The Legend of Korra: Antagonists, Anomie and Authority

 The Legend of Korra  an animated continuation of the very popular animated series Avatar: the last Airbender, tackled more adult themes than the previous series and grappled with greater and more complex social commentary with the inclusion of “anarchic” and totalitarian groups in the show’s final two seasons. Each of these groups in their own way embody different sociological ideas of Durkheimian anomic structures, Weberian authority and the formation of social revolutions.

BACKGROUND 

Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel series The Legend of Korra is set in an ancient world heavily influenced by Chinese Mythology.  In this world the earth is divided into four different nation based upon the four natural elements (water, earth, fire and air). There is the Northern and Southern Water tribes, The Earth Kingdoms of Ba Singh Se and Omashu, The Fire Nation and The Air Nomads.  Each of these nations have a culture and rituals that is influenced by their totemic element. Additionally, some members of these nations are often born with the ability to manipulate their respective element. This behavior is called "bending".

        The titular "Avatar" is a single person in the whole world who can "bend" and master all four elements. Having a life cycle of 170 years, the Avatar acts as a spiritual leader, guide and general force for peace in the world (i.e. The Dali Lama). At the end of an Avatar's life they are reincarnated into the next nation in the “Avatar Cycle" (see above).This not only allows the Avatar to live on throughout history, the cycle of reincarnation allows the Avatar the ability to tap into the power of all her/his past lives at a single moment. This is called "The Avatar State".  

The show The Legend of Korra picks up 70 years after the end of the Airbender series with the training of the next Avatar in the cycle, a female water-bender named Korra. During the shows first two seasons there were questions about identity, and the use of identity politics to divide people. The second season balances out the Avatar’s role in the world as a bridge between the human and the spirit world. Just as in the first season where Korra quelled the tensions between benders (people who could manipulate the elements) and non-benders and then opened up the world to a greater spiritual change[1] by keeping the spirit portals open (after her battle with Unalaq and Vaatu) which allowed a chance for spirits and people to live together in harmony. Unfortunately, this action also directly lead to the unintentional release of dangerous criminals and their zealous leader, who in season three, creates such a disruption that it paves the way for a military dictatorship to take hold in its fourth and final season. Thus, it is the development and portrayal of the “villains/antagonists of The Legend of Korra that provides a lucrative allegory for social revolution.    

THE READ LOTUS: ANARCHY OR ANOMIE

 In the show’s opening we learn that Korra has been isolated from the world by a once secret society called “The Order of the White Lotus”. Originally, The Order of the White Lotus was a collection of fan favorite old masters in the original series who, by series end, had revealed themselves. In the finale, the order helped the previous avatar, Avatar Aang, in defeating Firelord Ozai and ending the 100 years’ war. Since that time, The White Lotus came out of hiding and openly supported the Avatar and when he was reincarnated into Korra, they were instrumental in her training and protection. It wasn’t until season three that we learn that there were some in the order that did not agree with the overall decision to expose themselves to the world. This division eventually led to the creation of a splinter group that called themselves “The Red Lotus”

The original leader of The Red Lotus was a White Lotus member by the name of Xai Bau. The original intention of the Red Lotus was to create balance between humans and spirits. To achieve that end, prior to the beginning of Korra, The Red Lotus attempted to kidnap Korra when she was a baby with the supposed intention to train her with each member of the Red Lotus being her masters and get her to release the dark spirit Vaatu [2] Having failed in this attempt, four members of the Red Lotus were captured and detained in specialized prisons for 13 years. During the time between seasons 2 and 3 the leader of this group Zaheer able to unlock air-bending abilities due to the energy released during harmonic convergence. Once he frees himself and his compatriots he sets in motion a plan to dismantle the four nations by assassination and ending the “Avatar Cycle” by murdering the Avatar while in the Avatar State.

