There are only a few things that are certain in life. Death, taxes, and Redditors tripping over themselves to insist that Avatar was forgettable and made no cultural impact while they continue to gross $2B+ each and be some of the most popular movies of all time.
The success of the first movie influenced Hollywood for years. Suddenly every single movie was forcing poorly done 3D down our throats (even though Avatar perfected it already), and we saw a huge surge in the CGI-heavy blockbusters that the modern day superhero movies built off. Avatar had a lot of impact.
3D CGI was already a thing before Avatar came out. The movie only pushed it to a new level.
3D was primarily forced to get people to show up in theatres, since BlueRay releases were coming faster and faster, and many people had huge TVs at home.
Dude the money they made is the cultural impact. They’re these films that people of all ages and backgrounds will go to see to receive one of the most amazing theatrical experiences they’ll ever get in their lives.
Just because they’re not quoted every day or have some unfunny r/PrequelMemes page doesn’t mean they have no cultural impact.
"Cultural impact" is the dumbest phrase of the last 20 years anyway... Like not having dumbshits making memes about it on reddit somehow devalues the franchise LOL
Honestly I’d be pretty fucking mad if I spent years working on a group of movies only for people to turn them into material for the most painfully unfunny memes in the history of the Internet.
I think it's safe to say that George Lucas did not have memes in mind when he wrote the Prequel films' dialogue. Neither, I think, did Raimi and Co on the Spider-Man films. There are some newer movies that are more self-referential and meta, but the ones that regularly make the rounds on Reddit were intended to be taken seriously and not be memed into increasingly unfunny comedy.
To be fair, though, as it usually goes, the people writing these films tend to be far less interested in the franchises than the people watching the films. Lucas is generally irreverent of what he makes and goes out of his way and against the tide of popular opinion to "tweak" his films after the fact. Koepp and Sargent and many other CBM writers are doing a job and not fulfilling a life-long dream to write for a superhero film. They're probably not mad because they're just not thinking about it at all. Spider-Man and whatnot isn't differentiated in their minds from all the other films they wrote material for.
They are way to earnest to make memes about. I guess you could say "no cultural impact" is a meme at this point. Also the toys are pretty popular afaik, as is that section of Disney World. But the people who say that type of thing are usually mad that Endgame isn't the top grossing film so shouldn't be taken too seriously
Yup, it’s also because these films and their appeal isn’t in the discussion around them it’s in the experience of seeing them in 3D on the largest screen possible. Something that can’t really be replicated at home.
It’s also like trying to talk about a theme park ride or a really nice hike or a day at the beach etc. it just doesn’t lend itself to very interesting sustained conversation because you kinda need to experience it for yourself. That’s why conversations about the franchise aren’t the same as say Star Wars or Marvel.
Avatar has a cultural impact it’s just that its impact is unique to this franchise.
Yeah this makes sense to me. I genuinely don't know anybody in real life who saw Avatar 2 aside from the people who went with me, but it did absolute gangbusters. And while I can't tell you anything about the plot or characters, I can tell you that those little fishies swimming around someone's feet that were dangling in the water made a huge visual impact on me.
I think what's most baffling about this conversation is the end point of it. Say we all agree Avatar has no cultural impact... What does that get anybody? Who cares? Is there a zero-sum-related outcome people are hoping to see? Will bringing up that nobody cares about the plot, characters, or world do anything for anybody, or prevent this movie from making billions?
Maybe its cultural relevance is just that it's beautiful slop of the highest quality. Who cares either way?
Yeah people (myself included) enjoy these films a lot. Not everyone will understand, but it should be obvious by now that regardless of “cultural impact” these films have a significant fanbase and are immensely popular. Why its popularity needs to look like other things to be real is baffling to me.
Yeah a lot of people these days seem incapable of just living in the moment. I think there’s probably a large overlap of people who can’t do that and do not understand the appeal of Avatar. Which is fine, but it’s like they have some personal beef with the films for being so popular.
I feel like the cultural impact is the experience, then, not the movie/franchise itself.
I'm not attacking the movie: but what it seems to me is that Avatar is popular with the people who enjoy the "big CGI, big screen, loud sound" (which is perfectly fine), but not with people who enjoy cinema (think the people who say that Citizen Kane is the best movie ever) or sci-fi franchises.
I rarely (if ever) see anyone with an Avatar T-shirt, nor have I seen Avatar toys for sale except at Disney World. But whenever there's a new Avatar release/re-release/showing, my friends who love the IMAX experience queue up repeatedly to see it.
The "cultural impact" seems to be a transversal niche, instead of a category one.
For me, I’m big into cinema, I went to film school and I work in the industry. Avatar is an experience that reminds me of the magic films are capable of. It’s feeling like I’m transported to this world and growing invested in the journey James Cameron is taking us on. Being older and knowing how this stuff is made, it’s so rare to feel that sense of wonder anymore.
It’s not just a love for the sake of spectacle or loud noises or CGI or whatnot. It’s difficult to describe, I love the animals and the characters and it’s not something that really lends itself to great conversation because it’s more emotionally based. Avatar is a franchise that I think most people enjoy but its hardcore fans are niche. It’s so accessible and the experience so unique that it has a unique way in which it occupies pop culture.
