Avatar Rumor?

[azcavalier]

I know it's hard to tell someone to reserve judgement on this, but I think that it has the opportunity to be amazing. It's all going to depend on how much $$$ they put into it. The chance to add an immersive world with some really cool attractions is amazing. And if James Cameron truly has a say in it...well, i'm thinking that it's going to be good. *Very* good. No, it doesn't have the world-wide appeal that Harry Potter has, but it will draw in crowds.

Did I like Avatar? Yes. Did I see it over and over? No. I've seen it once. My kids have watched it a couple of times. But this movie spawned stories of people falling in love with the world that Cameron created....to the point of having to see psychiatrists to get over their depression. I've never heard of another movie franchise with that much power over people.

[Quadstriker]

..to the point of having to see psychiatrists to get over their depression. I've never heard of another movie franchise with that much power over people.

Not so much, although that's the way the media tried to spin the story because... you know... sensationalized stories attract viewers and readers. It worked.

The real story was that there was a large thread on an Avatar message board where fans whined about Avatar not being real "oh I wish I could live there so sad it's not real" blah blah "life not worth living" yada yada, the same way that Harry Potter superfans do (and do they ever). Typical internet exaggerated angst.

Journalists attempting to capitalize on the Avatar craze saw opportunity and hit up a psychiatrist or two for a quote about the separation between reality and fiction and perceived reality etc.

It's not like people were actually visiting psychiatrists for "post avatar treatment." There's no evidence of that. Try and find a story online from a Doctor saying "Yes I've been treating several patients who have experienced clinical depression due to viewing a certain Avatar film." Can't find one.

A thread. On a message board. Just like this one. Only that one got media attention from journalists desperate for Avatar related stories. A mass outbreak of people visiting doctors to get over "Avatar depression?" Didn't happen.


Avatar? Boring movie. Terrible story. Decent world. But if anyone can get something worthwhile out of it, Disney can.

[March Hare]

I know it's hard to tell someone to reserve judgement on this, but I think that it has the opportunity to be amazing. It's all going to depend on how much $$$ they put into it. The chance to add an immersive world with some really cool attractions is amazing. And if James Cameron truly has a say in it...well, i'm thinking that it's going to be good. *Very* good. No, it doesn't have the world-wide appeal that Harry Potter has, but it will draw in crowds.

Did I like Avatar? Yes. Did I see it over and over? No. I've seen it once. My kids have watched it a couple of times. But this movie spawned stories of people falling in love with the world that Cameron created....to the point of having to see psychiatrists to get over their depression. I've never heard of another movie franchise with that much power over people.

Not so much, although that's the way the media tried to spin the story because... you know... sensationalized stories attract viewers and readers. It worked.

The real story was that there was a large thread on an Avatar message board where fans whined about Avatar not being real "oh I wish I could live there so sad it's not real" blah blah "life not worth living" yada yada, the same way that Harry Potter superfans do (and do they ever). Typical internet exaggerated angst.

Journalists attempting to capitalize on the Avatar craze saw opportunity and hit up a psychiatrist or two for a quote about the separation between reality and fiction and perceived reality etc.

It's not like people were actually visiting psychiatrists for "post avatar treatment." There's no evidence of that. Try and find a story online from a Doctor saying "Yes I've been treating several patients who have experienced clinical depression due to viewing a certain Avatar film." Can't find one.

A thread. On a message board. Just like this one. Only that one got media attention from journalists desperate for Avatar related stories. A mass outbreak of people visiting doctors to get over "Avatar depression?" Didn't happen.


Avatar? Boring movie. Terrible story. Decent world. But if anyone can get something worthwhile out of it, Disney can.

there is a possible idea of what could be coming it is posted in this thread. Watch the video and if you have seen Avatar then you could see how this can be used

New technology for Avatarland

[Mfarquar]

Not so much, although that's the way the media tried to spin the story because... you know... sensationalized stories attract viewers and readers. It worked.

The real story was that there was a large thread on an Avatar message board where fans whined about Avatar not being real "oh I wish I could live there so sad it's not real" blah blah "life not worth living" yada yada, the same way that Harry Potter superfans do (and do they ever). Typical internet exaggerated angst.

Journalists attempting to capitalize on the Avatar craze saw opportunity and hit up a psychiatrist or two for a quote about the separation between reality and fiction and perceived reality etc.

It's not like people were actually visiting psychiatrists for "post avatar treatment." There's no evidence of that. Try and find a story online from a Doctor saying "Yes I've been treating several patients who have experienced clinical depression due to viewing a certain Avatar film." Can't find one.

A thread. On a message board. Just like this one. Only that one got media attention from journalists desperate for Avatar related stories. A mass outbreak of people visiting doctors to get over "Avatar depression?" Didn't happen.


Avatar? Boring movie. Terrible story. Decent world. But if anyone can get something worthwhile out of it, Disney can.

VERY well said, Quadstriker!!

[azcavalier]

Not so much, although that's the way the media tried to spin the story because... you know... sensationalized stories attract viewers and readers. It worked.

The real story was that there was a large thread on an Avatar message board where fans whined about Avatar not being real "oh I wish I could live there so sad it's not real" blah blah "life not worth living" yada yada, the same way that Harry Potter superfans do (and do they ever). Typical internet exaggerated angst.

Journalists attempting to capitalize on the Avatar craze saw opportunity and hit up a psychiatrist or two for a quote about the separation between reality and fiction and perceived reality etc.

It's not like people were actually visiting psychiatrists for "post avatar treatment." There's no evidence of that. Try and find a story online from a Doctor saying "Yes I've been treating several patients who have experienced clinical depression due to viewing a certain Avatar film." Can't find one.

