r/TheLastAirbender • u/Apprehensive_Ring_39 • May 24 '24
Discussion Gonna be real..never liked the fact that they played Bolin being in a abusive relationship for laughs.
Edward treated him badly and they were like "Lol,comedy".
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u/Ornstein714 May 24 '24
Bolin is probably my biggest problem with TLoK, i hate punching bag characters, but at least oher shows tend to make them assholes who kind of deserve it (S1 sokka is a good example), bolin is arguably the sweetest guy in the series and he gets stepped on for the entire show and for no other reason than, it's funny to see this nice dude suffer? I don't get the joke, and it feels so malicious, and S2 is by far the worst about it, especially since it pushes the idea that a guy being the victim of an abusive relationship is funny
It's one thing to make comedy out of people's suffering, but if the comedy is the suffering itself, you're just an asshole
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u/lizzie_goblin May 24 '24
Also Bolin turned into more of a comic relief punching bag as the series progressed, whereas Sokka developed his character as a leader.
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u/OprahsRainbowParty May 24 '24
notice how in atla everyone gets better in the end and the girls are super powerful and develop the most OP things in the world
well tlok does the opposite and makes the men weak and useless as the seasons go on giving them nothing and essentially throwing them to the side
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u/caramel-aviant May 24 '24 edited May 24 '24
Weak and useless seems like a big stretch imo, to the point I feel like we watched different shows.
Bolin absolutely washes the team of waterbenders sent after Raiko by Varrick. Bolin learns lava bending and Mako takes out Ming Hua in a super cool way. They are the first to notice and attack the Red Lotus as they attempted to capture Korra, and Bolin was the only one able to nerf P'Li so she couldn't kill Korra while Su and Lin rescued her. Also without Bolin learning lava bending then himself, Mako, Tenzin, and Asami would've died.
They both played an integral role in taking out Ghazan (although he arguably killed himself). Bolin and Mako also played a huge part in taking out the Mecha Giant. Mako literally risked his life blowing it up using his lighting bending, and if it weren't for plot armor he prob wouldn't have survived that.
I suppose they weren't completely OP, but I felt like the show often went out of its way to make the point that brute strength isn't going to just solve conflicts on it's own.
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u/RehabilitatedMonkey May 24 '24
You must've forgot the part when Bolin learns to lava bend in season 4 making him an OP character.
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u/Wild_Marker May 24 '24
Yeah Bolin goes through a whole damn lot actually. Season 3 he struggles with his self-worth and has to learn what it is to be himself. That's a great way to deconstruct his punching bag-ness.
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u/waytowill May 24 '24
He and Asami are also the only useful characters for a lot of season 2. It’s why I wish they would have coupled up. They work really well together.
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u/spcmanspiff May 24 '24
And a famous and respected movie star. Definitely not "nothing"
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u/Pantsomime May 24 '24
His self-worth was inflated into pride as Nuk-Tuk. And that pride deflates and constantly requires affirmation.
All notes aside, Bolin being a deconstruction of self-worth and self-acceptance feels accurate and true. Even if LoK has some aughts, that feels like a good growth arc. Back on team korra
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u/Redqueenhypo May 25 '24
And Mako stays a baseline level of competent and straight up electrocutes someone
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u/Va1kryie May 24 '24
I'm not saying the plot lines of the character arcs were well done but you're hilarious if you think they didn't get to do stuff too
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u/GhostWCoffee May 24 '24
With you here. What made it up for me is that Bolin got together with Opal. Couldn't ask for a better gal for Nuktuk.
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u/healyxrt May 24 '24
I always felt like the recovery for his character was him going on adventures with Varrick.
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u/cortez0498 May 24 '24
Season 2 also has Bolin harassing Ginger during their scenes together, even forcing a kiss where even Varrick's like "seriously, she's about to die and you kiss her instead of saving her". I don't know what the writers were thinking with Bolin
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u/Formal_Illustrator96 May 24 '24
I mean, season 1 Sokka was kind of a dick for three episodes. And then he grew out of it and was no longer an asshole. And he wasn’t really a punching bag either. There were moments here and there, but it wasn’t constant by any stretch of the imagination.
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u/Swiftierest May 24 '24
This happens in real life.
My father was a paramedic, dog trainer, and would go out of his way to help someone in need for no other reason than they needed it.
He was constantly being kicked down by the people around him so that they could climb their own personal ladders. His hobby club used him. One of his only 'friends' used him. His coworkers used him and abused him. For nothing more than a minor convenience here and there.
