when satellite's friend gives him the red fish he got from the americans and satellite keeps asking "why are they that color?" then he shakes the bag, the water all turns red and he starts yelling.
.......what does this mean???
I wasn't sure whether it was symbolic of bloodshed, or the fish were literally injured and dying.
shareI'm curious to know also. Did he kill the fish?
shareI thought the director/writing was trying to say something like all gifts from the Americans were bloody or would lead to blood. But, being American myself, I thought it was something cultural that I was unaware of and therefore I missed the point. I don't know. I'd like to hear what others have to say about this.
shareThe fish where dead..
filosofical..
he wanted the americans to enterfere in his society but only saw 1 side of things...
he also wanted to see red fish..
wich bought to his attencion to move them around in the bag..wich brought him some truth..even if what you want you get..there is still a second side to everything..
thats what i thought it ment.
I thought it was supposed to link up with the child drowning in the pool with the red fish in at the same time.
share[deleted]
Arrivedercibaby, Hengov is the one who is having the visions not Satellite, Satellite screams because his friend Shirkooh lied to him about the fish. He said it was a red fish, but it was painted. I gat this from what Satellite said, he said: "Why are they this color?" and then Pashoe told him something like "Don't look at them too long." So I think the fish was not dead, or Satellite killed the fish, he was just painted.
shareI agree, the fish either had been painted red ( there is such a thing but by " painted"it means injected with a certain color) or the fish were injured and bleeding. Either way he yells because he wants to know what happened to the fish but Shirkooh doesn't come back
"..and I mean that from the heart of my bottom.."
I don't think the point of the red fish was just to make a symbolic point! There's more to it, it seems...not sure, but the vision actually makes more sense than these other explanations.
- If the fish were painted, the fish wouldn't have been swimming around in clear water up until that one second. That seems ridiculous. Plus, they didn't look red to me; they were just normal goldfish, and I'm wondering if goldfish are just called this in Kurdish (kinda like a green light in Japanese is literally "blue light")...?
- The whole "why are they this color" thing: maybe he didn't mean "why are they making the water red"--I think he saw them in the light and saw they were not literally red, but goldfish, and he had never seen them before--just heard of them.
- Remember how Satellite tells Agrin that the water in that pond is not good for drinking b/c it's impure? Then he says that the children who went in to get "red fish" didn't come back and weren't on the bottom of the pond either. I didn't quite understand this...whether he was saying they were poisoned (unlikely b/c he then jumps in to get her a red fish) or that something supernatural happened as a story to show off to her.
- If something about the fish didn't give him some physical clue to the tragedy (not sure what it would be...guess I'm not bright enough!), then it does seem that he had some sort of premonition. Otherwise, why would he have made the painful trip on crutches all the way to the pond to go see what happened? That's why I think ArrivederciBaby's theory seems to make more sense. But clearly, I could be everso wrong.
I thought it was obvious that Satellite finally had a vision at the end (presumably 'thanks' to his injury). Why the heck else would he pull himself up on his screamingly painful feet and drag himself to a pond in the middle of nowhere?
Also, the English subtitles said 'red fish' not 'goldfish'?
Hmmm. Never quite understood this one myself, but most 'goldfish' in Japan are red too(check out Hayao Miyazaki's new movie, Gake no Ue no Ponyo, she's a goldfish and definitely red, not gold).
In any case, the Japanese subtitles on Turtles can Fly just said 'goldfish (Kingyo)', nothing special about them just normal goldfish. Maybe whoever translated the subtitles wanted to point out that goldfish in Iraq are usually red, not gold. Or something.
there is no red fish...here red fish is just an image used for peace and stability in Kurdistan..Satellite hoped that the American can bring it...but he was mistaken...Just as the painted fish,the peace brought by the American was fake...
The Kurds will suffer...its their fate...they can never have their homeland.....
I agree with Dreamer 2020. Red fish is something which Satellite always wanted but all he culd get are some fish which were artificially coloured red. fake red fish are the result of the war. It is also reflected in the end when Satellite does not want to look at the American Soldiers whom he thought would wipe out the misery.
share"Red fish" has a specific symbolism in Iranian-Kurd culture.
History of Newroz and Its Celebrations
(Constitution of Cultural & Civil Society of Khorasani Kurds - 13 Mar 2012)
http://www.cskk.org/en/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid= 10
"The table must also contain an incense-burner for aromas as of spring blossom scent, and a water-filled vessel in which alive red fish is placed to symbolize a happy life full of activity and movement and the red colour states the beauty of love and life."
there's many ways you can interpret that scene, many good suggestions have already been given in this thread
for me the red stuff definitely represented the bloodshed that was there or was going to come
so many movies, so little time