Audiences experience 'Avatar' blues (become depressed, unhappy w/ humanity)

[Lorien]

(CNN) -- James Cameron's completely immersive spectacle "Avatar" may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.

(snip)

A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site "Naviblue" that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.

"Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it," Mike posted. "I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.' "

Other fans have expressed feelings of disgust with the human race and disengagement with reality.

(snip)

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html


Bizarre. Anyone who has watched BBC's "Planet Earth" knows that Cameron's world is less remarkable than our own, so perhaps it's more of an unhappiness with how we treat each other as a society and how we've destroyed so much of the natural world that effecting some so strongly....or maybe they just need to get out of the house more often!

[Ian David]

1. It's okay. They can always play the videogame.

http://avatargame.us.ubi.com/

[Moochy]

3. 1. Create the Need

2. See the Need, 3. Fill the Need with the product offering!

[Ian David]

9. 4) Hype the need through the media. n/t

[Lorien]

18. The real "need" is a connection with nature and each other

products only create more hunger.

[omega minimo]

28. Well put.

[Moochy]

30. .

"Your living room is the factory, the product being manufactured is you."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb-jj4ncEzQ&feature=related

[omega minimo]

33. Where can one get one of these magic boxes?

:wow:

[Lorien]

42. LOVE adbusters.

:thumbsup:

[villager]

48. +1

n/t

[hatrack]

122. Jesus, these people need to go take a walk in the woods . . .

It's right here, it's all around you - it's not up there on the screen.

:silly:

[Lorien]

129. My mom was telling me about an article she read that said that many people live with

ZERO contact with the natural world these days-including kids. She said that a large percentage of Americans go from their home to a garage to a car to a parking lot every day and never touch soil or the bark of a tree all year. Hard to imagine, but I believe it. I live in a sub tropical urban environment and am surrounded by parks and lakes which are teeming with flora and fauna, but when I go for my daily walks I never see kids exploring any of it. IF the kids are outside they're on bikes or skateboards and are usually wearing an ipod. They're not catching bugs, frogs or lizards, not feeding the waterfowl or fishing or wading in the shallows with the minnows (downtown lakes are cleared of gators). There's a huge cemetery at the end of my street with a lovely pond and green space. It's home to foxes, raccoons, possums, raptors of all sorts...but you never see kids there. My grandparents lived near such a space when I was a kid and we spent a lot of our summers exploring over there. I think that every school needs a "roots and shoots" program to reconnect kids with nature so they don't end up like the unfortunates in the OP. Whatever happened to Summer camp?

[Lilith Velkor]

141. It's not all around me - just houses, malls and roads where the woods used to be.

I'd have to a) get a car and b) drive a long way to find woods to walk in, and I'd rather not bother the wildlife with more car exhaust.

[earth mom]

123. [phone]!

:thumbsup:

[WildEyedLiberal]

2. Why don't they join a rain forest preservation campaign, then?

Or do something else constructive to help our world remain beautiful? Pandora was gorgeous, sure, but so is Earth. Why not work to save the places of stunning beauty that are being threatened by corporate interests here?

Avatar didn't make me depressed, but it did make me angry, and it made me feel like I should do more to encourage conservation of our beautiful planet. Which is the reaction Cameron hoped to provoke, no doubt.

[Lorien]

12. That's what I was wondering myself. An EarthWatch expedition in Costa Rica

would be better than any 3D "Movie experience", but then I wondered; with so many "jaywalkers" out there who can't even name the countries which border our own, are they even AWARE of our planet's rain forests and other natural wonders? I don't know if you've noticed this, but one rarely sees children outside playing after school anymore. They're inside because their parents fear "predators" and because they're busy with video games, DVD, texting, etc. I have to wonder if "Avatar" suddenly caused a deep yearning for a connection with nature that so many in younger generations have never experienced. Just a thought, anyway.

[arcadian]

50. I don't even have to go to Costa Rica

I can find a bio-diverse area that I think is just as beautiful almost anywhere, they are few and far between but they are out there.

[Lorien]

60. Sure, I can too, and they aren't that few and far between (certainly not in Florida

or even Ohio, where I grew up) but if some fanboy wants to see a "real life Pandora", it's out there and they CAN immerse themselves in it. Earthwatch is just one organization that helps people make a positive difference in their world using hands on methods. There are many others to choose from.

