I was walking along the office corridor one day when I bumped into Bayo, one of my colleagues. As usual, a word of greeting would ensue followed by small gist.
‘Have you seen the movie, Avatar’? Bayo asked.
‘What about it?’ I asked in response. I hadn’t seen it then but I was interested in hearing views about it.
‘Man, that movie was disturbing.’
‘Disturbing? In what way?’
‘I don’t know how to explain it. You need to see it for yourself.’
I dismissed his claim with the thought that Bayo was probably not a Sci-Fi enthusiast. At least that was what I felt was the reason until another colleague, Biodun who had just watched the movie gave me a similar report.
‘Did you watch Avatar?’
‘Nope. Not yet. What’s with the movie?’
‘That film is some how scary…strange…weird’
Now Biodun was an avid and intelligent movie watcher, and for her to talk this way meant there really was something about the movie ‘Avatar’.
I got hold of a copy of the film (a downloaded version since I didn’t have time to check it out at the cinemas) and watched it. I was enthralled and caught up by what I saw. And after going online to check out info on avatar, to my shock I got to realize that thousands of people were disturbed one way or the other just like Bayo and Biodun were. I wasn’t disturbed because I have already been deep into research on the media and the movie industry and how they can use movies, sitcoms or shows to program or brainwash people.
Accoridng to info I collected online:
James Cameron's completely immersive spectacle "Avatar" may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.
A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site "Naviblue" that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.
"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 the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.' "
Another fan, Ivar Hill posted on the "Avatar" forum page under the name ‘Eltu’, wrote about his post-"Avatar" depression after he first saw the film earlier this month.
"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."
Another fan using the name ‘Elequin’ on the forum expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film.
"That's all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about 'Avatar.' I guess that helps. It's so hard I can't force myself to think that it's just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na'vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie," Elequin posted.
The James Cameron movie, which has pulled in more than $1.4 billion in worldwide box office sales and could be on track to be the highest grossing film of all time, is set in the future when the Earth's resources have been pillaged by the human race. A greedy corporation is trying to mine the rare mineral unobtainium from the planet Pandora, which is inhabited by a peace-loving race of 10-foot tall, blue-skinned natives called the Na'vi.
One thing that I have come to notice is how this movie is achieving good results at blurring the lines between reality and fictional fantasy. It only goes to show the power of movies and how potent they are when used as propaganda tools.
This also applies to music videos as we see in the case of Rihanna’s latest release ‘Russian Roulette’ which raised fears that it encouraged fans to commit suicide.
A lot of people learn and live their lives according to what they see in movies. Unfortunately, many seem to fail to realize that they themselves are more real than movies.
Avatar is a powerful movie that explores themes we can relate to. It is also a dangerous movie, most especially for those who can’t draw the line between fiction and reality.
