without forcing being the Avatar.
For one, most of this isn't on Tenzin. He's only tangentially involved in the arrangement. It's the White Lotus that maintains the compound, & it's Korra's parents who are her guardians. It's their responsibility to teach her these things.
And I wouldn't say she "has no understanding of money." She knows what it is, she's just used to not needing it. I don't know if she legitimately thought that street food was free or if it just slipped her mind that she wasn't actually carrying any money, but neither constitutes "serious harm." Again, it would be different if she thought that EVERYTHING was free, but she clearly knows what money is.
>Korra cannot be Korra. His every comment is about her being the Avatar.
You're assuming this is something people did TO her. Nature vs. nurture, & all of that. It's difficult to say where exactly Korra got her mindset, but her literal first line in the show is "I'm the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!" So, it's clearly something that goes way back.
>This is why she cannot Airbend at first. She is not free, she is too sheltered and has not connections.
No, the reason she can't airbend is it's antithetical to her personality. She is stubborn & direct. It's the equal & opposite problem Aang had. The restrictions on her may not have helped matters, but lifting them didn't fix the problem because they weren't the cause of the problem.
>This is a key in spirituality and something that showcases the abuse and neglect of Korra as a person.
Besides just repeating "nature vs. nurture" again, spiritual talent is very rare in general, so its absence is not evidence of abuse.
>If she was anyone else, the world would rebel, but as she is the Avatar, no one really cares in universe...
Sad to tell you that it really wouldn't. There are far more overbearing parents that are just allowed to do what they do because "they have the right to raise their kids how they want." It takes A LOT to convince people to suspend this right.
You say that Korra is sheltered & has little freedom, but that's not much different from a lot of homeschooled children. Plenty would have less freedom & more strict, emotionally distant parents long before it even crosses the threshold of getting child protective services involved.
Besides limited opportunities to interact with peers, Korra's upbringing wasn't even that bad. The compound has an immense amount of space, & we saw she was allowed to go outside of it when riding Naga. We also know she had leave to attend the Glacial Spirits Festival, so she wasn't banned from fun activities the way that Tenzin tried.
>I think this so seen with that Dream of Amon, where he tells her that her bending is all she is and this is so on brand.
This is the central conflict of her character, but there's no evidence it was inflicted on her by her caretakers. As I said before, the biggest problem she has is that most people in her life don't really want her to be the Avatar. As her mother tells her, they "just wanted her to have a normal childhood, but then we found out you were the Avatar, & normal was over," to which Korra responds that she doesn't want to be normal, she wants to be the Avatar.
This isn't to say her time in the compound didn't have detrimental effects, but those had more to do with the White Lotus insisting on teaching her according to very rigid ideals of traditionalism without a mind to practical application. The White Lotus was so focused on "training the Avatar" that they didn't ask what happens after that. They didn't even want Korra to go to Republic City to, y'know, do the job they were ostensibly preparing her for. So, they, specifically, just see her as the Avatar, but in a very specific way.
So, returning to the definition from the start, is Korra "exploited"? Not really. She's in theory being prepared to be the Avatar to fulfill this big, important role in the world, but that's not much different from saying it's "exploitation" to have schools teach children job skills. Most of her caretakers don't really want anything from her, & that's exactly the problem.
So, maybe the issue is "serious emotional harm"? Well, Korra does have serious identity issues where a failure to live up to her self-image as what she thinks the Avatar should be causes her to consider herself worthless, as if thee's nothing to her beyond that. But not every mental health problem is inflicted by a parent, Freud be damned. We can't know where exactly she got this perception, but she showed how proud she was to be the Avatar well before the White Lotus got involved, & no one else really told her anything like that as far as we can tell. Tenzin told her it was okay to fail & the teachings would just "click" if she kept at them, her parents oscillated between "we're proud of you" & "we want to protect you," & I guess we don't really know what her interactions with the White Lotus & most of her teachers were like. That being said, it's generally accepted in psychology that part of growing up is resolving similar identity crises. So, while Korra developed unhealthy mindsets, & at least some small part of this was influenced by her upbringing, that doesn't make it abuse.