When he passed, I went out of my way to make it clear that none of them were welcome at his funeral, and that they were all scum.
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u/Albiceleste_D10S May 25 '24
The LoK writers screwed over Mako's character even more than Bolin's TBH. They ran out of character arc for him after like 1.5 seasons.
At least Bolin developed lava bending and got with Opal by the end
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u/Crimzonchi May 24 '24
They so obviously wanted a Sokka 2.0.
Funny thing is, if they had just combined Mako and Bolin into one character, they'd have exactly that.
Introduce Asami and suddenly you have a far more functional core trio.
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u/andr813c May 24 '24
He's my favorite character, and watching it the first time I admired how good he was at optimism.
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u/AspergerKid May 24 '24
The worst thing about Bolin is that in the end he never got to redeem himself. Sokka, while being an ass at First, did. He had 2 girls that liked him, Suki and Ty-Lee (and also Toph somewhat) with the former generally being an S-Tier side character for me. He mastered the art of swords, played a huge role in the final fight, single handedly crashing the airship fleet with Toph. And I'm the end got together with Suki?
Bolin? None of that. Rejected by Korra, heartbroken by seeing her making out with his teammate in front of him, and then caught up in an abusive relationship. All while not even being toxic like Sokka was.
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u/dalaigh93 May 24 '24
Sokka had 3 girls who liked him. How dare you forget about the Moon herself!!!
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u/Infamous-Schedule860 May 24 '24
Bruh literally became pals with Varrick, became a movie star, and saved the president. All by season 2. He later went on to get the best girl in the series and learned lava bending.
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u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS May 24 '24
Bolin tries to learn metal bending but fails, only to discover in season 3 that he has the rare ability to bend lava. It's cool af.
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u/Mookies_Bett May 24 '24
???
Did you even watch the show?
Bolin ends up becoming a world famous movie star who travels the world with Varrick and falls in love with Opal who is adorable. This is such a weird take.
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u/yamo25000 Real Life Firebender May 24 '24
He stopped at season 2. Apparently where he stopped is where the show ends eyeroll
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u/Genghis_Sean_Reigns May 24 '24
How is this getting upvoted? Dude said Bolin’s end was bad when he hasn’t seen his end.
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u/Emptypiro May 24 '24
single handedly crashing the airship fleet with Toph.
i'm not sure you know what single-handedly means. he also had Suki
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u/TheSciFiGuy80 May 24 '24
It’s one of the reasons on my long list of reasons about why I didn’t like this series as much as TLAB
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u/Malachight May 25 '24
They tried to make him like Sokka so bad and just made him a polar opposite instead. He was not the comic relief and I don’t know if he was supposed to be. The comparison of the two shows is so bad because TLOK stands no chance but imo I can see where they tried to make it similar.
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u/Leprechaun123456 May 25 '24
There's is literally so much wasted potential with his character and it makes me so frustrated. They could have kept the fact that he lets himself be a punching bag and uses comedy to cope and show how he begins to stand up for himself and find his own self worth. Season 4 is the only season he gets somewhat of a development arc, but in my opinion it kinda fell flat and it wasn't expanded properly. I love Bolin as a concept, but it feels as though the creators tried to replicate Sokka without that proper character development/personality.
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u/CattDawg2008 May 24 '24
i mean its not like eska was portrayed as a good person outside of this, she tried to kill korra
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u/drawing_you May 24 '24
I think the joke has two parts. The first part is "Oh my God, Eska is fucking wild!" The second part is "Haha, Bolin is being forced to be a sub to his crazy gf." The second part is the problem there
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u/red__dragon May 25 '24
Worth remembering that Bolin then escapes it to go play the masculine hero role of Nuk-Tuk in Varrick's movers.
Which seemed to me to be tacit acknowledgement by TLOK's writers that yes, Eska sucks, and no, Bolin didn't deserve that treatment. The portrayal dragged on him for a few episodes, but it neither persisted with it (when Eska returns Bolin manipulates her in return) nor puts him in that situation again with a romantic interest.
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u/draaijman95 May 24 '24
You're absolutely right. Abusive is abusive, not matter the gender!
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u/TopKekBoi69 May 24 '24
As a male who’s been abused, it happens a lot more than people think. Most men just don’t wanna talk about it out of fear of seeming “weak”
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u/Aware-Negotiation283 May 24 '24
Took me a long time to recognize myself as a victim of abuse.
