Why’s it Forgotten? Avatar (2009)

https://lebeauleblog.com/2019/12/18/whys-it-forgotten-avatar-2009-2/

Today is the 10th anniversary of James Cameron’s sci-fi epic, Avatar. A decade ago, the movie was a pop culture phenomenon. But it’s appeal faded fast along with the 3-D craze it inspired. Cameron has been working on a bunch of sequels audiences may or may not have any interest in. About the only thing keeping Avatar relevant at this point is a popular theme park ride inspired by Cameron’s once-popular creation.

Kevthewriter examines why almost no one cares about Avatar anymore.

https://lebeauleblog.com/2018/05/08/whys-it-forgotten-avatar-2009/

Well I think the film fell victim to its own hype. At the time, Cameron hyped the movie up as if it was going to be one of the biggest, most important films ever. He made it seem like something that was gonna be super de duper special, something that would change cinema forever. And, at first, people bought it and they were raving about the movie.

But there was a huge backlash against the movie. While different people had different reasons for why they didn’t like the movie, the main reason many people were saying the movie wasn’t as good as Cameron was making it out to be was that it had a really cliché plot.

Now here’s the thing: many movies have cliché plots, some that end up being very popular, but they don’t get quite nearly the same amount of backlash that Avatar got.

Just look at Titanic. The plot is basically your typical “rich girl bored by high society falls for charming poor boy” plot. But that movie was heavily hyped and, while there was a backlash against it at the time too, it wasn’t quite as big as Avatar‘s. But here’s the difference: while that movie was a huge phenomenon, and while it did have a vocal hatedom after the phenomenon started, it probably wasn’t quite as huge as Avatar‘s because Cameron didn’t make it out to be the second coming like he did with Avatar. And Titanic is still remembered, quoted, and has a fanbase to this day while Avatar…not as much.

Because the thing is, for all of Cameron’s hype, I guess Avatar just wasn’t a memorable enough movie to really have a long-lasting impact in people’s minds. And, after a while, the hate died down and most people just sort’ve remembered it for the phenomenon it was at the time while forgetting the actual movie almost altogether. That made it different from Titanic: yes it was cliché. Yes it was hyped up when it came out. Yes people loved it. Yes there was a backlash. But the difference is Titanic has actually stuck with people over the years while Avatar has not.

I think the problem is expectations can kill a movie. If Avatar was promoted as just being a sci-fi action fantasy movie and nothing more, people would’ve most likely forgotten about it but it probably wouldn’t have been as hated as it eventually became.

And it’s not just Avatar. Look at the next big 3D movie after it, Alice in Wonderland. It’s basically a cliché “young person saves a fantasy land from an evil kingdom” movie set in Wonderland. But it was hugely hyped up at the time because it was Tim Burton doing a Wonderland movie and that sounded like a perfect fit. Plus he was teaming up with Johnny Depp again and, at that time, people still trusted them to do good movies together even if, by then, their movies were starting to be hit or miss. And it was the next movie to show what 3D could do. So all of these things together sounded like they should make an awesome movie and not the forgettable Narnia/Harry Potter knock off it ended up being. But, because it was that, the movie ended up pissing off a lot of people. Had it not been from those people or been a Wonderland movie, or both, audiences might’ve been more forgiven it a bit more.

Another Disney movie this happened to was Frozen. People were hyping it as being one of the biggest things ever which ended up causing a backlash from many audience members who left the movie feeling underwhelmed. And this has pretty much happened to, well, all of the new Star Wars movies (maybe not Rogue One as much). No matter how much the critics like it, if a movie gets heavily hyped, there’s probably going to be a backlash from people who weren’t so impressed by the movie.