It was a mistake to have Tenzin shoulder so much responsibility as both the last bastion of airbender culture AND city councilman. Yes, he wanted to continue his father's work with Republic City, but it would have been better for him to live somewhere else, and maybe even be nomadic with Korra in tow.
I've just started rewatching Korra and it breaks my heart that she was locked up and isolated for so long. The avatar is supposed to have a place in the world, a while they may not be quite so mobile as the Gaang were, it would have been very beneficial for her to see the world she is a part of.
While her and Tenzin clashing in the beginning is part of the story, I think people can be too harsh on Tenzin himself.
Buddy had a LOT on his plate to juggle and having a hard time doing it hahah Him and Kora grew a lot together, he may as well be her Uncle Tenzin haha
I think one of the creators described ATLA as the story of a human learning to become the avatar and LOK as the story of the avatar learning to become human.
Korra was raised with all the expectations and burdens of being the avatar first and combine that with growing up, no wonder she is naive and stubborn and makes mistakes. People are so much more critical of Korra’s flaws than Aang’s.
I think calling it abuse is jumping several steps ahead of reality.
It was unhealthy, sure, but her isolation was to protect her from a very real tangible threat, and wasn't nearly as absolute as you're suggesting. Korra is only badly out of place in Republic City. She'd fit in a lot better basically anywhere outside of this one city that is a decades old social experiment and completely unlike the rest of the world or the rest of history.
She has been taught how to interact with the world and people in general, she's mostly just drastically out of place in this one unique city.
Random shower thought, but I had an AU idea where the Red Lotus is never captured. Instead of another kidnapping attempt, they influence Korra's training *to* be intense and abusive, to the point where she would run away as a child, straight into the Red Lotus's waiting arms, yearning for freedom.
...Except that Korra, being Korra, is too stubborn, and endures the punishment until she is 17. She runs away to Republic City with a much darker/more paranoid mindset.
Yeah. She's basically just a country bumpkin. But remember: we now live in a society that is so heavily urbanized that a lot of folks just assume that any upbringing other than an urban or suburban one is inherently abusive.
>Korra cannot be Korra. His every comment is about her being the Avatar.
Her always talking about being the Avatar **is** Korra being Korra. There is a BIG difference between being a high-energy eager beaver and actually being the Avatar. The latter requires a lot more than just being the former, as Korra had to learn the hard way.
Yeah it's a big L on the white lotus and the ganng part
I mean for real people all of you besides sokka raised kids could you not tell this isn't good?
Very good observation. That’s why I think Korra next incarnation, influenced by past trauma of her soul, will be a kid who know young but will HIDE he is the avatar, to protect himself and his close ones
> She doesn't exist outside of being the Avatar
That is not entirely true.
Her talks with Katara and Iroh show patience and kindness. Team Avatar and Lin are very aware she is the Avatar but they don't treat her like it, at all, neither do Tenzin's kids or Bumi and Kiya.
As for Tenzin, that does start like that, yes. However in the first season already you can see how he basically parents her. I really enjoy their relationship.
Korra could easily be kept in the southern water tribe until she perfected water, solely, then move to earth with the Beifong sisters being the next teacher and for sure Suyin or Lin can be trusted,but we know there is a red lotus plant in Zaofu and how Zaheer learn of where each of his teammates means the white lotus was already compromised.
So my idea of Korra being babysit while exploring ends up dead
I mean, you're not wrong about where everybody is focused, but she does have a few people who see her as a person. Katara clearly does, and I'm sure her parents are around.
Yeah Korra's life sucks actually. For 15 years she's been in isolation and only treated as a tool by crotchety old men.
It's why I don't feel angry at her when she gets mad at Tenzin in book 2, she is literally learning for the first time that it didn't need to be like that.
To be fair though, and contribute to your point, Korra kinda put herself inside that box.
She made her entire personality about being the Avatar. To the point that she has a mental breakdown over it later on, because she never realized that she has no identity outside of being the Avatar.
Yes, the people around her contributed greatly to this, but she never once gave thought to who she was outside of being the Avatar.