[pitohui]

21. because they don't care

the people sitting on their ass at the movies and playing video games every weekend are not the people who get out in nature, they don't even know it exists, when i was active in the science fiction c ommunity years ago i hate to say it but i saw way too many "emo" kids who were completely wrapped up in fake worlds with not a thought in their heads that they could meet real "alien" species with completely different lives just by getting outside -- they didn't value any real living species other than maybe cats, they lived completely in their heads and thus had exaggerated emotions, depressions, etc.

when you get outside and have real experiences, you don't kill yourself over a movie or because your character in an online game got wiped...


this is just hype to promote a game and a movie

science fiction is fine but once you cross a line where you'd rather watch someone else have adventures than have your own adventures then it becomes fairly pathetic

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

67. Pfft. Rain forests aren't in 3-D. n/t

[boppers]

71. lol, well played.

I think there's a serious market for 3-D documentaries of what this world has to offer.

[dana_b]

4. I think your explanation

of unhappiness with ourselves and each other makes more sense. Hell, we can't even be cordial with each other here on DU.

[branders seine]

5. The Na'vi do live the way "civilized" people should.

And the way people could if they had the will to do it.

[proteus_lives]

61. Ah, so you bought into the "Noble Savage" trope.

[boppers]

72. A trope, in a Cameron film? Heaven forbid.

He called it unobtainium, for pete's sake:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Unobtainium

Warning: the tropes site is addictive, and may completely change the way you view media.

[proteus_lives]

75. I'm already a junkie!

It's been in my bookmarks for awhile!

;-)

The rock, I know. Couldn't even be bothered to give it an original name.

[boppers]

82. A short list:

Unobtanium
Noble Savage
Technology vs. Nature
Hi-tech vs Low-tech weapons
Mechs
Wounded Hero
Renegade Scientist trying to save others
Renegade Soldier "coming to jesus" (seeing the light)
Forced marriage of love interest
Inter-connected world
Air = Water (in-air jellyfish..)
Taming a dragon
The "warrior journey" with rites of passage
Evil mining company
Evil corporation
Massive unprovoked attack
Animals uniting in defense with people
Magical tree(s)
"Special Sign" (jellyfish seed on arrow)
Super-humans (bigger, stronger) as opponents
...

Lots more, I'm sure.

[proteus_lives]

106. In case you haven't seen it:

Avatar in five panels:




:rofl:

[boppers]

114. LOL

from ebaumsworld, I expect?

[proteus_lives]

130. I got it from this site.

iwatchstuff.com

Great site for trailers, movie news and trivia.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

124. ItHasAlreadyRuinedMyLife

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife

[anonymous171]

132. Who would want to live under a hippy theocracy that had no agriculture? nt

[branders seine]

140. 10-foot-tall blue people with tails

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. No, not bizarre fanboys do really weird shit

true story... decades ago we ran demos for a game called BattleTech. Well we did things like "get in costume" which was fun for comicon.

So one convention a sixteen year old challenges me to a circle of equals. Ok, no problem. Choose your miniature, sheet, some paper and dice right? WRONG, he meant on his Daishi parked in the parking lot. Never mind this is a fictional mech that would have collapsed the parking lot, clocking in at 100 tons, and draw all kinds of attention.

Suffice it to say I had a long talk with parents. Did cost the company a customer, but did the kind of intervention that needed to be made. I hope the kid came to the 20th century, quite frankly. So this is not shocking. It is a comment on the country to a point...

Oh and the movie is incredible. It does deserve an Oscar for the special effects, at least in my view, and now I KNOW why the right is so damned pissed with Cameron.

[Ian David]

10. Tom Hanks saw this shit coming way ahead of his time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6AOd6r6Qi8





:sarcasm:

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Oh fanboys have been around a LONG time

I just got to see it first hand.

:-)

And they precede Tom Hanks too.

[proteus_lives]

62. I love that movie.

And Chick tracts are hilarious.

[ContraBass Black]

57. If he were really a fanboy, he would have called it a Dire Wolf.

Freebirth!

:P

[nadinbrzezinski]

58. I was wearing a Davion uniform

(A US air force Flight suit with patch and a made at home rank device) So he did that, he said, for the benefit of THIS freebirth.

And no, he did not speak with contractions, and it got really scary. Suffice it to say the writer in me went away and the medic in me (who wore a similar flight suit at work irony I know) came out. For it was the scariest encounter with either a claner or a fan boy... you choose

:-)

by the way you should know that like most fanboys he was from Clan Wolf... and of course Kerensky and blood named to boot.

