You may recall a few weeks ago we ran a contest to coincide with our interview with The Legend of Korra‘s Janet Varney. Well, we thought we’d do a little catch up with our winner and talk a little about what the show means to the fans and the kind of impact it has had on us.
Chris Winters was our winner and he kindly agreed to answer my questions and give us some content!
JC: Tell us how you got into Avatar and The Legend of Korra.
CW: I initially watched Avatar: The Last Airbender with my sister as it aired. We loved the show and were sad to see it end. So when I heard in 2011 that the creators were making a new show, I was already interested. I watched the first season and loved it, but school took me away from it and toward the end of Book 3 I ended up seeing a gift set on Tumblr and thought it looked familiar. I marathoned the entire series and then watched Book 4 as it was released last year.
JC: Why do you think this show is so special?
CW: Legend of Korra is special to a lot of people, and to me, it’s special because of how realistic Korra’s battles were. I’m not referring to her fights with the bad guys, but really the internal battles are what make her such a complex and well established character. She deals with societal pressures, huge moral dilemmas, PTSD and depression. And the way she deals with them is confronting them, learning from her experiences and accepting what has happened to her in order to become stronger. The show is special because the characters are real and they’re relatable.
JC: How has the series inspired you? Personally, artistically, or anything aong those lines…
CW: At first, I wasn’t ‘inspired’ by the show in an artistic way, I really just liked looking at the art made by fans and discussing episodes and the show’s themes. However, (spoiler alert) that all changed when I watched the finale. As soon as I saw a Nickelodeon television show make Korrasami canon, I was inspired. This really hadn’t been done before in such a direct way, and when Bryke confirmed it, we all just lost our minds. This show has spawned thousands of pieces of art and brought to the light the idea of non-hetero and strong female protagonists and the representation and writing of deep, complex characters like Korra and Asami are extremely important to me.
In terms of art, some friends of mine who are amazing artists came up with an AU fan fiction idea and I decided to write it. It’s currently ongoing and called Neon Signs and Coffee Grinds.
JC: And who was your favourite character?
CW: My favorite character would have to be Mako. He was always a great character, especially the dorky version he became when he was arounds Korra and Asami in Book 3, but mostly it was the last line he had in the series. “I’ll follow you into battle no matter how crazy things get. I got your back, and I always will.” This meant a lot to me, it transcended all the weird hate the fans had for Mako and Korra’s relationship and showed a very deep and platonic love between two people. Not to mention his noble sacrifice in the giant mech at the end: it was truly awesome.
Thanks again to Chris Winters. We are sure Janet will enjoy reading your feedback!