 “The idea of having nations and governments is as foolish as keeping the human and spirit realms separate.”- Zaheer

Many who have analyzed the actions of The Red Lotus during the events of season three are often quick to label this group not only as terrorists[3] but as anarchists. While this is technically true, The Red Lotus does seek a world without the systematic structure of various types of authority (the aforementioned four elemental nations’ governments and the Avatar); the show, and additional reading material available, often implies the term “chaos” to summarize the desires of the order.

Sociologically speaking, this is a conflation of terms between anarchy and Durkheim’s idea of anomie. The disorder that is created from a toppling of governments through the assassination of world leaders and religious icons does fit into the basic definition of anarchy. However, the description of that disorder as “chaos” does not fit. This is because, as Durkheim points out in his seminal text The Division of Labor in Society,  the lack of governments (and order) does not create complete chaos because there are still the unwritten social rules and norms that we learn, through the process of socialization, to abide by. Through this social learning process, we guide individuals into internalizing certain moral values and behaviors that make a society/social order possible. Therefore, it is feasible (and supported through historical evidence) that societies and its people can survive the death of authorities, ruling classes, and many other various changes to different social structures.  Yet, if the social norms were to also be disrupted, and there was no socially agreed upon set of rules/ behaviors along with no structure to help keep the peace; then that would be anomie. Anomie is a period of normlessness within a society causing a lack of social norms to governing behavior; thereby devolving into “chaos”. Since this is not their intention, they are not chaotic, but they are still anarchistic.

KUVIRA: WEBERIAN DICTATORSHIP

            It is through the uncertainty created by The Read Lotus in both the successful and attempted assassinations of political and religious leaders (the earth queen and Korra respectively) that allowed for the rise of an imperial dictatorship during the 3 year gap between Korra’s third and fourth seasons. During that time, Kuvira, an officer in the metal-bending army of Zao Fu was charged by the Republic City council to stabilize the Earth Kingdom from bandits and oversee the distribution of resources until a new ruler can be elected. However, throughout the season we quickly learn that rather than keep the peace, Kuvira has usurped power by strong arming independent states in order to unify the Earth Kingdom under her own solitary rule. The major conflict arises when Kuvira sets her sights on her home of Zao Fu and the Independent Republic City[4] which she views as occupied Earth Kingdom territory.

            Kuvira’s actions can be viewed sociologically through the work of Max Weber, particularly his work titled Economy and Society in which Weber discussed the issues of authorities. Weber points out that a certain type of authority will develop into a specific type of social structure. In the text, Weber outlines three types of authority that will develop into three different social structures.

Those three types of Authority are:

•  Traditional Authority that is derived from bloodline, birth order or religion
• Charismatic Authority that is derived from the power given to a particular person due to their ability to manipulate the populace and get them to relinquish their power
• Bureaucratic/ Rational a type of authority that treats everyone the same (usually as mindless drones) and gives people access to power (even though that access is usually through some labyrinthine complex process more meant to confuse than help.

Traditional types of authority will lead to the development of a monarchy whereas a bureaucratic rational authority will lead to a bureaucracy. In line with these types, Kuvira in season four is identified as a Charismatic leader that, according to Weber, will create a dictatorship. In fact, many of her actions, organizations, and methods of control are modeled after several types of historic and contemporary dictatorships[5] However, Weber also mentions that many of these types of authority can also exist within other social structures without being the catalyst for a type of specific social structure. Many charismatic leaders have also existed without the development of a dictatorship because in a monarchy, republic, democracy or bureaucracy limits are put in place to curtail the potential power of solitary rulers. However, in Korra it was the power vacuum created by The Red Lotus that allowed Kuvira to amass power and thus change the social structure from a Monarchy to a Dictatorship.