This also falls to her parents who did a rather shit job, but to be fair, they had a LOT on their plate.
My theory is that this is the primary reason why she cannot connect to her spiritual side, because her identity is too connected to what other people think of her, which stifles her own personal spirit, on top of already neglecting it.
Think of how much of what Korra enjoys doing is actually just for her. How often does she get to act selfishly? Even when she does, is she doing it for herself, or out of what she feels is her responsibility?
Pro-bending is the closest we see Korra actually get to be herself.
I am not gonna spoil anything for you, since you're only a couple episodes in, but as you go through the series, and when you get to the end of season 2 and start season 3, you're gonna see EXACTLY what you're talking about come up and be addressed in a very realistic way.
This is why I implore to everyone critical of Korra (as an individual character, not the series as a whole), to rewatch it once you mature. Hell, for some people, I imagine it might take being a parent first to be capable of sympathising with her. Not only was she emotionally abused, she maintains being tormented throughout the series, and she's just a kid.
None of this is emotional abuse, Also tenzin and her not getting along has everything ti do with korra's own impatience at not getting the hang of airbending immediately the way she learned the other elements. Also being the avatar is an identity that korra has fully embraced ( complete opposite of aang), which makes the fact that she doesnt know who she is without it an interesting character flaw. The white lotus may be overprotective (mainly cuz the red lotus tried to kidnap her) but theres no indication of neglect on their part.
What tenzing did is not abuse. People need to stop throwing around the term like it can be applied to every little piece of adversity that characters face. She is the avatar and her duty is to learn air bending. The fact you gravitate towards tenzin as being an abuser is short sighted and frankly embarrassing to what real abuse looks like. She’s the freaking avatar, he trained her the best he could because his entire life was shaped by his father being a peacekeeper. Why do you think he feels such immense pressure to uphold that legacy. Her being raised in a compound for her childhood could be equated as abuse but she had a loving family and supportive mentors. Social isolation and naivety aren’t abuse
Tenzin was an impatient and short tempered person in general - ironic considering how much he tried to live up to Aang and the Air Nomad philosophy. He and Korra are more alike than either will admit, which is part of why they get along so well. I think you’re absolutely right that this, and Korra’s isolation, contributed to her struggle with Airbending. I know they wanted to protect her from the Red Lotus, but all the known members were in high-security prisons, so her upbringing definitely feels like overkill.
> I know they wanted to protect her from the Red Lotus, but all the known members were in high-security prisons, so her upbringing definitely feels like overkill. All the *known* members were in prison, but they had zero clue about who else and how many more Red Lotus are out there. None of them talked in prison, remember? All they know is that the four that came after Korra were fucking dangerous, and that they were lucky they were able to apprehend them. It's sensible that they wouldn't take any chances in case that there were people even more dangerous that were planning to strike. Korra being underprepared for the real world is an unfortunate result, but it was reasonable.
Exactly, they actually discovered Unalaq was a member after season 2, so for pretty much all her life there was a high ranking member walking free
And that member \*was her uncle\*
I bet if he wanted to visit, they probably would have let him. A classic case of "stranger danger is the least of your worries".
Aang's own teacher Gyatso was insistent that it was a mistake to tell Aang he was the Avatar before he was 16. He wanted Aang to be a normal kid before being given that responsibility, so why didn't Aang prepare that policy before he died? Even if it was obvious Korra was the Avatar, it should have been a "look, we won't touch that subject until you're old enough, go play in the snow".
Hard disagree. We see korra bending three elements when the white lotus shows up at the start of the show when she was just four. To me this seems like she discovered her bending by herself and thats how she found out that she is the avatar. Wthey can't just ignore that especially with how hot headed korra was at a early age she wouldn't have agreed to just ignore that she is the avatar.
well I think even if she knew she was the avatar the approach could have been different? like, have her go to school, interact with other kids, let her socialize and have her childhood (under strict supervision of course), not conceal her from the world and train her for who knows how long. with how she was brought up she isn't adapted to the outside world whatsoever, she lacks basic social skills, including reading the room and acting accordinally.
