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beccastareyesSo, um… thoughts! About Legend of Korra!
After Episode 6, I totally think Tarluk either has more intelligence than he's letting on about Amon, or he and Amon have a 'we'll work together until one of us backstabs the other' relationship. Both can use an obvious enemy to gain power and to neutralize any other threats on 'their side'. (Alternate idea: Tarluk is Amon and he's co-opted the legitimate grievances non-benders have with benders to eliminate any and all political rivals.)
But, anyway, the entire council scene read as if Tarluk knew Chief Beifong would bust in and be all 'We can't give in to terrorists', so he could side with Tenzin at first, then change sides, seemingly at Lin's reasoning, while getting her to pretty much stake her reputation on blocking Amon. Then, when Amon kicks the polices' collective asses, Chief Beifong is disgraced and probably gets blamed for lapsing in security and Tarluk, who is already heading up the Anti-Equalist Task Force and is buddy-buddy with the Avatar, can swoop in and gain her influence.
(I also think the ref was a secret Equalist. After all, unlike the announcer, he wasn't shocked. And after being that obviously crooked, he'd be unlikely to get another job officiating pro-bending. Presumably this was more blatant than the Wolfbats's normal foul play, since no one else mentioned that they play dirty on the field, just that they were trying to provoke Korra into disqualifying herself. So they bribe the ref, the ref doesn't even bother to call the game fair, and Amon has an example of how benders are bullies to point to when he takes their bending... while, if the Fire Ferrets had won, or the Wolfbats had won fairly, it would look more like attacking beloved athletes than professional bullies. So far, Amon has been picking his targets carefully as to people who would draw little sympathy -- even Bolin was presented as a gang thug rather than a kid in the wrong place. Amon even tells Korra that he won't touch her yet because she'd just be a martyr. I even could argue that Chief Beifong would have been safe had she boarded Amon's (stolen) airship, since people might look the other way at tasing the police for a little vigilante justice, but not assaulting an officer doing her job.
Speaking of, do the other three councilmembers ever do anything besides rubber-stamp Tarluk? Also, are they benders or not; IIRC, Nick's website said they were. If that's the case... well, I can see why people would be upset at the government if they can't find one non-bender to sit on the ruling body of the city. It's not like one can argue that bending is necessary for politics. Tenzin might be locked in as the only adult Air Nomad (though he does seem to have adopted students in the crowd scenes at Air Temple Island), but the other four seem to be open to anyone. One wonders why some of the city's elite, like Hiroshi Sato, aren't trying for a chair.
Similarly, the lower classes are portrayed as being at the victim of organized crime run by lower-class benders, and lower-class kids like Mako and Bolin are courted by the various triads as a way out of poverty. So, the bender-versus-non-bender thing seems to be real, but there's also plenty of income inequality as well. Which... well, the 1920s (the period in which Korra draws from) was a period of great inequality of income (then the Great Depression happened). It's probably not a coincidence that fascism and communism both came out of these eras -- the poor were unhappy and wanted something to fix the problems. Anti-bending seems to be a bit in between those two historical movements; on the one hand, the inequality seems to be real. On the other hand, eliminating benders won't solve the problem that there are few rich people and many poor people; merely mean that the factories have to buy welding equipment rather than hire firebenders preferentially. OTOH, so far most of the anti-bending rhetoric seems centered on bending criminals and bending elite, not 'they are taking our jobs'.
Also, it would fit well with the season's theme. Korra indicates that the reason she's scared shitless of Amon is that bending is central to her identity. She's not sure what she'd be if she's not a bender. (Even her identity as Avatar is tied to that -- unlike Aang, who I gather saw his Avatar duties as being the one from all nations and none and had to embrace the fact he would have to fight, rather than negotiate.) So recognizing that there is this power differential and that there are other cool things besides bending would fit with Korra's personal growth and also help gray up things with the Equalists. (Also, as Korra showed with the demonstrator, she's kind of a thug and learning how to do Avatar things that aren't 'master all four elements' would be hella useful and show her that being Avatar isn't just about being the Bender of All Elements, but about being the one who balances the world.)
--
In other news, I'm not too fond of the love triangles presented here. For one, currently Asami Sato has no development beyond 'pretty, rich, relatively sweet, likes motorcycles, pro-bending and Mako, and is Daddy's Little Girl because she has a dead mom'. Which makes her seem entirely like she exists to fund the Fire Ferrets and make Korra jealous. I'd like her to have some screentime without Mako and get some complexity. Hell, I'd like her and Korra to make friends.
Also, my personal headcanon for how Tenzin broke up with Lin and ended up with Pemma:
Tenzin: ... This relationship isn't really working out, but I don't want to have a giant blame-throwing argument with Lin when we break up. And then our families will get involved. This is a mess.
Lin: This relationship isn't really working out, but I can make it work by sheer stubbornness. Nothing defeats Lin Beifong, not even love!
Pemma: Hi, Tenzin, I kind of have a crush on you. I know you're with Lin, but I wanted to let you know that.
Tenzin: [pause] Thank you, Pemma. Lin, we both know this isn't working, and I think it's best if we see other people.
Lin: Tenzin, you coward, if you wanted to break up with me, don't use Pemma as an excuse!
Tenzin: You're the one who is too stubborn to know when to quit!
Pemma: I'll just be over here, out of range of any rocks.
(TL;DR) Tenzin/Pemma versus Tenzin/Lin is less a love triangle in my head than Massive Personality Conflict perhaps aided by 'our parents are friends and we've known each other since we were kids'. If Pemma hadn't come along, it would have ended about the same way.
