The Legend of Korra (Spoilers ITT)

vonFiedler

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I heard a theory that says they think the villains for this season are metal nazis. We had communism in season 1, theocracy in season 2, anarchy in season 3, it makes sense for 4 to be fascism. The metal clan could potentially arise as the dominant force in a torn apart Earth Kingdom (see: war torn Germany). Just a theory, but sounds legit.
Anti-benders weren't communists, they were atheists. Old Earth Kingdom were practically communists while old Fire Nation was fascist.
 

Ace Emerald

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Anti-benders weren't communists, they were atheists. Old Earth Kingdom were practically communists while old Fire Nation was fascist.
They were called equalists, and the response against them by the authorities seemed similar to the red scare. They were trying to win the common people, giving out literature and aggressively recruiting. The analogy isn't perfect (I'm sure the equalists didn't really care about equality beyond bending), but I think it was just supposed to be referencing it. Not sure how Old Earth Kingdom was communists when there was a monarch, little respect for the common people, and a huge disparity of wealth. Old Fire Nation was definitely very fascist though, no argument there.
 

vonFiedler

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Equalist Rally "All wars were caused by benders" *mic drop* Also they had no form of government or anything so...

City of Walls and Secrets and the Dai Li were CLEAR analogues to 1984, yes they had a king but he was a puppet. Of course they had no regard for the proles.
 

Ace Emerald

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Equalist Rally "All wars were caused by benders" *mic drop* Also they had no form of government or anything so...

City of Walls and Secrets and the Dai Li were CLEAR analogues to 1984, yes they had a king but he was a puppet. Of course they had no regard for the proles.

"Are you tired of living under the tyranny of benders?" Equalist protestor

They might have atheist elements, but Russian communism had atheist elements iirc. Atheists have never joined together in a militaristic movement because they felt the system they lived in was tyranny. Communists have. I know they didn't have a proper form of government, like I said its not a perfect model of communism. Just a pretty clear reference to communism, in my opinion. And while the thought police is a common element in old Earth Kingdom and 1984, all thought police implies is a totalitarian government, not necessarily a communist totalitarian government.
 

vonFiedler

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Atheists have never joined together in a militaristic movement because they felt the system they lived in was tyranny.
Because the religious have never had superpowers and real life isn't a kung fu action show.

Also you're willing to accept the Japan analogue as resembling fascist Japan but the China analogue resembling communist China is stretching it? On one hand you are defending your interpretation of Equalists as communists as "not a perfect model", but the old Earth Kingdom which is waaaaaaay closer to actual real world communist superpowers is "not necessarily communist"?
 

Ace Emerald

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Because the religious have never had superpowers and real life isn't a kung fu action show.

Also you're willing to accept the Japan analogue as resembling fascist Japan but the China analogue resembling communist China is stretching it? On one hand you are defending your interpretation of Equalists as communists as "not a perfect model", but the old Earth Kingdom which is waaaaaaay closer to actual real world communist superpowers is "not necessarily communist"?
The Japan model is way more blatantly fascist. Core tenants of fascism according to some basic Googling: Nationalism (scene in Fire nation pride, various times), Dictatorship (Fire lord has all the power), Militarism (lol), Imperialism (lol), and some economics that are really beyond the scope of the show. It really lives up to the ideology of fascism, and its pretty blatant. When you look at the ideology of communism, you see stuff about the common people rising up, rule by the common people, which is something you see with the Equalists, not old Earth Kingdom. You can't just say "Of course they had no regard for the proles" when that is the focus of ideology. The old Earth Kingdom is an analogue to communist China with respect to personal freedoms and totalitarianism, but its not an analogue to communist ideals, not like Equalists.

From the avatar wiki page:
  • The Equalist ideology loosely resembles the real-world ideology of communism. Both seek to attain equality through the removal of a distinct societal or elemental class.
You can disagree if you want, but I thought the Equalist/Communist connection was pretty accepted.
 

vonFiedler

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Ace buddy I hate to the bearer of bad news, but a government's ideals and their actions don't often historically mesh well.

Orwell said:
The so-called 'abolition of private property' which took place in the middle years of the century meant, in effect, the concentration of property in far fewer hands than before: but with this difference, that the new owners were a group instead of a mass of individuals. Individually, no member of the Party owns anything, except petty personal belongings. Collectively, the Party owns everything in Oceania, because it controls everything, and disposes of the products as it thinks fit.
In Orwell's eyes regardless of ideology the minutia of government and class changes little over the course of history. Communists talk about these ideologies you state even as their government continues to oppress the lower class. Orwell alludes to this as doublethink. Fascists have their own doublethink as well;

Zuko said:
Growing up we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history, and somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness, they hate us and we deserve it.
Different ideologies, similar results. The biggest dividing differences in the world of Last Airbender are cultural and even moreso technological. So while the Earth Kingdom may not have been ideologically communist, there really isn't a practical difference between old Earth Kingdom and Maoist China.
 

