Very disappointing indeed. The concept of how powerless a non-bender can be compared to a bender was one of the best and logical questions to pursue right after watching A:TLA.
At first it annoyed me how privileged some benders were about their powers, especially Korra at the end of Book 1, but I think I can see where they come from as far as the spiritualism goes.
I do think it would've been completely baller for a character to give up their powers for a reason bigger than them, or for someone like in a show I have mentioned countless time in this thread but won't repeat due to spoilers.
Yeah, that's the thing. This is why I often bring up how AtLA has the beginning stages of the writing problems that prove to be Legend of Korra's largest issues.
Ultimately, the bender-nonbender "conflict" is basically about power. The driving force of the entire Avatar franchise is understanding and utilizing power. Bending is power, the Avatar is power. But neither show, not even AtLA, really respected the concept of power.
AtLA addresses head on the very topic that would go on to become LoK's season one theme: how benders are much,
much more powerful than non-benders. And Sokka's conclusion in the episode is solely contained to his perspective, and doesn't at all speak to the wider situation of the power a bender wields in comparison to his or her nonbending peers.
The writers of AtLA explicitly looked this particular plot point in the eye,
and ignored it in the exact same manner that LoK did. By the end of Book Fire, benders are flying and shooting one hundred foot tall flames out of their hands, while Sokka's moonsword (the physical takeaway of him making peace with his nonbender status) goes spiraling away uselessly during a life and death confrontation. Master Piandao takes out a few dudes while Jeong Jeong takes out an entire battalion.
They even bring Sokka back as a flashback in the LoK to talk about all the awesome and crazy shit benders can do, right before a guy solos an entire room of the most powerful people in the world without lifting a finger.
It's all the same thing. I would have preferred they not bring the issue up at all if they were going to blatantly ignore its thematic feasibility. It's easiest to swallow in AtLA because it wasn't a developed thought, and the characters in that series were so rock solid that there's a lot of good to fall back on. But the LoK made power (inequality in particular) its major theme, and tossed it in the bushes; all without having great characters to cushion the fall.
This particular misstep is a franchise staple.
It's even worse when you think about the fact that it's never brought up again in the entire show. You'd think you would still come across mistreatment of non-benders and such but they either get airbending or are totally cool that everyone around them have superpowers and they're the rest of the world's bitch.
A large appeal of the show is seeing cool shit done with bending, so you can't honestly take that away. But exploring the idea of power under this particular context (literal superhumans) would have been grand. Comics have been chipping away at this topic - mostly without success - for decades.
Yep. While I love Season 3, Korra would have been a much more interesting show if the nonbender dilemma was actually treated with the respect and attention such a plot point deserves.
It would've been a rather simple thing to do to roll all the elements of the show into a clear resolution that makes sense with respect to the established universe, especially with energybending. Then you look at Zaheer, a nonbender who attains bending, and the dots line up even more.
So many ways they could have went with this topic that would have benefited the plot and especially Korra's characterization. Themes like inheritance, duty, and dealing with change are bolstered as a bonus.