The worst though were the smokie jaguars but at least those (that at least I met) never quite went that far... and Steiner fans were bad too... in case you wonder. These days for other reasons my tech stuff is in storage never to see the light of day... and no, fanboys were not the main reason for that decision.

Oh and my bad how could I forget the House Liao... some of those made the clanners look civilized. I guess it helps when you do not realize Maskirovka is a REAL word... just for starters.

[Joe the Liberal]

7. I have yet to see it.....

but I'll admit that after seeing some movies I actually felt similar. Not suicidal or depressed but more of the "disgust with the human race" feeling.

[Ian David]

13. Even though it's made by NewsCorp, you still gotta see the movie. n/t

[Codeine]

8. Fucking stupid. How empty must your life be

to have a deep emotional reaction to a mindless pile of eye-candy like that film?

Fuck me -- what a bunch of imbeciles. This is what passes for fucking art in our age. :puke:

[Robb]

14. "Art" has never been more inaccessible

...I had this discussion with a colleague who was bemoaning how everyone talks about whatever they saw TV, and no one talks about the symphony.

I pointed out the TV is the only entertainment most people can afford, money- or time-wise.

That is the tragedy here.

[Lorien]

17. Indeed. People are so overwhelmed with staying afloat these days

that there's no time to even read a decent book. There's another reason for high speed rail; time to slow down and absorb some real "art" for a change!

[Lorien]

15. People's lives ARE empty. Little connection with Nature and only superficial

relationships (I know some young people who only relate to others online or through texting). It's a symptom of the age. I think the flick just brought those people face to face with what has given them that empty feeling. I doubt that it has a whole lot to do with the artistic merits of them film, outside of the fact that it was rendered in a highly realistic way.

[CoffeeCat]

24. Yeah, but many films...

...can make you think about life and humanity--and they're not necessarily
highly acclaimed films or artistic masterpieces.

The film "The Little Prince" affected me and was played a pivotal role in my
life--for about a decade.

Furthermore, our species really is in a lot of trouble. We seem to be losing
our way. Look at our own country with its corrupt government. We are evolving
into something that is sad and upsetting to many. I haven't seen "Avatar" but
I imagine any movie that depicts how things could be, in a meaningful way--could
make one long for humanity to be that way.

The movie evokes emotion, and I think that's a positive thing. Anything to
get our world back on track.

[patrice]

11. Posers helping Christian* Fundamentalists give the movie a bad name.

[ldf]

53. bingo

lawsuit to follow...

:shrug:

[hedgehog]

16. Wait until the DVD with the deleted sex scenes comes out.

[Ian David]

20. Blue balls? n/t

[Moochy]

44. wouldnt it be called 'pink balls?'

[whatchamacallit]

22. Blue Balls (n/t

[niyad]

23. one thing that amused me about the rapture for this movie--to the point of suicidal depression

(over a MOVIE???) was wondering just how many of those people know the legend of pandora in mythology? was cameron having a subtle laugh at the audience's expense?

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. He had several

the chemical name was a gimme. (No, will not give the name for the sake of those who have not watched it)

Oh and so were the troops, and the you ain't in Kansas anymore (that line was in the trailers so I feel safe)

And I am sure this is one of those movies I will get to watch with notebook in hand... after all it was fairly formulaic (trust me, don't start analyzing movies if you want to be surprised still), but there were some points that were a tad outside the formula... and more about social commentary

Why the right wing is PISSED.

Now characters... I've met characters with more depth in a few trite B movies, but that is another story.

I'd still give them an Oscar for the FX.

[Lorien]

29. Formula? The story has been told before:

Cameron said that he "got the idea" for "Avatar" about 15 years ago. "Pocahontas" came out in 1995. Hmmmm...
(Of course it also reminds me of "Dances with wolves" and "Ferngully").

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. Worst than that

the formula is quite clear.

It is a classic path of the hero (which many Hollywood stories are)... with predictable plot points.

Boy meets girl happens at minute so and so (depends on the lenght, but this usually happens in the first 20 minutes of the movie, about minute twenty) that is what I mean by formula.

It follows the classic big studio path.

And who am I to judge? To paraphrase Colbert, the Market has spoken... big hits world wide, whether this is Star Wars (which is another classic hero adventure) or Avatar... they are predictable and ahem popular.

by the way Pocahontas is as old (the plot device that is) as oh the sixth century BCE and Greek Myth.

