Some things about Korrasami and Makorra ...

Meta
Title:	Some things about Korrasami and Makorra: how mature or immature both can be and no “hetero-lens” or “inclusive-lens” is really explaining these.
Creator:	etheraxis
Date(s):	March 2015
Medium:	text post
Fandom:	Legend of Korra
Topic:	Makorra, Korrasami, queer theory
External Links:	archive link of a response
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Some things about Korrasami and Makorra: how mature or immature both can be and no “hetero-lens” or “inclusive-lens” is really explaining these. is a Tumblr post written by etheraxis after the Legend of Korra finale. The post is meta about viewing Makorra and Korrasami through a queer theory lens; its view of Makorra is in line with Queer Het. It also covers the author's dissatisfaction with Korrasami being endgame and the treatment of Makorra within the show after Book 2, when they broke up. One of the main points in etheraxis' meta is the claim that Korrasami is a heteronormative pairing because it resembles a stereotypical femslash pairing while Makorra is a queer one because it's not a typical het pairing. Many people disagreed with the post, including some Makorra fans.

Etheraxis' post is also commonly known as Handmaiden and Feudal Lord, after a particular line from the post which people then widely mocked and memed on. It's also memorable for the interesting use of queer theory in relation to a het relationship and the odd, random bolding that's present throughout the text. The post initially gained its notoriety through circulation of a Tumblr post by pokemoneggs containing screenshots of the text. Although the original post has been deleted, the nature of rebloggable content on tumblr means that several existing copies of the post can be found. There is also a dramatic reading of the post.

Selected Quotes

If you love Korrasami I have no qualms. It is your choice and frankly I don’t like that relationship but I see its potential. Is Korrasami important for representation? I am on the middle on this. [...] Not to mention I am non-heteronormative and queer-heterosexual. Nivedita Menon has mentioned in her book Seeing it Like a Feminist has that queerness is not always correlated with gayness it is an umbrella concept.

Korrasami is more heteronormative because it exhibits falsely a very feminine girl (Asami) being a handmaiden of Korra (who is treated as the male/masculine/feudal lord of the relationship). Korra never puts anyone first in her journey as avatar. Yes, she doesn’t necessarily have to but at times even Aang looks at wider pictures and does not always think of himself. Being altruistic at times does not mean mitigating yourself. Korra thinks of Korra alone. In Book 1 by many parts this was changing. But by Book 2 in interpersonal relationships it was coming out again. By Book 4 Korra still thinks of herself. If she was as evolved by then she would have the audacity to ask Mako and Boilin what they feel and also Asami. She doesn’t and neither is she shown to really care.

Also Makorra is NOT a heteronormative relationship. It is a queer and different heterosexual relationship. They are not entirely similar nor opposites. They are always helping each other to be better. They are both physically strong and that was one major thing. That they are pretty physically strong and both able to take each other on as Kuvira can also take on Korra. It was pretty well balanced.

No matter how “remembrances” tried to well belittle it was a breakup COMING STRONG. With Book 2’s Makorra’s breakup the sort of intensity that carried even in Books 3 and 4 did resonate that “I will always love you”/soulmate thing. No I am not denying they had a breakup. They did have a breakup. I just wished that both Masami and Makorra had also better leveled out as friendships as well. No matter how I see it I see Mako and Korra having something that is not nicely written but so strong in atmosphere it’s undeniably there. This strong ambience is not there with Korrasami even via subtext. That is because Bryke loves that relationship. It’s pretty obvious they LOVE Makorra. They don’t love Korrasami as much and that is pretty obvious too.

Selected Commentary

asami is never positioned as a “handmaiden” of korra; also you cannot just deem a queer relationship “heteronormative” because heteronormativity itself is breached as soon as one or more element of the relationship (or whatever) deviates from the established norm of acceptable relationships being cis masculine dominant man, cis feminine subservient woman. i mean–would you tell a lesbian butch/fem couple that they were heteronormative??? really?

- forever-makorra

Heteronormative is not a concept to apply to people in a same sex relationship, because guess what? Being in a same sex relationship is the antithesis of heteronormativity. There’s not way a cis man and woman can have a “queerer raltionship” than two actual woman in a relationship.

I’ve seen your apologies in the korrasami tag, and i have to say they mean shit. It’s clear you have no concept of how homophobic your being, it’s not just a matter of using terms badly. The whole “essay” is shit, and you should be ashamed of your homophobia.

Lord save me from straight people trying to argue how queer a man and woman ending up together would be.

- asleepingwindow

‘‘Queer’‘ is an umbrella term, I know. But just because Makorra isn’t a typical relationship with a manly guy and a girly girl, doesn’t make it automatically queer. Yes, they had a different heterosexual relationship. But Mako identifies as a man, Korra as a woman. That fact is enough to disprove your statement about their relationship being queer.

Mako and Korra were not always helping each other to be better. Especially not in book 2. They honestly brought out the worst in each other, which was shown time and time again on-screen. They lied, screamed at each other, disagreed on almost everything and they both realized that in the end, this relationship wasn’t going to work. Which is when they finally talk openly and honestly to each other and mutually agree to break up. From then on they helped each other so much more in a platonic relationship.

The fact that they are both physically strong in no way means that their relationship was well balanced. And you’re comparing Kuvira and Mako because ‘’they can both take on Korra’’? Sorry, you lost me there in that line of reasoning.

- puppiesinlove

Post Fallout

After the post's rise in popularity, etheraxis posted several apologies, some through proxies, and received death threats before deleting their blog. Her apology to the Korrasami fandom has been lost to blog deletion and the Tumblr NSFW Content Purge, but her apology to the Makorra fandom is as follows:

This is Ether Axis. I want to apologise wholeheartedly to other Makorra shippers for my blatant and stupid mistake. I apologised to the Korrasami fandom because I wanted to take responsibility for my words. I did not, however, want other Makorra shippers to be receiving any acerbic comments either. I am TRULY, FROM MY SOUL, SORRY.

This community is a mess and I added to that mess. Truth is I did not know my words would become a meme. It was shocking to me so I apologised some more, but that made matters also worse and I was confused at what to do. So, I apologized more and decidedly tried to get better familiar with what I erroneously used. People can make mistakes and I did a very bad one. But what I do not want is Makorra fans to be receiving any criticism FOR SOMETHING I WROTE. I have my own autonomy. I wasn’t influenced by any Makorra fan. I wasn’t guided by any. I wrote this independently.

MY WRITING WAS SLOPPY AND UNREFINED. Truthfully, at the time I wrote this I was facing some severe real life issues that completely marred my writing. In retrospect I am seeing how my writing lacked a lot of the elements of a good “meta”. This word “meta” itself was unknown to me and so were the words “OP” as I am not really an immersive Tumblr fandom participant or contributor. So, regular Makorra community are associated, inculcated and understanding of the various things of the fandom that I know thinly about. Yes, I enjoyed the fandom but was not as strictly aware of the various things and discussions going on about it.

I am sorry Makorra fans. I truly love you. Thank you for correcting me where I needed correcting and thank you for also siding with me when it all gone out of control. I take responsibilities for my actions and I am sorry for all the pain, though unintended, that I caused you guys. I am really sorry. I hope you find it in your souls to forgive me.

- etheraxis via bobbityhobbity

Some people, like asleepingwindow above, did not accept this apology. Others felt that it was unreasonable for anyone to be sent death threats and accepted the apology.