Why are there so few "Avatar" Discussions on TOS?

[Banefull]

It seems quite paradoxical.

TOS is a very active place. 120,000+ posts is a very impressive achievement. Most other fan sites could not even dream of such activity; however, for such a close knit group of Avatar fans, why are there so few discussions about the actual movie? If you look at AF, it has an extremely large amount of movie related discussions. Its the only reason I still visit the site occasionally (before it went down )

Every once in a while, I would think about this but the answer has hit me. There are hardly any movie related discussions on TOS because no one doubts the movie. When I think of AF, I think about the long discussions of why Quaritch ordered a ground assault, why the RDA didn't just nuke Pandora (for the billionth time ), why this, why that, etc.

We all have the answers formulated in our heads already. No one is going to make a thread about an "issue" if they already think it is resolved.

It is something to think about. In order to have discussions about the movie, there has to be a conflict over it among its viewers. We all possess the same basic view; therefore, there isn't much to discuss in the first place.

[Elyannia]

Well it has been a year and a lot of topics/discussions have already been discussed out. If that made any sense lol. I'm sure if a topic was posted that hasn't been discussed before popped up people would talk about. IE the topic about Tsu'tey going to Graces school.

[Eltu]

This is indeed one reason - although I think the largest one is this - quoting from another of my posts:

Originally Posted by Eltu

Avatar, the beautiful movie it is, will still fade over time. Its message will most definitely not, but eventually we will run out of Avatar related things to discuss. We are currently there - the Avatar centered topics are decreasing in number, and ToS is slowly becoming less of a fan forum... and more of a family.

Avatar is what brought us together, but the message of Avatar is what keeps us together. Everyone of us sees their own message, their own meaning in the movie, and sharing these meanings is what makes ToS the place it is - not the movie itself.

[Banefull]

Originally Posted by Elyannia

Well it has been a year and a lot of topics/discussions have already been discussed out. If that made any sense lol. I'm sure if a topic was posted that hasn't been discussed before popped up people would talk about. IE the topic about Tsu'tey going to Graces school.

This is a perfect example of how a discussion requires opposing views. We all agree that Tsu'tey went to Grace's school.. There isn't really any discussion about that. What we don't agree on is the manner in which he behaved at the shcool. We all have minor differences over our perceptions of it and thats where the discussion occurs.

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I am not saying this is a bad thing. I know TOS will be around for a very very long time and Avatar's message will stay with us forever. I just find this phenomenon interesting.

[electrosphere11]

There used to be just as many as AF at one time. But now that its been over a year, many of these topics have exhausted themselves. I guess we just need more creative observations to come up with additional topics. In the end though, I'm glad as long as we all have this place along with eachother.

[Eltu]

Originally Posted by Banefull

I am not saying this is a bad thing. I know TOS will be around for a very very long time and Avatar's message will stay with us forever. I just find this phenomenon interesting.

Well, it's not strange when you think of it. We have now stopped discussing much about the actual movie, but rather what we see in the movie. It's only natural, I'd say.

[Banefull]

Originally Posted by electrosphere11

There used to be just as many as AF at one time. But now that its been over a year, many of these topics have exhausted themselves. I guess we just need more creative observations to come up with additional topics. In the end though, I'm glad as long as we all have this place along with eachother.

I see it quite differently. That we have only scratched the surface of what there is to discuss.

Over the next few days I will probably be starting many threads in the Avatar section.

[iron_jones]

I personally think after a year, there isn't much left to discuss now. Most quips, qualms, and inquiries have been discussed.

[Raiden]

^^^^^^^^^

What they said.

I still have a lot of questions about the Na'vi and about other aspects of the worlds and people and creatures etc., but those probably won't be answered for a while.

If you're still looking for Avatar related things to "quench you thirst", as it were, I suggest looking at the list of recommended fanfics (In the "fanfics" subforum) and checking those out. Some of them are really quite good.

[Tsyal Makto]

Outside of character discussion (because melting over Neytiri will never get old ), I guess most of the movie related discussion has been exhausted. Now we've moved on to more general discussions branching off from what Avatar gave us (emotions, longings, politics, science, environmentalism, etc).

[Empty Glass]

Y'know, you actually just now made me remember an observation that hit me recently. It's not a revelation of earth-shattering significance, but it'll be a new thread in the 'Plot & Script Discussion' very soon.

Isn't it nice to know that even though we've more or less exhausted all Avatar discussion and debates...we're all still here talking to each other about other things?

[Sight Unseen]

Originally Posted by Empty Glass

Isn't it nice to know that even though we've more or less exhausted all Avatar discussion and debates...we're all still here talking to each other about other things?

^ This.

[Isard]

I move changing the name to tree of socks until such time as AII trailer is announced.

[Human No More]

I still see quite a few discussions around. that said, I completely agree with some of the other posts here - that not only with on average mroe dedicated fans then there are no misunderstandings and far fewer questions, but a lot of the discussion is about the effect of Avatar... the message, Seeing, awakening, humanity and human nature, freedom, the environment and more.
Also, with a smaller user count (relative to AF, indeed, large compared to many fan forums), repetition in discussion is a lot less likely - anyone who has been on a large forum will know what I mean about how some threads appear over and over again.

[X.,.Pandora.,.X]

Originally Posted by Banefull

Every once in a while, I would think about this but the answer has hit me. There are hardly any movie related discussions on TOS because no one doubts the movie.

this and we have talked about everything there is to talk about 3-4 times over the past year