inthorantine:silvermoonphantom:catflowerqueen:jellytartkingezran:kispesan:Been experiencing two pola
inthorantine:silvermoonphantom:catflowerqueen:jellytartkingezran:kispesan:Been experiencing two polar thoughts about this scene…1. There is no way Sokka is expecting to win this battle. He is the one and only warrior left in the village, about to face down a Fire Nation ship all by himself. Sokka has been the epitome of bravery since the very beginning.2. Sokka can’t draw worth shit, and yet he sure can perfectly apply war paint on himself without even so much as a mirror aksdfljoh I’m gonna cry…all of this.Like I feel like the show is more blatant in the “Katara had to grow up too young after the murder of her mother” but…Sokka’s loss of innocence is also present in the show in shit like this, and his discussions with Piandao where we see this contradiction between the kid and the warrior and that need to protect his family and his diminished self-worthLike how many times do you think he mimicked dad’s warpaint, knowing one day it would be him donning that? How many nights has he spent going over the worst possible scenarios and planning for how he’d keep the people he loved safe?Like. He’s able to apply warpaint but not draw because he too lost his chance at living a normal childhood and just. dude all the kids in this show have so much trauma it’s unrealAlso, considering all the different mediums and materials present when it comes to art… it could also be that he’s just more used to the types of paint that can be applied on skin. I’m pretty sure that stuff would be thicker than just straight ink. Not to mention that paper itself is probably rare at the poles in general, so it’s unlikely there would be much extra scrap around he could use.Which might tie into the loss of innocence, since the war is the reason they were so isolate, but I feel like that might still be a general issue, too.It’s also a matter of what FORM of art he’s used to.Most traditional art made close to the poles is made by carving, etching, dyeing, sewing, and weaving. Since you don’t really have an excess of PLANTS laying around in an arctic tundra, you have to use stones, animal hides, sinew, bone, and sometimes wood. Inuit art often appear as utensils, combs, buttons, needle cases, cooking pots, cases, spears and harpoons, as well as a host of other products made to make life more appealing and interesting.Sokka’s weapons in the first few episodes were all made of bone, sinew, and stone. Carved bone into beautiful curves and dyed or painted blue. No metal, not very much wood. A child in his situation would have no reason to learn how to render a landscape in ink. What would be the point? How would he get the supplies?Instead, he knows how to tie elaborate decorative knots (and probably knows how to make his own thread and rope.) He also identified the pattern of Haikus extremely quickly, and was able to make them up on the fly. His skill at poetry and how easily he made a character to roleplay (My name is Fire! Wang Fire! And this is my wife, Sapphire.) could imply he’s also skilled storytelling in general. Oral storytelling and musical arts are also something you can practice in any location. You can make drums, rattles, flutes, and string-and-bow instruments with bone and hide.He clearly showed an APPRECIATION for art - being positively giddy over the idea of shopping. Not just for ‘having useful tools’ but fawning over flashy, sometimes useless items that were visually interesting. Anyway, Sokka was 15 at the start of the series, and didn’t live in a situation that would focus on ink-and-brush artwork, but there are plenty of other art forms available. I’m only finished with episode 12 so I have nothing to add here besides: -- source link
#atla tag#long post