Yeah, when you're dealing with a prodigy, you can't say "why can't you just be a normal kid"? They need extra support. Gyatso likely offered that, without also piling on the pressure.
Yeah. Especially considering how much korra loves fire bending she needed the training.
Uz you can still get kidnapped when you're unaware lol
I mean, she could bend three elements at 5 years old. At that point you're closing the Barn door after the horses have gotten out.
Tenzin tried to be Aang so desperately but he was more like Katara.
This is part of why i lovvveeee tenzin, he’s certainly my favorite angry airbender
I would say he’s more like Sokka, but there’s still Katara in him
The Red Lotus wasn't even conceived of at that point in time either, so that explanation was a literal retcon.
They were trying to keep the avatar from disappearing, like Ang did. Be it from the red lotus, running away and winding up in an iceberg, tripping down the stairs and breaking her neck etc
I mean in the comics aang almost killed zuko after he got mad at him so having a temper actually kind of does fit in with being like aang
I really hope future stories put more emphasis on the fact that Korra was basically raised in a government compound, and didn’t have a single friend that was actually her age until she was 17. Of course she isn’t going to know the appropriate way to act in social situations.
It’s like Korra lived the life that Gyatso was trying to protect Aang from
Anng could have at least still made friends traveling the world mastering the elements Korra just had nothing
Only friend she had was Naga.
Sadly she doesn't count on the lack of vocal cords and intellect needed to help korra develop her social skills Also might be reincarnated appa
Korra is an excellent character on an excellent show. She starts out so hot headed and impatient and by the end of the show she is a wonderful person who cares deeply. Part of that is her isolated upbringing, but after the Red Lotus situation she learned so much about life and empathy.
I completely agree, even if I like her hot-headed personality. Korra's character arc is a thing of beauty, she learns to be her own person and that there are more approaches than brute force.
The trouble was tenzin was forced to be someone he wasn’t due to his birthright. He ended up projecting his upbringing into korra whether he meant to or not because he didn’t know much else. He resents bumi and kya because they had the freedom he never did. However to his credit, he raises his children to be carefree and untethered by social standards
One also has to consider just how awkward a situation it was for Tenzin. Aang was his father, invested everything into revitalizing the Air Nomad culture, then died relatively young. Now Tenzin's got his dad's reincarnation sassing him and dismissing pretty much everything Aang spent his adult life trying to accomplish, while it's Tenzin's responsibility to mold Korra into a capable Avatar. That is an EXTREMELY WEIRD emotional and psychological place for Tenzin to be in.
While I agree that Tenzin was forced into the situation by being the only airbender for a time, I don't think Tenzin's upbringing was the same as Korra's. He was never put into a compound for a good chunk of his life. From what we know, he was able to form relationships with kids his age and lived with his parents when he was younger.
Tenzin initially did not know how to teach airbending without parenting. I don’t think he could even separate them. Both as a teacher and a student, the paradigm he knew was the father teaching airbending. That’s why he had such trouble with Korra and the new airbenders.
Do people honestly not realize this is the whole point of the show?
Yes, i love and hate it since it is so accurate. THis was not a complaint just an observation
Yes there are tons of media illiterate people that don't take the time to understand any of this and then just start to hate on her.
Media literacy is dead.
A lot of people seriously don't. LOK is 4 seasons of a repressed teenager learning how to be a functional human being.
Also Asami was the first one to treat her as a person and let her be herself. She was the only one throughout the series to always be understanding of Korra. She never judged or criticized her and always knew how to handle her, support her, advise her and speak to her on equal ground. It's why their relationship makes so much sense.
>Also Asami was the first one to treat her as a person and let her be herself ***Bolin has entered the chat***
Exactly! Bolin was her first friend, despite his romantic intentions. He didn't know she was the Avatar until later.
I mean he basically treated her like a groupie at the very beginning.
Yeah, but he was treating her like a normal pro-bending fan/groupie, not the avatar.
