Meta: Why Korrasami Works (oh who am I kidding, this is a shipping manifesto)

A part of me can't believe I'm doing this, but it would seem I still haven't run out of things to say about Korrasami – not by a long shot.

It's been over two months now since Korra and Asami walked off into the proverbial sunset together, and there's been feedback from all quarters. Although I've been hanging out in circles where giddy euphoria is the norm, there have been other reactions too, and the negative responses seem to come down to one of three things (though there's likely some overlap between them).

There's the homophobic stance, and unfortunately I've seen at least one vile rant directed at Mike and Bryan for their decision to make Korra/Asami an official couple (I'm not going to provide a link; it doesn't deserve to be seen and I'm sorry I saw it at all).

Then there's the Mako/Korra shippers, many of whom are feeling dejected enough to construct their own alternative endings that suggest a post-show Makorra hook-up. The erasure of a same-sex couple is grating, but for the most part the ongoing arguments over shipping preferences is not a battle I'm willing to get too embroiled in (especially when canon is on my side). Ship and let ship, people.

But among other detractors of the Korrasami ship, there seems to be a fixation on the idea that their relationship wasn't built up enough. That it came out of left-field. That there was no foreshadowing; that it was shoehorned in – you get the drift. The Avatar.Spirit forum is flooded with posters holding this opinion, and in the wake of the finale I was witness to a rather extraordinary debate on Fandom Secrets in which a poster devoted a lot of time and energy into insisting that Korrasami was badly written and that everyone who liked it was stupid.

There's an articulate reviewer that I used to follow regularly (before the overwhelming negativity of his reviews became too tedious) who also took the stance that the confirmation of Korra/Asami as a couple had no resonance because of the lack of build-up in their relationship. (Again, I'm not going to link to his site as I'm not interested in dogpiling). Everywhere you look it seems that the go-to excuse for not liking Korrasami is "not enough build-up".

But my response to the "no build-up" line of reasoning is that I don't have enough hands with which to face-palm.

Obviously everyone is going to have a different response to every story under the sun, but I thought Korrasami was handled beautifully, so much so that it's worth defending against those that think otherwise.

So yes, it would appear that for the first time in my life, I'm writing a shipper manifesto. I'm even using portmanteau names, so help me.

Link Roundup: Korrasami

It's been over a week now since the finale of The Legend of Korra aired, and the tributes, metas and articles are still coming in thick and fast. Most of them focus on those last three minutes, but there's been an outpouring of love and appreciation for the series as a whole. Here are some of my favourite links:

First of all, confirmation of Korrasami as an Official Couple from Bryan Konietzko and Mike di Martino.

This compilation of reaction videos, which actually made me more teary than the episode itself!

The ones worth watching in their entirety are from Seanimenet (you can tell he knows something is about to happen, but he can't quite figure out what) and from Kristronuovo (shipper joy personified).

This fantastic run-down (pre-confirmation) of how the final three minutes of the show were structured, comparing it to the ordering of final bows on the stage (the least important cast members go first, the most important go last), and what it says about how Korrasami was telegraphed.

An adorable comic that shows Varrick's side of his "hang-gliding off the tower" idea.

A woman with a gay son shares her feelings over the finale and what it means to her family.

The Vanity Fair article which talks about the subversive and progressive elements of the show (not the official VF website, but for some reason it's not loading for me).

The AV Club review, which concentrates on the feminist themes of the show in its entirety.

The Mary Sue comments on both the Korrasami endgame and the Korra's relationships with women.

I09 has a hilarious and poignant recap/commentary of the final episode.

About a month (maybe two) before the finale aired, a couple of Korrasami-themed secrets (here and here) popped up on Fandom Secrets. Let's all take a moment to appreciate the delicious, delicious irony in the comments. Warning: the second one gets a little wanky, but it's worth it for the snotty comments that insist Korrasami is never going to happen.

Which also gives me the perfect excuse to pop out my favourite GIF!

"They said it would never happen!"

A TV tropes review called "In Defence of Korrasami" is worth a quick read. Unfortunately the comments inevitably spiral into wank, but the initial review captures my personal views on why the ship works so perfectly and why the myriad of excuses for calling it "out of left field" or "pandering" are complete bullshit.

This adorable Korrasami video.

This fan-art (safe for work). And this one (also safe).

A retrospective of the entire series.

Another pre-confirmation meta that lists evidence for Korrasami, and points out some details that I had missed.

Tor rips apart the "just fan pandering" nonsense right here.

This great meta on why Korra apologises to Asami for her absence, and not Mako/Bolin.

For reasons that are beyond me, I delved into the comments section of the Internet Movie Database, but amidst the homophobia and other related garbage, there was this rather lovely comment (which I'll repost here, as I won't blame you if you want to avoid IMDB):

I feel the way Korra and Asami interacted in episode seven made it very clear that they liked each other and felt some tension, with Korra blushing at Asami's compliment and Asami acting somewhat angry she had been gone for so long. It had been two years. Feelings for people can boil up even in time they're apart. Korra felt she could trust Asami with her fiery emotions when she was out of control, and it was clear to me in season three that Asami cared for Korra. In episode seven, there was not a single question in my mind that at least Korra liked Asami that way. I just didn't know if anything was going to come of it. It was subtle, while I actually perceive the three pairings you mention as a bit overdone/overemphasized.

As for the final scene itself, the way I see it is it's not a blatant thing, and that's half the beauty of it. Neither of them confesses love. It's kind of a sneaky, sudden, somewhat crazy situation where Korra's just like, "Hey, what if I ask her on vacation alone, just the two of us?" If you are interested in a same-sex friend and neither of you has made explicit potential sexual interest in the same gender, this is exactly the sort of way it goes down in real life--at least that's my opinion. So I thought it was really cute that both of them, probably a bit nervous, feelings somewhat apparent but completely unconfirmed, were heading into the spiritual world together, probably hoping to move into being more than friends sometime during their vacation.

Had the two of them made interest more clear, I feel these last few moments of the show would have robbed of their passion and beauty. Love can move impetuously, in jolts and sudden accelerations. This development suits Korra's personality well. That Korra and Asami's metaphorical dance was quick and timid, in my opinion, was much more charming than any long, lovelorn gazes at the moon or bold declarations of love. To me, it was a humble and ironically unambitious pairing. And I know I could get a lot of flack for saying this, but personally it was the most realistic romance for me in either series.

Ditto.