Hey everyone!
Today, we’re talking about the one TV show that absolutely, 100% turned me into one of The Gays.
I was just straighting along. Straight as could be.
Until this show just fucking lesbianed me right in face.
This show is the Legend of Korra.
Now obviously, Korra didn’t actually turn me gay, that’s not how that works.
It just made me realize I’m gay because that wasn’t something I had figured out
about myself yet.
And obviously, huge spoiler alert for all four seasons of the Legend of Korra.
If you haven’t watched it yet, go watch it before you watch this.
Or don’t, and be spoiled, it’s really up to you.
But we’re gonna be talking about a lot of stuff that happens at the end of season 4,
the last season, so you’ve been warned.
And if this format seems familiar it’s because Marinashutup did this exact video over a year
ago, but for several TV shows that made her realize she’s bi.
I’ll link that in the description and you should go watch it cause it’s really good.
And let me know if there’s any more of her videos from 2017 that I should copy.
But anyway, let’s talk about the Legend of Korra.
So I’m gonna basically paint you a picture here of where I was at in my life when the
season finale for the Legend of Korra was airing.
The year was 20 aught 14 -- okay that’s about as long as I can do that voice.
Ah, this video’s going great so far.
So, it was December 2014.
I was pretty deep into questioning my gender but I was really unsure about a lot of things
and hadn’t come out to anyone yet, or even really myself I don’t think.
But I loved Avatar: The Last Airbender, and now that Legend of Korra out, I was loving that too.
And the finale was set to air on December 19th.
It had been a really weird year for Korra, because it originally aired on Nickelodeon,
but then season three was taken off TV and was only available by streaming it on Nickelodeon’s website.
But then, part-way into season 4, I think, they announced that the last few episodes
would be on TV again.
It was weird and who knows what the fuck was happening behind the scenes.
But at the time a lot of folks were Korrasami shippers, meaning that we wanted Korra and
Asami to end up together, and the move online seemed kinda like they were going to do that,
but they just didn’t wanna show gays on TV.
So when it came back for the finale, we were like, “What does this mean?”
And at the time, I was in college but I was back home for Christmas break, and I remember
being in the living room and I was like ready and waiting for the finale to air.
I was so excited.
I really thought Korrasami was going to happen because the show had been really hinting at it.
Korra and Asami had grown really close.
When Korra was injured at the end of season 3, she left Republic City and went to recover
at the South Pole.
In that time, we see that all her friends wrote letters to her, but she only wrote back to Asami.
She even said that it was easier to talk to her than any of the others.
Then later when they meet up in person, Asami compliments Korra’s hair and she blushes.
All of this stuff, if it was done between a man and a woman, would be read by everyone
as being romantic.
Like in a TV show with straight people, all that has to happen for there to be hints at
a romance is for like a single guy and a single girl of the same age to be in the same room
and look at each other.
Meanwhile, Korra is confiding in Asami and a way she can’t confide in any of her friends
and blushes when she compliments her.
Like, the build-up was definitely there, even though later a lot of people would try to
claim that it wasn’t.
I think that was really just because they didn’t want to see it, and they were watching
Korra through a heteronormative lens.
But anyway, so, all this has been building up.
Me and lots of people are in the internet are hoping so badly for a Korrasami ending
because nothing has been confirmed yet.
There was also a decent section of the internet that was rooting for her to get back with Mako.
And so the finale starts, and I’m at home watching it, clutching a blanket to my chest
and just freaking out at every new scene.
It was a really good episode.
But towards the end, Korra goes to talk to Mako.
And I was like oh my god what if she says she likes him here and they have a whole thing!
Oh no!
But then, there chat goes over just as good friends.
And I was like oh my god.
Are they really gonna do it?
Is this really gonna be Korrasami?
And so then Asami comes over to talk to Korra, and my heart was beating out of my fucking chest.
I was like squeezing the shit out of my blanket or pillow or something.
And they don’t say like “I love you” or anything but they talk about how much they
mean to each other and look all emotional, and then decide to take a vacation to the
Spirit World together.
And so the final, iconic shot of the show is them walking up to the Spirit Portal holding
hands, and then they turn and look into each other’s eyes.
