# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/41 "2010-01-13T20:02:12Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > 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. Yeah! I mean, SURE, 1200 people die horribly, but Kate’s character is freed from her snooty fiancee, and really, doesn’t that alone make for a happy ending? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/42 "2010-01-13T20:02:57Z")
I wonder if perhaps for some folks this is the _first time_ feeling that sorrow that Middle Earth or Hogwarts’ doesn’t actually exist and you can’t live there. If you’re, say, 30–you were too old to get obsessed by Harry Potter (or you just didn’t) and you’ve never read many books and never had the experience of getting immersed in an imaginary landscape–maybe Pandora could do that. Most of us learned to deal with that feeling when we were 9 or 14 of something, but if you’re doing it for the first time at 25, it must be kind of weird. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/43 "2010-01-20T15:04:56Z")
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:** ![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 20, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/44 "2010-01-20T19:29:50Z")
What’s with all the “deja vu” mentions? Did this same kind of thing happen before with another film? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/45 "2010-01-20T19:54:31Z")
> [@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). I disagree. They’re just role playing. This is precisely what you can do if you’re sad about a movie ending: use your imagination to keep it ongoing. Trekkers have been doing it for years. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/46 "2010-01-20T20:29:59Z")
(Whoops of laughter) Sorry. There’s a guy on the Na’vi site who thinks he’s a reincarnated Digimon character! He seriously believes that _in a past life_ he was part of Digimon. I personally am of course the reincarnation of Pikachu and She-ra. And the Popples. :Dies laughing: ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/47 "2010-01-20T20:32:45Z")
> [@This\_Just\_In\_2](#): > > 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. Not to mention that being ten feet tall, every Na’vi man has a ten incher, at least. We should collect a bunch of Klingons at a Trek convention to teach these people some sense, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/48 "2010-01-20T20:34:16Z")
The real irony, here: Sure, the jungles of Pandora are beautiful, but they’re based on the jungles we have right here on Earth. Anyone who wants can go live in the Amazon rainforest or whatever, and get a much more immersive experience than a 3D movie. Now, that’s not the life I’d choose, but if these folks want to go there, more power to them. I think, though, that part of what makes Pandora specifically so attractive is precisely the fact that it is unattainable. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/49 "2010-01-20T20:51:01Z")
So they don’t actually have to go there and get eaten by something. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/50 "2010-01-20T21:15:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The real irony, here: Sure, the jungles of Pandora are beautiful, but they’re based on the jungles we have right here on Earth. Anyone who wants can go live in the Amazon rainforest or whatever, and get a much more immersive experience than a 3D movie. Now, that’s not the life I’d choose, but if these folks want to go there, more power to them. I think the Amazon has more little things that bite than seemed to be flying, crawling and swimming about on Pandora. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/51 "2010-01-21T00:00:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I disagree. They’re just role playing. This is precisely what you can do if you’re sad about a movie ending: use your imagination to keep it ongoing. Trekkers have been doing it for years. …I don’t think so. Trust me, I have no issue with roleplaying. I don’t do it, but I engage in equally nerdy activities, so I wouldn’t condescend. If you read that stuff, it seems clear to me that they genuinely believe what they’re saying. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/52 "2010-01-21T04:45:45Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I find it sad that some peoples’ real lives are so empty and bleak that they view a movie (and yes, \*Avatar \*had some great effects, it was lovely) as preferable to reality. Have you seen Minnesota in winter? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/53 "2010-01-21T04:49:51Z")
> [@Steampunk Willie](#): > > There is really no good reason to have a Titanic wedding. Other than [shopping for the dresses](http://www.etiquettehell.com/content/eh_wedding/humor/etitanic.shtml) (sorry for the hijack, but that’s an EtiquetteHell classic). ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/54 "2010-01-21T04:50:42Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I find it sad that some peoples’ real lives are so empty and bleak that they view a movie (and yes, \*Avatar \*had some great effects, it was lovely) as preferable to reality. I agree, how depressing. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684/55 "2010-01-21T18:10:51Z")
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. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-avatar-depression-is-cnn-being-punked/524684.md?page=2)