Avatar vs. Heaven
Media posted by Lindsey Wagstaffe on 03/10/10; 27 comments
When I saw the trailer for Avatar, I laughed. (Blue people on another planet? Really now?) Then my oldest girlfriend called to say that she was coming into town and that she was dying
to see it. Her treat. Guess who caved.After the visual roller coaster ended (yes, I was impressed), my friend observed that the real world now looked one-dimensional and colorless. I had to agree. (The fact that our immediate surroundings were colorless—it was a dark theater, people—might have heightened the impression just a tad.) In contrast with the dazzling, lush world of Pandora we had just been immersed in for the past two and a half hours, reality did look dwarfed and bland.
Later, I was unsurprised to read about extreme reactions of other viewers. CNN quoted fans who experienced a whiplash of depression after the movie:
"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.
If Avatar has inadvertently helped someone recognize the vanity of life apart from Christ, I'm grateful. Discontentment with the fallen, "dying" state of our world is appropriate, and desperation for purpose has been known to drive people to consider Christianity. Restlessness about this world is good.
Satisfaction in Pandora, however—or any other fictitious "alternate reality"—is not. In a support forum, another fan shared,
"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 that everything is the same as in Avatar."
There's even a book out to help people like Mike who are suffering from what's been called "The Pandora Effect." What heartbreaking signs of man's hunger for something more in this sin-ridden world. Though this is the first time I've heard of such severe cases of depression following a movie, similar phenomena of obsession happened with Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Twilight movies; people immersed themselves in escapism.
In this case, Avatar fanatics feel like they've found the closest thing to "utopia" through James Cameron's fictional universe-- and fiction can only take you so far. They may have found a "heaven", but it's a heaven they can't enjoy without 3-D glasses and a DVD. Aren't you grateful that we have a solid, real hope?
Be sure to check back tomorrow for the rest of Lindsey's post.
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HEY, GIRLS! We love hearing from you, but feel limited in the ways we can help. For one thing, we’re not trained counselors. If you’re seeking counsel, we encourage you to talk to your pastor or a godly woman in your life as they’ll know more details and can provide you with ongoing accountability and help. Also, the following comments do not necessarily reflect the views of Revive Our Hearts. We reserve the right to remove comments which might be unhelpful, unsuitable, or inappropriate.
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