And as they just barely start to lean forward, the camera looks above them and says The End.
And at that moment I think I actually screamed.
I was like oh my god they did it!
They didn’t kiss, but they were clearly together!
Everything about that scene would lead the viewer to believe that they’re starting
a relationship now.
And I was just over the moon.
Of course, online, people were still debating it.
Some folks said it was ambiguous, but it really wasn't.
At the end of the Last Airbender, it ends with Aang kissing Katara and the camera looking
up and seeing The End.
It was the exact same framing, I learned later that the music that played was even similar
to the final song from the Last Airbender.
It mirrored Aang and Katara’s kiss exactly, except that Korra and Asami just held hands
and looked at each other lovingly instead of kissing.
And a few days later, the creators of the show officially stated that Korra and Asami
were bi and fell in love by the end of the show.
They said that they approached the network about having Korra and Asami be in a relationship,
and the network said that was okay but that they had boundaries.
And I’m guessing one of those boundaries was that they couldn’t kiss.
And I mean, this is coming from the network that almost didn’t do Korra at all because
they didn’t want the next Avatar to be a girl.
So we’ll never know fully what happened behind the scenes, but I really think the
creators were pushing the boundaries a little bit more than the network was comfortable
with, and what we saw on air was a compromise.
And like, that sucks.
Aang and Katara were allowed to kiss; Korra and Asami should’ve been allowed to as well.
But at the end of the day, Korrasami is still canon.
It was still one of the first queer relationships to appear in a children’s cartoon.
The representation wasn’t perfect.
It could’ve been better.
But it was there.
And that’s more than I can say for the vast majority of other kids’ shows.
And since then, Korra and Asami’s story has been continued in a series of comics,
In fact, I have them right here. They're called Turf Wars. Turf with a U.
And I won't say much about the comics cause I don’t want to spoil them, but they full on address
their relationship in there and it’s amazing.
So I think that the Legend of Korra was kind of the final straw in a pile of things that
were leading me to believe that I might be gay.
The finale just came out at the perfect time for me, personally, with where I was in my life.
It was exactly what I needed at that time, and now it will always hold a special place
in my heart.
After getting so excited over these queer girls, I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell
that I was straight.
Because I saw myself in these characters and wanted to be just like them.
And so this show just really confirmed some stuff for me that I had been questioning for a while.
Because at the time, I was still foolishly thinking that I might’ve been a guy.
Neither Korra nor Asami were canonically trans, but they helped me realize my transness anyway.
Because I know a lot of trans girls see themselves in straight romances, they just picture themself
as the girl in the relationship.
But that never worked for me because those romances never felt right at all.
I didn’t want to be the guy or the girl.
And so when Korrasami happened I was like, “Oh, I do want to be the girl, I just want
the other person to also be a girl.”
And that was like the last piece of the puzzle that clicked into place.
I was queer.
In gender and in sexuality.
And it was such a relief to realize that.
And so I came out to my friends and family not that much later, in like early 2015.
So in many ways, Korra helped me realize who I am and helped put me on a track that would
lead to me having such a happy and fulfilled life.
I may have gotten here eventually anyway, but I’m really glad that Korra helped me
get here a little quicker.
And now, I have a lovely girlfriend, and I just made her watch all of the Last Airbender
with me, and so our next task is watching all of the Legend of Korra together.
And I guarantee that I am gonna cry so much.
But I’m really excited to rewatch what is probably my favorite show all of time.
And it just means so much to me to watch it so many years later with my girlfriend.
I’ve come so far, and it’s thanks in part to this show.
So that’s all I had for you today.
If you’re queer too, let me know in the comments what shows helped you realize that.
And if you liked this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up and share it on whatever social
media you feel like.
You can also help me make more videos like this one by supporting me on Patreon.
I’m really trying to do more with this channel and dedicate more time to it, so it would
help me out so much if you could support me on Patreon.
I'm just trying to make a living here and pay my bills, and I need your help to do that.
So you can click over here to visit my Patreon, or you can click up here to subscribe to this channel.
Thanks so much for watching, and I’ll see you next time.