Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Avatar Withdrawal

Apparently Avatar depression is spreading faster among emo teens than gold fever at a Glenn Beck concert.

The specific claims are dopey almost beyond belief...

e.g.:

"Mike" writes:
"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.' "


(Incidentally: Mike--no, that is not what will happen...)

and:

Ivar writes:
"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."


(Incidentally: Ivar--I'm pretty sure that the movie makers were hoping that you might be moved to do something to prevent this world from dying, rather than fecklessly acquiescing to its demise.)

...but I have to say I understand the general spirit of the thing. Heck, who doesn't occasionally get bummed out about the mundanity of life? Even the awesomest life on Earth doesn't stack up that well against certain possible lives. And it seems fairly clear that there will come a point at which virtual life will stack up rather well against the average actual life. And Avatar was pretty awesome. But hey, kids, get a grip. If you can't handle the first good 3D movie, you're going to burst into flames at whatever shows up twenty years from now.


But the real point I want to make here is this: thank God that I grew up at a time when it wasn't possible to post my mopey emo excretions on the intertubes for everybody in the world to see forever.

Dodged a bullet there I did.

2 Comments:

Blogger The Mystic said...

The few comments on this topic which I have actually read were so annoying that I have since actively avoided hearing or reading any more of them.

In particular, the complaints coming from the people who seem to believe that Earth is inferior to Pandora are as ironic as it gets. I was under the impression that Cameron was generating a beautiful alien world so that it could serve as a metaphor for the audience. The joy of discovery which we have forgotten or lost altogether regarding our own world could be rediscovered as we are enticed by the natural flora and fauna of Pandora, gently placed directly under our noses. This storytelling device seemed to work in conjunction with the main character's paraplegia. His exhileration at his newfound existence with the Na'vi was heightened by his disabled, blind human existence, which we all lead (in comparison to the Na'vi or, let's say, prehistoric or other hunter-gatherer societies).

The point, as I found it, was that we are surrounded by invaluable treasure on our planet and we would be best off allowing it to shape us rather than developing technologies aimed at shaping it. I can only hope that this "Avatar depression" evolves into something meaningful, perhaps politically or otherwise, rather than fermenting as another of the myriad illusory ailments discussed in creepy chatrooms all over the interwebs.

3:22 PM  
Anonymous Dan M. said...

I suspect that "Avatar depression" is an early stage in the development of a new generation of RPGamers.

10:31 AM  

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