For the people posting on the thread, watching was not enough they wanted to live inside Cameron’s world, to fly through Pandora as a 10-foot-tall blue alien, in perfect symbiosis with nature. Here, the source was a multipage thread on the independent fan site Avatar Forums - “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible.” By that point, January 2010, even certain well-adjusted people had seen the movie two or three times, lured back to theaters by the all-consuming tale of an ex-Marine fighting to save the Na’vi race from the venal designs of a mining corporation. This was at the dawn of the era when a small group of people acting weird online could set off a dayslong cycle of news. It was marked by despair and suicidal ideation, brought on by the insurmountable gap between real life and Cameron’s C.G.I. After that, the story reversed: Reality was no match for “Avatar.” The condition went by different names: “Avatar” Syndrome, Post-Pandoran Depression or PADS (Post-“Avatar” Depression Syndrome).

In just over two weeks, it grossed $1 billion, quieting doubters, at least temporarily. In late 2009, before “Avatar” came out, skeptics warned that the visual-effects behemoth would never recoup its unearthly budget, estimated to be upward of $237 million.

įirst it was said that James Cameron was no match for reality.

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