ANTAGONISTS OF KORRA DESIRE REVOLUTION

            Revolutionary scholar Jack Goldstone in his book Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction identifies five conditions that make a society ripe for revolution

Those five conditions are:

-          Economic and fiscal strain

-          Alienation and opposition among the elites

-          Widespread anger and injustice

-          A persuasive shared narrative of resistance

-          Normal social mechanism are unlikely to work

Goldstone notes that is unlikely to have each one of these conditions happen at the same time. This is because a social structure is not a passive thing, it is actively influenced and manipulated by those in power or those who seek power. While these conditions may not cause a revolution, they create a state of what Goldstone calls unstable equilibrium. This is where a society is functioning due to various social conditions (see above), but one small disturbance leads to an even larger departure from the status quo. Gladstone mentions that the mechanism that causes this instability may not be a single event, instead it may be more gradual; happening over months or even years.

According to Goldstone, once this equilibrium is upset there are several structural causes of revolutions:

·         Demographic Change- when population grows rapidly the institutional social order can suffer in their (inability) to deal with resource distribution and structural social change

·         War- can weaken state authorities and empower groups within society

·         Rapid Unequal Technological Advancement – can be used against a populace and maintain control

·         New periods of exclusion, discrimination and inequality

·         The entrenchment of elected leaders or heads of Military regimes

These components are often the causes of frayed social relationships that may cause individuals to turn against the state and for state structures to crumble 

The overall plot of the The Legend of Korra can act as an illustration of these revolutionary themes put forth by Goldstone. If one was to look at the series as a whole, it was the unstable equilibrium created by Korra being the first Avatar that did not travel the world (and to all of the different nations) in order to learn to manipulate all of the elements. Instead, Korra was isolated and only trained by the White Lotus allowing them to shape her as they saw fit. The shift out of this unstable equilibrium happened when Korra decided to leave the South Pole and live in Republic City; setting off the events of the series and the several structural causes of revolution:

·         New periods of exclusion and discrimination

This aspect of Goldstone’s roadmap to revolution began in season 1 of Korra where Amon a revolutionary leader of a group known as the “Equalists” stoked tensions and discrimination between Benders and non-benders. In this season,  Korra, even though she is the ultimate apex bender, understands that she represents all people, bender and non-bender alike.

·         War

Korra is another illustration of Goldstone’s ideas through the Civil War arc between the Northern and Southern Water Tribe. This occupation and conflict continued throughout the latter half of season 2.[6] This splits loyalties and not only causes various amounts of disruption that disruption is felt on the physical and spiritual plain

·         Demographic Change

The demographic change that could lead to revolution as Goldstone mentions is the reemergence of air benders[7] and their attempt to be considered a nation during Season 3 of Korra. All of a sudden one of the main characters (Tenzin) becomes the defacto leader of group of people who may have airbending skills but are not enculturated to the nomadic existence of airbender culture. Additionally, the reemergence of the air benders included the unintended consequence of granting Zaheer, the leader of The Red Lotus Airbending a change that the authority of The White Lotus was not expecting which gave Zaheer an edge, contributing to his escape and the release of the other Red Lotus members.

·         The Entrenchment of Heads of Military regimes This is embodied in Kuvira and her actions throughout season 4, especially during the coronation of Prince Wu.

·         Rapid Unequal Technological Advancement This takes place when Kuvira invades Zao Fu  to steal their platinum in order to create a “unbendable” giant machine that she can control from the inside; tipping the technological balance in her favor. 

Thus, these are the very clear examples of how the antagonists of legend of Korra, and the development of Korra as a series is a meditation on the nature and creation of Revolutions; and what happens after; once the dust settles.

CONCLUSION

The Legend of Korra and its predecessor Avatar: The Last Airbender are socially conscious, feminist, environmentally friendly pieces of pop culture that are rich in sociological data and worthy of sociological analysis from many different perspectives. If you are interested in sociological ideas, or you are a sociologist yourself (I mean who else would read this blog if you aren’t at least sociology adjacent), I recommend the series whole heartedly and hope that other sociologists will write on the impact and brilliance of these shows. Remember the Sociology mantra: “Data is everywhere, and it is glorious.”

