[Avatar: The Last Airbender first premiered on Feb. 21, 2005. So here’s my little way of saying “Happy 20th anniversary!” to one of my all-time favorite stories.]
This post, or variations of it, lives in my head rent free:
There’s a few layers of fun here: not only is Sokka luring away Fire Nation soldiers with the promise of a birthday party (a fun activity), but he is clearly having the time of his life doing so. Sixty episodes ago, it didn’t look like the idea would ever cross his mind.
I didn’t think much about the boy with the ponytail and boomerang when I first watched Avatar: The Last Airbender as a kid. But over the years, Sokka has become my favorite character from the show. And for good reason. Plenty of people have dissected Sokka’s courage and perseverance or how he developed as both a leader and strategist, finding his own version of healthy masculinity.
But today I want to sit with Sokka’s humor, to track his journey of how he went from a boy playing soldier insisting that there is no time for fun, to a warrior casually fooling an army of unwitting Fire Nation soldiers with the promise of hot cakes and sweet cream.
Panisara (Por) Jaijongkit 