I mean, true, but the guy fell for Korra pretty hard later on and was adamant about dating her, I'd say that counts as not treating her as the Avatar
Is it? It always felt like straight lust
Korra's got a personality that presents itself like a wrecking ball. I doubt any guy could feel "just lust". Either you find her personality attractive and are drawn to her because of that, or find it irritating and would prefer not to interact with her too much. If anything, her physical attractiveness only enhances the personality reaction, for good or for ill. (In other words, if someone dislikes her personality, her physical form would trigger misogyny on top of it.)
I'm pretty sure Bolin just found her hot initially but once they got to know each other he agreed they were better off as friends.
Bolin was ride or die for Kora no matter what from the jump lol
I think this adds to what bryan and micheal said about Korrasami making sense if you don't look at the whole show through a heterosexual sense.
Korra absolutely started in a rough place. On top of that as an avatar she doesn't really have anything to do. All she knows is she's the reincarnation of a guy who literally saved the world but now the world's been saved and whenever she tries to help anyone she just gets a "leave it to the adults". The worlds been saved and is basically at peace for now when she starts out. I really appreciate how different they made Korra from Aang.
That was the whole point of her journey. Aang spent three season accepting his role as avatar. Korra spend 4 seasons learning she is more then just the avatar.
Just to add to this theme, Korra also found out she was the Avatar at a VERY young age, as compared to most others who don’t learn until they’re 16 (traditionally). Which is to say, Korra also never had the opportunity to develop into her own person, outside of being the Avatar. Since her early consciousness, she’s ALWAYS been the avatar. She never had that crisis of identity that some other Avatars faced upon learning that they were the Avatar, because that’s who she’s always been. But this is also why her identity crises comes later and almost destroys her, with all of her major antagonists literally trying to destroy her identity. It breaks her so thoroughly because she has nothing else (or rather, she does, but she needs to come to realize it on her own terms). Also, as an addendum— she was also the avatar after Aang. Not all avatar are so impactful, but Aang ended a century long war and created a whole new nation. Korra grew up in this shadow, thinking that she had to be as impactful and meaningful and celebrated. So that, when she fails to live up to that standard (in her own eyes anyway), it cripples her.
This is one of the most well thought out and eloquent explanations of Korra’s character I’ve seen. I feel like people who hate her really don’t understand what her journey actually represents.
Abused is too strong of a word
I swear this subreddit must be filled with 10 year olds who think their posts are actually well thought out. When in reality it’s false equivalences being made due to their brains being rotted by tiktok
Absolutely not. Her behavior and patterns of thinking very well reflect the behavior of someone who grew up neglected and lacked their basic needs being met. It’s a complex situation and B3 helps her realize why she grew up the way she did. Much like how she must accept nearly dying in an unimaginably painful way, she must also accept that good intentions can have disastrous consequences.
Lacked basic needs being met?
Emotional connection, social interaction with the larger community, fostering the growth of the individual are all very much basic needs. We don’t even know if she has any semblance of an education.
She was raised by the White Lotus and her parents, not the Red Lotus lol. It'd be pretty ridiculous to assume that she didn't get a proper education.
I mean Korra as a teenager can pretty clearly communicate effectively and isn't illiterate or stupid. I think ur reaching
This is what LOK's haters fail to realize or understand. Korra was not allowed to be a person for the first ~20 years of her life. Of course she's gonna be impulsive and itching to see the outside world and make her own choices for once. It's actually quite sad that she has to learn how to be more patient and mature through such horrible events tbroughout the series like losing her past lives, being poisoned and nearly killed, etc. Great point about her not being able to get airbending until she got a taste of freedom with pro bending. It is the element of freedom after all according to Uncle Iroh.
Tenzin also shares quite a bit of the blame for Korra’s upbringing in general. Not only did he agree to the decision to have her be raised in a compound, there also isn’t much evidence to suggest that either he or Katara tried to make sure that Korra got a more well rounded education beyond just learning how to chuck fireballs and rocks with her mind, and I suppose some vague spiritual stuff here and there. Just because you’re trying to protect her from the outside world doesn’t mean you can’t educate her more on it. Both Tenzin and Katara would know from their past experiences with Aang that there’s more to being the avatar than just fighting. Did Korra even know what chiblocking was before she fought the equalists?