[omega minimo]

26. the Septics and Sciencyists have a lot to do with the general lack of imagination,

vision, connection with our world that is not condoned, controlled, constricted and conscripted by themselves.

The controlling prigs who cry "woo" at everything they can't smother to death and pin to a board.

[csziggy]

32. What are you trying to say? Are you talking about skeptics and scientists?

Or are "Septics and Sciencyists" some new cults I have not heard about?

Studying and understanding the real world without resorting to imaginary causes does not kill the wonder of reality or the beauty of nature.

[omega minimo]

36. Those who don't understand "studying and understanding the real world without resorting to' rigid

and unrealistic black and white thinking and bigoted dismissal of what they don't already know, based on unscientific and septic assumptions.

[FSogol]

37. Use anti-septics for the septic, but no clue on the sciencyists.

:shrug: Maybe check the "cyst" for pathologies?

[omega minimo]

38. Real science sheds light while mere scienciness blocks it.

[FSogol]

39. Put down the bong.

:-)

[Lisa0825]

43. Or at least pass it this way!

:rofl:

:wtf:

[Name removed]

52. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lisa0825]

55. Says the person who can't type one completely coherent post.

:hippie: :popcorn: :crazy:

:smoke: :smoke: :smoke:

[omega minimo]

78. Thank you for outing yourself

:boring:

[omega minimo]

76. oh you have GOT to be fuckin KIDDING

[omega minimo]

51. Take off the blinders

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

73. The same stupid science you're always bitching about is the only reason...

...the movie ever got made on the first place. Plenty of eeeeeevil technology and science was used in its creation.

[nadinbrzezinski]

77. What no magic fairy Na'vi dust?

Who knew?

:-)

Now on a serious note, most folks have NO CLUE on the technology behind this movie... so what is that Asimov said? It applies. It also applies to a light switch... but hey.

[omega minimo]

81. Don't don the blinders, dear NB

[nadinbrzezinski]

84. What blinders that there is science and science can be a problem

but it is not in this case. Science will help to get us out of the hole... or not.

But we have a deep sense of anti intellectualism and anti science developing, which is scary.

Now what I said about the SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY used to make this movie being akin to Magic... I mean it... it is sufficiently advanced for most people.

[omega minimo]

86. Sciencyness is a problem, like truthiness is.

[nadinbrzezinski]

88. I am not talking of truthiness, but of SCIENCE

not sciencyness, SCIENCE.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

90. WTF is sciencyness anyway? n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

92. An aproximation of science, like truthiness for truth

and highly fungible.

I happen to like words that have a definite meaning

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

95. Indeed.

In other words it means whatever the hell he wants it to mean, which he won't tell us because we have "blinders."

[omega minimo]

97. Yet you ignore the answer

Those who don't understand "studying and understanding the real world
without resorting to' rigid and unrealistic
black and white thinking
and bigoted dismissal
of what they don't already know,
black and white thinking
and bigoted dismissal
of what they don't already know,
based on unscientific and septic assumptions.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

100. OK, first of all...

1) Learn to format a post. It's not that hard.

2) Learn to use quotes. I have no idea what you just did there, but I'm pretty sure God just killed a kitten.

3) This says exactly the same thing it said last time you sent me a link to it, and it doesn't make any more sense now than it did then.

[omega minimo]

105. OK, first of all

:wtf: are you ordering people about for?

[dionysus]

144. ROFL

this subthread rocks...

[nadinbrzezinski]

101. So if I happen to be critical of the antivaxer crowd I have blinders on?

And that is the top of the woo out there.

Now some things that we used to consider weird (see using leeches in medicine) are back in fashion...using this concept called the SCIENTIFIC METHOD.

I guess i have embraced the sciency stuff then since I believe in stupid shit like oh vaccines. In fact, I am happy, and tappy feet. Got my Hinnie Flue vax today... I LUVE playing with my body after all... and even understand HOW it works. (Not fully protected until ten days have passed)

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

103. Do they make a vaccine for whatever's wrong with him? n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

104. Good guy most of the time

we all have our blind spots.

[omega minimo]

108. Your assumptions are the blind spot here.

Thank you for proving my point.

[omega minimo]

107. Um what?

That would be a good example of the "septic assumptions' mentioned above.

[nadinbrzezinski]

111. Nah yours is an example of what Jacoby calls

anti intellectualism in her book "the Age of Unreason" or for that matter, Hoffstader in his book on Anti Intellectualism.

