But, she smiled and said, “That’s so cool,” and so I smiled and replied, “Yes, it is,” which gave me a bit more faith in this upcoming generation than I might have had before this little interaction, which is great. I said I did, and was bracing myself to hear her possibly say something negative about this, since the attitude toward homosexuality in my building isn't always as positive as I would like it to be. This recently came to my attention when one of my students (I also teach) actually saw The Legend of Korra art book I keep at the front of my classroom for students to leaf through, and she said, "I just started watching that show on Netflix. Here's something I never thought of before until quite recently, but today's generation might go into watching The Legend of Korra for the first time with prior knowledge that Korra is gay, and I think that's huge. (Image credit: Nickelodeon Animation Studio) Kids Today Who Watch The Show Might Already Know About Korrasami, So They Might Potentially Watch The Show For The First Time With That Insight In Mind Either way, what does matter is the ending that we got, since the creators really didn't have to go that route, but they did anyway. So, maybe the creators would have done things differently if the show ended today, or, maybe they wouldn't have. But I think it made sense the way it played out, and I’m just so happy that they continued with the graphic novel to tell the story that Korra and Asami had together. That’s more a question for Mike and Bryan. I don’t know if things would have been that different if the finale was ending tomorrow. In fact, when I interviewed Janet Varney, who voiced Korra, she had this to say about Korrasami today:
In this way, the showrunners allowed Korra to feel out where her attractions lied, allowing the viewer to go along with her on this journey of self-discovery until she realized that she was attracted to a woman.įor all the people who say that maybe things could have been clearer between Korra and Asami's relationship if the show had been made today (and I have genuinely seen people say this), we don't necessarily know if that's true or not. Don’t forget, throughout the series, Korra was actually discovering for herself whom she was attracted to, as she tried out a relationship with Mako that just didn’t work. Such a lack of awareness of this most common type of rape may cause both perpetrators and victims of such rape to minimize the criminal nature of such behavior.(Image credit: Nickelodeon Animation Studio) It Was Groundbreaking At The Time For A Nickelodeon Cartoon To Actually Have A Gay Couple, Even If It Was Just At The EndĪlso, I still applaud the creators for even having the courage to make certain that Korra and Asami became a couple at the end of the show. This one-dimensional depiction of rape may help to perpetuate the public's lack of awareness of sexual abuse and rape committed by "normal" males in the context of coercive dating or acquaintance relationships. The films also attested to the inadequacy of criminal courts in dealing with rape. The films clearly depicted these rapes as wrong and deserving of punishment for the offender. Rape in these movies was committed by sadistic, disturbed, lower class individuals who prey on children and the vulnerable. The movies in 1996 presented a monolithic depiction of rape.
Interrater reliability was high, ranging from 85 percent agreement for whether the movie was directed at a male or female audience to alpha =.98 for the occurrence of rape. If the sex scene was classified as a rape, several other variables were measured, including time of occurrence, type of rape, and whether the offender was punished for the crime. For individual sex scenes, coders identified the type of sex that was occurring (heterosexual or homosexual, consensual or rape), who initiated the act, the use of birth control, and the use of drugs and/or alcohol. For each movie, coders identified the genre of the film, the type of audience to which the film was directed, and whether the movie contained any sex scenes. Training for each coder consisted of an introduction to the survey instrument, including definitions of sex and rape, and watching sample movies collectively and discussing the results. Each of the 50 films was watched by 3 individual coders.