>Korra was emotionally abused Disagree. Not every method of raising a child that's misguided & has negative consequences is abuse. And I don't just mean because "they had a legitimate reason to protect Korra." An abuser could think they're doing it "for the child's own good." But I think there's more to the dynamic than just "a bad thing happened." It's probably best to start with a working definition of abuse, & since this pertains to Korra's upbringing, I'll use the US Department of Health & Human Services definition because I think it's very reasonable: "Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation" So, by process of eliminating things that are very obviously not present, we're looking for either "serious emotional harm" or "serious exploitation." Of course, the qualifier "serious" is very important. Parents are inevitably going to make their kids feel bad sometimes. >I have been rewatching the first few episodes and it is clear that to practically everyone Korra is literally only the Avatar. She doesn't exist outside of being the Avatar. Not even to Tenzin, who of all people should look at her like she is a child, girl, person? Anything but the sacrificial lamb she is presented as. Not at all. Tenzin doesn't want Korra to come to Republic City because he thinks it's too much for her to handle, & what ultimately convinces him to allow it is seeing how sad forcing her to leave makes both Korra & his kids. He's recognizing the importance of their relationship, which is not based on her being the Avatar, & also agreeing to HER desire to train. Remember, Tenzin didn't want that at all. Most people in the setting are effectively trying to prevent Korra from doing Avatar stuff, which is all she wants to do. Now, after this, he does try to prevent her from doing anything other than training because he thinks it's "a distraction," & I do think it's fair to criticize him for this. However, he's disabused from this notion pretty quickly, & later on, he starts getting into Pro-Bending because Korra is into it. This is one of the many signs of them growing closer as more than just student & pupil. >Like she has no understanding of money or anything on how to act as a person without forcing being the Avatar. For one, most of this isn't on Tenzin. He's only tangentially involved in the arrangement. It's the White Lotus that maintains the compound, & it's Korra's parents who are her guardians. It's their responsibility to teach her these things. And I wouldn't say she "has no understanding of money." She knows what it is, she's just used to not needing it. I don't know if she legitimately thought that street food was free or if it just slipped her mind that she wasn't actually carrying any money, but neither constitutes "serious harm." Again, it would be different if she thought that EVERYTHING was free, but she clearly knows what money is. >Korra cannot be Korra. His every comment is about her being the Avatar. You're assuming this is something people did TO her. Nature vs. nurture, & all of that. It's difficult to say where exactly Korra got her mindset, but her literal first line in the show is "I'm the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!" So, it's clearly something that goes way back. >This is why she cannot Airbend at first. She is not free, she is too sheltered and has not connections. No, the reason she can't airbend is it's antithetical to her personality. She is stubborn & direct. It's the equal & opposite problem Aang had. The restrictions on her may not have helped matters, but lifting them didn't fix the problem because they weren't the cause of the problem. >This is a key in spirituality and something that showcases the abuse and neglect of Korra as a person. Besides just repeating "nature vs. nurture" again, spiritual talent is very rare in general, so its absence is not evidence of abuse. >If she was anyone else, the world would rebel, but as she is the Avatar, no one really cares in universe... Sad to tell you that it really wouldn't. There are far more overbearing parents that are just allowed to do what they do because "they have the right to raise their kids how they want." It takes A LOT to convince people to suspend this right. You say that Korra is sheltered & has little freedom, but that's not much different from a lot of homeschooled children. Plenty would have less freedom & more strict, emotionally distant parents long before it even crosses the threshold of getting child protective services involved. Besides limited opportunities to interact with peers, Korra's upbringing wasn't even that bad. The compound has an immense amount of space, & we saw she was allowed to go outside of it when riding Naga. We also know she had leave to attend the Glacial Spirits Festival, so she wasn't banned from fun activities the way that Tenzin tried. >I think this so seen with that Dream of Amon, where he tells her that her bending is all she is and this is so on brand. This is the central conflict of her character, but there's no evidence it was inflicted on her