After AVATAR can you even enjoy anything else
 

After seeing Avatar for the first time two months ago, (and twelve times since then, with more viewings to come), i really find almost everything else somewhat of a letdown.
It isn't just the realism of the imagery, or the Na'vi, it is those things combined with the story line, that for me, resonates on MANY different levels. I really love the ecological theme of the story, mated with the "We're not gonna take it anymore" attitude of everyone, regardless of species, that took on the RDA.
Prior to this, the only movie that I felt so positive about was Segal in "On Deadly Ground".
about two weeks ago, we were over at a friend's place, and he broke out a brand new copy of "Riverworld', And we only paid enough attention to it so as not to hurt our friends feelings.
We will be putting the movie back on at our place this weekend, it seems to be the only movie that either one of us enjoys anymore.
Niri Te

Heh.

No, I'm fine. A lot of people went through that phase, though.

My hobbies include the captive care of fish, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, so I can enjoy all of those just fine, and I have to, because they need food and whatnot.

However, I used to enjoy playing TCGs/CCgs (collectible card games) and I don't enjoy those as much anymore, mainly because I have found them to be quite materialistic, which was one of the things that Avatar was generally against.

I can, but I have to be in the right mood. When I'm thinking of Pandora and of Neytiri, nothing can really keep me distracted. It's easy enough to watch anything else the rest of the time, but when Avatar is on my mind, it dominates my mind.

Everything? No. I still enjoy food, music, video games, nature, etc. In fact, I have found that I enjoy nature walks (despite being arthritic) as well as the view outside of my window during late spring, summer and early fall far more than I did before Avatar.

As far as other movies go, I still watch plenty of stuff on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD, but I find a complete lack of impetus to see other movies in theaters. Since Avatar, the only movies I have seen in theaters are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Part 2 and Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. I can tell you right now that I went to all three of these movies were more out of a sense of obligation to friends and family than a legitimate desire to see these movies. I feel now that if I'm going to see movies in theaters should be an experience, and if it isn't..... then I'm better off waiting the seven months until I can rent it.

I will say this though. I sincerely regret not seeing How to Train Your Dragon in theaters and much like Avatar, I occasionally look on Fandango to see if I can find it in theaters anywhere within 50 miles every few weeks.

Oh, I really enjoy flying, hiking, Hunting, shooting, riding my ultrs high horsepower Japanese sport bike. It is just other movies that i was talking about. Nothing comes anywhere near that movie's ability to draw you INTO it, then the story line is in perfect synch with the mind and heart set of almost all of us on these boards.
Niri Te

Crickett is right; I've found is that it really sucked the enjoyment out of watching other movies. I've only been back to the theater once since I saw the Director's Cut, and it was only because I wasn't paying that time.

After my first few viewings I went through one of those periods of intense depression. You know, where you feel like there's nothing worth doing, and you lack the enthusiasm to do much more than go about your basic responsibilities if only because you would be too lazy to deal with the consequences of not doing them. I basically had to learn to enjoy anything; even now, I guess at the most basic level there's still this hole deep inside where there's something missing that this reality I'm stuck in is ill-equipped to fill.

The first time that I saw the movie, It was getting ready to play on the Dish Network connected large screen in our friend's house, as Tee and I came over to visit. We watched it, and both of us were HOOKED. Several weeks later, I bought the collector's Edition, with, among other things, the 18 minutes that was cut from the version that Tee and I had seen earlier. That 18 minutes fleshed out the entire movie, which had already managed to completely engross Tee and myself. THAT is the verson that the two of us watch regularly on our system at home now.
Niri Te

I went through that phase for a few weeks, then went completely back to normal. A life on Pandora doesn't appeal to me much, I think it was other aspects.

I know what you mean taylorcraft. A LOT of the films out there really don't do a great deal for me after seeing Avatar, there's a couple that I still enjoy but even they don't really compare. It's not a bad thing though, enjoy your Avatar fandom :)

I went through that stage and I noticed I was depressed alot because of learning human history and what nought. But then I found a way to have it be just a big part of my character. It started when the thi ng I was waiting for, Starcraft II, came out. I was waiting for that when suddendly I saw the Avatar ads on TV and when I went to see it, My thinking changed. But when Wings of Liberty came out, I transitioned to my old mood but I had the good parts of my avatar mood carried with me. Avatar basicly was my gate way to my word that characterizes me the most: Co-exist.

