If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may know that I’ve been a big fan of Nickelodeon’s TV shows Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra (LOK). I mean action, adventure, elemental magic/bending, martial arts… What’s not to love?
Speaking of love…
Korrasami: It’s Real
(That’s not the ending, btw. Just a little nerdy humor.)
Since Nick recently released a somewhat controversial ending regarding a romance between two same-sex characters, there’s been a lot of discussion and debate amongst fans as to whether the titular character and her friend Asami Soto were an actual “item”…
…at least, until one of the co-creators of the show released an official confirmation on their blog. The official answer is yes: the “Korrasami” romance is considered canon.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with this decision; that’s not my hang-up. What gets me about their decision is that, in my personal viewing experience, it truly seemed to come out of nowhere. Unlike other character romances, I felt there were not enough unambiguous cues that would suggest a romance between Korra and Asami.
What also gets me is Bryan’s statement regarding those of us who did not catch onto the possible romance between these two characters until the final episode:
“If it seems out of the blue to you, I think a second viewing of the last two seasons would show that perhaps you were looking at it only from a hetero lens.”
…or maybe it’s just showing your writing wasn’t as effective as it could have been. Plenty of shows have been clearer to their audiences about their intentions regarding same-sex romances. Granted, this is a show geared towards a younger audience, but that’s just all the more reason to make these things more obvious. If you have full-grown adults who didn’t see the signs, what makes you think younger viewers are going to have a better time of picking up on them?
I can understand the creators’ initial hesitation, but if you’re going to go for anything worthwhile in a story I say really go for it. After all, no expenses, so to speak, were spared on the other romances on the show (Opal and Bolin, Asami and Makko, etc.).
Those are just my thoughts, anyway.
Same-Sex Romances
While I’m not an active champion of same-sex romantic relationships and am not bi or lesbian myself, at the same time, I don’t see a reason to actively censor or not include such relationships and characters in some writing, TV shows or other art forms and mediums. However, “It never occurred to me” or “it’s not something I wanted to focus on or write/draw/etc. about,” for examples, are perfectly reasonable reasons not to, in my opinion, just as “I just wanted to write about a bi [or lesbian] character” is a perfectly acceptable reason to include one. “I don’t think gays and bisexual people should exist” on the other hand…not so much.
They do exist and to acknowledge this, even in fiction, is simply a nod to reality.
Don’t get me wrong: it can be so much more. You could be setting out to make an outright statement, though it isn’t necessary to. Sometimes having these elements can simply add to the variety of your cast, and if you’re going for verisimilitude that’s not a bad idea. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this.
Of course, what you do with such characters and topics in your works with be a source for open interpretation and derived meaning for readers, viewers, etc. Though, that’s another subject entirely.
What Do You Think?
What are your thoughts on including same-sex romances in fiction? Also, if you’re a fan of LOK, what did you think about the ending and how the Korrasami thread was handled overall?
And boy, it’s great getting back to proper blogging. 🙂
(Kudos to Deviantartist SandraLLV on the Korrasami artwork!)
T. M. White 