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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Sian Cain explains it to Steph Harmon

‘Post-Avatar depression syndrome’: why do fans feel blue after watching James Cameron’s film?

A still from Avatar: The Way of Water.
‘Maybe Avatar: The Way of Water might provoke a burst of ocean-saving activism.’ Photograph: 20th Century Studios/Disney/PA

Sian, I just read a headline about something called “post-Avatar depression”. It sounds like exactly what happens to me whenever I watch a deeply derided big budget and fairly nonsensical film – but I get the feeling this is … something else.

It all began after the first Avatar was released in 2009: people started posting on a fan site, Avatar Forums, that they were feeling down and unsatisfied with their lives after seeing James Cameron’s film, about humanity’s attempt to colonise a pristine planet called Pandora, home to the Na’vi, a blue humanoid race. Humanity seemed out of step with the natural world, they felt, especially when compared to the spiritual, environment-loving Na’vi.

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