‘Avatar’ Fans Experience Depression, Suicidal Thoughts?

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Lolita Carrico

James Cameron’s Avatar is causing some fans to be depressed after seeing the film. Avatar has made over $1.4 billion worldwide but there is a down side to the amazing world created in the movie.

According to CNN, some fans say they have experienced depression and even had suicidal thoughts after seeing Avatar because they love the alien world of Pandora and want to stay there!

The movie fan site Avatar Forums contains almost 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope after the letdown of real life! The topic “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible” is a very popular topic on the Avatar Forums. CNN reports one example of an obsessed loyal Avatar fan, a post by Elequin:

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.

I’ve been known to become obsessed about certain movie saga about vampires so I don’t want to judge. But contemplating suicide seems a little extreme. What do you think about Avatar depression? Did you feel blue after seeing Avatar?

Category: Hot Topics, Movies, Oscars Tags: Avatar, CNN, James Cameron

dmax

You know, there’s a lot of beauty in the real world. You just have to get up and go into it, and be willing to experience uncertainty.
http://nopne Junex

You guys need some pussy!!

Teya Eltu

you know thats the type of insensitivity that make people want to kill themselves. Do u find it funny that people are becoming emotionally unstable because of this? I just wanted to tell you that this is not a joke… its a serious matter.

bob

I don’t think it’s funny, I think it’s hilarious!

Anon

I wouldn’t say it’s funny haha…more funny sad. People who are “suffering from depression” after seeing this movie, obviously have some serrious issues that existed long before this movie was even made.

Sadly, most of these cases are likely due to long-term mental side-effects that the mass-medicating of our society has caused.

Jrg420

Wah wah wah I hope everyone who is depressed over avatar kills themselves there is such a thing as social darwinisim and people this stupid only deserve what’s coming

Judas

I did feel depressed after seeing avatar, actually. Because it was a steaming pile of hypocritical hollywood horseshit. James Cameron is a megalomaniac and his ideas are as cliche as they are expensive. But it didn’t make me want to kill myself. Then the terrorists would win, and we don’t want that.

Tony R

Kirk, this movie from the beginning to the end was a liberal or you can say a movie for democrats. That was pretty obvious. The “Shock and awe” phrase in the film made that apparent. I’m am not a liberal and this movie did not make me depressed at all or even come close. I didn’t mind the liberal aspect except the Shock and awe comment because it broke the illusion of the movie for me, pulling me out of the movie and reminding me at that point that it was just a script and that phrase was totally put in there on purpose. If this is a far away world in another universe how could they know that phrase. Might as well had the “I can see Russia from my house” phrase in there as well lol.

Liberals believe that man can save them and the world. In the end man can’t do that because you will always have people who throw a wrench into things going well on a political front. There will always be those leaders who want to fight other countries and be bullies and never be happy no matter how our president bends over backwards to kiss their behind. Because of this it can cause someone who see’s the world that way to be depressed. There are still wars going on, the last election will not change that.

Chat

I live in Alaska! I dont need some Pandora getting depressed over a movie is pathetic. People made the world what is today there are cities and people but in the untouched places of the world there is beauty.

Getting depressed over Art in a movie made for entertainment is pretty lame if you asked me. Pandora is cool but I happy where I am.
MarineCorpsJuggalo

Ya know, I understand the whole concept of depression, and honestly, after watching “Avatar”, I do get depressed. Just the beauty, the majesty, the glory of Pandora is enough to make a person realize what a gray and structured world we actually exist in. I’ve gone to see “Avatar” three times in theatres so far, and I plan on seeing it again, just to live in a world where business, money, politics, and war aren’t an issue. Especially being in the Marine Corps. Business, don’t really deal with it. Money, don’t make enough of it. Politics, can’t express them. War, got my fair share of it. I wish I could be like Jake Sully and leave behind everything, just to spend life simply. Unfortunately, there is only one solution in our world to live in such a place. Pack up and move to Brazil.

But there is a solution. We can repair our own world. Look around you. Do we really need so much? Do we need towering skyscrapers and $5,000 Armani suits? Do we need cars that do 0-60 in 2.6 seconds? Do we really need to live by killing ourselves for a piece of paper with a person’s face printed on it and a note that says “Legal Tender”? I say no. We see it every single day in movies, and it used to be that way a few hundred years ago. We didn’t NEED to have thousands of dollars. What you produced is what you got by with. We can make our world like Pandora. It just requires giving up luxuries we’ve always had and living naturally. The question is… are you willing to do it?

