What the...?
Straight-jackets-R-us would have a field day with that lot. Send 'em in..
Problem solved.
Mines the coat, with a few extra straps for that secure, restrained feeling.
James Cameron's 3D sci-fi romp Avatar appears to have deeply affected some cinemagoers who've found that life on Earth doesn't measure up to the prospect of living on utopian world Pandora. CNN reports that net forums are awash with dark musings on the impossibility of visiting the virtual planet, with those most deeply …
Lester,
I think that last one in the Bootnotes was someone's attempt at irony. It's funny, really, how he managed to cramp all sad Slashdot geek stereotypes into one single comment: 35 years old living in parents' basement, taking sci-fi movies too seriously, playing WoW, having a "guild wife" (wtf?), talking about hitler, etc.
+1 Funny.
-dZ.
This is really only good marketing. Avatar was a success even before launch (no one knew the story then). I remember watching Bones on television before the movie launch and there was a scene were people are painted and dressed like the Navi in front of the movie theater (before the actual movie launch!). So they were saying that it was a cult BEFORE being launched!
This is only VERY VERY GOOD propaganda. It is, sadly, a syntom of the times and how society are really made of IDIOTS that can be so easily manipulated to think that an unreleased movie is already a cult.
In fact, the story is nothing new (exactly what Americans did to Indians on the West or Spanish did to Maias and Incas on Latin America), but just with the SCI FI background added (gentle & inteligent aliens, some beautiful alien women, a crappy and unfounded love story, the bad guy that turns unexplicably good, a bit of ecology).
Nothing really new or interesting.
It is a sign of the times how people can even believe that that are lots of desperate souls crippled by this wonderful story that wanted to die and appear on Pandora. It is scary the level of manipulation we had these days. And how people are eager to fall for that (perhaps because we were made believe that that is so little we can do to change the reality we live in...)
What in the name of Satan's ringpiece are you talking about, and why in reply to my post, and more importantly - if it was you - why give my comment a negative rating?
I am well aware that the post quoted in Bootnotes was clearly a fake - it's what I was alluding to, rather clearly I thought, when I said "piss-taking at it's finest".
I have no idea what you're talking about, what it has to do with me, and frankly, I feel like I need to go home and wash the stink of your reply off my body with wire wool and bleach. Please kindly try to refrain from spouting shit anywhere near my posts in future, and I'll do you the same courtesy.
looks like Darwin awards may have their yearly quota in a month or two.
I've yet to see Avatar and its nice to see that people are experiencing the film as I expect James Cameron (initials JC - coincedence?) hoped it would be.
But what keeps movies magic is that when the lights go up and the auditorium empties, you are back in real life.
I'm often morbidly amused by people and their death rantings.....I find it amusing that people's hold on reality is so stretched that these people are broken by a bloody movie.
> I've yet to see Avatar
Every few years there's a film that comes along and resonates with the emotionally stunted and impressionable types. Whether it was Bambi, Watership Down, Harry Potter or whatever doesn't matter, there will always be a ready supply of children of all ages for whom a simple, sentimental and superficial story will turn into something greater.
So far as the effects go, I didn't see the 3D version, but they weren't amazingly better than what we're used to from Jurassic Park, or if you've watched _Sanctuary_ on the telly. Despite what all the studio/media hype says. Not better - just bloody everywhere and much more expensive.
Forget the hype, forget the effects, the story isn't much and has very little depth (and is one that's been presented many times before: mostly by Disney). By the time this hits the TV channels everyone will be wondering what all the fuss was about.
If Avatar freaked these people out, what is going to happen when the World of Warcraft movie comes out? There are millions of WoW junkies who live in WoW already. If they see something even half the standard of Avatar they will probably be so depressed with they "real lives" that they will top themselves.
It's the new natural selection!