Replying to the title of the thread: "After AVATAR can (I) even enjoy anything else?" my answer is NO. I am trying but all seems to be a pale shadow in comparison. It's been two years that I am trying "to find Pandora on Earth" (Not only beautiful sights: I also mean the sense of the community, friends, to be able to say "I See You" to real persons & the long etcetera) - oh I do have friends here & they are sometimes the only reason to go on living (& even though I complain about my coworkers we "cover each other's backs" during stressful times so I do recognize "sense of community" in this RL situation). What I repeatedly fail to find is the Avatar feeling - apart from very few occasions that have to do mostly with Avatar itself (like, to hear a soundtrack unexpectedly - it blows me away!). & very few times of "the sense of Oneness" in the nature when I feel that I am part of the world - then I remember Neytiri drinking from the purple flower. Avatar, again!

Whatever I manage to find here is like a black and white photo compared to the real 3D bright, coloured, living & breathing thing (person, animal, plant, landscape...) I know different people handle it differently - but me is me. I've been hit. Sorry Jake.

I'm definitely with Apache on this one... I have a few hobbies, the largest one being playing flamenco guitar, but i'm searching for a 'natural' hobby.

It's difficult though. To me, it's not just the act of doing something Na'vi-like that would make me feel that Avatar feeling, it's the nature of it. For example, i'm looking to start archery soon, riding on some funds I got for my birthday, but to me, it feels like the natural aspect has been lost from the tradition. Bows are made from composite materials with canterlevers and wheels, mostly metal or artificial materials - even the 'traditional' bows are made using layers of wood with fibreglass resin between them... arrows also have the same 'problem', none of them are made from real feathers or from natural shafts, it's all metal and synthetic again. I also want to start learning bushcraft, but the same issues apply to all the knives and blades out there, there's no flint or bone knives I can find for sale, only this serated titanium business.

I guess it just seems like every approach that could be made towards the Na'vi (or even just ancient human) lifestyle has been tainted and damaged by modern practice. The issue I have with that is that it's no longer borrowing from the land, to me... It's just stealing and polluting to make these items.

Anyway, as for films, I also struggle with that too. I haven't honestly seen a film since Avatar that I liked, let alone payed attention to.

Feku'itan,
DON'T get hung upon the materials, pay attention to the ACTIVITY, and the mindset. I bow hunt with a compound Browning bow, but if you ever saw me thank the Deer for it's sacrifice, cut it's still warm heart out, offer it's blood to the four corners, and then tip the heart back, and drink it's warm blood in honor of it's life, something that I have done since I was TEN YEARS OLD, you would have no problem knowing that I AM TSALAGI, or Na'vi, take your pick.
DON'Y worry about the tool, pay attention to the MINDSET,
Niri Te

You drink its blood? Metal.

NOT "metal" I.J., NATIVE. It is the reason WHY I do it, and the reverence with WHICH I do it, that makes it either Native, or Na'vi.
Niri Te

Luckily, I never went through this "phase". If anything, Avatar made me appreciate every part of my own life much more and made me a happier person in general. I haven't had any serious depression since before then (which I define as depression so bad, you no longer wish to be yourself-- I never would've traded my life for anything).

Niri Te, it's metal, be proud ;)

Totally. It can be native/na'vi and metal at the same time!

Am I going to regret backing you up on this :facepalm:

Niri Te, I don't know what purpose drinking blood serves, but whatever makes you feel connected to nature is good, I guess.

The life in in the blood, and by drinking it, you incorporate the Deer's life into your own.
Niri Te

Most likely. It's best not to encourage me Moco, you know this.

Oel ngati kameie.

Pandora > Earth, and there are no equivalences that people try to make :(

I agree on this one, "spirit is all that matters". There was a Spain TV program about a guy who hunts with a bow, & yes he has a super hi tech one - but watching How he does it, with hunter's spirit... attention, concentration, stealth, precision... the type of the bow matters much less than this attitude.

& he honors the animals by... making sketches of them. It's a different manner, but the same respect.

