But in the weeks following the release of “Avatar,” CNN reported that some viewers were experiencing “depression and suicidal thoughts.”
https://variety.com/2022/film/features/avatar-depression-fans-the-way-of-water-1235460636/
They realized they’d been suckered.
shareNo. Just that we're raping mother earth when we could be walking with our feet in the grass and the sun in our face.
shareDepression is a common feeling after investing time and money only to view a bad movie. I hope that depression went away after a few minutes. Otherwise they might want to get mental help or reevaluate their lives.
sharemy wheelchair doesnt work on the grass
shareSadly people will learn the hard way, just human nature. I wouldn't really worry about it. Just remember the doubters in the end because they'll have no say in what comes after once its gone. Let them enjoy the now and present for what they can.
shareThese are the same people who will get gender reassignment surgery and then regret it later on.
shareI was depressed after watching Avatar, and I couldn't put my finger on it. It wasn't that I found the world of Pandora so beautiful, though. I eventually realized that it was because I sat through an extremely long movie that had a VERY bleak perspective on human progress, what it means to be a modern human, and a completely romanticized and impossible fantasy about what it means to be in touch with nature.
The Na'vi are the mythical noble savages, in tune with nature and not suffering disease, diarrhea, famine, plague, STDs, unwanted pregnancies, etc. They don't wake up at 3 AM with a churning stomach and go to get some Tums. They live in hammocks in a magical space forest and walk around on bare feet and don't have intra-tribal warfare, politics, rape, incest, or murder. None of their old people get a blister on their bare feet that goes septic and requires them to bash their foot off with a sharpened rock. None of them fall from a bit too high and get a splinter in their abdomen and die in agony over weeks. All of the things that don't happen to them, happened to our ancestors, and the movie encourages us to reimagine our past in a false way and discard all of the advancements of modern society. It encourages us to not notice the million invisible miracles that our fore-fathers struggled to create and on which our entire civilization is based. We're reduced to money-hungry space Nazis who scream in pleasure as we mow down perfect, indigenous peoples.
It's silly, shallow, naive (Na'vi) and very cynical, but presented through a distorted looking glass.
We should fall to our knees and thank God we have mercy, compassion, empathy, creativity, understanding, and, above all, curiosity. A desire to engage in passions and work hard to create fruit for the next generations. To sacrifice and toil so that we can improve the human condition. All of these virtues have been stripped from the representation of humanity in Avatar, and that's why I found it depressing.
You'll find that to be the case with most films with a 'message'.
Dances with wolves had a bit of that as well - demonize one side, romanticize the other side. Ferngully - again, same thing. In fact, most films with 'nature preservation' messaging do this - there's no grey area in those films. You are either with us or against us - you are either pure evil or pure good :)
If done well, it can be really effective, especially when influencing those who do not possess critical thinking skills.
You spelled it out perfectly!
shareMakes sense. Our world isn't magical like Pandora, but it makes you think of the natural beauty that has been ruined.
shareI was depressed that it was so boring and poorly acted.
share