Now if UNDERSTANDING science makes me one of the blind and bad ones... well guilty as charged.

After all we are were we are as a culture due to that silly shit... and yes it can be used for good or bad...

Now good night... and I do highly recommend you read Jacoby's book. Don't expect it, but I'd recommend it.

[omega minimo]

133. You are making false assumptions and projections here

I have said nothing against science.

Read the first post, maybe the subthread, try to understand the point.

Don't expect it, but I'd recommend it.

The sciencyist bigots and septic control freaks reflect badly on actual science and actual scientists. And they carefully maintain their false dichotomy.

The "received wisdom" referred to those false assumptions about what "woos think," that they pulled out of the air, off some talking point web site or based on their own fears. They argue with their own strawmen, build their false confidence and attack others because of it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

136. Wake up and smell the coffee because you have been

attacking people and pushing a pretty anti intellectual point of view.

Yes I got what you were talking about, but your definition of a term you made up is all but clear.

Oh and I do consider anti vaxers to be woo... and if that makes me one of the blind ones, so be it. Given I've worked in public health, I consider them dangerous.

[omega minimo]

138. The sciencyists create the false dichotomy and attack others, control/prevent discussion

That's dangerous and anti intellectual and obnoxious.

[nadinbrzezinski]

139. NO dear, as far as the ani vaxers are concerned

we should stop vaccinating, because it does a slew of problems to the human body

Well SCIENTISTS know that they do cause GB syndrome, in less than 2% of vaccinated patients WORLD WIDE... but what would we know? Oh and 2% is quite high, but that is ok.

We also know that things like Smallpox are GONE (except for two bio safety labs)

So cry me a river about false dichotomies.

Anti vaxers are one of the reasons we are seeing Mumps and whooping cough in small children AGAIN... and some of them have died. Now that is pretty black and white to me.

Sorry but as a historian of science and former health care worker, they are dangerous... live with it, or not, I don't care. I'll stick with the SCIENCE that has led to a point where the first birthday does not have the incredible connotations it used to at one time, or for that matter year number five (in the developed world, don't get me wrong, this is still the case in some places in the developing world, like oh insert small town off the beaten path in Mexico)

So no, you will not convince me that vaccines are scinecy... they are solid science. Nor is there a plot out there to kill you either.

[omega minimo]

142. That's not what I'm talking about.

[nadinbrzezinski]

143. Then you have made a very poor showing in explaining yourself

I mean TWO folks are going WTF over? At least two that YOU KNOW off.

I wonder how many others readying this are having the same reaction.

[omega minimo]

145. Those without blinders

and even some of the perpetrators themselves understand. If you support the false dichotomy and REACT with pronouncements and presumptions, repeating old arguments, reinforcing the strawmen, then yes, it will be hard to look at this objectively or scientifically.

The examples the other poster requested are all over DU, with sciencey types making statements about what "woos think" that are made up, false, borrowed, lifted, adopted from who knows where (like Randi's website) -- and used to support their own misinformed attitudes via strawmen arguments. That's not science, that's just stupid.

And with that misinformed approach and mistaken attitudes these sciencyists presume to dictate what is "worthy" of discussion.

It's a real waste of opportunity. So many interesting discussions nipped in the bud.

Apparently, the academic competition clouds the minds of some, more interested in control and competition, than ideas and information. THAT's unscientific and THAT is anti-intellectual. It's as small minded as you can get.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

93. This guy is like a far less entertaining version of the timecube.com guy.

At least he could come up with brilliant stuff like "You are educated evil, and might have to kill the evil ONE teaching educators before you can learn that 4 corner days actually exist -but all Cube Truth denied. Dumb ass educators fear me and hide from debate."

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

89. FFS define your term...

...and how your term is relevant to this discussion. Nobody has any fucking clue what you're on about.

[omega minimo]

94. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7443568&mesg_id=7443936

[Fumesucker]

113. That was Clarke, not Asimov..

Clarke's third law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic..

Asimov's laws were about robotics.

[omega minimo]

80. Wrong

on oh so many levels.

Including:

"The same stupid science you're always bitching about" = stupid.

The post commented on Sceptics and Sciencyests and the Sciencyness they serve ..... which has nothing to do with actual science.

"Plenty of eeeeeevil technology and science was used in its creation."