As for the "black & white world", the way I put it - I posted about it here, on Keeping the feeling alive, because I guess it fits good there. What I said here still stands true, but I am thinking about "doing the best job of the worst" - what to do if I happen to be in this world anyway, & most likely, for a duration!?

I guess one can get to enjoy things of this world again, when one has a passion. Niri Te has a passion for flying, Raiden - for creatures, some people for computer games when they "become" Na'vis (the night scenes are beautiful btw)... It's just a question of finding in a way "one's place on the wheel", I can't help thinking just how wise this is. I am definitely not a hunter - therefore I am grateful to hunters. I am a Dreamhunter :P (and a healer, a little bit), & also a "weaver" in a sense: I recommend interesting threads & posts to people here on ToS & nobody told me yet: "What a horrible thread you've sent me to!" - rather, it's the other way around. So yeah, I make "small tsaheylus".

So yeah, still looking for "Pandora on Earth" I haven't found it yet, I don't know if I ever will - but at least I am trying. There must be some way!

Exactly. :)

The last film I went to see at the Cinema was Harry Potter in IMAX. Even that wasn't that great, In my head, I really haven't seen (Or wanted to see) anything in Cinema's since Avatar.

Hey, the most important thing that Txon happens to be is an Avatarian. We got our weekly "fix" of avatar last night, so we will be OK for another week.
Niri Te

Ialso felt like that in the first few weeks after seeing Avatar. But it doesn't affect me at all now.

In fact, I was hit the same way a couple of weeks ago when I saw Sucker Punch. Many people hate that movie. But for me it caused the same "avatar-like" feeling, although for different reasons and in a different way.

Ateyo and I have two Guitars, a Mandolin, a Viola, two hand built chromatic Harmonica's, and a Yamaha Pro Keyboard in the bedroom with us, and we haven't played any of them in over 3 years. Ever since we were thrown out of the last Synagogue just because we always both showed up in the same car, (NEVER ANY PDA OF ANY SORT was displayed).
After that, we just started operating on autopilot, doing the things that were required to survive. That and we took it to the State of Texas, forcing them to legally Marry us. After the last incident of hatred shown us by people that called themselves "God's Chosen ones", we didn't care WHO'S feelings we hurt.
After we saw Avatar, we just BURIED ourselves in the culture, it is a lifestyle that we both embraced for decades before the movie was made, but for me, learning the language is coming slowly, partly because of my brain damage, and partly because I am the one who keeps this place running, doing all the maintainance, repairs, and new construction. So I only get to spend 20 percent of the time that Ateyo spends on learning the language.
I'm hoping that the lengthening days will snap me out of this, and perhaps I will walk over to one of the instruments and start playing it.
Niri Te

You know, sometimes I wonder if it is frustrating to be a fluent speaker of a language whose only native speakers are fictional.

Ask someone who speaks Klingon. If I was able to speak fluent Na'vi, that would be awesome IMO, even though none of my IRL friends even LIKE Avatar let alone speak Na'vi.

Well, I love the story, but I think that my brain damage is going to severely limit my ability to learn the language. Ateyo however, picks it up like a sponge, so I think that she will become my dictionary when I write, and my translator when people are speaking. Hell, I don't even really need to know any more than about twenty phrases anyway, my character is a rebel freedom fighter pilot, not a Na'vi.
Niri Te, AKA "Bad News Six"

And mine is an avatar, which is only a few steps closer :P I have grown rather attached to the character I was in that stupidly long dream though, and she never knew any na'vi.

I don't have any real 'character' - it changes depending on what I'm doing at the time. For the meetup I'm going to be full Na'vi, but I think it's unlikely I'll be able to learn much of the language in time :(

My character would be most definitely Mo'at - or Tsahik in any case (healing, dreamhunting, seeing & interpreting signs - that's my cup of masato) - but to play the part in Seattle I would have to go full native Na'vi PLUS special tsahik details PLUS plltxe Na'vi... Erm... I already signed up as a txim-painter for a full native cosplayer & it means about 6 hours of work, if not 8. If I go full native too - we're talking about 12 to 16 hours of body painting... I don't know. Maybe NO cosplay this time for me. Or a very light version. (Altho I know that, when I see the others, I will say: "I wish I've done it!" :P)
Still thinking.

I am an insane fan of to many other things....so yeah.