Moonsorrow^^

<it was really nice, that you wrote here.
Thanks,

MarineCorpsJuggalo

Of course Eve. I believe that, and I’m not saying he did it deliberately, James Cameron wanted to make a VERY big change in the world with “Avatar”. I may be a U.S. Marine, but I’m also a VERY devout Pagan. I believe in the Mother Goddes, Gaia, and living with our world, not dominating it, so I can understand a good portion of the Na’vi’s outlook. Since elementary school, I’ve been working to make changes in our world. I started out with the S.E.A club (Save Endangered Animals). I’ve always found it hard because most people, especially Americans, don’t want an upheaval from their preferred way of life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not unpatriotic in any way. I’ve served this country faithfully for over 7 years and fought in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and I would do so again if I had to. But like the thousands of fans out there that have watched “Avatar” and grown depressed looking at what we have done with this world, I too feel the sense of despair. Not just because we are destroying the beauty of our world, but because humanity does so simply because it’s the easiest way to continue. People don’t want to give up the lavish comforts we have now to save the world for future generations. What mankind once never imagined, and existed without, people now won’t give up. That’s what depresses me.

sean

you could just play world of warcraft since the navi are basically night elves and pandora is more or less zangarmarsh

Michelle Lamar

Nice comment, thanks:)

Neytiri

Hi, I’m “Neytiri” from Avatar-forums.com. We are a warm and welcoming community. I just want to let everyone know that the reason many of us feel very deeply about this movie is because we see the world we live in, compare it to Pandora, and ask ourselves, why can’t people work together to make our planet more like Pandora? It saddens us greatly. But we have faith, hope, and love. We are not just about emotions, we are also about actions. Please join us on the Avatar-forums. Let’s talk about how we can work together to renew environmental health and human happiness.

Michelle Lamar

Thanks for comment and we will be sure to check it out.

Isabella

Avatar fans get depressed. then GET NAKED.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLfJRP4Gte8
michael

People who have the time to sit around and cry over a movie must be living a charmed life.
Deb

When did the movies become the reality of everyday life? You go to the movies to be entertained and to take you someplace else. When you leave, hopefully you were entertained and had a refreshing break from realities of everyday life.
If you walk away and start getting depressed because you cannot enter the world the movie offers, you had problems with depression before you went to the movies. Don’t blame the movie for with what is wrong in your life. Get help to learn to deal with your depression.
Eve

hey whats all this talk about depression? LIFE is a very beautiful place to be in…..u just have to surround ur self with positive atmospheres. if thats too much then look at what u have and what others wish they had. im sure if u look hard you will find that u r very lucky to be where u at. after all it could be so much worse..
FogBaron

First of all, to MarineCorpsJuggalo: Thank you for some thoughtful and thought-provoking commentary. It is refreshing to find well-constructed prose on a forum such as this.

Secondly, to the skeptics and nay-sayers: Can you possibly allow that a movie such as this affects some people differently? You’re not required to experience it the same way. But why the snarky comments? Live and let live.

And lastly, to my fellow Avatar devotees – especially the young ones: Read what MarineCorpsJuggalo wrote again. It’s true. We will need to adjust our ways. At the root of all our current troubles lies a religion of sorts – the cult of consumerism. Examine your habits of consumption and see if perhaps you – and me and all of us – could possibly get by on less. There is a kind of freedom in ridding yourself of “stuff”.
kirk

Freaking fruit loops!

Isn’t this sort of an admission, that these people are insane? The depressing aspect of this to me is; these people get to vote in political elections. My guess is 9 out of 10 of these depressed people are liberals. Perhaps liberalism is the underlining condition to this depression. Let me help everyone connect the dots… Did the movie have a Liberal message, or a Conservative one?
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sam

these people are so stupid they can go ahead and jump off a bridge
brian

Let’s all take a step back and look at this. What MarineCorpsJuggalo said is utter nonsense, regardless of how heartfelt it may have been written. We CANNOT make Earth into Pandora, period. The reason a majority of the populace is no longer nomadic is because someone long ago decided he/she didn’t want to live in the elements and built a shelter. That progressed into further developments that make living life the way we do possible. We don’t have a Gaia that will take care of us, we don’t have tendrils in our ponytails that allow us to communicate with animals and other such beings. What you need to do is get off your floating island and ACTUALLY do something to make this a better world. I’m sure it is easy to sit here and complain about how TERRIBLE of a life we live and how we’ve destroyed our planet but your not acknowledging all the modern advances we enjoy either. So, although I thought it was an excellent movie, you need to snap back into reality and realize that it is a MOVIE. Nothing more than thoughts and ideas from the imagination of the director. Hell, without our modern advances in technology you would have nothing to be depressed over, because “Pandora” would never have existed. Quit all the pettiness and the over-indulgence in this movie and move on with your life.
sickof the idiots