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[1] Certainly, anyone focusing on the sociology of religion (not my particular specialty) could do a whooper of an article on the Interesting religious implications of Season 2 and the allegory of the importance of becoming more spiritually open as a person, especially as we age and question the things we were taught when we were young

[2] The Spirit Vaatu was a main antagonist in Season 2. During season 3 it is revealed that Korra’s uncle was a Red Lotus member who had joined the order so he would be able to set his plan in motion to become a “Dark Avatar”

[3] This term is only partially correct as it is unclear that the way that The Red Lotus uses violence or the threat of it is in order to create fear.  However, it seems one of their goals in to create intense social disruption which is in line with the basic definition of terrorism.

[4] which became independent of the Earth Kingdom during the time of Avatar Aang and a place where all people of all nations could live

[5] North Korea for example

[6] It is also important to note that the leader of the occupation and the start of the civil war was a former member of the Red L:otus

[7] Due to Korra’s choice to keep the portals open

The Films of Hayao Miyazaki: Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro

                The first film in my analysis of the films of Hayo Miyazaki is the excellent adventure classic Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro. This marks the first feature film directorial debut for Miyazaki where, like Christopher Nolan on the film Insomnia, he was more of a director for hire for a film that was already slated for production. However, unlike Nolan, Miyazaki was able to be both writer, chief animator and storyboard artist which allowed him greater creative control than Nolan had. Thus, this film, as with a lot of directors that reach such acclaim as Miyazaki, is a prototype for future work; and therefore has a lot of the concepts, elements and ideas that will be fleshed out in future films. With Miyazaki, this film is a resounding trumpet that leads to the development of not only his own style, but of his own studio; the famed Studio Ghibli.

PLOT

Master thief Arsene Lupin III and his right hand man Diasuke Jigen rob a bank in Monaco. As they are celebrating their victory Lupin realizes that the money they stole are legendary forgeries called “goat bills”. Once they dump the fake currency, they travel to the supposed birthplace of the counterfeit cash, the grand duchy of Cagliostro; a place Lupin had attempted to rob before (10 years prior) but was thwarted by the palace guards and heavy security.

Once in the region, Lupin and Jigen interrupt an escape attempt/kidnapping of Lady Clarisse. After which Lupin enlists the help of his second partner Goemon Ishikawa, Super spy Fujiko Mine and Inspector Koichi Zenigata, (the INTERPOL agent that is always trying to catch Lupin) in order to rescue Clarisse and find out the secrets of the Cagliostro Castle.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The film Castle of Cagliostro is based on the characters in the “Lupin the Third” Manga created by Monkey Punch in 1967.  In 1971 one of Miyazaki’s first animation jobs was to direct episodes for the Lupin the third tv series. When Miyazaki moved from A-Pro studios to TMS entertainment in 1979, he was given the chance to write, storyboard and direct what was at the time only the second “Lupin” film (The first being “The Mystery of Mamo”). It is under Miyazaki’s direction that this film not only becomes one of the best Lupin films, it also marks as a drastic change from the characters both in the manga as well as the previous and any subsequent Lupin films. In this way Miyazaki shows his talent for character and strong storytelling that eventually becomes a major influence for some of the important animators over the next thirty years.

Characters and their ‘Cagliostro’s iterations (Spoilers ahead)

            The depiction of the Lupin the third characters in Castle of Cagliostro is a radical departure than how they have been represented before or since in various media properties. In many of these other (lesser) depictions, the characters are often selfish, cynical, and morally ambiguous to such a degree that to watch them with any kind of sociological or critical eye is difficult, leaving the critic angry and/or having to make excuses for character behavior by delegitimizing the property as nothing more than fiction. Therefore, there is something to be gleaned from a brief comparison between how the main characters are usually depicted and Miyazaki choses to depict them in his film.

