Avatar fans depressed, suicidal because Pandora doesn't exist. - Polidicks

[release](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. 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. "I wasn't depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy ," Baghdassarian said. "But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don't have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed." A post by a user called Elequin expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film. "That's all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about 'Avatar.' I guess that helps. It's so hard I can't force myself to think that it's just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na'vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie," Elequin posted. 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. Cameron's movie, which has pulled in more than $1.4 billion in worldwide box office sales and could be on track to be the highest grossing film of all time, is set in the future when the Earth's resources have been pillaged by the human race. A greedy corporation is trying to mine the rare mineral unobtainium from the planet Pandora, which is inhabited by a peace-loving race of 7-foot tall, blue-skinned natives called the Na'vi. In their race to mine for Pandora's resources, the humans clash with the Na'vi, leading to casualties on both sides. The world of Pandora is reminiscent of a prehistoric fantasyland, filled with dinosaur-like creatures mixed with the kinds of fauna you may find in the deep reaches of the ocean. Compared with life on Earth, Pandora is a beautiful, glowing utopia. Ivar Hill posts to the "Avatar" forum page under the name Eltu. He wrote about his post-"Avatar" depression after he first saw the film earlier this month. "When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed ... gray. It was like my whole life, everything I've done and worked for, lost its meaning," Hill wrote on the forum. "It just seems so ... meaningless. I still don't really see any reason to keep ... doing things at all. I live in a dying world." Reached via e-mail in Sweden where he is studying game design, Hill, 17, explained that his feelings of despair made him desperately want to escape reality. "One can say my depression was twofold: I was depressed because I really wanted to live in Pandora, which seemed like such a perfect place, but I was also depressed and disgusted with the sight of our world, what we have done to Earth. I so much wanted to escape reality," Hill said. Cameron's special effects masterpiece is very lifelike, and the 3-D performance capture and CGI effects essentially allow the viewer to enter the alien world of Pandora for the movie's 2½-hour running time, which only lends to the separation anxiety some individuals experience when they depart the movie theater. "Virtual life is not real life and it never will be, but this is the pinnacle of what we can build in a virtual presentation so far," said Dr. Stephan Quentzel, psychiatrist and Medical Director for the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. "It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as utopian as it seems onscreen. It makes real life seem more imperfect." Fans of the movie may find actor Stephen Lang, who plays the villainous Col. Miles Quaritch in the film, an enemy of the Na'vi people and their sacred ground, an unlikely sympathizer. But Lang says he can understand the connection people are feeling with the movie. "Pandora is a pristine world and there is the synergy between all of the creatures of the planet and I think that strikes a deep chord within people that has a wishfulness and a wistfulness to it," Lang said. "James Cameron had the technical resources to go along with this incredibly fertile imagination of his and his dream is built out of the same things that other peoples' dreams are made of." The bright side is that for Hill and others like him -- who became dissatisfied with their own lives and with our imperfect world after enjoying the fictional creation of James Cameron -- becoming a part of a community of like-minded people on an online forum has helped them emerge from the darkness. "After discussing on the forums for a while now, my depression is beginning to fade away. Having taken a part in many discussions concerning all this has really, really helped me," Hill said. "Before, I had lost the reason to keep on living -- but now it feels like these feelings are gradually being replaced with others." Quentzel said creating relationships with others is one of the keys to human happiness, and that even if those connections are occurring online they are better than nothing. "Obviously there is community building in these forums," Quentzel said. "It may be technologically different from other community building, but it serves the same purpose." Within the fan community, suggestions for battling feelings of depression after seeing the movie include things like playing "Avatar" video games or downloading the movie soundtrack, in addition to encouraging members to relate to other people outside the virtual realm and to seek out positive and constructive activities.[/release] [url=http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/]Source: CNN[/url] All I can say to this: What the fuck? Avatar is going to end up developing a crazy cultist following just like anime and furries :ohdear: Pandora wasn't even that impressive of a fantasy world. All SPESSIAL EFFECTZZZ and shit, not that much culture or worldbuilding. Middle-earth was better (but then again books don't have CUTTING EDGE SPECIAL EFFECTS)...

:wtc:

Basement dwellers.

I had suicidal thoughts of shame when I realized I think Neytiri was hot.

lol americans

At least they are depressed over a great movie, instead of over fucking twilight for once.

[QUOTE=Lankist;19579909]I had suicidal thoughts of shame when I realized I think Neytiri was hot.[/QUOTE] Congrats you are a closet furry.

neck beards

Become a Native American, ta-da.

I felt pretty sad watching Avatar too, there must be subliminal messages or something.

What. It looks great, I mean it was fantastic watching it at the cinema, but getting depressed over it? Those people have problems.

Fuck me, it wasn't that great. :raise:

pathetic

There was also the Naboo effect after Phantom Menace came out. Also: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v661/payton34smith22/Gifavs2/ad4f4ffffwt4.gif[/IMG] Wait! Isn't Pandora real? Pandora is real. But it's not what you would expect. It's a moon of Saturn, as depressing as it may seem it looks just like our Lunar and is completely uninhabited, or thought to be. I Googled it up.

Better then Twilight

i felt the same way after I watched Fargo

I can't wait to see the first suicide due to Avatar. Bring on evolution!

[QUOTE=Hunterbrute;19579938]Congrats you are a closet furry.[/QUOTE] I am weening myself off hot blue chicks with similarly slender and super hot real celebrities that I also won't ever have the opportunity to have sex with. Jennifer Carpenter is really helping me through these rough times.

It'd be even worse if it was real. They'd end up getting themselves killed trying to build rockets and teleporters out of gasoline and scrap metal.

And I'm amazed no one commented on the "Blue" pun yet.

It'd be cool if Pandora was a real place, but come on, depression?

[QUOTE=Lankist;19580083] Jennifer Carpenter is really helping me through these rough times.[/QUOTE] She looks like she had a Botox accident.

get over it [img]http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs228.snc3/21565_1196671405879_1501301984_30514389_7741007_n.jpg[/img]

I'm not sure what's sadder: the depression thing or the fact that CNN is now reporting forum threads as news

[QUOTE=Rosek;19580117]She looks like she had a Botox accident.[/QUOTE] [img]http://a.images.blip.tv/Boppy-Sugacane261.jpg[/img] Come on dude she is really hot. Don't pretend you've ever even been within a hundred feet of hotness like that.

[QUOTE=Lankist;19579909]I had suicidal thoughts of shame when I realized I think Neytiri was hot.[/QUOTE] You heard it here first, folks!

I set up a lurker account on those forums a while back, apparently, quite a few are in love with the main female Na'vi. A few have even said they left their girlfriends because of her.

[QUOTE=Hiccuper;19580179]I set up a lurker account on those forums a while back, apparently, quite a few are in love with the main female Na'vi. A few have even said they left their girlfriends because of her.[/QUOTE] Avatar: the biggest growth in the furry community since... ever.

So how long before we start hearing about the Church of Na'vi.

I think there's going to be a new generation of retarded fanboys. Last year it was Twilight. This year it'll be Avatar. Well at least it's a good movie.