Avatar: The Way of Water | Official Trailer

[Jumpin]

Saying Avatar had no cultural impact is a brain dead statement. You’d have to ignore the enormous fandom, the creation of the world of Pandora that will exist in the minds of millions for decades to come, all the NaVi cos-playing, the TV show references, being one of the biggest films of all time is a mark of culture in itself, Avatar depression syndrome (a depression stemming from people seeing Avatar, and then being depressed after having to go back to their real lives), the literal transformation of the cinema experience, generating one of the most anticipated sequels in history, as well as being the genesis of one of the biggest film franchises in history. It’s just a stupid sort of statement to say Avatar had no cultural impact.

I think the people saying this fall into two camps: A. Simple trolling/dishonesty, parroting something someone else said because it got a reaction, or B. They dwell too much in the Internet pits of pessimism and cynicism, and buy into uninformed views of the world and culture—it shocks them when a dose of reality hits them in the face.

I mean, if it’s camp B, it’s understandable given today’s overly online culture. Also, if one thing’s been true about the Internet since the 1990s, it’s that pessimists and  cynics tend to post a lot more despite making up a small portion of the population, and negative posts seem to get shared around a lot more. It can create a lot of unrealistic biases about the world.

I’m not much of a quote fan, but it’s good to see snapshots of the past, “The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another.” - Kevin Smith, 2001. It’s not exactly a new phenomenon, and sometimes the weird Internet lies become so repeated that to some people they think it’s the truth—even when the evidence points in the other direction.

Why is it that people still continue to hold onto incorrect views even after they realize they’ve been duped? Mark Twat made the observation that it’s easier to fool people than to convince them they’ve been fooled.

Last edited by Jumpin - on 30 January 2023