After Episode 6, I totally think Tarluk either has more intelligence than he's letting on about Amon, or he and Amon have a 'we'll work together until one of us backstabs the other' relationship. Both can use an obvious enemy to gain power and to neutralize any other threats on 'their side'. (Alternate idea: Tarluk is Amon and he's co-opted the legitimate grievances non-benders have with benders to eliminate any and all political rivals.)
But, anyway, the entire council scene read as if Tarluk knew Chief Beifong would bust in and be all 'We can't give in to terrorists', so he could side with Tenzin at first, then change sides, seemingly at Lin's reasoning, while getting her to pretty much stake her reputation on blocking Amon. Then, when Amon kicks the polices' collective asses, Chief Beifong is disgraced and probably gets blamed for lapsing in security and Tarluk, who is already heading up the Anti-Equalist Task Force and is buddy-buddy with the Avatar, can swoop in and gain her influence.
(I also think the ref was a secret Equalist. After all, unlike the announcer, he wasn't shocked. And after being that obviously crooked, he'd be unlikely to get another job officiating pro-bending. Presumably this was more blatant than the Wolfbats's normal foul play, since no one else mentioned that they play dirty on the field, just that they were trying to provoke Korra into disqualifying herself. So they bribe the ref, the ref doesn't even bother to call the game fair, and Amon has an example of how benders are bullies to point to when he takes their bending... while, if the Fire Ferrets had won, or the Wolfbats had won fairly, it would look more like attacking beloved athletes than professional bullies. So far, Amon has been picking his targets carefully as to people who would draw little sympathy -- even Bolin was presented as a gang thug rather than a kid in the wrong place. Amon even tells Korra that he won't touch her yet because she'd just be a martyr. I even could argue that Chief Beifong would have been safe had she boarded Amon's (stolen) airship, since people might look the other way at tasing the police for a little vigilante justice, but not assaulting an officer doing her job.
Speaking of, do the other three councilmembers ever do anything besides rubber-stamp Tarluk? Also, are they benders or not; IIRC, Nick's website said they were. If that's the case... well, I can see why people would be upset at the government if they can't find one non-bender to sit on the ruling body of the city. It's not like one can argue that bending is necessary for politics. Tenzin might be locked in as the only adult Air Nomad (though he does seem to have adopted students in the crowd scenes at Air Temple Island), but the other four seem to be open to anyone. One wonders why some of the city's elite, like Hiroshi Sato, aren't trying for a chair.
Similarly, the lower classes are portrayed as being at the victim of organized crime run by lower-class benders, and lower-class kids like Mako and Bolin are courted by the various triads as a way out of poverty. So, the bender-versus-non-bender thing seems to be real, but there's also plenty of income inequality as well. Which... well, the 1920s (the period in which Korra draws from) was a period of great inequality of income (then the Great Depression happened). It's probably not a coincidence that fascism and communism both came out of these eras -- the poor were unhappy and wanted something to fix the problems. Anti-bending seems to be a bit in between those two historical movements; on the one hand, the inequality seems to be real. On the other hand, eliminating benders won't solve the problem that there are few rich people and many poor people; merely mean that the factories have to buy welding equipment rather than hire firebenders preferentially. OTOH, so far most of the anti-bending rhetoric seems centered on bending criminals and bending elite, not 'they are taking our jobs'.
Also, it would fit well with the season's theme. Korra indicates that the reason she's scared shitless of Amon is that bending is central to her identity. She's not sure what she'd be if she's not a bender. (Even her identity as Avatar is tied to that -- unlike Aang, who I gather saw his Avatar duties as being the one from all nations and none and had to embrace the fact he would have to fight, rather than negotiate.) So recognizing that there is this power differential and that there are other cool things besides bending would fit with Korra's personal growth and also help gray up things with the Equalists. (Also, as Korra showed with the demonstrator, she's kind of a thug and learning how to do Avatar things that aren't 'master all four elements' would be hella useful and show her that being Avatar isn't just about being the Bender of All Elements, but about being the one who balances the world.)
--
In other news, I'm not too fond of the love triangles presented here. For one, currently Asami Sato has no development beyond 'pretty, rich, relatively sweet, likes motorcycles, pro-bending and Mako, and is Daddy's Little Girl because she has a dead mom'. Which makes her seem entirely like she exists to fund the Fire Ferrets and make Korra jealous. I'd like her to have some screentime without Mako and get some complexity. Hell, I'd like her and Korra to make friends.
Also, my personal headcanon for how Tenzin broke up with Lin and ended up with Pemma:
Tenzin: ... This relationship isn't really working out, but I don't want to have a giant blame-throwing argument with Lin when we break up. And then our families will get involved. This is a mess.
Lin: This relationship isn't really working out, but I can make it work by sheer stubbornness. Nothing defeats Lin Beifong, not even love!
Pemma: Hi, Tenzin, I kind of have a crush on you. I know you're with Lin, but I wanted to let you know that.
Tenzin: [pause] Thank you, Pemma. Lin, we both know this isn't working, and I think it's best if we see other people.
Lin: Tenzin, you coward, if you wanted to break up with me, don't use Pemma as an excuse!
Tenzin: You're the one who is too stubborn to know when to quit!
Pemma: I'll just be over here, out of range of any rocks.
(TL;DR) Tenzin/Pemma versus Tenzin/Lin is less a love triangle in my head than Massive Personality Conflict perhaps aided by 'our parents are friends and we've known each other since we were kids'. If Pemma hadn't come along, it would have ended about the same way.
