The Red Circle

First time I [finished watching Avatar] and got that strange depressed feeling. That forced me to go to the cinema the next day. Again I got that feeling, even got it after the 3rd time. Now i think I’m an addict of this depression, and i like it, it kinda makes me a better person, or something like that. That’s why I’m here, writing. – KalaKuival, posted on Avatar-Forums.com

I want to preface all this by telling you that I am not going to make fun of these people, or make fun of Avatar. If people are depressed, they need to find the best way out of that depression. If that happens to be writing about it on a message board, so be it. What is a little confusing to me is that cinema as a storytelling device has been around for over 100 years. I had assumed we all knew that movies were fake by now.

As much as it pains me, people typically pay to see movies for escapism. Nothing in their lives looks and sounds like it does in the cinemas, and they’ll pay some money to forget that they have a presentation in a couple of days, or that they just had a really irate customer. It’s a constructive way of memory loss, just like alcohol. But, once again, it’s not real. How many times have your parents or friends had to remind you “it’s only a movie,” when things get a little intense on-screen?

So why now? Certainly Avatar has the best special effects ever put to screen, but what about the movies that feature real people in real environments? I’ve never heard of a Star Wars related phenomenon. Nor even a Star Trek. Do people get depressed that there are no Evil Dead deadites running around for them to go all Ash on? Fans of those series seem to celebrate their fandom – collecting toys and memorabilia, making their own costumes and props. They take the experience they had in the theater and translate it into a positive, albeit possibly unhealthy, lifestyle. Movies, especially gigantic blockbusters, are supposed to have a positive effect on the audience. Apparently there is a subsection of Avatar fans that need genuine counseling because the imaginary world presented in the film remains that way upon their exit.

How do 75 pages of posts about the hardships of living life outside of that planet moon crop up in less than two weeks? Maybe it’s a little harder to dress up as a Na’vi than it is to rush out and buy a lightsaber, but the same principle applies. Unless Avatar is the first movie ever seen by this group of people, I am at a loss as to why its revelation as a fictional universe is so gutwrenching. Films can transport you. But, a film like Avatar, lush in its presentation, lousy in its characterization, seems an odd choice to get all wrapped up in. Having a breakdown because a movie is fake is like throwing a tantrum about how your kid doesn’t actually become an orange when he puts on the costume for the school play. Haven’t we progressed just a little in the century that movies have been around? It’s understandable that the first audience to see a moving train coming at them inside a cinematheque might be a little terrified. We live in an era of mass communication and content from cell phones, television, YouTube, and movies in the theater and the home. LARPing was supposed to be the cure for all of this.

I’m certainly not the biggest advocate of professional therapy. I can see how it’s helpful, and I can see how having an educated point of view can pinpoint the problems and make things a little easier to get a grip on.  At the same time, why pay for the things your friends give you for free? And why take the time to sit with someone and talk about changes instead of making the changes from your own desire? Yeah, yeah. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. Trust me, I know.

…It’s unfortunate that we live in a world where, just by pulling a trigger or making a corporate decision, one single greedy human being can wipe out the hard works of love of many people. But this is why we need to stop focusing on money and start focusing on our environment. Because we have the intelligence to kill ourselves, but not the wisdom to stop it. What will our money buy, when everything that is worth having is destroyed? The only way you can fill the emptiness you feel after this movie, is to jump on the leonopteryx. – Neytiri, posted on Avatar-Forums.com

But the thing that slaps me around the most is this post. Essentially, it’s every self-help mantra ever assembled, clothed in references to people, animals, and places that are set in that universe. It’s a good thought to tell people to get out and do stuff, but why the reliance on the movie’s characters? If you are feeling bad, the best way to overcome is to change something about either yourself or the situation. How is it possible that people can be affected by what is almost directly a Joel Osteen quote but with “Let Jesus In” replaced with “Jump on the leonopteryx.” I should also make it known that this specific task is one of the easiest things that Jake Sully does in the movie. He has a harder time shooting a bow, riding a horse, and bonding with one of the tiny dragons than mastering the most powerful being in the sky. It’d be nice if the people using the movie as a motivator actually watched it.

Overcoming depression and making a change is a lot more difficult than falling off one animal and onto another. It seems that these are people that truly need help, even if the cause for the depression is a little on the ridiculous side. There is a lot of work to be done on the Earth in general. If they were (and I don’t know how) clued into the environmental issues plaguing the planet solely by this movie, then part of that post-partem recovery could be spent volunteering at green charities. Who cares if you’re doing it because some fictional bink told you to? This is a measurable difference being made, and the filmmakers would be much more proud of their fans and their film for affecting a change.

I am aware that films are a cultural force. They truly move people, and in the best scenarios, they can change the world for the better. But, after 100 years of narrative storytelling, the last thing they should cause is a fit of depression over their fakeness. You are a lucky human if your saddest hour comes when you realize that you will never be able to ride a direhorse. Be depressed that the situations so hamfistedly portrayed in Avatar are actually happening, for real, on the planet. Be depressed that there are people starving because they were born the wrong color, and a couple thousand miles too far East. Be depressed that blatant corporate greed only leads to bailouts.

And then, fight against it. If Avatar could actually have a positive effect on the real, physical world through all of this sulking-cum-compassion, I may even like the film a little more.

The messageboard  in question can be found here.

Wonder why the image associated with this post has nothing to do with the content or message in the Comments Section.

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