            Arsene Lupin  III

           

            It is through Lupin himself that Miyazaki provides the most divergent take. In the manga and other films (not directed by Miyazaki) Lupin is an ego-centric, lecherous morally bankrupt violent killer.[1] He is always thinking about his next score, women, or living up to the memory of his thief ancestor. He often puts his “friends” in compromising situations that make them have to defend themselves. This is especially true with his relationship with Fujiko Mine which is often depicted as violent often suggestive of rape and sexual harassment.

            The Cagliostro Lupin, while portrayed as one that flirts and is described as a “ladies man” at one point. The focus of the story is Lupin helping Clarisse because he owes her for saving his life, and not because he wants to sleep with her. In fact, the film goes out of its way at several points to show just how uninterested he is in Clarisse. In the films initial chase sequence Lupin does not go after Clarisse until he realizes that she is being chased by armed men. Secondly, after the film’s climatic sequence, as Lupin and Clarisse are talking Clarisse is willing to leave with Lupin and become a thief. He gently refuses and leaves with his compatriots.

 It is also interesting to note that all of the behavior that is characteristic of Lupin in other iterations is embodied in Cagliostro’s villain. At several points in the film, The Count is called lecherous, devious, and untrustworthy and is shown on several occasions to be violent, devoid of humanity, and in one sequence, blood thirsty. Thus, when he dies a gruesome death (crushed by large clock hands) it serves as a strong critique of those character traits.

By contrast, this makes the Cagliostro version of Lupin the antithesis of how he exists in other forms. Miyazaki’s Lupin is the thief with a heart of gold, he is noble and honest with a clear moral center. By this simple shift Miyazaki is not only infusing the character with a sensibility that Miyazaki would be more comfortable writing, but also putting his definitive stamp on the character, whose ideals and values show up in other characters in a lot of his later work.

Jigen and Goemon

            Two of the characters that get the least to do in Miyazaki’s Cagliostro are the characters of Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa. While these characters have extensive backstories in the manga and in the subsequent films, even to the point where there are several films that focus on one or both of these characters. These rich backstories are not represented in Cagliostro, either because the said backstories had yet to be written at the time of the films production, or those details did not fit with the story that Miyazaki wanted to tell. Instead, Miyazaki decides to use them sparingly; each given a sequence or two of action while at other times literally being sidelined throughout several sequences. The greater victim of this is Goemon, of which little is known of in the film. All Miyazaki does is infuse him with the honor and nobility that is found in typical Samurai stereotypes.

Miyazaki does offer a little bit more dimension to Jigen from the beginning of the film through the films first two action sequences. In this the Cagliostro Jigen seems to be more loyal, less violent and certainly more friendly than his Manga counterpart These sequences play on the “best friend” relationship Jigen and Lupin seem to have[2] and show Jigen as an easy going, humorous fellow do-gooder thief. In this version, gone is the tragic backstory, the deep nihilism and bitterness that saturates a lot of the other stories (especially the ones that focus on Jigen). Much like with Lupin, these characteristics did not fit with Miyazaki’s sensibilities nor with the tone he wanted Cagliostro to have; therefore these traits were properly exorcised for the film.

Fujiko Mine

            Aside from Lupin, the character of Fujiko Mine is the most changed from her portrayal in the Manga and in the other non Miyazaki Lupin films. Originally, she was created to be a series of 2 dimensional female characters that were the “girl” to Lupin’s “Bond”. But Monkey Punch stated that rather than create different female characters all of the time, he just amalgamated all his ideas into one character. Because of her paper-thin origins, Fujiko, in almost every iteration is hyper sexualized (even appearing nude or near nude in several films) and the object of Lupin’s constant lust. She is often “damseled” and seen as of secondary importance. Miyazaki’s Fujiko is nothing of the sort, in fact that Fujiko can be seen as the proto-feminist template that Miyazaki will become known for in future films[3]