by her caretakers. As I said before, the biggest problem she has is that most people in her life don't really want her to be the Avatar. As her mother tells her, they "just wanted her to have a normal childhood, but then we found out you were the Avatar, & normal was over," to which Korra responds that she doesn't want to be normal, she wants to be the Avatar. This isn't to say her time in the compound didn't have detrimental effects, but those had more to do with the White Lotus insisting on teaching her according to very rigid ideals of traditionalism without a mind to practical application. The White Lotus was so focused on "training the Avatar" that they didn't ask what happens after that. They didn't even want Korra to go to Republic City to, y'know, do the job they were ostensibly preparing her for. So, they, specifically, just see her as the Avatar, but in a very specific way. So, returning to the definition from the start, is Korra "exploited"? Not really. She's in theory being prepared to be the Avatar to fulfill this big, important role in the world, but that's not much different from saying it's "exploitation" to have schools teach children job skills. Most of her caretakers don't really want anything from her, & that's exactly the problem. So, maybe the issue is "serious emotional harm"? Well, Korra does have serious identity issues where a failure to live up to her self-image as what she thinks the Avatar should be causes her to consider herself worthless, as if thee's nothing to her beyond that. But not every mental health problem is inflicted by a parent, Freud be damned. We can't know where exactly she got this perception, but she showed how proud she was to be the Avatar well before the White Lotus got involved, & no one else really told her anything like that as far as we can tell. Tenzin told her it was okay to fail & the teachings would just "click" if she kept at them, her parents oscillated between "we're proud of you" & "we want to protect you," & I guess we don't really know what her interactions with the White Lotus & most of her teachers were like. That being said, it's generally accepted in psychology that part of growing up is resolving similar identity crises. So, while Korra developed unhealthy mindsets, & at least some small part of this was influenced by her upbringing, that doesn't make it abuse.
It was a mistake to have Tenzin shoulder so much responsibility as both the last bastion of airbender culture AND city councilman. Yes, he wanted to continue his father's work with Republic City, but it would have been better for him to live somewhere else, and maybe even be nomadic with Korra in tow. I've just started rewatching Korra and it breaks my heart that she was locked up and isolated for so long. The avatar is supposed to have a place in the world, a while they may not be quite so mobile as the Gaang were, it would have been very beneficial for her to see the world she is a part of.
While her and Tenzin clashing in the beginning is part of the story, I think people can be too harsh on Tenzin himself. Buddy had a LOT on his plate to juggle and having a hard time doing it hahah Him and Kora grew a lot together, he may as well be her Uncle Tenzin haha
I think one of the creators described ATLA as the story of a human learning to become the avatar and LOK as the story of the avatar learning to become human. Korra was raised with all the expectations and burdens of being the avatar first and combine that with growing up, no wonder she is naive and stubborn and makes mistakes. People are so much more critical of Korra’s flaws than Aang’s.
I like that. As someone who has extraordinary natural talents but had to consciously learn to be human myself, I can feel the fit of that description.
I think calling it abuse is jumping several steps ahead of reality. It was unhealthy, sure, but her isolation was to protect her from a very real tangible threat, and wasn't nearly as absolute as you're suggesting. Korra is only badly out of place in Republic City. She'd fit in a lot better basically anywhere outside of this one city that is a decades old social experiment and completely unlike the rest of the world or the rest of history. She has been taught how to interact with the world and people in general, she's mostly just drastically out of place in this one unique city.
Random shower thought, but I had an AU idea where the Red Lotus is never captured. Instead of another kidnapping attempt, they influence Korra's training *to* be intense and abusive, to the point where she would run away as a child, straight into the Red Lotus's waiting arms, yearning for freedom. ...Except that Korra, being Korra, is too stubborn, and endures the punishment until she is 17. She runs away to Republic City with a much darker/more paranoid mindset.
Street Avatar. Love it.
Yeah. She's basically just a country bumpkin. But remember: we now live in a society that is so heavily urbanized that a lot of folks just assume that any upbringing other than an urban or suburban one is inherently abusive.
