A Dissection of Religious Themes in "The Legend of Korra"
It's both possible, and even necessary, to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects.
– Anita Sarkeesian
When it comes to what we expose our kids to as Christian parents, there are two extremes. On one end, you have protectionist parenting, where children are shielded from anti-Biblical beliefs or values in the culture, which could mean keeping them from anything from secular media to public schools. On the other end, you have a more permissive style of parenting, where your kids are exposed to whatever they or the culture around them deems the norm, with minimal supervision.
Neither end is good. A friend once shared that this is like building a tower together with your kids: if your kid builds their tower of beliefs in complete isolation from cultural forces, then later on, it will be knocked over with the first strong wind. If you’re not aware what your kid is being exposed to culturally, then the tower they begin to construct will likely not be gospel-centered at all. What you want to do is build the tower together with your child: this means both exposing them only to what you know they can handle, and critically processing that together.
The extremes take a lot less work. It’s a lot easier just to assume that if our kids only watch Disney they’re fine, or just to let them watch whatever they want (both can be problematic). It’s harder to be thoughtful about what our child can handle according to their age, maturity, personality, or history. It’s harder to ask questions like, what story is being told here? What is being posed as the problem, and what is being offered as the solution? What is this telling us about how to be happy, about what is most important, about how one finds value? What is this saying we ought to worship or admire? Is there a higher power here, and what is that power like?
For example, our kids have watched Avatar: The Last Airbender and recently began The Legend of Korra. When one of them told me that there are spirit worlds, my first instinct was to have them turn it off, maybe make them go back to watching Octonauts. But instead, I think we’ll talk through some of the spiritual issues in the series and decide together how we feel about it.
As a case study, here are some of the religious themes in the series, and how they compare and contrast with Christianity:
the existence of a “spiritual world,” one that has a place in a “modern,” industrial, increasingly tech-focused society: Christianity would agree with this. Religion is not a backwards concept; the spiritual realm is very much real and always relevant. Ephesians 1:3 refers to “the heavenly places” (some translations, “realms”)
the goal of spirituality is to bring balance between good and evil (“only the Avatar can master all four elements and bring balance to the world”); there is no inherent moral bent to the divine: reflects Toaist beliefs, which emphasize the ideas of balance, ying and yang (eg spirits of Raava and Vaatu in the series), and dualism. Christianity would disagree with this; God is not a balance of light and dark, or good and bad, but 1 John 1:5 says that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
reincarnation exists; the Avatar is the reincarnation of all the avatars before him or her: reflects Buddhist beliefs, that life after death consists of another life in a cycle called “samsara,” that one earns better reincarnations based on actions from one’s previous live, that one can be reincarnated as animals, ghosts, demi-gods, or gods, and “enlightenment” consists of escaping from samsara. Christianity disagrees with this: Hebrews 9:27 says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” We only die physically once, and life after death consists of an eternal existence either in the heavenly realms or in hell.
bending as a spiritual “power” that is given, and is used to work together for the good of all, each in unique ways: somewhat consistent with Christian idea of spiritual gifts, which are given and used uniquely for the good of the body of believers (1 Corinthians 12:7, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good”)
worship of nature and natural forces as god(s): reflects Shintoism, seeing “spiritual power” in natural entities and matter as the embodiment of power. Also reflects pantheism, seeing material reality as equivalent with divinity, with no distinct or personal God. Christianity disagrees with this: there is only one God and he is a personal God (Isaiah 43:3, “For I am the Lord your God”), and nature reflects God but is not itself god (Romans 1:20, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived . . . in the things that have been made”)
Korra opens “spiritual portals” as a half-person, half-spirit: some parallels to Christ, who opened a way for us to heaven (John 14:6, “I am the way”) as fully man and fully God, a high priest mediating between God and man (Hebrews 8:1, “we have such a high priest). However, Jesus is not making a way for us simply into the spiritual dimension, but specifically into heaven, into an eternal dwelling with God, as opposed to hell
One could go on, but the point is that it’s probably more important to have these discussions together with your children, at the appropriate age, than to either banish non-Christian shows altogether, or think as long as they’re watching a popular cartoon, they’re fine.
