WhenAvatar: The Last Airbenderwas firstreleased on Nickelodeonback in 2005, it was critically praised for its storytelling and characters, while also being a huge hit with its young audience who fell in the love with the characters and their stories. And even though that audience grew up, the love for the series never faded, but instead grew stronger when the audience was old enough to understand the complexities of the story that was being told to them. So naturally, like any hit show, a spin-off was green lit for production five years after the first episode of the original series.
Because of the success ofThe Last Airbender, the spin-off would see the return of creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, but this time with more creative freedom to create for the new show. From there,The Legend of Korrawas born. The show was set 70 years after the events at the end of the first series and followed the new Avatar, Korra, from the Southern Water Tribe. But this new show wasn’t anything likeThe Last Airbender, which, yes, despite being an animated show aimed towards kids, did still explore very heavy real-world topics like war, indoctrination, and genocide. ButThe Legend of Korrawent deeper into real-world issues.
The Legend of Korraaired between 2012 through 2014 and sadly didn’t gain the same loyal fans as its predecessor, but that didn’t change the fact that it wasthe perfect sequelto the hit show and did things no other animated series at the time was even considering. Much like its predecessor, it never treated its young audience as dumb kids, trusting them to understand to some degree the harsh topics, and was never afraid of showing said topics. This is howThe Legend of Korrabecame one of the most subversive animated series ever.
“Too Adult”
WithThe Last Airbender, DiMartino and Konietzko needed to create a show that would be a huge hit for young audiences, which is what they were able to achieve, but this meant very few risks were taken in their characters. Once they were given the green light to createThe Legend of Korraand the freedom to create the story and characters as they wished, something only achievable because they were able to create a massively successful kid’s animated show, they were finally able to take those risks.
Upon the show’s initial release, it held a Saturday morning spot on Nickelodeon, but after the show killed off a character on-screen, the show was moved to a Friday night slot. A move made because the show was beginning to feel too risqué for the same young audience that lovedThe Last Airbender. As the show went on, it didn’t shy away from its dark material, showing much more death and destruction than its predecessor ever felt capable of doing, and sometimes being a commentary on fascism and other forms of politics. Eventually, this led toThe Legend of Korragetting pulled from the air and switching over to online, although it can also be believed that this was decided after the show failed to bring in the same numbers asThe Last Airbender. Despite this, the show was never canceled, and was able to come to a conclusion after three seasons.
Related:The Legend of Korra - Core Team Avatar Members Ranked by Skill Set, Powers, and Abilities
Women Empowerment
Even though, now, we have many strong women leads in movies and shows, whenThe Legend of Korrawas airing, it was not so common. Konietzko toldNPRthat Nickelodeon executives at the time didn’t know how they felt about backing a series that had a strong woman lead because it was widely believed that girls would watch a show about a boy, but boys would never watch a show about a girl. But after some screen testing, they discovered that boys didn’t care that Korra was a girl. In fact, they thought she was awesome. So, with that out of the way, they were able to release the show with a woman lead, but it wasn’t just her.
Indeed,The Legend of Korrawas filled with incredibly powerful womenandgirls, drastically more thanThe Last Airbender. But it never comes off as pandering or like the message is to state that girls are better than boys. The boys get their time to shine, but very rarely are girls given characters that feel just as well-crafted as boy-characters. The show gave us women and girl characters that were good, some that were evil, and some that were a little bit of both, allowing for complexity and realistic depictions of how people are, never just good or evil.
Villains are key to any successful story. It’s even safe to say they’re the most important characters to develop because without a clear idea of whom the villain is and what they want, there’s no chance for the hero to properly shine, and, in turn, the story will suffer. And if there’s one thing the creators ofThe Last Airbenderfranchise know how to do, it’s villains, giving us sadistic and cunning villains like Azula and sympathetic, lovable, and redeemable ones like Zuko.
Many people would argue that while they might preferThe Last AirbendertoLegend of Korra, the sequel serieshas better villains. With the sequel series being darker than the original, the villains also had to be kicked up a notch and be just as remarkable. Each season of the series has Korra face off against a different, bigger villain. Very different from the original series, which had one overall conflict and villains, with smaller villains here and there before the big final boss at the end of the series. ButThe Legend of Korradidn’t need that. Each villain in the series works to challenge Korra and reflect a changing society, while also expanding theAvataruniverse for the audience.
Related:All Avatar Animated Television Series' Seasons, Ranked
LGBTQ+ Representation
And, of course, at the time of the show’s run, LGBTQ+ representation in children’s shows was very much out of the question. Even now, it’s still groundbreaking when a show directed toward kids decides to include a character that’s openly part of the LGBTQ+ community. ButThe Legend of Korra, like other topics it touched on, wasn’t afraid to go there. And it wasn’t afraid to go there with its lead character who, as far as we can tell, is bisexual.
ThroughoutThe Legend of Korra, we see the titular hero develop feelings and relationships with male characters, but the series ends, iconically, with Korra and Asami in a relationship with each other. This would become one of the first depictions of same-sex relationships in kid’s media and a major step forward for queer representation in media. This allowed young queer kids to identify with characters that felt like them and validate their feelings as real, while also normalizing queer relationships as something that should be seen just the same as hetero relationships.
And despiteThe Legend of Korranot being as remembered or as well-loved asThe Last Airbender, the show is credited with opening the door for queer representation in animated TV (viaWashington Post) and is likely the reason we have shows that depict LGBTQ+ people likeAdventure Time,Steven Universe, andShe-Ra and The Princess of Power.