            In Castle of Cagliostro, we are introduced to Fujiko as a simple hand maiden, but quickly find out that she was sent to the region of Cagliostro to spy on the Count (for whom we are not quite sure). Throughout the course of the film we find out that Fujiko is not only adept at espionage, and a master of disguise but she is proficient in martial arts and military weapons and tactics.  When Fujiko decides to help with Clarisse’s escape Fujiko explains her history with Lupin to Clarisse. When Clarisse surmises that Lupin left her (and thereby breaking her heart). Fujiko corrects her with a smile stating how she left Lupin. In this one simple piece of dialogue it shows Fujiko as a “self-possessed women at the top of her field”[4] In this story, she is not there for Lupin, she does not follow Lupin, their paths just are intersecting at this particular point[5] and they diverge just as quickly at the end (when again she leaves causing Lupin to pursue her).  

 Over the years, (after the cultural impact of Cagliostro) Fujiko has been given some amount of agency (but it is usually only agency gained though sex) and some depictions showing her to be just as ruthless and violent as Lupin.  It is difficult to say how much of this agency that Fujiko eventual achieves was the original intention of Monkey Punch, or is the result of the acceptance and canonization of the Cagliostro story. Either way, Miyazaki’s Fujiko, with minimal screen time, is the most well rounded non sexualized depiction we have seen so far.   

Miyazaki before Ghibli

            An important aspect of trying to understand the historical context of this film and judging it accordingly is to understand that this is the first film of a (clearly) talented director before he became synonymous with the term Animation. It is in tis film were he is given creative control of the films production but was still hamstrung by the limitations of the Lupin IP. However, this along with his next feature, ignite the germ that would lead to the creation of one of the greatest animation studios in the world.

INFLUENCES    

Over the years, Miyazaki’s Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro is regarded as not only the aforementioned best of the Lupin films, it was once regarded by Steven Speilberg as one of the greatest adventure movies of all time[6] and may have been a inspiration for Indiana Jones. This is film is so well regarded that many homages to the film can be seen in other animated films and tv shows. The two most egregious examples of this are The Great Mouse Detective and the Clock King episode of Batman the Animated Series

 The Great Mouse Detective 

The Clock King:Batman:TAS

Partners with Disney

   Miyazaki has influenced, many animators and companies but no company more so than Disney. Many of the key animators at Disney through the late 1990’s through the 2000s have been influenced by Miyazaki’s work. However, it was the love of Miyazaki’s work ( and Cagliostro in particular ) that caused animator, executive and sexual harasser John Lasseter to convince the Disney company to be the international distributor of Ghibli films through the 2000’s to early 2011 when they sold it to GKIDS   

It is just unfortunate to note that people in the United States would not know of Miyazaki, or this film without Disney given its number of ethical and human rights violations the company suffers from. This stings especially when you consider the overall themes of Miyazaki’s work being in direct opposition to the corporate practices of a company that he influenced.   

CONCLUSION

This is my favorite Miyazaki film. I have been a champion for it since I saw it in early 2000. Unfortunately, regardless of its brilliance, it is often not included in boxed sets of Miyazaki’s work, nor is it considered one of the Studio Ghibli films. In fact, the blu-ray of this film is difficult to find. Yet, it is worth your time and analysis as this review, and others protest. 

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[1] So much so that the content of the manga and some of the films had to be greatly censored

[2] Although not once does Jigen call Lupin “boss” an inflection and term of endearment that used in both the manga and the later films. While some would see this as doing a disservice to the character, I would consider this a extreme form of fan Nitpicking and what can lead to toxic fan culture

[3] Especially in Nausicca, his first film under Studio Ghibli

[4] To Quote the character of Ron Swanson from the television show  Parks and Recreation

[5] Earlier in the film Lupin states that he hasn’t seen Fujiko in over a year.

[6] Quote taken from the 2000 DVD release of Castle of Cagliostro