Just when you think things (ppl) can't get any weirder....

[KQ]

you open the news and read this:

Audiences experience 'Avatar' blues

By Jo Piazza, Special to CNN


(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.

[dk_alaskan]

WOW, the old phrase "get a life" should become a reality for some of these folks. I picture a D and D geek, glasses and all, making these comments.

[snowful]

These people need to get out of the cities. There are so many worlds to explore right here.

[Baconzoo]

All those who visit Gnar-nia, get a heightened sense of reality

[LittleYellowFriend]

These people need to get out of the cities. There are so many worlds to explore right here.

Ya but you can't fly around on dragons and the tree don't have any souls here. Plus fifty year old ex-hippies will never be able to have mind-meld sex with their pony tails. It truly sucks here.

[gunit130]

I agree, most of these people are probably living in midwest suburbia who have yet to experience any of our own natural world. Sad really.

[tex1230]

Suicidal? really? get it over with quickly and get out of the gene pool.

[OSECS]

Damn hippies !!

[frozenwater]

I can sort of relate. My wife bought the family tickets to go see this on Wednesday. I'm contemplating suicide to get out if it.

[KQ]

I can sort of relate. My wife bought the family tickets to go see this on Wednesday. I'm contemplating suicide to get out if it.

FTW! Maybe you could show her this article and tell her you're worried about the kids seeing it...don't want to upset their world....

[Caucasian Asian]

[stash searcher]

Ya but you can't fly around on dragons and the tree don't have any souls here.

i remember reading some study years back about how what music you play affects the growth of house plants.. classical music helped them grow bigger and the group with heavy metal didn't grow as well? but maybe it was a made up study, or maybe just a super hippy conducting the study? but who are we to say trees don't have souls? we sure can't ask them..
and no, i haven't seen the movie...

[LittleYellowFriend]

but who are we to say trees don't have souls? we sure can't ask them..

Trees don't have souls. The 'soul' is a human conception, like 'God', which conveniently explains away part of our subjective experience but has no basis in objective reality.Trees don't have 'souls'. Neither do you you.

Further trees have neither thoughts or feelings, self consciousness or a will as they lack a central nervous system. So all of those human qualities, which are based in the human nervous system, that we attributive to an individual as having a 'soul' are there neither. TREES HAVE NO SOULS!

[ak_powder_monkey]

bwahahahhaha

[LittleYellowFriend]

Apparently these people disagree with me though,

[PNWbrit]

bwahahahhaha

^ Alanis?

[Dantheman]

i remember reading some study years back about how what music you play affects the growth of house plants.. classical music helped them grow bigger and the group with heavy metal didn't grow as well?

They tested this on Mythbusters, the plants with the deathmetal grew best. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBus...king_to_Plants

[Professor Chaos]

I saw the film last week. I can understand where these thoughts are coming from, but I didnt/havent even come close to actually feeling them in my everyday life cause of the film.

Along with the whole fantasy/sci-fi/etc nature of the film, I(and those who I saw it with) all felt that cause of the 3D viewing window and story of the film, one is really immersed into the film like no other. Ive been really into a film cause of the story and Ive been into a film cause of the action/visuals, but this was a combination of the two that really made you feel right in the film and no doubt some people had serious thoughts of wanting/desiring to enter that world.

Although I didnt read about half of that article, I could imagine that most of those having these feelings spend too much time in hyper-reality.

[Professor Chaos]

They tested this on Mythbusters, the plants with the deathmetal grew best. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBus...king_to_Plants

I did that for my grade 7 science project.



And became fond of In Flames in the process.

[single]

I felt the same way when I saw deathrace.

[mdblows]

The only thing I thought while watching Avatar in 3D was "I am so high". Judging by all the "woaaaah, dude" in the theater, I would assume many people were in the same state.

[Mott the Hoople]

It was definitely a hippie's wet dream with awesome effects.

[moose pit]

Open letter to the fuckin' suicidal post movie losers- if ya wanna kill yer self drink draino, and not the powdery shit you idiots it'll just burn the fuck outta yer throat, drink the liquid it'll go down pretty easy.

[I Dunno]

I loved that movie.

[MTT]

I guess this is an extension of the Video Game Generation.

What ever happened to reading a good book.

I think I prefer to lose myself in a good book.

BTW
I have not seen Avatar. I am thinking I want to make a big deal about it and travel to an IMAX theater down the hill for my first screening