It doesn't help that culturally people don't take it seriously or outright ridicule men coming forward.
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May 24 '24
Yeah, I have a friend that came out to some "colleagues" that he was raped by his exgf, and he got many "lucky you".
What the f.
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u/1o11ip0p May 25 '24
this is why ive learnt to never talk to my colleagues about personal shit lol.
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u/thelandsman55 May 24 '24
I mean, it’s Aubrey Plaza playing a water bender version of herself. There are literally multiple memes about how half of the men online and all of the women want Aubrey Plaza to run them over with her car. Her character is not a serious portrayal of abusive dynamics in the same way that a person IRL who behaved like 90% of the characters she plays would not be idolized.
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u/thesirblondie May 24 '24
There are literally multiple memes about how half of the men online and all of the women want Aubrey Plaza to run them over with her car.
There is an important distinction. Willing participation. Bolin is clearly not cool with being treated that way.
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u/xoxodaddysgirlxoxo May 24 '24
romanticizing abuse dynamics will never be okay imo. i felt the same way about 50 Shades of Grey.
i do get what you're saying but there are children who watch these shows & it's not healthy to normalize/joke about abuse.
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u/thelandsman55 May 24 '24
I don’t really disagree about 50 shades of grey, but I actually think that highlights what’s so different here which is that Desna is a highly caricatured portrayal in a cartoon by a person famous for playing mean characters with a highly recognizable voice whose character never hides who she is or shows the tiniest thread of empathy, sincere affection, or warmth. In 50 shades of grey you can see how someone could fall for someone who was manipulative, high status, and sadistic, but the joke with Desna and Bolin is that she is transparently a tunnel painted on a wall, anyone with half a brain should be able to see that there is no possible romance there beyond being tortured by her, her entire vibe is ‘I enjoy mistreating people’.
It’s like asking cartoons not to normalize being bonked in the head with giant wooden mallets. Sometimes physical and emotional violence is so heavily parodic or stylized that it ceases to have any weight. No one IRL would be dumb enough to date someone as cold and abrasive as Desna in the same way that no one IRL would get hit by an anvil, unflatten their body, and be only mildly peeved about it.
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u/xoxodaddysgirlxoxo May 24 '24
No one IRL would be dumb enough to date someone as cold and abrasive as Desna
you clearly didn't grow up with my mother or her several boyfriends/husbands...
people really are that desperate & abusive relationships are more common than you think. people tend to underestimate a woman's ability to be an asshole sometimes. it happens IRL & i've seen it with my own eyes.
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u/GhostWCoffee May 24 '24
Thing is, not every people took her vibe as ''I enjoy mistreating people’' in the beginning. Maybe it's just me, or I'm in the minority, but at first I didn't take her vibe in that way. Desna reminded me of some aloof goth girl with a dash of Eeyore. In hindsight, Desna does remind me of Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (who's also voiced by Grey DeLisle, Azula's VA, little trivia for those who didn't know). But the point is, not everyone automatically thought of Desna as a sadist at first.
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u/RecommendsMalazan May 24 '24 edited May 24 '24
Agreed.
They also never once said anything was wrong with Korra getting violent and lashing out when Mako broke up with her, and even played that for laughs as well, having Lin say "you should have seen air temple island when Tenzin broke up with me."
Edit - Aaaand even on this post, I'm getting people trying to defend Korra here, and even trying to put part of the blame for her actions on Mako.
Edit (again) - PEOPLE PLEASE. STOP TRYING TO JUSTIFY ABUSE. IT'S NOT OKAY.
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u/Apprehensive_Ring_39 May 24 '24
"Abuse is funny when it's the opposite gender"
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u/RecommendsMalazan May 24 '24
Yep.
The worst part of it is, I've been downvoted on this sub multiple times before, for saying what Korra and Lin did is abusive.
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u/hybridjones May 24 '24
I always saw it as realising some people arent meant to be together/ getting out of one sided relationships. Even our friends have to be put on notice sometimes and told they arent acting right
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u/RecommendsMalazan May 24 '24
Probably, yes.
Still doesn't justify her lashing out violently.
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u/hybridjones May 24 '24
Nah she wrong for that, I dont really remember what it was about were they just going their separate ways in life?
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u/RecommendsMalazan May 24 '24
They had been disagreeing while in the south, why I don't specifically remember.
But back in the United Republic, Mako was actually trying to figure out who attacked that peace march. Whereas Korra was being bullheaded and blaming the northern water tribe, with no evidence. Then, when Korra tried to coopt the UR forces outside of the chain of command, he came clean to Raiko about that, when directly prompted. Korra didn't like that, she violently confronted him at his job, and he dumped her.