The World of Warcraft makes planet Earth look like a paradise. Azeroth is a craptactular cesspit of overpopulated, diseased wildlife in various stages of perpetual killing rages, blighted countryside, dozens of factions of species with higher cognitive functions that want to kill everyone and everything else and rule the world, and thousands of mercenaries who roam the countryside, killing each other and everything they happen across in hopes of obtaining a little coin, trinkets, or shiny new armor that will make them even better at killing everything.
Nobody in their right mind would want to live there.
To all the naive morons who feel that way about Avatar: Kill yourselves now. It'd be wonderful for the rest of us for you to stop trying to impose your fantasies on everybody else, and I'm sure that the loss of you would be good for the 'carbon footprint' or somesuch.
Go on, do it.
I really used to bother me that people got that wrapped up in an obviously superficial film, aimed to simply punt CGI and tape it to a mildly engaging story. but hey, its the ADHD generation, and whatever keeps them going for more than 30 seconds at a time has it's merits.
Honestly though, Every year there is a film that makes us look completely stupid as a society. when it wasn't potter, it was star wars, when it wasn't star wars, it was narnia, when it wasn't narnia, it was twilight, and now its avatar. It'll be something else in a few months ( like WoW.. which at least will be easily ruined by Ewe Bole).
Avatar = Ferngully + CGI + blue tits
/coments.
Ok I take that back... there was no 'filming' in New Zealand... but a lot of the CGI was done there...
I'd still disagree that theres "NOTHING on earth like Pandora" (sticking to the New Zealand point):
http://www.rhinocarhire.com/images/CountryImages/400x500/New-Zealand-Mountains.jpg
http://www.truenz.co.nz/walking/images/WhirinakiRainforestGuidedWalks2.jpg
http://www.touristmaker.com/images/new-zealand/new-zealand-forest.jpg
Maybe these loons should try living in the trees there...
Just curious, how much longer will we be saying articles of the kind "funky title! A said ..., B said ..., over on forum X, C said ..., the end, we didn't bother embedding this information in a proper article because just quoting seventeen different other websites consitutes a post, right?"
It's not like we didn't know how to write articles with what people said they'd do, or without quoting, in the past...
we need to have mandatory community service for everyone after high school so they can build roads, parks, spend time outside and see that they can act rather than be the pathetic passive gits they've made themselves into.
Sounds like it's time for a new 12-step group for the internet-affected.
Pandora looked very pretty, so I understand why it might seem superficially appealing compared with the more mundane aspects of real life. But the Na'vi have a horrible time what with getting killed and having their special tree burnt down.
Floating mountains aside, we already live on a pretty cool planet. If what you learn from this badly scripted film is that you don't terribly like your life then do something about it. Not wishing to trivialise depression, but retreating into a fantasy world is only going to widen the gap between your life as you want to lead it and how you actually lead it. I'd try and focus on nice things that actually do exist on this planet.
.. but I just want those floating rocks. I mean, it's so safe there. There's no way a terrorist can hide under one when it hangs a couple of miles in the air with no visible support and an as yet unexplained continuous source of water running a river from the top.
I actually liked the film. Sure, some bits were improbable, but isn't that rather the point of a fantasy movie?
What? No, not that they're blue and have luminous plants and have some kind of firewire connector in their hair (must be hard to get a decent haircut). No, I meant the improbable black-and-white stereotypes. It sort of yells "US made" at you, which even punctured my Hollywood sourced movie indoctrination. Thankfully it soon settled. Must be something they put in the drinks.
Sarcasm aside, I think it was a bloody good effort, and an even better sale. Remember, for any theatre to show this they had to upgrade in full. Projector (more a sort of überLightpro that would burn the paint of the wall in office use), screen (silver coated, I presume for enough light) and sound system (which puzzled me a bit) - all had to be installed. Actually, the Lightpro isn't as outlandish as it seems - I saw the input select taking place when I went to the Avatar preview which had me almost rolling in the isles with laughter.
The upside is that new movies can be distributed pretty much straight after they have been cut - no more mass replication needed. It all goes via the Innernet, and as long as they don't forget to enable the DRM it may even show. OK, they had a small oopsie in Germany with that, but for a v1.0 I found it bloody impressive.
