The Boy in the Iceberg 1:2

Sacred Reading of Every Episode - Scene by Scene

Siblings - a relationship rife with struggle, beauty, and vulnerability. By nature of proximity, siblings often witness more about one another than perhaps one might prefer. This intimacy often carries with it the power to hurt - to say with such precision that which hurts the most. It doesn’t have to lead to hurt at all - it can lead to immense trust and joy - but it is a process. I hope to dive more deeply into the sibling dynamic between Katara and Sokka in further writings. Today - in the face of what seems to be an average moment between Katara and Sokka - I hope to dive into the nature of interpretation.

The transcript I am utilizing for the sake of this project comes from the Avatar fandom wiki page - linked at the quote of this scene below. It is noteworthy to consider the source of the transcript because it offers more than just the words uttered - it offers descriptions of emotions/facial expressions/scenery, which could be interpreted differently depending on the particularities of the viewer. Here is the chunk of the transcript I am analyzing today - which amounts to 30 seconds on screen.

Sokka: “It's not getting away from me this time.”

[Close-up of Sokka as he grins confidently over his shoulder in the direction of Katara.]

Sokka: “Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish.”

The shot pans quickly from Sokka to Katara, who seems indifferent to his claim and turns back to her side of the boat again. Her expression changes to surprise; as the shot jumps behind her, looking down into the water over her shoulder, another fish quickly swims by her, close to where she sits. She shoots a quick glance toward her brother, removing the glove from her left hand. She stretches her arm out in the direction of the fish, taking a deep breath. Her look is a mixture of concentration and apprehension as she starts making a wavy motion with her wrist, moving her hand up and down.

The shot widens out; Sokka, still focused wholly on the fish in front of him, is completely unaware of what is happening behind his back. As Katara continues to move her hand, the water in front of Katara, just in front of the shot, starts to ripple. Suddenly, a bubble of water rises up from the ocean containing the newly trapped fish.

Katara: [Happily surprised.] “Sokka, look!

Sokka: [Close-up of Sokka; whispering.] “Sshh! Katara, you're going to scare it away.”

[A look of bliss adorns his face. He licks his lips and wiggles his fingers, not taking his eyes off the fish.]

Sokka: “Mmmm ... I can already smell it cookin'.”

Behind Sokka, Katara is still making circular movements with both her arms, suspending the bubble of water that holds the fish in the air and moving back and forth. The camera cuts to her face, contorted slightly by the focus it takes to control the water.

Katara: [Struggling with the water that passes right in front of her.] “But, Sokka! I caught one!”

The bubble containing her fish slowly drifts around her to hang over Sokka, who is still oblivious. As the bubble hovers over his head, Sokka raises his spear to strike the fish he was following. He bursts the bubble of water with the blunt end of his weapon, causing Katara to lose control of the water; it rains down on Sokka, soaking him.

Katara: [Exclaims indignantly.] “Hey!”

As Sokka lets out a gasp of discomfort, the fish tumbles through the air and Katara follows its arc with her eyes as it flies over her head and splashes back into the sea.

Upon reading, one may take it at face value, without consideration of the potential that these italicized assertions may be inaccurate. Here is the scene without the italicized portions:

Sokka: “It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish.”

Katara: “Sokka, look!

Sokka: “Sshh! Katara, you're going to scare it away.”

Sokka: “Mmmm ... I can already smell it cookin'.”

Katara: “But, Sokka! I caught one! Hey!”

It is a pretty drastic change. I would argue that this second transcript leaves more up to the interpretation of the viewer. For instance, if we look to the first italicized portion in the initial transcript listed - is Sokka “grinning confidently over his shoulder in the direction of Katara?” Are there other possible interpretations of the artistic rendering that may also be true? Is he smugly grinning, for example? Is grinning the most appropriate word at all?

Other emotions are interpreted by those who wrote this transcript - here are a few I picked out: indifferent, surprise, apprehension, unaware, bliss, etc. It seems possible - if not probable - that others may watch this scene and consider other emotions instead. I know that I do.

I dive into this concept because - moving forward - I will not be utilizing the italics for the purposes of this project. I will intentionally leverage just the spoken lines written in the transcripts of the Avatar wiki and offer my own interpretations as to the emotions potentially in play. I do not intend to assert that my interpretations are correct, and I welcome other ideas - in fact, I sincerely hope to hear other possible interpretations from you as I move through this work.

When viewing and considering a scene like this - it is difficult to discern fact from fiction in our own narrative account. Often we, myself certainly included, assume our interpretation of a moment in time is fact rather than interpretation. We might view this scene and say Sokka is arrogant - and present it as fact to a friend. We might say Katara doesn’t care about her brother’s wishes based on what we see in this scene. While these are reasonable conclusions based on limited exposure to these characters - it presumes your personal interpretation is indeed correct, rather than one possibility amid a myriad of others.

Frankly, it is this kind of thinking that leads to such problematic treatment of religious texts. When a person reads the Bible/Quran/Bhagavad Gita/etc. and presumes their interpretation is the only correct interpretation - it leads to extremely problematic conclusions - including the oppression of entire groups of people.

Thanks for leaning into this experience with me. I look forward to diving into wherever the next segment takes me.

Until Next Time,

Be Well and Do Good!