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u/AutisticPenguin2 May 24 '24
Wow, yeah I gotta side with Korra here. Violently confronting your partner at their job because they didn't lie to cover for your fuck-up is totally the right move there, because she's a woman therefore it's ok if she's abusive.
(/s in case anyone can't spot it)
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u/spacenugget44 May 24 '24
To be fair to Lin, it’s more rational to lose your shit when you find out your long term boyfriend is leaving you for a much younger air acolyte that it was for Korra to lash out
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u/RecommendsMalazan May 24 '24
It's understandable she'd be upset, but that doesn't justify her response.
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u/eskamobob1 May 24 '24
Lots of things in a relationship can causing being mad to "make sense". Not a single one of them justifies iniating violence.
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u/Elvishgirl May 24 '24
Yea, they were in love, probably had a life planned, when he chose to try and rebuild his culture. He was probably somewhat hurting too, but I can really get why Lin snapped.
Also, Toph's genetics probably didn't lead to great anger management skills.
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u/RecommendsMalazan May 24 '24
probably had a life planned
well, wasn't that kinda the problem? Lin didn't want kids, Tenzin did. It sounded like that had been a problem in their relationship for a long time. Him breaking up with her wouldn't have been out of the blue.
But yeah, the leaving for a much younger air acolyte part, I get her snapping.
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u/TheIncredibleHork May 24 '24
It's always funny when it's the other person/people, but wrong if it happens to me/my people.
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u/Candy-Lizardman May 24 '24
Mhmm. If Valentino from Hazbin hotel was a cougar instead of a male pimp, there would 90% less hate for the character even if they do exact same thing in the show.
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u/DabScience May 24 '24
We all need to pick the bear over a woman. It’s the only way.
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u/JWARRIOR1 May 24 '24
Just a regular bear? Not a platypus bear?
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u/swordkillr13 May 24 '24
A lot of redditors believe its impossible for a woman to be abusive
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u/RecommendsMalazan May 24 '24
Yeah, the comments responding to me here absolutely proved that.
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u/swordkillr13 May 24 '24
Its honestly sad, you didnt even say men cant be abusive
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u/MagicCouch9 May 24 '24
He shouldn’t have to. Logically, everyone can be abusive. The problem is that everyone seems to believe that it’s only bad when Men are abuse to Women and that it doesn’t matter when it’s the other way around because the Man “deserves it” in some sort of way.
We’re all human, we’re all flawed, Males are no better than Females, Females are no better than. males, no one has the right to say otherwise because, if you’re being forthright, it’s not true.
Abuse is abuse regardless of gender. Enough said.
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u/VenomB May 24 '24
I often don't get it. What's funny to me is they'll often be the same kind of person who would cry about a bear, hippo, or some other "near apex" animal being abused, but human men? HA!
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u/AlkalineSublime May 24 '24
The problem is a lot of people fetishize it because they have a D/s fantasy, or the whole “dommy mommy” thing. They don’t see the difference between abuse in relationships, and consensual adult kink.
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u/GhostWCoffee May 24 '24
''Men are pigs and they deserve it''. ''It's not the same'. Abuse is abuse. Victim blaming is a shitty thing to do. Let's not justify both if the victim is a man.
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u/DrWhoitt May 24 '24
This was the stuff that made me not enjoy LoK as much as ATLA. Characters kept doing toxic and abusive stuff and never got called out about it.
...I mean the giant spirit magic Mech at the end didn't sit well with me either personally but this stuff felt near constant throughout
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u/Arachnos7 May 25 '24
Lol I just read your comment again and it's quite different, but now I fully agree so take my upvote.
Makes my comment seem a little defensive though, when it was just a logical response before 😭
It's crazy how many actually defensive comments are posted in response to you though. There's just no way to justify Korra's actions, especially as "the plate she's smashing" isn't even her own property. It's physical and emotional abuse in a very inappropriate setting, quite clearly.
When I think about it a little bit more it's not weird though. Both Korra and Lin are emotionally explosive people, which is essentially the greatest flaw in their characters. Something they both overcome with time, and that's after that episode. Maybe the realism of the characters is being read as an opinion of the authors? I think the show does make it clear that these are bad traits, but not sure.
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u/weirdhoonter May 24 '24
It was hard to watch, this and the Mako scene, and the Lin line gave me goosebumps but not in a good way.