- you know you don’t HAVE to live in ‘this ‘ world…you can MOVE. there is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo much open space, forestry, jungle, Tundra, ect.. in this world you have absolutely no clue. Don’t believe me,..drive across the country, then you might actually realize how big and diverse this continent, let alone this planet is. These sound like 13 year old kids, career college students, or people who are upset that their life didn’t turn out the way they thought it was. If you want to go ‘commune’ with nature, grow, hunt, eat your own food, live in a thatched hut, or natural enclosure,..feel free. please, by all means,..go. I’ll take the social darwanist route and enjoy the comforts of modern living.
‘ “….but why can’t we all hold hands, sing a song, and have a coke?…. why are people mean?….why can’t we just speak with nature and it’s animals..”
-bc that’s life,..life isn’t fair, it’s cruel, it’s unbiased, and unforgiving,..get over it……stop complaining, stop blaming everything/everyone else for your problems….and stop trying to tell everyone else how to live their lives….
Teya Eltu

All I have to say is that in the past I have had simular thoughts…not just about “avatar” but also a few other movie sagas such as “star wars”. I have found that reasearching the movies more dosen’t help. It will only exacerbate the situation. All you can do is to consentrate on somthing else….live ur life to the fullest….and maybe, just maybe, Heaven will be just like u want it…pandora….kashyyyk….or maybe everything. But i woulden’t take the risk of ending what might be my only life….for the possibly of one seemingly better.
ANOTHERAMERICAN

I AM NOT A LONELY PERSON,I STAY BUSY AND LOVE MYSELF AND EVEN YET, AVATAR DID ALSO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE WANTING TO ESCAPE REALITY! THE NAVIS ARE PEOPLE THAT LOVE EACH OTHER, AND ARE NOT JUDGEMENTAL. THEY HAVE A CONNECTION WITH ENERGY,ARE SPIRITUAL, AND LOVE THEIR PEOPLE. PANDORA IS BEAUTIFUL, THE GRAPHICS IN THE MOVIE ARE BREATHTAKING!! THIS WORLD IS SO CORRUPTED WITH WAR,MONEY AND MATERIALISTIC THINGS… IT MAKES YOU WONDER WHAT HEAVEN IS LIKE…. :/
jennifer

Really? Are people really getting depressed after watching this movie? Its a movie, not a documentary, and movies are made solely upon fantasies which we all know fantasies are not real. I love the world we live in, and I didn’t feel the need to off myself or start building a starship to take me to another planet so that I could be an evil white person and destroy their land and than help them and be accepted as their own. Why you ask? Because I know the line between reality and fantasy. If you wanted to be a na’vi than you would have stopped using your computer since they didn’t have those. Didn’t think about that now did you?
Brian

The movie was awesome and cool, but i just really want to ride those dragons
Kat

Hi.My ex boyfriend got really depressed after the film was over. He literally cried for hours the next day. I can see how he’s feeling, because i kind of felt it too. Just seing this grey world with miserable faces on the bus, people working 9-5, people who don’t ever get to see their families, news depressing us every day telling us that we are all going to die at some point because of the climate change- how can you not get depressed, people obsessed with money, seing homeless on the streets. I felt horrible afterwards. and 3D definatelly makes it just too real.
I am very surprised that i didn’t get properly depressed like he did, because a couple of years ago i would have wanted to kill myself if i saw that film. This time i just put my rational hat on and decided that as beautifull as this film is it wouldn’t work like that in real life. There are no floating mountains, you can’t actually connect with nature through your hair, you wouldn’t be able to fly on dinosaurs, there are no glow in the dark plants (apart from thing that glow deep in the oceans), people wouldn’t look so beautifull- they would look wrinkly and sunbirnt, they’d have saggy boobs because of lack of support. You’d be constantly dying from being bitten by masquitos and being attacked by wild animals. It’s sugar coated obviously. Don’t take these thing so literally.
I am a climber and i’m out there climibng and watching sunsets all the time so now i know that the world is beautifull, you just need to know where to look -get out of the concrete citys. I really want to go traveling and see the world ! experience the really beautifull places, because there are plenty of those here. It is a shame that some are getting ruined there for I want to encourage every single person to do something little….- just plant a tree, that’s it! just one tree at least once in your life. when out and about, don’t through rubbish on the ground, there are bins for that. Shops stop going to town with the packaging! Why put an index finger sized memory stick into an a4 size plastic packaging. What’s the point.And then people are wondering what they are doing wrong.
http://Thebestthing! Tara

Yes, this world IS seen as sad and dark and dull and grey, but that’s because we turned our backs on God and told Him we didn’t need Him. I guess the saying pride goes before a fall has it’s place here because the minute we stopped relying on the loving Creator of this world, thinking we could do it ourselves, we lost sight of the beauty of creation. I can almost predict the string of hate blogs against God, Christianity, Jews, creation, etc etc to follow this blog but the thing is Jesus just loves us so much and this life here on earth is only 80-100 years long, shorter for some, and if we accept His grace and love and live for Him then we’ll get to live with Him in a place far more incredible then even the loveliness of Avatar. You are such a precious life, full of purpose-and there’s no need to stay down any longer-look ahead to what God’s got in store! Much love xx

‘Avatar’ Fans Experience Depression, Suicidal Thoughts?

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