A thread. On a message board. Just like this one. Only that one got media attention from journalists desperate for Avatar related stories. A mass outbreak of people visiting doctors to get over "Avatar depression?" Didn't happen.


Avatar? Boring movie. Terrible story. Decent world. But if anyone can get something worthwhile out of it, Disney can.

You're right in that there are many people posting on message boards about how depressed they are, and that journalists jumped on that. Why wouldn't they? I've never seen that from Star Wars fans, talking about committing suicide because they can't visit Kashyyyk or Coruscant. Yes, there are Harry Potter fanatics, but why didn't the journalists jump all over that? I don't ever remember seeing an article where HP fans were depressed because they couldn't cast spells. Not saying it's not there, just that I don't remember it. But I DO remember this happening after Avatar. Why, I wonder did the journalists do this for Avatar?

Since you threw down the guantlet, I accepted the challenge. I do, after all, work in an academic library and teach freshman how to do research. So I did a little.

If you do an article search on the terms "post Avatar depression" you get published journal articles titled:

Post-Pandoran Depression or Na'vi Sympathy: Avatar, Affect, and Audience Reception

The Sadness of Avatar

Post-Avatar Glow

You also get a ton of articles describing the use of virtual avatars in psychological therapy, but that is beside the point here. If I ease off of the filters to include news articles, then the results explode up as it includes articles, yes from journalists who are exploiting it, from around the world.

If I do the same search but substitute Harry Potter for Avatar, the results are more like "Looking for God in Harry Potter" or "Harry Potter and the American Dream" It's interesting how "Avatar" and "Harry Potter" have different effects.

So, in the end, did I find any peer-reviewed articles published in a medical journal about "The Pandora Effect"? No, of course not. It's not THAT powerful. It's just a movie...and at this point just ONE movie. And regardless of how you feel about the movie, there is no denying the world-wide draw and success that it has achieved. Avatar-land *will* make money, and it *will* draw more people to AK.

I wouldn't mind seeing an "Aliens vs. Predator" land in AK, but I think that wouldn't be as fun for the kids.

But to say that it's all just media "hype" isn't correct.

Hey, look! This is my 1000 post!

[Quadstriker]

I'm glad as a researcher you were able to come up with the same findings I did. Not a single example of anyone being treated for depression related to Avatar, but a ton of media blitz.

[azcavalier]

I'm glad as a researcher you were able to come up with the same findings I did. Not a single example of anyone being treated for depression related to Avatar, but a ton of media blitz.

Did you miss that line about "published journal articles"? Those arent newspaper articles, but published research articles in academic journals. That's not "media blitz", my friend.

[azcavalier]

So, I read the article titled: Post Pandoran Depression or Na'vi Sympathy - Avatar, Affect, and Audience Reception

It was pretty interesting stuff. No, it didn't talk about people getting treated for post-Avatar depression. It did refer to interviews with people who were depressed because of how much they had fallen in love with the world of Pandora and were looking for ways to deal with it. Entertainment Weekly interviewed James Cameron about the film and asked him about those people. He said, "Cameron chalked this up to 'hyperbole', observing that 'Everybody
writes in purple prose in the blogosphere'. But if these feelings of depression do exist, Cameron suggested that 'they should just go on a walk in the woods. Or go snorkeling'"



But, just because someone doesn't go see a psychiatrist doesn't mean they're not depressed. If I hear other voices inside my head and don't seek treatment, am I then not schizophrenic? If I have melanoma under my scalp, but don't go to an oncologist, do I not have cancer? People got depressed. The media reported on it. Most movies don't have that effect.

In any case, it also talked about how many of those interviewed had changed their views of our world, and how before the movie, they didn't really care about ecology, but something in Avatar struck a chord, and now they have done a 180.

Anyway, like most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Certainly there was no post-Avatar depression epidemic. I'm sure it was not a boon for the bank accounts of psychiastrists. But it wasn't just manufactured, either. For the millions of people who saw the movie, there were certainly a few hundred who left feeling depressed because they couldn't live on Pandora. And more still received the movie's main message of ecology and prejudice. Hopefully, Animal Kingdom's Avatarland can build on that last one, and it clearly fits with the missions of the park (to make money AND increase environmental awareness).

[readytogo2]

Let's not forget Disney had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ace Ventura in DHS at one point too... And, well, in reality, anything under the Disney brand isn't Disney's creations... 99% of their animated movies were only retellings of other peoples' properties...

when and where did they do Ace Ventura? better question Why?

[DizneyFreak2002]

when and where did they do Ace Ventura? better question Why?

When?? When Ace Venture: When Nature Calls was coming out... Where?? I believe Streets of America... There is a You Tube video out there of this, um, show (and calling it a show is being nice)...

If you dare venture to You Tube to watch this video (several minutes of your life you will NEVER get back if you do), I warn you, it is horrible... Bad acting on the part of the CM who played Ace... Who ever wrote it should have never been allowed to write another script for entertainment ever again... Seems like all they could do was toss in Ace's signature quotes in spots where the quotes made absolutely NO sense...

[Strmchsr]

Well, everyone who didn't like Avatar seems to have gotten their wish. The project has officially been placed on hold indefinitely according to internal announcements. From what I heard it was due to "creative differences" between Imagineering and James Cameron. Of course, I've heard from some of my Imagineer friends (and saw the same report in other places) that they were against the project from Day 1, so this isn't really surprising. Maybe TDO will use the change to focus on bringing all of Carsland to DHS. Of course, one blogger pointed out the difficulty of that could very well be the weather in Florida. Test Track has to shut down all the time in the summer due to lightning, and the RSR would be similar.

[Melanie]

Hey Chris, we're discussing already over in another Avatarland thread.

Closing this and keeping discussion all in one place.