Tuesday, December 30, 2014

The Legend of Korra Finale Is Everything I Ever Wanted Because Korrasami

Major spoiler alert: Post contains spoilers for the series finale of Legend of Korra.
I'm a bisexual lady who loves geeky shit and I wish I had grown up watching Legend of Korra. I wish Korra had been around when I was a little kid, and not just because my rough tomboy but nerdy grade school self can identify with Korra's struggle to fit in, to not answer every problem with her fists, to see herself as part of a bigger legacy that has been in the making for thousands of years.
I'm talking about the fact that Legend of Korra gave us a no nonsense, short haired beautiful woman who grew up to be kind and generous and understanding and is also bisexual. And god damn, that matters. And that's why Korra's finale—with Korra and Asami holding hands and walking into the spirit portal together—means the world to me right now.

The Avatar franchise has always been extremely inclusive—the characters are all folks of color, respectfully based on thoroughly researched Asian cultures, that represent a wide variety of gender, race, disability, and class. Until now, however, Avatar hasn't had a queer character in canon. Now we have two, and it's awesome.
Korra and Asami are bisexual ladies of color who save the world and fall in love. In a perfect world, that would be the end of it. And yet people see this and want to cry foul. I don't wish to give their bigoted shitty thoughts another audience, so I'm sure if you want to read people stink up the Internet with saying how Korrasami is wrong and not family friendly and blah blah blah, you can find that yourselves.
Source: velocesmells
Then again, some people are saying Korrasami doesn't make sense in canon. Yes—only if you ignore every single episode Korra and Asami interact with each other. Watching the series, they go from rivals to friends and partners to best friends to two people who respect and love each other and depend on each other through the worst and lean against each other during the good. They're the ones who are standing together on the wedding platform during the party, content in each other's company and finally able to relax and let go after all the stress of defeating Kuvira.
That is Korrasami and it's canon. And it's beautiful. It's two women who have fought hard for their happiness and found it in each other. And there's nothing unnatural or wrong about it, and neither one of them have any doubts about it. They go into it with hands clasped, looking to the future. No more drama, no more fighting. Just a nice vacation in the spirit world as the first step of a life lived together.
If I had Legend of Korra back when I was wondering how I could be attracted to both men and women, I wouldn't have felt so weird and wrong. I would have watched the Avatar, the hero of the world, hold hands with another woman and walk off into the sunset with her like traditional heroes do with their girlfriends and realize there's nothing wrong with me. That there's a world out there where being bisexual is a gift, not a burden. That even Korra likes guys and girls, and she is accepted for it.
(Although I bet Mako's gonna be sore about this! Not so much about Korra dating a girl. Just the fact that his two ex-girlfriends are now going steady. Dude, give it up. We all know you're married to your job. And to JUSTICE.)
Source: notkatniss.
So don't tell me the Korra finale didn't matter, doesn't matter. Don't tell me seeing Korrasami become canon—and having their creators confirm it—doesn't matter. Don't tell me the reactions of so many people seeing Korrasami come to life on the screen aren't telling, that they aren't a sign that canon LGBT relationships on prime time and on a children's animated program is something we've been waiting for.
Korra and Asami aren't just "really good friends". You can't use euphemisms anymore for their relationship. They are girlfriends, romantically. Get used to it.

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