# Post-Avatar Depression? Is CNN Being Punked? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684 "2010-01-12T18:01:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![This\_Just\_In\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@This\_Just\_In\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/This_Just_In_2)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/21 "2010-01-12T22:23:53Z")
The whole movie made the Pandora lifestyle seem pretty sweet. What is the surprise that some people would have a thought that they’d prefer giving that a go to whatever crap they deal with in jobs/debts/taxes etc. etc. Add in a bunch of depression prone people and sooner or later some fool will decide his life sucks compared to this fantasy one and then proceed to jump off a bridge. Consider this fantasy life: - The landscape is stunning - floating mountains, everything glows at night. - You can plug into your partner, so sex is better somehow. - Everyone has an ideal body type, you and your mate are both beautiful. All these beautiful beings walk around mostly naked all the time and the temperature is such you don’t need clothes/blankets even at night. - Coming of age means you get to fly on giant birds who you share thoughts with. They fly wherever you ‘think’ - No one was shown doing any type of hard labor. Just a little hunting once in awhile. Otherwise, food is presumably plentyful with the lush vegetation. - You’re really strong, and due to that and the planets weaker gravity/thicker air density you are able to fall great distances with minimal affects if you manage to snag a leaf or two on the way down. Perhaps one difference between this fantasy and other movie fantasies is you don’t have to be a hero blue person to enjoy the above things. Any average blue person gets to have all of the above. People might relate to that better. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/22 "2010-01-13T02:28:13Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’ve long believed that, from time to time, a few media professionals will get together for lunch, start chatting about their lives, and then decide that whatever is happening to them constitutes a worldwide trend that calls for a story. > […] > I’d bet “Avatar” related suicides are about as real as the glut of battered wives on Super Bowl Sunday, or the oft-quoted pseudo-fact that “35 year old have a better chance of getting killed by a terrorist than of getting married.” Frankly, if your over-35 unmarried person works in publishing in New York, she is probably female and far too educated for her social peers. Her chances with the terrorists probably _are_ better. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/23 "2010-01-13T02:36:30Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > This community has existed for about a week, and they’ve already had enough crazy [to get reported on Fandom\_Wank](http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1236175.html). Quote of the week: > [@](#): > > My first thought is that I’m amused to see a “bipedal wolf manta ray contherianthrope” telling us we can’t be Na’vi. That’s quite logical. In an insane way, of course. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/24 "2010-01-13T02:41:27Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Look how **overboard** people went about freaking Titanic … sweet jumping jebus, titanic replica jewelry, replica dresses, music, theme parties, titanic theme nights in bars … heh 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/25 "2010-01-13T04:25:01Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I think this might actually be MORE sane than [these people](http://community.livejournal.com/tothehometree/), who seem to think that they actually ARE Na’vi. > > This community has existed for about a week, and they’ve already had enough crazy [to get reported on Fandom\_Wank](http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1236175.html). Oh my God, the link to the “otherkin” site is awesomely hilarious. People who think they are elves, vampires and dragons are all upset that someone else thinks he’s really one of the Na’vi. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/26 "2010-01-13T04:55:48Z")
> [@McGeek](#): > > I mean how could anyone be so clueless as to choose a theme for their wedding which is one of the ultimate cultural references for a doomed endeavor?!? Yeah, after the wedding is when she _stops_ going down. ---
**Author:** ![Steampunk\_Willie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Steampunk\_Willie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steampunk_Willie)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/27 "2010-01-13T06:33:08Z")
> [@McGeek](#): > > The one that blew my mind was brides who had Titanic-themed weddings! > > I mean how could anyone be so clueless as to choose a theme for their wedding which is one of the ultimate cultural references for a doomed endeavor?!? Doesn’t Kate Winslet’s character cheat on her Fiance with Leo’s character? Then doesn’t Leo, her ‘true love’, die? So she eventually marries again and he’s dead or gone when we see her as an old woman… There is really no good reason to have a Titanic wedding. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/28 "2010-01-13T06:40:49Z")
