Kay and Skittles: The Politics of the Legend of Korra (Patreon)

It might surprise no one that I'm not a big fan of Western portrayals of Asian culture. For some, that's a pat on the back from American paternalism and whiteness, but I prefer stuff directly from Asia. From my social media, it's no secret I read a lot of wuxia and murim Webtoons, which I prefer over something like Nickelodian's orientalist wuxia franchise, Avatar.

Wuxia is a genre of martial arts fiction that originated in China, and it still is mainly China and now Korea that popularize it. The term itself is a Chinese term for "martial arts heroes." Yet even in Korean wuxia, which is called murim, the stories still take place in China. Yet, despite using China and its storytelling tradition and martial arts, Avatar isn't paying homage but instead uses Chinese imagery as the symbol of evil for Western audiences. Imagine two white American men, like the creators of Avatar, appropriating your storytelling tradition to insult you. A cut followed by salt. It's not an allegory of European colonizers in Asia, but to quote Avatar Korra, "You're oppressing yourself!"

I've shared my problems with this franchise before. I've previously posted how:

The Avatar franchise was doing the same heavy-handed liberal-centrist political messaging before much of the MCU. Give all the good points to the baddies so the storyline can say, "Oh, that sounds nice, but in practice, whoever actually tries equality becomes a homicidal killer." It couldn't be more explicit—Equalists vs. Republic City. Then the actual good guys kids and adult fans cheer for do everything they can to suppress the baddies, and then at the end, are like, "They had a point, but reform is the way." In Avatar, neoliberalism, reformism, and Christian moralism become some orientalist: "It's just like yin-yang, man..."

After the above post, Angel, the former co-host of SDS9, sent me "The Politics of the Legend of Korra" by Kay and Skittles. Now, I am sharing these videos with you. They're several years old but hit extra hard after the genocide of Palestine and the liberal support of fascism.

• Part 2: Colonization
• Part 3: Anarchy
• Part 4: Nationalism

Avatar memes are still popular. Imagine thinking orientalist memes will combat orientalism. Imagine using orientalism to criticize the West. When the West is fascistic and imperialist, it's saying, "You're acting too Asian," which is especially tragic when the victims are West Asians. Edward Said, the Palestinian academic who popularized the study of orientalism, would have some thoughts.

[These posts were supposed to be about Israel. So why use orientalist depictions to criticize the West's fascism of the "Orient"? How often does colonial media for young people make whiteness and European colonization the ideological "authoritarian" baddie? Orientalism is all young people in coloniality got, and it's still safe and draws little to no backlash. In fact, people might see it as a win for representation. Look how popular these posts were. Imagine it getting this much traction among progressives if it was any other depiction than orientalist. No one notices the irony despite the study of orientalism initially being about Palestine.]

Western media enjoyers need to be like Leftist sports fans—enjoy whatever you enjoy but still be critical as fuck about it. Also, recognize orientalism when you see it and avoid spreading it.

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