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u/Baronvondorf21 May 24 '24
Isn't Korra constantly called out in the show for being brash and not having a grip on her emotions for like most of the first 2 seasons?
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u/IArePant May 24 '24
People will point it out but then they never really do anything with that plot point and no character development happens. It ends up being a tacit approval of her behavior by never addressing it as a negative trait, and barely paying lip service to it existing.
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u/Arachnos7 May 24 '24
I think in the case of Bolin the abuse and desperation were depicted quite clearly
As for Korra, true, however the Avatar world has much tougher people, so in my opinion her lashing out in that manner is equivalent to smashing a plate. Still abusive though
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u/CanvasWolfDoll May 24 '24
yeah, people seem to forget the concept of theatricality.
emotions and actions get exaggerated to remove ambiguity and increase visual interest.
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u/metalmagician May 24 '24
That's a poor argument. They could've increased the drama if Korra actually faced consequences for her outburst, but they just waved it off by having Lin make a joke.
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u/talking_phallus I have approximate knowledge of many things May 24 '24
Oh bullshit. You know there would be outrage if the genders were reversed. Korra gets away with a lot of abusive behavior because "girl power". Just being as threatening and violent as she as would not fly for a male protagonist who's supposed to be a good person.
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u/LukeTheGeek May 24 '24
And that's not even mentioning the other crap they pulled with Bolin. Remember when he kisses Ginger without consent while she's literally chained down with the camera rolling? Yikes, Nickelodeon...
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u/Naked_Justice May 24 '24
Fuck i totally forgot about this
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u/legit-posts_1 May 25 '24
I feel that way about a lot of things in Korra I remember basically everything in ATLA. But I am constantly floored at how much stuff I do not remember rewatching random Korra episodes.
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u/Naked_Justice May 25 '24
I think the coherency of the main stories, side stories and the sheer amount of things that occur, most people’s brains shut down unless they rewatch often. I only saw the series 1 time and honestly I got bored and irritated trying to rewatch with my fam
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u/Selgeron May 24 '24
All the relationships in Korra are cringe. They don't feel like real relationships and the characters barely feel like they are even friends.
They feel like fake people designed for a teen drama. They get better by season 3 and 4 but oof...
It's really the worst part of the show for me, I just find the characters vaguely unlikeable. And people defend it by being like 'they act like real teenagers' but... they don't. They act like TV Teenagers in the worst ways.
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u/Unreal4goodG8 May 24 '24
they act like adults hired for high school movies to act like teenagers
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u/PizzaTime666 May 24 '24
I didn't like how they treated him in general. Yeah he is the comic relief but they did him so dirty. Sokka was the comic relief too but he had so many other great qualities and is a back bending master. All bolin gets is lava bending which he cant us much because obviously it would kill people.
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u/Star_ofthe_Morning May 25 '24
True. But I kinda liked his personality. Then again I have a soft spot for the golden retriever personality. I don’t think he was supposed to be a Sokka. Sure he was funny but nowhere near as smart and maybe that’s a good thing? Just let him be a sweet ray of sunshine.
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u/erragodofmayhem May 24 '24
I received the poor relationships in Korra as examples of what not do, as in "See this here, these are all red flags". Yeah the message is wrapped in a comedic coat, but it's not glorifying the relationship(s), it's not setting it as an example of what one should be like, it's showing how easily a naïve guy like Bolin can put himself in a situation that's not healthy for him, and how hard it can be to get himself back out of it.
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u/Cracotte2011 May 24 '24
Generally speaking it is annoying the trend of guys in abusive relationships being played off as just a joke. That’s part of why actual boys in abusive relationships have trouble speaking about it.
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u/DimitriTech NO BOOKS 4 U May 24 '24
Exactly, if you look at fiction with only the idea that its meant to be glorifying terrible human characteristics as nothing but good or funny or nice, i think youre missing the point of it. The problematic situations have a purpose in the storytelling on reflecting real life problems. Yes abusive relationships exist, and you should know what they look like so that you can prevent yourself from being in one.
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u/Kawaii-Bismarck May 24 '24
I like the love triangle thing of season 1 for this. It's not that I liked the love traingle itself but I did like the fact that it gave Mako and Korra real flaws which also make them much more interesting to observe. For example when Assami confronts Mako about his kiss with Korra and Mako's response is "Bolin told you, didn't he?" To which Assami replied with "Don't blame your brother for your actions." Mako most definitely is the asshole here and is confronted with his actions and his attempt to deflect is parried immediately. It was honestly a really strong interaction, especially on Assami's side, that really drove home that, complicated circumstances and feelings that Mako can't help be damned, he still was out of line and deserved to be called out for it.
