The power imbalance is really dramatic. It's not just a personality type she shares with Azula. She's also the daughter of an evil monarch, and since she is clearly used to getting her way, I bet she has had those resources, including the army, at her disposal for years. At the very least, he seems to turn a blind eye to her behavior. Which is another thing. Kids are not tabula rasa, and a bad person can have good parents, yes, I know, but when a parent has kids doing what Desna and Eska are doing, and has witnessed it and isn't making an effort to stop it, there's something way wrong with the parent. Korra should take note.
That power imbalance is also highlighted when Bolin needs some seriously expensive toys to get away from her at the end of episode four. That is scary bending, and the way she flips out when he leaves? Classic abusive behavior. The thing is, they ticked all the boxes, as you said if he had been a girl dating Desna, no one would have questioned that it was extremely abusive. The only way this works is if a male victim and a female abuser as a concept is seen as inherently funny.
Damn it, now I really need an episode of Republic City Law and Order SVU. *weird crossovers it never occurred to me to want before*
It never ceases to amaze me the way that a same gender romantic relationship is seen as adult content by the network (usually justified that it implies sex, or that sexual orientation implies sexual feelings) when relationships between a boy and a girl are not, even though that implies sexual feelings just as much as a same gender relationship does, and neither implies sex, thanks, unless the writers write it that way, like they did with Zuko and Mai and Sokka and Suki, or every time any married couple has a kid. And that's not even getting into the whole issue that would be poly on kids TV, or bisexuality, which is somehow even more risque than gay or lesbian characters.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-09-29 03:28 am (UTC)That power imbalance is also highlighted when Bolin needs some seriously expensive toys to get away from her at the end of episode four. That is scary bending, and the way she flips out when he leaves? Classic abusive behavior. The thing is, they ticked all the boxes, as you said if he had been a girl dating Desna, no one would have questioned that it was extremely abusive. The only way this works is if a male victim and a female abuser as a concept is seen as inherently funny.
Damn it, now I really need an episode of Republic City Law and Order SVU. *weird crossovers it never occurred to me to want before*
It never ceases to amaze me the way that a same gender romantic relationship is seen as adult content by the network (usually justified that it implies sex, or that sexual orientation implies sexual feelings) when relationships between a boy and a girl are not, even though that implies sexual feelings just as much as a same gender relationship does, and neither implies sex, thanks, unless the writers write it that way, like they did with Zuko and Mai and Sokka and Suki, or every time any married couple has a kid. And that's not even getting into the whole issue that would be poly on kids TV, or bisexuality, which is somehow even more risque than gay or lesbian characters.