Avatar-Induced Depression: Coping With The Intangibility Of Pandora

[NJmaverick]

It's official the world has gone to hell in a hand basket.

The beautiful alien planet Pandora depicted in James Cameron's 'Avatar' is so captivating that some audience members are becoming depressed and even suicidal when they fail to find meaning in real life after the film is over.

Writes Jo Piazza for CNN.com:
On the fan forum site "Avatar Forums," a topic thread entitled "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible," has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

Here are just a few of the ways people are coping on Avatar-Forums.com :

"I just watched avatar a few weeks ago and I'm feeling depressed and sad. It's like I want to reach out and be in Pandora. I'd do anything to be in Pandora. I've tried so hard to dream about me being on Pandora but it hasn't worked."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20100112/en_huffpost/420605

[pitohui]

1. i think there was a thread on this in GD a couple days ago

seriously why don't these fanboys get off their couch and go to their nearest forest or to costa rica or to somewhere, anywhere there's still a forest instead of sitting on their thumbs going "boo hoo"

it isn't easter island yet, the planet earth does still actually have wild places...

[rcrush]

2. lolz

Damn you James Cameron!

[NJmaverick]

3. I think Mr Cameron might be the Anti-Christ

:silly:

[CBGLuthier]

4. Sadly, some of his fans, think the exact opposite. Ever notice his initials?

[NJmaverick]

5. !

:spray:

[southpaw]

6. I wonder if Yes album covers have the same effect

They should. I'm amazed that Roger Dean hasn't filed suit against Cameron for borrowing so much of Pandora's surreal beauty from his vast body of artwork.

http://io9.com/5426120/did-prog-rocks-greatest-artist-inspire-avatar-all-signs-point-to-yes/gallery/


That said, I thoroughly enjoyed my 3 hours on Pandora, in large part because I immediately recognized the similarities to the worlds of Roger Dean. This is likely as close as we will get to a mega-budget, immersive 3-D rendering of Dean's art. Shame he's not getting any credit for it... as far as I'm aware.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. I saw in NYC a few years ago a gallery show of Dean's art, including many YES cover originals

they're HUGE!

They were like 6 or 8 feet square, and the wraparound covers 6 or 8 by 12 or 16.

I had no idea he painted them so big.

And his non-Yes artwork was equally as amazing.

I've been kicking myself in the ass that I didn't buy anything - I had the money back then.

[southpaw]

9. You had the money?

Enough to buy a Roger Dean original? I can't even imagine how much one of those would cost! Especially if it were the original of a piece that had been used for one of Yes or Asia's albums.

A couple of years ago I watched a clip online that featured Dean talking about his art. He was working on a painting at the time, the one that had been used for Yes's 'The Ladder' I think. He had added a space-ship to the painting for some reason and was in the process of painting it out to take the piece back to its original design.

You're right, the canvas was really big. This one struck me as being about as tall as Dean or a little taller, so I would guess at least 6' high. I'd have to try to find the clip again.

Apparently he likes to work on a large scale.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. No, not enough to buy any of the Yes covers! I think those were in the $25K range or more

But he did some other paintings (smaller, of course) in the low thousands, and maybe a few in the hundreds.

I could be wrong on the Yes cover prices (not by much, though), but I was amazed at how cheap they were in comparison to what I assumed they'd be worth - but sadly, even given the awesomeness and huge Yes fan-base, space art and fantasy art doesn't sell very well in the art world. I thought, "Man, these will be half a million at least!" But no, pretty cheap.

Too bad, really. I think Dean's art can easily be put up against the art of the other giants in the art world, like Twombly or Klee or Haring.

But genre artists in any medium pretty much get hosed when it comes to earnings.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

11. I think Cameron drew from alot of sources for Pandora.......

Some of the Pandora creepies look alot like Wayne Douglas Barlowe's creature-work (especially from his book Expedition).

[ZombieHorde]

7. But there are no zombies in Pandora. Why would anyone want to go where zombies are not? nt

[rcrush]

12. I was depressed after I watched Transformers 2 because in real life there are no jive talkin robots

Or explosions every 5 min for no reason! BOOOO Transformers is life!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NewJeffCT]

14. Or, hot female robots with enormous

tongues...

[dugaresa]

13. i would venture a guess that these folks were depressed to begin with

and seeing a film that portrays a peaceful loving society where everyone hangs out and appears to be well fed without having to work at a Pandora McDonalds or Pandora Microsoft for a living in order to afford your own tree to hang out it.

[NJmaverick]

15. Do they have a Pandora McDonalds?

Better yet to they have beer in Pandora?

[dugaresa]

16. yeah they sell McViperwolf rib sandwiches and sparkly beer