A Case of the Blues?

So you may have heard of the film already, and stop me if I'm late jumping on the bandwagon but Avatar has been doing really rather well. Although taking a slight BAFTA bashing by the ex-Mrs (Go Hurt Locker ), James Cameron will surely pick up a few Oscars next week to add to the global hype following the film.

I very much enjoyed the experience, though the film itself is far from an original story - man joins new culture, embraces new culture, turns against his old culture which, turns out, are all sods- the whole Pocahontas story (thanks Christiana! :P). But If JC  does win, I'll be watching his acceptance speech with interest. Why? Accepting Best Motion Picture at the golden globes, Jim proudly states how, in taking us to the fictional world of Pandora,  the film lets us realise what a 'miracle' the world we inhabit really is. (Skip to 2.20 to avoid the bumbling).



Problem is, having taken us four and a half light years to this made-up planet, a lot of people it seems, don't want to come home.

The hardcore following for the Pandora race (known as Navi) rivals any that's formed around a film before, with every imaginable aspect of the planet explored, discussed, relived. From learning the Navi language, to planning out a dream day, were they to be allowed to visit the world themselves. See here. Problem is, it seems the vast majority of this following would heavily disagree with James Cameron's assertions that it makes us appreciate our world, far from it. In fact, such is the intoxicating, immersive experience offered in Avatar, that many fans have experienced depression when forced to face the reality that it is not real. You only have to read a few of the posts here to get a sample.

Certain fans have been driven near suicidal in their difficulty of coping with the fact that they will never enter their beloved planet, others are utterly convinced they will be reincarnated as an avatar. Now it is in no way my intention to make mockery of these people, but rather as we've done before on the blog, think about the way our media is changing and the effects it can have.

Much has been said about the move of cinema to 3-D and I'm not going to draw out the debate. Vast essays could and I'm sure will be written on the impact of Avatar or it's huge political connotations. I have neither the patience nor the intelligence to cover these in enough depth, but it's the way people translate their experiences in film and push them (or try to) into their 'real' life that's fascinating and sometimes worrying.

Now you may well say to me, "Rick, as with anything, you'll always find weirdos and loonies associated with any film, game, book or TV series, especially if you're trawling these internet forums." And you'd be right of course (though I don't always trawl internet forums), but not that I know of has a depression of this scale been attributed to any one film.

I mean we all take the cinema away with us in our own way, especially the ones that ask us to buy into a particular reality or belief. Do I wish sometimes that some bloke called Morpheus would tell me I'm the 'one' and offer me a selection of pills and then a trip down the rabbit hole? (Sounded different in my head) Maybe. Do I often wish my renault clio would 'transform' into a 30ft robot with Megan Fox sat on it's shoulder? Absolutely. I think I first took up basketball on the understanding that it was only a matter of time before Bugs and Daffy would come calling and I'd be thrown into the final quarter with MJ and Bill Murray, because as a film, Space Jam blew my mind. Perhaps the earliest and strongest longing to enter a film world came with Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Not only did I fall head over heels into a, rather confusing but unquestionable love for Jessica Rabbit, but I wanted to live in 'Toon Town' more than anything in my entire young life. To see my favourite cartoon characters jumping about around a rather grumpy Bob Hoskins was pure perfection, and I distinctly remember the sadness I felt at dealing with the reality that they probably wouldn't make it to my house.

Now we have the graphics, the effects, to take any story and turn it into something so immersive that it captures people in an entirely new way. The biggest film the world has ever seen sweeps the planet reaching out to all ages. Once again, it is obvious that certain types of people are more likely to experience the Avatar depression than others, yet, in its ability to let us escape so wholly, the film credits throw us back into reality equally hard. What Cameron calls 'the magic of cinema' is getting stronger. Whether that's healthy I guess we'll find out.