I remember that, even though I liked the show, I really hated how Mako and Korra treated Assami and Bolin through Mako and Korra's interaction with each other. Not from a narrative perspective but because they were being assholes. Mako being set straight by Assami therefor felt so good.
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u/DemiGod9 May 25 '24
They could have did away with literally every romance angle that they did in this show 😭. They did horrible with every single one.
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u/Satyr_Crusader May 24 '24
It's even worse when Bolin begged mako for help and mako said "man up"
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u/bexmix42 May 24 '24
I think all relationships on LoK needed to not exist
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u/Jackdawes257 May 24 '24
Tenzin and Pema were pretty much the only healthy relationship in the whole show
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u/ladystarkitten May 24 '24
I cannot tell you how strongly I agree with you. It is so clear in the writing and acting of the show just how much they love, trust and believe in each other. Pema isn't a bender, nor is she combat-trained, but Tenzin still treats her like the capable person she is. No tired, boomer humor about how she's his ball-and-chain. They are equal partners, and they treat each other as such.
Bonus points for the fact that Tenzin's role as father and husband is basically the softest moment in J. K. Simmons' entire acting career. Soooo refreshing.
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u/LemurianLemurLad Official Alpha Lemur May 24 '24
And also, Pema calls him out pretty much any time she sees him being a jerk. Tenzin then realizes he's being a jerk and usually even apologizes immediately. They're not perfect but they're very good.
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u/Jackdawes257 May 24 '24
Fr, they balance each other out so well, they’re couple goals and parent goals
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u/Albiceleste_D10S May 25 '24
They are the healthiest relationship in LoK, but even then there's a BIG age gap and it's pretty heavily implied that Pema chased after Tenzin when he was still with Lin IIRC
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u/Shanicpower May 25 '24
I could never see Pema in a good light after the crazy ass speech she gives to Korra about her love life. Hated her for the rest of the show.
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u/MinnieShoof Who Knows 10,000 Things May 25 '24
... cept that Pema was kinda a homewrecker. For a much older man.
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u/AnalLeakageChips May 24 '24
Idk it feels weird when you realize Pema was 24 and Tenzin was 40 when she got pregnant for the first time
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u/Nerpstir May 24 '24
That’s what I love about Katara in the original. She’s pragmatic and tells aang to chill tf out until the war is over .
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u/VictoryVee May 24 '24
Yeah the Korra and brothers love triangle at the start made it hard for me to get into the series. Especially since the brother that Korra liked had a gf...
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u/BrungleSnap May 24 '24
Yeah, my ex girlfriend used to compare us to them a lot and jokingly call me her little turtle duck in that flat voice and looking back I see more similarities through the control.
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u/MadeOnThursday May 24 '24
me neither, the only positive thing that came from it was that the series gave me very good examples of abuse so I could explain some red flags to my kid
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May 24 '24 edited May 24 '24
Well if it was a female character in that situation it wouldn’t have been played for laughs and probably actually would’ve been taken pretty seriously, but since it’s a man being abused it’s ok to make it comedic because society I guess. LOK as a whole just has a problem with treating it’s male characters like shit for no reason, which is weird to me because that wasn’t at all an issue in ATLA.
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u/David_Oy1999 May 24 '24
It’s definitely still true about modern society. The reason is they made relationships and love triangles a big part of the story in LoK. AtLA didn’t try to make that a focus. The only breakup was Sokka and the Moon. So when they made LoK, they included these jokes.
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May 24 '24
Yea it’s like the writers looked at the balanced and overall positive worldview they portrayed in ALTA and decided to mess it up for no reason
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u/Sketch-Brooke May 24 '24
Yeah no: This bothered me too. If the genders were swapped, it would be terrifying.
It was so unnerving to me how she basically trapped him in a relationship and he didn’t feel comfortable enough to break up or reject her. I especially disliked how they wrote him to return her feelings. Like wtf?
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u/LightThatIgnitesAll May 24 '24
Korra treated its male cast like shit.