Skitty

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just watched the premiere.
Fuck you kuvira oml, and why is korra hiding? ;_;
 

Crux

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premiere was really fantastic, felt a bit short though, probably because only 1 ep instead of the usual 2
 

vonFiedler

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How? Change had a lot better animation, and there were a lot of cliffhangers in change too, what exactly was better about it?
Changes was a fucking awful season that did nothing but pander to fans of ATLA from start to finish. Balance already has more character development and risk taking than that whole season. Like radically altering Korra's look and even having her lose a fight. The pacing is top notch, keeping us entertained but clearly keeping plot elements close to the chest. New things like the air suits and Kuvira's conqueror's railway are introduced, putting focus back on how the world of Korra operates instead of constantly reusing elements from ATLA. Characters have been given interesting things to do in the time skip that leave further room for development as the season progresses.

And anyway Mir is still directing this season so I don't know what you are getting at with the animation, and if cliffhangers are all else you care about well

Three episodes in last season we had the worst opening episode in Avatar history, City of Walls and Secrets rehashed, and it wasn't even done introducing the villains to the audience. In ONE episode I am vaaaaaaaaastly more interested in what is going on with Kuvira and what Korra has been up to for the past six months.
 
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vonFiedler

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A better question, is Kuvira a villain? Every bit of the leaks was covered in this episode, and it's pretty ambiguous. For certain I feel better about her leading the Earth Kingdom than Prince Wu.

I am guessing that she employed that bandit who stole from Opal and Kai, which would put her firmly in villainous territory, but from what we've seen she seems reasonable and almost admirable.
 
A better question, is Kuvira a villain? Every bit of the leaks was covered in this episode, and it's pretty ambiguous. For certain I feel better about her leading the Earth Kingdom than Prince Wu.

I am guessing that she employed that bandit who stole from Opal and Kai, which would put her firmly in villainous territory, but from what we've seen she seems reasonable and almost admirable.
You might be right if the music that played while she's onscreen wasn't so sinister.
 
I guess. And I'm not trying to be right or wrong, I mean I think she's going to be a villain, but she's pretty ambiguous so far and I like that.
Yeah, I mustn't have made my self clear but I basically agree with you; my thoughts watching the episode were "she seems reasonable enough, tough and cold but ultimately fair, helping people and uniting the kingdom... but this music is clearly villainous". Her actions are ambiguous, and that's cool. It'll leave the other characters wondering, which could make the plot progress interestingly. But the music is just too telling for the audience imo.
 

chimpact

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in an interview bryke said that kuvira was a villain very well liked by the crew so im sure she'll be something like azula. not character wise tho.
But im pretty sure she IS the villain because not only did bryke mention it in the IGN interview but the music in book 3 when she was introduced was ominous.

this season started out so strong tho omg.....

like kuvira is gonna be a sick villain oml.
opal being like such a sweet girl but she also takes no BS. i like that.
mako n lin being buddy buddy is cool i guess. how you gonna shake her with no repercussions.

and the i love tha parallel of korra and aang at the end. questioning whether they want to be the avatar. i loved that about airbender and it's great character development for her as well. they definitely paced the episode well and having that at the end was really smart. next episode is gonna be about her recovery i think.
 
ya it should be. we need more background information on what happened during the past 3 years and such. Like Korra cutting her hair, what made her want to go the Earth Kingdom, etc.
 
you know how last season everyone was like "man, how are they gonna top zaheer and co. in terms of awesome villains?"
well, they did it
also noting that zelda williams is doing a kick-ass job voice acting

vonFiedler there's a screencap in the trailer that seems to be korra bending or dodging one of kuvira's metal thingies:

though it's very possible that all of her guards use this kind of technology, the way the trailer and the first episode were structured makes kuvira the prime contender for the big bad of the season

also posting a theory from reddit that I really loved:

Okay so Kuvira seems to really favor metal bands over the eyes...

calling it now:

Korra squares off against kuvira -> gets beat by the metal band over the eye trick -> toph teaches her how to fight blind/super-metalbending -> korra comes back and just straight wrecks shit

Edit: Yes Korra could metalbend as of book 3 but she was nowhere near Kuvira's level, and there are a variety of plausible explanations for why she'd have issues contending with Kuvira's metal band attack successfully landing over her eyes
 

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