More please.
......... I just wish I could stop thinking of this; it’s more than a movie. My Mom used to think I was too into WoW but that was just a game. I quit playing and told my guild wife there to just forget me. This feels real, that is just stupid now. I don't even really want to go into work. And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there, I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air...
Though dreaming of living in a fantasy world is generally an indication that someone is in need of a padded room, strong medication and a jumper with long sleeves that does up at the back if it teaches some people humility and care for their fellow human beings then that surely can only be a good thing, no?
Sad state of affairs though that its taken a CGI film for them to realise that crapping on your fellow human and/or stabbing them in the back to get a pay rise/promotion or whatever is pretty shit
As for the people suffering the 'Pandora blues' I have this advice stop blubbering, get off your rear and go and help a good cause, that'll help you and the rest of us.
No I haven't yet seen the film.
The symbolic undertones of this movie smacks ourselves of it.
The military is USA and the Pandorans are the muslims.
USA will do anything to survive even kill and murder and rape 5 year old girls even if it means the USA will survive into the next century.
We will use the CIa to discredit honest CIA agents like Palme who never did lie and told the truth about Africa and wanted them silent so that future bombers can infiltrate from Africa.
Hopefully doctors faced with cases of the "Pandora blues" will have the good sense to recommend things like
* A trip to the Rockies.
* A hike in Yellowstone.
* Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon.
* A boat journey on the Hudson or Amazon River.
* A trip on an Antarctic icebreaker.
* Crewing a yacht round the Hebrides.
* Sea kayaking in a Norwegian fjord.
* Piloting a river barge on the Canal du Midi.
* River-rafting through Nepal from the foothills of the Andes.
* Snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef.
* Walking the Great Wall of China.
...is there a limit on the size of these text boxes? [cont p.96]
You're saying you don't believe there are people with fertile imaginations whose lives offer them such little fulfilment that they could be sent into a depression by experiencing a stunning and frustrating glimpse of something they see as better (and which was designed in this case to evoke strong and deep feeling through powerful visual stimulus)?
It happens all the time. People get depressed by reading aspirational lifestyle mags or just seeing others enjoying life more whether it's real, fictional or a reality-based contrivance. I bet you've watched something that's made you sigh a bit about the inadequacies of your existence, the choices you've made, the things you will never do or see or feel. You probably just squashed it for your own sanity, rather than tottering onto the internet in a desperate attempt to find others who feel the same.
Not that there isn't marketing genius at work here. Haven't seen it yet - I fully expect to be gobsmacked by the visuals, irritated by the script and only vaguely wistful that the most spectacular thing I will do this week is buy a new washing machine.
Interesting post, Sarah.
But in fact any sciency fiction movie (or any movie) could trigger such reactions to our reality.
Perhaps you're and most of these bloggers don't experience daily a more cold and hard reality, but comming from an undeveloped country (in my case Brazil), I feel that these bloggers really need to have more contact with the problems that they only see on TV.
You can agree that this is escapism and not dealing with your own problems (and perhaps the problems that affect society in general). I'm just saying that as long as people try to live in fantasy worlds, be them Pandora, Vulcan, Middle Earth no concern for whats really happening exists.
Perhaps this is a big manipulation or product of my imagination. Perhaps keeping things as they are is what moves the world. In the end, these persons reflect our belief that nothing can change, nothing can be done, if only we lived in Pandora....
This post has been deleted by its author
... this does kind of happen to people who are weighed down with problems that most of you would consider nothing, but to these people mean everything. Wanting to live in simpler times means you don't have such problems as in current times (i.e. salary, mortgage, terrorism), just living off the land with nature. Telling them to 'get a life' is mildly cruel, as they need to learn how to break away from their issues to do so, be it shyness, fear of rejection, bankruptcy, anything.
