#bush era text (complimentary) vs obama era text (derogatory)

[comradekatara]

This isn’t really a question but more of a musing, but after years of holding it off, I’ve finally started watching tlok and I have to say, while the show has its good moments (the first avatar’s backstory was fascinating and fun to watch), I feel like the show pales way too much in comparison to atla. I’m having trouble believing and please correct me if I’m wrong, that this was the same team who pulled off ATLA.

Im not calling out tlok for being the worst, but at the same time I’m just shocked is all. It had so much potential. Is there some kind of explanation why it feels like it’s a shadow of what ATLA was?

no you're absolutely right. compared to atla, it is shocking how deeply, noticeably flawed it is. as far as i know, some of the writers stayed to work on korra and some changed. i know that korra struggled with network constraints more so than atla did, which is why every season feels more self-contained with the exception of books 3 and 4, which were ordered together. iirc, initially book 1 of lok was meant to be a standalone miniseries, and when another season was ordered, they had no desire to extend book 1 into an overarching narrative, and instead decided to use book 2 as an opportunity to deconstruct book 1, which only sort of worked. (book 2 barely works as a season of television, let alone a deconstruction of its former, somewhat more coherent season.) however, the explanation of "nickelodeon fucked them over" will only get you so far, since the politics of lok are markedly worse in every way.

the way i see it, if atla is very obviously a bush era text, lok is an obama era text. for american liberals who opposed the bush administration's invasion of iraq, resisting us imperialism from within the imperial core had not been so trendy since the vietnam war. atla presented a quite radical text, condemning colonialism, imperialism, and genocide and promoting direct revolutionary action against oppressive governments, that also had the benefit of being very topical and of its time. however, lok was created during obama's years in office, which were marked by progressive neoliberalism, more covert modes of exerting us imperialist power (think obama's staggering record of drone strikes and deportations), and a very heavy emphasis on the importance of identity politics.

lok is a very liberal text, in which centrism, capitalism, and progressive social values are celebrated by the narrative. lok is more ostensibly feminist, as women of all ages and relationships between those women are foregrounded, but even though i do love many of those female characters very deeply (i would never deny how much korra/korrasami means to me, as much as just seeing milves, i love milves), it is a type of girlboss feminism that in its celebration of capitalism, fails to meaningfully, materially condemn patriarchy. (look at this female chief of police! women can do anything a man can do, including being an agent of state violence! yaasss queen exert your power over the working class in your colonial city!) i think it's very difficult to create an excellent, coherent narrative if the politics of the show leave a bad taste in your mouth at best, and actively defile the legacy of its predecessor at worst.

ultimately, while lok does have its moments, characters, and scenes worthy of praise, very few episodes in the show overall are free of its political cynicism and clunky writing. if i brought up every facet worth critiquing i'd be here all day (and i already have plenty in my #lok crit tag), but you are not wrong to consider it a shadow of what atla was. the very venture was doomed to fail. and while i have often considered how i would rewrite lok to make it a coherent extension of atla, the fact of the matter is that atla works best as a self-contained story. it was lightning in a bottle that could not be recreated, and even if lok had been given the proper resources and planned for accordingly, atla was a product of its time, and trying to ignore this fact only leads to a failed attempt to revive its bloated corpse. over and over again.

#sapphichoneymoon #asks #lok crit #analysis #bush era text (complimentary) vs obama era text (derogatory)