Wait…this movie has been out what, two weeks, it’s not based on a book that has been around for years, and all these people believe that they are Na’vi, have been having (for a long time, so it seems) memories of a place they just found out about two weeks ago, are already writing poetyr in its own made-up language and are saying they’ve always had a strong affinity for X, Y and Z from the movie…that they only started seeing a few weeks ago? I feel so normal… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/29 "2010-01-13T07:11:22Z")
Well, to be fair, the N’avi are so unoriginal that images _like_ them have been around for decades, if not centuries. They just hadn’t previously been all souped up with heavy-duty FX. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/30 "2010-01-13T07:54:21Z")
I really loved Pandora as a technological and artistic creation but I don’t have the slightest desire to live in something like the Na’vi culture. It’s obviously a very authoritarian society and I doubt that freethinkers or dissenters are much tolerated. And while a beautiful natural world is great I also like my books, movies and technology and wouldn’t particularly like to live in a culture with little or none of these things. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/31 "2010-01-13T08:06:24Z")
Nice post **This\_Just\_In…** I loved Pandora too and almost wouldn’t mind living there, but I think I’d much prefer to live in Dr. Parnassus’s Imaginarium. As long as I didn’t have to sell my soul to the devil or anything. Well, it depends. Tom Waits is cool. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/32 "2010-01-13T12:55:37Z")
Tonight on “It’s the Mind” we examine the phenomenon of déjà vu — that strange feeling we sometimes get that we’ve lived through something before, that what is happening now has already happened. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/33 "2010-01-13T13:58:12Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Oh my God, the link to the “otherkin” site is awesomely hilarious. People who think they are elves, vampires and dragons are all upset that someone else thinks he’s really one of the Na’vi. Sometimes, truth really _is_ stranger than fiction. sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/34 "2010-01-13T16:26:42Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > I really loved Pandora as a technological and artistic creation but I don’t have the slightest desire to live in something like the Na’vi culture. It’s obviously a very authoritarian society and I doubt that freethinkers or dissenters are much tolerated. And while a beautiful natural world is great I also like my books, movies and technology and wouldn’t particularly like to live in a culture with little or none of these things. I’m enjoying the irony of a bunch of wannabe Space Luddites posting about it _on the Internet_. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/35 "2010-01-13T17:06:57Z")
> [@Steampunk\_Willie](#): > > Doesn’t Kate Winslet’s character cheat on her Fiance with Leo’s character? Then doesn’t Leo, her ‘true love’, die? So she eventually marries again and he’s dead or gone when we see her as an old woman… > > There is really no good reason to have a Titanic wedding. But _Titanic_ is all about what a rare, beautiful, and altogether special creature the woman is, and how her happiness and self-fulfillment are all that matter. The men are interchangeable bits of set decoration, as in your modern formal wedding. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/36 "2010-01-13T17:26:57Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > Yeah, after the wedding is when she _stops_ going down. You are dirty and evil. I like the cut of your jib! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/37 "2010-01-13T18:58:21Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > If I were a cynic, I’d say this reads a lot like a puff piece planted by a creative PR department. Or _The Onion_. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/38 "2010-01-13T19:07:44Z")
There were stories of people watching Titanic over and over again; I am not surprised that there are some nutcases surrounding Avatar too. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/39 "2010-01-13T19:17:23Z")
Although I myself was charmed by the beautiful world and culture of the Na’vi, if anything I regret that I’ll never see the fighting mechs and holo-clipboards of the Humans. Where’s the support group for me? ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/40 "2010-01-13T19:57:21Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Although I myself was charmed by the beautiful world and culture of the Na’vi, if anything I regret that I’ll never see the fighting mechs and holo-clipboards of the Humans. Where’s the support group for me? I think it’s right here. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684.md?page=3)