More stupid. The objection is to the misguided black and white thinking and bizarre non-logic of the Sciencyists.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

83. What misguided black and white thinking? What are you talking about?

Care to give an example?

[omega minimo]

85. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7443568&mesg_id=7443936

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

91. Can you give an example?

Preferably one that's relevant to this discussion.

[omega minimo]

96. Yes

Go back to the hidey hole and pick a thread, particularly one attacking "woo."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7443568&mesg_id=7443936

You'll find the unexamined, black and white thinking, received wisdom, mistaken assumptions, based on what "others" think, even though they don't think or express that, used as a basis for all SORTS of sciency arguments and obnoxious behavior.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

98. You really don't understand the concept of "giving an example" do you?

This is the same link you gave me to your post before, and unsurprisingly it says exactly the same thing it said before, when it was also not an example.

[omega minimo]

99. They are rampant

on DU and fester in the hidey hole and you know EXACTLY what is being referenced.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

102. You can't give one, can you?

You can't give a single example of this ill-defined nonsense concept you've created. Really, just one. Since you're so adamant that it's rampant, and I have no idea what the fuck "it" is, why don't you educate me?

[omega minimo]

109. I already have

Science does require that you apply yourself to the inquiry.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

110. I'm not investigating a term that you made up and which has no definition.

Furthermore, you're boring me.

[omega minimo]

134. You made no effort

to consider -- maybe didn't bother even reading -- what the posts say. That's not boredom, that's intellectual laziness.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

146. I did make an effort to consider it. I consider it nonsense.

In my defense, I did endeavor to extract from you some general sense of whatever the fuck it is you think you are conveying in your posts. This resulted in multiple links back to the original nonsense post with no further elaboration. I do not require any more links to your post. You have generously provided me with a very large collection of them already, which someday perhaps I will have framed and passed on as a family heirloom to whichever of my children I like least.

[MicaelS]

135. I thought Progressives were supposed to be

"Proud members of the REALITY based community"?

[Synicus Maximus]

27. This dude need professional help

[slampoet]

31. So this "reporter" earns more than I do and they think an anon user called "mike" is a Source?

Clean out your desk you HACK!

[Haole Girl]

34. That's pretty superficial of our society....

I mean, these issues have been around for a long time & they only NOW think about them?

:crazy:

[Lorien]

41. Think about the demographic that the film appeals to

the very same people who spend most of their free time staring at a television playing "Halo" or whatever the game du jour is. Perhaps they've never been hiking or camping with friends. Perhaps the only friends that they have are online. Hard to say, but given the state of the world today it's safe to say that MOST are asleep-or just distracted.

[Haole Girl]

45. I was just talking with my husband about this and...

said, "I wonder if that generation truly believes throwing a plastic bottle in a recycle bin and calling themselves 'green' makes a difference... a real difference."

[RedCappedBandit]

49. Same question I was asking myself. nt

[FSogol]

35. Good movie, nice message, stunning visuals, but if you think its is

some sort of deep powerful message on humanity, you really should break out the Joseph Conrad or Victor Hugo and start reading more.

My 2 cents.

[Lorien]

40. Personally, I don't think that it's "deep" at all

and yes, I've read Victor Hugo (not that I find his works particularly "deep" either). But obviously some people are feeling unsettled, and personally I think it's REALITY that's upsetting them. The fantasy is just a reflection of something very basic that's missing in their lives.

[texastoast]

46. Maybe he is sensitive to "American" collective guilt

Just think. A few hundred years ago, Pandora was right here under New York City, Los angeles, and every other slab of concrete we wanted so we wouldn't get our shoes muddy. So we could get in our cars, be mobile and separate from each other, "independent" so to speak.

We bright.

[mrbarber]

54. No, I think it has more to do with...

fans being disappointed about how lackluster and clichéd the film was after having to suffer through 6 months of non-stop advertising.

Seriously, it was Ferngully without the benefit of a singing Tim Curry.

[MisterP]

56. "people discover that, really, they like jungles, and not seeing them cut down to provide more FOR

humans and to ensure that there are more OF humans, always and forever"

sounds like it's conscientizing people (especially given that it's a mix of "Dances With Wolves" and "The Word for World Is Forest")

on a related note, it's funny how shocked conventional thinkers are when someone concludes that humanity itself is the problem, like that conclusion was an impossible logical divide-by-zero

[Lorien]

59. "Conventional thinkers" have been spoon fed the same RW swill since 1980

"America is the best country on earth"
"Population growth is PROGRESS"
"Corporations are looking out for us. Government is bad"
"They hate us for our freedoms"
"Nature= "resources""
"You can cut down the rain forest. It's just TREES. Plant more"
"Nature is to be subdued and profited from"
"Indigenous peoples need to be liberated from their "backwards" way of life (and turned into good consumers)"
"More is never enough"
"The TV never lies"
"Everything has a price tag"

I could go on and on and on....