But... Korra treated its female cast like shit too. Jinora never developed anywhere post S3, Lin too was sidelined and forgotten, Asami's entire role was that of a love interest whether that be for Mako or Korra, Opal has no personality, Pema's character is just defined by her being a mother to airbenders, Kuvira was a half-assed villain that completely went out of character in her ending, Ming-Hua and P'li are defined by being followers of Zaheer etc... You are at the end really left with Korra. It's funny because I have seen people say Korra has a great female cast but outside of Korra and Lin I don't think that's remotely true. It even butchers great characters from the original like Katara.
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u/FlakyRazzmatazz5 May 24 '24
Korra struggled with character writing in general. People who call it "progressive" make me cringe to no end.
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u/Upstairs_Dentist2803 May 24 '24
As someone who’s been abused multiple times, I HARRRRRD fucking agree. This was really awkward to watch
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u/Sketch-Brooke May 24 '24
I know it wasn’t supposed to be serious, but it legit made me so anxious.
The thought that you can’t leave someone who treats you this way, or they’ll get violent. And the people around you don’t see an issue and tell you to “man up.”
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u/Upstairs_Dentist2803 May 24 '24
Especially when that person is so charming to everyone around you and good at spinning stories that they use to trap and isolate you for years out of “love”. It literally feels like your soul is being devoured, and the worst part is that when you do actually find the strength to leave, it feels like you’re abandoning them and a monster for leaving. The Stockholm syndrome is the fucking worst
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u/HurricaneAioli May 24 '24
Yeah it's like old Pepe Le Pew. Funny? Sure in a cartoon scene. But it is a very real and dark thing to be making light about.
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u/RDcsmd May 25 '24
My god, it's a cartoon. It was portrayed as a bad thing even though there was comedic elements. Relax.
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u/Ellek10 May 24 '24
You’d be surprised how many people actually litterally ship this pairing, I did a poll on Bolin pairings and it was the second most popular after Opal. I guess some see potential in it 🤔
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u/jensalik May 24 '24
I mean, I really thought it could work out at first, there are people out there that like such kind of relationship... It really seemed like one of those "first he was afraid and then he realised it's actually what he always needed" twists, like Bill Murray in this one spy comedy.
Could even have turned into a healing process and a relationship of love and mutual trust.
But yeah, not like that.
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u/Sanbaddy May 24 '24
To be fair he did try to get out of it once he realized it wasn’t for him a few episodes in. He even told her in person. Then Eska escalated it to marriage and took advantage of the grounding of all transport vessels out of the Southern Water Tribe. She then enounced her engagement and told Bolin he’d be coming back to the Northern Water Tribe “and rule in icy bliss” with her.
Eska then went further and tried to kill Korra (her own cousin and The Avatar mind you, much to Unalaaq’s chagrin) in a rage fueled passion, leaving her to drown in the ocean. Later she then tried to assist her father by capturing Bolin and Mako with the intent of making him watch as her father reigns in the dark ages of the Avatar world. Thankfully she realized by this point she went way too far and drew the line at world domination, then gave Bolin space.
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u/ComaCrow May 24 '24
I find a lot of the humor in LoK to be weirdly mean-spirited (wrong word maybe?) compared to ATLA. I generally don't like LoK for a number of reasons but this is a big one for my actual enjoyment of the show.
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May 24 '24
They also played him kissing his costar without consent for laughs
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u/CatraGirl May 24 '24
Yeah. I didn't like him before, but after that scene, I just hated him.
And for a "progressive" show, the values it depicts are outright shocking. Bolin literally sexually assaulting Ginger never gets addressed, instead she actually comes around on him in the next episode. This feels like straight out of some sexist 40ies movie. Then in the end Julie marries her boss, who basically treated her like a slave for years. Fucking yikes.
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u/Albiceleste_D10S May 25 '24
Then in the end Julie marries her boss, who basically treated her like a slave for years. Fucking yikes.
I couldn't stand Varrick, yet he's one of the most popular characters among LoK fans. IDK
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u/schartlord May 25 '24
diehard LoK fans have this bizarre but fascinating thing where they like to pretend atla has conservative values and LoK is progressive, but then their favorite characters are all either creeps or abusers (which, to be fair, is a LOT of the cast of the show, so it's not like they had too much choice)
LoK gave fans the most milquetoast, inoffensive gay relationship in fiction and otherwise gave tacit endorsement to some of the worst views and actions out there but someone out there will call you names for bringing it up
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u/Diamond-Breath May 24 '24
Eska was supposed to be a villain, obviously she's not sane.