However, these people may be idealising Pandora too much, ignoring all the vicious animals and focusing only on the plants, environment, views, and all the stuff the Na'vi get up to. For all we know, some of them may even be afraid of these animals, though we are only shown those to wish to fight, and no one runs from greater odds (even the 'evil' human soldiers plough on in the finale).
Still in therapy, two years so far, to get over some childhood trauma (nothing horrific, just the wrong lessons learned) is difficult. Whilst I joked about suicide, I'd never consider it a viable option.
Ironically I like computer games and find myself drawn to my computer for many hours (though not MMORPGs as you may imagine), but this is simply a way to dull my emotions and not think of the present.
This is the reason people like artificial worlds, to get over something, or to ignore problems that have affected you since you were young, you get to dream a bit of a better place, even if it's for a short time. Yet, you never feel any better afterwards, and repeat watches may only make things harder for you.
That's where psychology comes in, to get to the root of the problem, not to kill it mind, just to accept it as fact, and leave it in the past forever, to no longer affect you in future.
I'll admit, the movie had many moments which made you think 'why are humans such bastards to others?', but I'm centred enough at least to know that this is fiction, and even though these things happened in real life (British colonisation, Native Americans, Conquisadors, Holocaust, etc), it is our own actions that define who we are, and not our heritage/gender/species.
Overall though, the movie gave me the chills with all the high heights, and I feared falling, even though I was safe in the cinema. Not a true vertigo sufferer, just afraid of heights in general. It was standard hero's journey stuff, with predictable deaths/actions/love/characterisations, but a well told tale. I teared up a bit when the tree went down, but then again, I did that when the violin players played in the Titanic movie, good orchestra always gets to me.
It was the same story when Star Wars came out in 1977.
The message of hope in this is that the studio will undoubtedly release sequel after sequel that will gradually erode the power and majesty people seem to invest his daft cartoon with.
The comment reproduced in the bootnote was masterful. El Reg should buy the author a pint.
Oh Sarah,
A single human brain is potentially more powerful than every computer on the planet, the words in a book are just an a idea or concept, if you let you brain do the processing the pictures will appear. And not just ultra High Definition pictures, but infinite point surround sound and a full sensory experience of smells and touch.
So don't bother going to a your local fleabit to watch something artifical. Visit you imagination for the full HD experinence.
I feel Philosophical today.
Maybe my imagination is just crap but try as I might, when I'm reading a book I just can't smell anything, other than maybe musty book smell.
Nothing against books, but film can get a lot more information across to the brain in a lot shorter period, they still haven't got the smell thing going on though, which is probably fortunate.
I like reading and watching movies and they both have their place, some things might work better in books, some work better in comics and some work better in film.
Sean of the Dead I don't think would be a particularly good book for instance, I don't think it even makes a particularly good comic.
Watchmen makes a better comic than it did a film, and is better as a comic than a book with no pictures.
Jasper Fforde Thursday Next novels make better books than they could film or comics.
Well a movie usually loses out when getting into a character's motivation and inner dialog. On the plus side, some of the visual imagery can beggar *my* imagination. LOTR for example.
Jaws - Movie over book by far (qualification - i did like the shark's viewpoint bit at the start)
2001 - Movie, of course the book came out after and tried to explain the movie Part of the fun was trying to figure out what the heck happened.
Dune - Book over anything done, book's a classic piece of SF. Too much in it to ever get a decent adaptation without turning it into a miniseries (Oooh, remember Shogun? Book there too.)
The Andromeda Strain - (first movie) Pretty good translation from book to film, the remake was obviously scripted by writers on a caffeine-sugar-cocaine binge, throwing in every overused SF cliche going. I'll give the book a win, but kudos to the production team of the first film.
LOTR - Tough call, big fan of the books but it did morph from kids story to novel to history textbook. The movie was more consistent in atmosphere. Nah, I'll pick the book trilogy
The Da Vinci Code - Who's kidding, both crap. I mean who ever heard of a Da Vinci expert taking ages to recognize mirror writing?
