People often say that art imitates life, but more often than you might think, real life can also imitate art.
Seminal animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender is finding a new lease of life after being brought to Netflix, and on top of that has now been catapulted even more into people’s thoughts after the viral spreading of a photograph of an iceberg floating in the Antarctic Ocean, from which is emitting a strange blue glow.
Avatar begins when siblings Katara and Sokka discover the 12-year-old Avatar Aang frozen in an iceberg, explaining why no new Avatar had appeared in a century; since Aang was technically still alive, the Avatar sprit couldn’t reincarnate to the next stage in its eternal cycle. After the iceberg is cracked open, he emerges from the sea in a turquoise glow of power, as magical energies always gather in vibrant colors, with the visuals seen in the animation not entirely unlike that of the photograph.
You guys already know who tf is coming pic.twitter.com/lyQX9Krctz
— Azula ⚡️ (@ProdigyAzuIa) May 24, 2020
i await his arrival pic.twitter.com/S6yZ2u3qcs
— ?julia? (@avatarsslove) May 24, 2020
need him to restore balance and peace.
— ???? (@jacob_flores1) May 24, 2020
the fire nation is shaking pic.twitter.com/wKiP8vHiLn
— a.aliyahelise (@a_aliyahelise) May 25, 2020
I CAN SMELL AANG'S EXISTENCE ✨
— ⟭⟬ Mack Skydopenta ⟬⟭ ⁷ OPEN COMMISSION (@gecalcomania) May 24, 2020
yass king we’re waiting pic.twitter.com/xKhTYymohH
— ????. ✰彡 (@katarugh) May 25, 2020
the story is coming truepic.twitter.com/lotNjM8FpR
— Grātz⁵¹⁴ (@zidanruxin_jwn) May 24, 2020
When the world needed him the most pic.twitter.com/Lo4jNsfpnE
— Heli? (@baldmonkaang) May 25, 2020
maybe the world can be saved after all pic.twitter.com/Obih0f1z0z
— Brayden (@The_FlyingKoala) May 24, 2020
In case you’re interested, the scientific explanation for the iceberg’s appearance is the same as why oceans are blue, not a reflection of the sky as is often thought, but rather the natural properties of water and ice absorbing light at the red end of the visible spectrum, leaving its blue counterpart most dominant. Ice is most often seen as white due to the air within it and the roughness of its surface dispersing the light more evenly. The ice in the interior of this iceberg is so dense that it creates a similar visual effect to deep water, resulting in the rich sapphire shade emanating from within.
Although, to be honest, who really wants to think about that when there’s the prospect of the appearance of a reincarnating eternal champion wielding nigh-omnipotent elemental might who will immediately set about putting the world to rights. We might not live in the reality of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but the chaos and uncertainty of contemporary life makes it pleasant to imagine someone with the power to deal with the problems afflicting our lives over which we have no control.