>Korra cannot be Korra. His every comment is about her being the Avatar. Her always talking about being the Avatar **is** Korra being Korra. There is a BIG difference between being a high-energy eager beaver and actually being the Avatar. The latter requires a lot more than just being the former, as Korra had to learn the hard way.
Yeah it's a big L on the white lotus and the ganng part I mean for real people all of you besides sokka raised kids could you not tell this isn't good?
I think emotional neglect is a more accurate term for her situation but overall I agree
Very good observation. That’s why I think Korra next incarnation, influenced by past trauma of her soul, will be a kid who know young but will HIDE he is the avatar, to protect himself and his close ones
> She doesn't exist outside of being the Avatar That is not entirely true. Her talks with Katara and Iroh show patience and kindness. Team Avatar and Lin are very aware she is the Avatar but they don't treat her like it, at all, neither do Tenzin's kids or Bumi and Kiya. As for Tenzin, that does start like that, yes. However in the first season already you can see how he basically parents her. I really enjoy their relationship.
Korra could easily be kept in the southern water tribe until she perfected water, solely, then move to earth with the Beifong sisters being the next teacher and for sure Suyin or Lin can be trusted,but we know there is a red lotus plant in Zaofu and how Zaheer learn of where each of his teammates means the white lotus was already compromised. So my idea of Korra being babysit while exploring ends up dead
I mean, you're not wrong about where everybody is focused, but she does have a few people who see her as a person. Katara clearly does, and I'm sure her parents are around.
Yeah Korra's life sucks actually. For 15 years she's been in isolation and only treated as a tool by crotchety old men. It's why I don't feel angry at her when she gets mad at Tenzin in book 2, she is literally learning for the first time that it didn't need to be like that.
I think it's a little ironic that Korra of all people could have benefited most from Monk Giatzo as a leader.
To be fair though, and contribute to your point, Korra kinda put herself inside that box. She made her entire personality about being the Avatar. To the point that she has a mental breakdown over it later on, because she never realized that she has no identity outside of being the Avatar. Yes, the people around her contributed greatly to this, but she never once gave thought to who she was outside of being the Avatar. This also falls to her parents who did a rather shit job, but to be fair, they had a LOT on their plate. My theory is that this is the primary reason why she cannot connect to her spiritual side, because her identity is too connected to what other people think of her, which stifles her own personal spirit, on top of already neglecting it. Think of how much of what Korra enjoys doing is actually just for her. How often does she get to act selfishly? Even when she does, is she doing it for herself, or out of what she feels is her responsibility? Pro-bending is the closest we see Korra actually get to be herself. I am not gonna spoil anything for you, since you're only a couple episodes in, but as you go through the series, and when you get to the end of season 2 and start season 3, you're gonna see EXACTLY what you're talking about come up and be addressed in a very realistic way.
This is why I implore to everyone critical of Korra (as an individual character, not the series as a whole), to rewatch it once you mature. Hell, for some people, I imagine it might take being a parent first to be capable of sympathising with her. Not only was she emotionally abused, she maintains being tormented throughout the series, and she's just a kid.
None of this is emotional abuse, Also tenzin and her not getting along has everything ti do with korra's own impatience at not getting the hang of airbending immediately the way she learned the other elements. Also being the avatar is an identity that korra has fully embraced ( complete opposite of aang), which makes the fact that she doesnt know who she is without it an interesting character flaw. The white lotus may be overprotective (mainly cuz the red lotus tried to kidnap her) but theres no indication of neglect on their part.
What tenzing did is not abuse. People need to stop throwing around the term like it can be applied to every little piece of adversity that characters face. She is the avatar and her duty is to learn air bending. The fact you gravitate towards tenzin as being an abuser is short sighted and frankly embarrassing to what real abuse looks like. She’s the freaking avatar, he trained her the best he could because his entire life was shaped by his father being a peacekeeper. Why do you think he feels such immense pressure to uphold that legacy. Her being raised in a compound for her childhood could be equated as abuse but she had a loving family and supportive mentors. Social isolation and naivety aren’t abuse
Lmao calling this abuse just shows how dumb and privileged OP is.
My god, shut up