If the only thing you can do with your life is fail (again), go right ahead, the gene pool will not miss you.
I sympathise with depression when you see what appears to be a better world; so why not try and change your world, that would be far more useful and ultimately more fulfilling than suicide. Think of the kick of seeing your name on the creds for a movie like.
SBS
> I told her when I got home and she cried but I don’t care anymore, I’m 35 and I can do what I want in my room and don’t have to take any “medicine” if I don’t want to
Some people just shouldn't be allowed out on their own - or allowed on the internet without adult supervision.
Why don't any of these "lost souls" get off their mopey rears, do some college studying, and develop a neural interface that allows people to have a virtual "avatar" self in an immersive virtual environment similar to that shown in Avatar, complete with bio-feedback? Then they could "go" to Pandora whenever they want, and actually contribute something to society while doing it. It's such a waste to hear people wanting to off themselves thinking it will do any good on the hopes of getting "rebirthed" into a Pandoran-like world. Your probably more likely to get "rebirthed" into an African trible-like society where you get eaten by a lion-type predator when you're 6, and then "rebirthed" in a feudal-system realm where your menial labor starts at age 8 (or sooner) just to die by 25, to be "rebirthed" as a.... well, you get the idea. Life is tough. Live with it. Off yourself if you dare roll the dice on the off chance "something after" is better.
Last time I felt that way was watching star wars for probably the 20th time at the age of seven. at 35 though - at least it seems he can hold down a job.
Apparently there was constant stream of defections from the New England colonies to the natives in the 17th century (and little in reverse), so Cameron's tapped into a real sentiment - more um 'aggressive darwinian pressures on that lifestyle' (suicidal maniac) not withstanding.
I think the real problem with life today is that too many people have too much leisure time, and they get to thinking too much, and then go to movies or other diversions that make them think even more. The more primitive the society, the harder every individual has to work in order to simply survive. That, of course, consumes a great deal of time, which leaves less time for being depressed. Thanks, but living in a cabin in the Rockies that has no central heat is enough work; if I gave up my technology in order to live any closer to nature up here, it would be my full-time occupation.
Up here, it's the cold and snow. In a jungle, it would be the humidity, insects, and disease. In other areas, the challenges nature presents are drought and heat. These whiners need to toughen-up and stop taking the conveniences in their cushy lives for granted. Things in nature are never as glamorous as they appear on a movie or television screen, they just don't know how nice they have it. Especially if mom is still providing them with a place to live, FFS. That was a rather amusing read!
those who can't tell the difference between reality and fiction. There's definitely some good and fun ideas going on in the movie, but there's also the overused plot of the oppressed overcoming their oppressors. It may be overused, but obviously it never gets old due to the fact that so many people feel oppressed in some way. I thought it was a good movie due to the visuals and the basic story. The fact that they used a disabled guy as the main character was kinda cool too. If people can't see the core values of overcoming your own obstacles in this, they need some serious doses of optimism and to stop complaining incessantly.
<insert Monty Python's "always look on the bright side of life">
There... it's a cheery day now, go out and have some fun!
Paris, because even she knows when to unplug.
Yes, you could watch that. Problem is, over here in Malaysia, those only play in theaters (I've never seen them on TV, but I saw them when I last went to watch Star Trek). And of course, when you go to the theaters...
Tombstone for the ones who are dead. There's no point crying over every mistake tho, just keep trying til you run out of cake...
...this is a reaction to the excesses of corporate greed, consumerism, political correctness and oppressive laws that are increasingly hemming in our daily lives. The despair comes from a sense of hopelessness that anyone can ever change it. With the advent of technology, crowd psychology and advanced policing/enforcement methods resistance and revolution have become impossible. Protest against government and corporate excesses now falls on deaf ears. Advertising has reached such a level of mind control to make people buy, buy, buy that mass consumerism and materialism has become inescapable - witness the determined desire of today's children to have Brand Name Products, not no-name copies. And this awareness of a dark and dystopian future being inevitable, and the hopelessness of opposing it, is finally coming home to roost.