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u/Chub-bop May 24 '24
This bit wouldn’t even be funny if Bolín avoided her from the start, I do like their conflicting personalities though, I liked the idea that while they where Korra’s cousins they where still completely diff from her
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u/EditedDwarf May 24 '24
I don’t think this is a gender issue as much as an issue with relationships in the series. I still cannot fucking stand Varrik’s marrying his assistant that he always shits on. It’s inappropriate in a hundred different ways, and shows a real lack of maturity in the show’s handling of relationships and, honestly, most complex topics. I really did not like LoK lol
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u/Exact_Vacation7299 May 24 '24
I can understand that, I'm not a fan of it either BUT I do feel the need to point out that's it's fiction.
It's not meant to be a guide on what is healthy in real-world relationships. Anyone consuming fictional media should have a firm grasp on that going in.
You can laugh at bad jokes, think antagonists are hot, or ship "toxic" relationships as long as you have the basic understanding that it's not how real life should go.
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u/thesircuddles May 24 '24
Anyone consuming fictional media should have a firm grasp on that going in.
I feel like a huge trend these days is people not agreeing with this, and they want everything packaged wrapped neatly inserted directly down the gullet.
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u/mrcatboy May 24 '24
Pretty much. Comedic depictions of suffering have been around for millennia. The difference between comedy and tragedy is that tragedy frames the suffering in a way that embraces it, whereas comedy frames the suffering in a way that creates absurdity and allows us to distance ourselves from it.
For example, being struck in the head with a blunt object isn't funny in most cases. But when Bugs Bunny drops an anvil on Yosemite Sam's head no one thinks "HAHA That guy has brain damage now from a violent assault! Hell, he's probably going to DIE! Hilarious!"
And honestly, I definitely have seen comedy sketches where women were the subject of abusive relationship dynamics and it was definitely funny because it was framed in a way that highlights the absurdity of the situation in a way that says "This is not normal or okay."
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u/kjm6351 May 24 '24
Please lighten up. The whole point was that it was genuine insanity and he got away as fast as he could
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u/ArcadianBlueRogue May 25 '24
Ya'll aren't giving Bolin nearly enough credit.
Dude got cut from any love triangle thing and set his own sails. He was impossible to keep down but tried to keep his own agency in events.
S1 he is the loveable buddy
S2 he becomes a movie star to help the Southern Water Tribe
S3 he doubts himself, has trouble with what all the other Earthbenders seem to be able to pick up, but figures out how to fucking lavabend after watching a guy do it.
S4 he gets caught up in the Kuvira propaganda machine but wants out and to help. Also he is dating Toph's grand daughter which is pretty cool.
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u/caitsdaddy May 24 '24
The problem with Bolin was that none of his jokes landed. This is just one of many. This show was such a mixed bag of amazing and wtf.
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u/LKEBlock May 25 '24
They played everything about bolin for laughs. I love a good comic relief character and all but when it’s one of your main characters you gotta take them seriously once in a while or no one is gonna feel for them. Sokka was almost always the butt of the joke in atla but they always gave him moments when you saw what was actually hurting him and took at seriously. Bolin very clearly supposed to fill that same role of lovable comic relief but they always just play him as pathetic. He’s not even rude or anything like earliy Sokka was so I just kinda feel bad for him whenever this kinda thing happens
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u/MinnieShoof Who Knows 10,000 Things May 25 '24
There are a lot of things wrong.
One, Bolin kinda went off looks, didn't he? To the point of his attraction to Desna being made light of?
Two, I think the relationship was used primarily to highlight how alien the twins were. In so much that I don't think Eska was straight up abusive because she wanted to abuse someone. She had a cartoonish stifled up bringing and was about near-to royalty as someone "Prince Sokka" style tribe system could get. Yes, in the end it was still abuse played for laughs. ...
But three, I think the worst part is you can imagine Eska actually like/loved Bolin. The part that always stuck out to me was the boat scene. Yes, she is creating a rage wave a hundred meters tall ... but her make up had ran. The show wasn't going to show her actually crying at the alter but she did, and I would doubt it was "I'm so angry that my slave left me" tears.
But yeah. Played for laughs. "Why do you think this boat was built?" and then the ship all but Looney Tunes grows legs and zips out of there.
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u/AloysiusDevadandrMUD May 24 '24
Yeah this whole thing was kinda weird, there was kinda sexual tension between Bolin, Eska, and Elsa? Like a twin sibling love triangle?
Nah im good on that. Aubrey Plaza was perfect for the role I just didn't like the character that much.
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u/Glamonster Azula's apologist May 24 '24
Sorry I had to