[MisterP]

65. Jenseits des Powell-Memo

from Julian Simon to Rush Limbaugh to Ray Kurzweil to Richard Berman to Regnery Publishing, these fiends have pumped out a whole ideology that goes beyond the sum of corporations' desires: it's a whole style of sneering mockery at the unscientific bleeding hearts, each of their soft-hearted tears a small victory: it has its roots in the literal worship of technology as our savior, from each and every problem we may encounter

[proteus_lives]

63. The sad thing is that people are affected by this shitty movie.

[janx]

64. hahahaha

The cable news outlets are always jealous of those who have imagination! :rofl:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

66. The only James Cameron movie that made me want to commit suicide was Titanic.

Mostly because of Celine Dion's singing.

[boppers]

74. DiCaprio's hamming wasn't too easy to deal with, either.

Top of the World!

:hurl:

[Lorien]

115. Gah! Now I have that horrific song in my head!

:argh:

[Marr]

131. You know, something tells me Avatar will be seen about like Titanic in a few years.

I enjoyed the movie a lot, personally-- but I enjoyed Titanic in the theater, too. When it's not on a giant screen, the visual dressing is greatly reduced and all you're left with is melodrama and archetypal characters.

James Cameron has a talent for making this sort of stealth-schmaltz movie.

[roamer65]

68. The human race has a nasty genocidal streak.

...and I think many got a look into the "mirror" in that movie and didn't like what they saw.

[Lorien]

70. Genocidal..and suicidal

we seem to be constantly working toward our own demise, and we're taking down nearly every other species along the way. It's amazing how many never think about it.

[greyl]

69. They have a woefully narrow view of humanity. nt

[brettdale]

79. Well Im off to see it tomorrow

Hopefully I will be smiling.

[sofa king]

87. News Flash: Some Depressed People Still Get Out To Watch Films!

[1]

112. well, i don't know... if a movie makes you contemplate suicide, then i don't blame the movie...

you might want to look into yourself for that extreme reaction, right?

its a fucking movie. after all...

[shadowknows69]

116. Here's news for them. We had a lush and beautiful world once.

That used to have a lot more beautful species, including some human, that aren't around much if at all anymore. So somone has to make movies reminding us of what fuck ups we are.

[1]

117. yes we did! and boo fucking hoo...

[Lorien]

118. "Boo fucking hoo"? Actually, what's happening to our planet IS tragic

and flippant attitudes like yours have allowed the destruction to continue.

[1]

119. true dat. nice and sad pictures. and what is your point, exactly? about the movie?

are you blue?

[shadowknows69]

125. Are you human?

[Lorien]

126. Um, my point about the article is stated in the OP

Am I blue? Sure, but not about any Hollywood creation. I'm halfway through life and I'm less hopeful now about the future of this country and our planet than I ever was. Maybe someone like yourself-obviously quite young-hasn't felt the magnitude of the situation yet. Maybe others are just waking up to what's been going on. Doesn't stop me from writing to our reps and signing petitions every week, along with looking for ways of making my life more carbon neutral.

[niyad]

120. thank you for sharing those beautiful pics

[niyad]

121. your comment reminds me of a guy at an environmental conference one time, who asked, "why should we

care about the earth?"

[Lorien]

127. Was the guy suicidal or just mentally handicapped?

Such attitudes always astonish me. I guess that they shouldn't by now. :-(

[Javaman]

128. We live in a very sad era when people perfer fantasy over the beauty of real nature.

Playing pretend is easy, actually caring and doing something about the earth is hard.

To quote Homer Simpson: Can't someone else do it?

Plenty to weep about in the present.

[upi402]

137. I felt Avatar would hit home with folks

Some people are prone to these strong feelings and if it's not Avatar, it will be something else. I hope we don't shoot the messenger here.

We saw Avatar at midnight when it opened. I posted here about a bad review saying it was tree-huggerish and preaching at the end. Myself, I thought it was a bit campy, with dialogue like "unobtanium". But still felt it would hit Baby Huey Americana in the heart.