Which is why I refused to have children. It was my only way of striking back at the system - knowing that no progeny of mine will ever have to suffer the mind-control, slavery and oppression that is now upon us, and will be for the foreseeable future.
There are 2 reasons why we visit Earth and not a planet like Pandora with its weird gravitational field, funky floating mountains and flat chested natives...
Coffee. And Titties.
Won't find a better brew anywhere else in this galaxy. And Earth women titties are the most awesome fricken objects in the universe..
Mine's the one with The Hitchhiker's Guide in one pocket and a towel in the other.
As someone with Avatar blues, I'd like to point out a few things. Not everyone is suicidal, there are very few people, the media love to sensationalise things. If you actually take the time to read the avatar-forums, you will see that it is an amazing community, very friendly and helpful. I haven't actually been there long myself, but since I have, it has really helped with my Avatar blues. I think many people here are misunderstanding the avatar blues though, it is not just a longing for Pandora, it has made many people (including myself) see the problems with humanity. I've found myself thinking about things I never even considered before I first watched Avatar. It really does have a strong message, which goes sadly ignore by many people. Avatar has also inspired me to many positive thoughts as well, which I do hope to turn into reality, and many people are with me.
If you have any questions, I would be happy to try and answer them. If you really want to know for yourself, I would suggest going to avatar-forums and having a good read, then going and seeing Avatar again or for the first time, I almost guarantee it will change your perspective.
.....who gives a flying f'ck, it's got a giant-robotic-knife-fighting-exoskeleton and dragons in it and that makes everything worthwhile in my eyes.
Paris, because, like Avatards and Pandora, I've often wanted to go to sleep in my bed and wake up in hers!
You are probably right and I'm all for anything that gives people a moral shake up but if you are planning to change the world I fear you maybe disappointed.
What people write on a forum or what they say is often very different to what they end up doing so I wouldn't put too much faith in what people say as long before Avatar people like myself who are human beings have strived to help others and honour any promises we make but time and time again we have been let down by others that are very good at saying what you want to hear but who are in essence extremely insincere.
The vast majority of people aren't worth bothering with, so really, don't convince yourself that a new world is just around the corner because there have been films and other publications that have conveyed a moral message for years and has anything changed?
Six months from now this film will be old news and people will have forgotten any 'lessons' they gained from it and will go back to doing whatever they can to get ahead.
Pessimist? No, these comments are based on experience and observation.
I wish you well.
AC because people often don't like the truth.
I think these people would be fairly shocked by how little fun living in a tree and having to run from critters with teeth bigger than your own head is as a lifestyle choice.
And to boot, has anyone else thought that even the the lanky Smurfs had chased off the humans, that in about 10 years, the humans would be back for their $20million per kilo minerials with enough firepower to vapourise a continent or three? Now THAT is a movie I'd watch over and over.
Here's hoping for Avatar 2: Nukes vs. the Blue Tree-Peoples.
...another way of expressing one's realized reality of the current world. It isn't really so much about wishing to be transported to this mythical world filled with blue Africans with native American faith systems. It is all about seeing all the geopolitical strife, wasteful attitudes, wanton conflict, and just plain crazy nature of the world, and wishing thigs were simpler and more peaceful.
I am a US Army combat veteran, having deployed repeatedly, and I've got to say I loved the movie. Not because it showed the military in a bad light, but rather the idea that somewhere there are people who can still get along with nature without all this technology and strife. No more killing just to kill. No more not knowing your neighbors because they are too self-involved to get to know anyone else. I long for a simpler life, but right now it is not possible for myself, nor my little family.
I go to the VA, and I get my PTSD meds, I talk to other vets, and I pray that one day I won't feel like sh*t about the world and myself when I wake up. The idea of a real community that actually cares about you, with people working together for the common good, that is what it is all about. Not being 10 ft tall and blue.