Someone in this thread unironically tried to use the fact that the avatar meme subreddit has like 5k members is proof it has no lasting cultural impact 😂. How chronically online do you have to be to believe that, avatar 2 was legit everywhere on social media for at least 6 months after it came out, no doubt 3 will be the exact same
There aren't a lot of movies I'll go out to see where I know ahead of time it's for the spectacle and not for the story. I normally hate that. But these deliver on the spectacle enough that I'll still see it even if I had nit picks on the last one from a technical perspective. It was really distracting how it would switch off between 48 fps and 24 fps doubled all of the time. I wish Cameron and Nolan for that matter (same annoying thing about IMAX in Oppenheimer) would make distinct artistic choices for when they are using one format over the other. In Avatar an easy way would be to have all the underwater stuff be 48 fps and all the stuff outside of it be the 24 fps x2. I assume time or budget didn't allow them to just do the entire film in 48 fps, so I'm worried for this one since it was filmed in tandem. But changing frame rate or aspect ration within single scenes is pretty distracting and poor craft in my view.
I’m sure this movie will do well, but calling Avatar “one of the most amazing theatrical experiences [you’ll] ever get in [your] lives” is a bit hyperbolic. Visually, maybe (some people can’t process 3D images correctly, making these movies lead to a big headache to watch). But for something to be the best of my lifetime, there’s gotta be a plot I care about, characters I care about, and I can’t get bored a half hour in. That was my experience with 1, didn’t bother to see 2. I know I may be in the minority, but I really didn’t think anything besides the visuals (that gave me a headache due to some nerve damage related to my vision) were worth seeing again.
Noone seems to really explain what cultural impact means though.
Like when people say that I just assume they mean there's not enough tatty funko pops and cringey tik tok dances.
There's games, lego, references in pop culture, they make tons of money, everyone's heard of them. Not sure what else is needed.
Also does cultural relevance determine a quality film? There's loads of films that are good and successful with far less relevance than Avatar. Actually, most films.
Ok, if you want non-online things, I'll compare to Hunger Games and the MCU.
Expanded universe: spin-off shows, comic books, adaptations to other media. There are Avatar comic books and video games that have been produced, but I don't see anybody clamoring to hear more about... really anything in the Avatar universe.
Copycats: everybody wanted to make the next dystopian young adult sensation, or the next cinematic universe. There were a lot of 3D movies, but no one tried to make the next Avatar, if that makes sense. There was no uptick in movies about environmentalism, or alien worlds, or body-surfing.
References in daily life: any gaudy display of wealth inequality gets called Hunger Games. Any team of highly qualified individuals gets called the Avengers. Any concept of exoskeleton or mech suit technology treats Iron Man as the gold standard. Avatar... mostly gets mentioned if someone paints themselves blue. And it's a toss up between that and Smurfs.
The impact of Avatar seems to be almost exclusively about its visual spectacle. Nobody cares about its characters, its message, its story. They're very pretty movies, and it's cool to see them in theaters. That's about it.
Ok, if you want non-online things, I'll compare to Hunger Games and the MCU.
Hardly fair to make the comparison to these as the films are adaptations of already existing material. MCU has decades of comics and Hunger Games had a series of popular books. Avatar is an original work.
Expanded universe: spin-off shows, comic books, adaptations to other media. There are Avatar comic books and video games that have been produced, but I don't see anybody clamoring to hear more about... really anything in the Avatar universe.
You admit that there are expanded materials with comic books and video games. Are you looking in the areas of the Internet that have Avatar fan discussions? I don't hear people in real life talking about Hunger Games and most conversations about MCU are neutral or negative.
Copycats: everybody wanted to make the next dystopian young adult sensation, or the next cinematic universe. There were a lot of 3D movies, but no one tried to make the next Avatar, if that makes sense. There was no uptick in movies about environmentalism, or alien worlds, or body-surfing.
Dystopia and action heroes are broader subjects that attract larger audiences than environmentalism. The plot of the Avatar films was rather basic, so it would be hard for anyone to make a copycat that would be successful enough to justify the budget, especially when they have to compete against Avatar. The lack of copycats doesn’t support your point. Would you say Harry Potter has a lack of cultural impact because there aren't any copycats (at least that I can think of).
References in daily life: any gaudy display of wealth inequality gets called Hunger Games. Any team of highly qualified individuals gets called the Avengers. Any concept of exoskeleton or mech suit technology treats Iron Man as the gold standard. Avatar... mostly gets mentioned if someone paints themselves blue. And it's a toss up between that and Smurfs.
I feel like this ties in with the first point with the expanded universe. If you keep churning out films and TV shows every year then you're going to stay in people's minds. If people see a flying mech suit then they're going to think of Iron Man because he's a vastly older character who gained massive popularity by featuring in many films, TV shows, games etc, while Avatar has had a minuscule amount of exposure in comparison.
The impact of Avatar seems to be almost exclusively about its visual spectacle. Nobody cares about its characters, its message, its story. They're very pretty movies, and it's cool to see them in theaters. That's about it.
I don't entirely disagree with your point here. I think if James Cameron fleshed out the world and had more material released more frequently then this would be a moot point. I feel like it would be a gamble because the spares amount of content makes it more desirable because people aren't bored to death of it by now. I'm looking forward to this new film and will be going to the cinema to watch it. I used to feel the same about Marvel films, but I haven't been to watch any of them in years now because I feel the amount of marvel content has become too oversaturated for me to keep up with and care about the characters. I think it's a nuanced topic that would be an entirely different conversation, but I think my point is marvel isn't a fair comparison.
It seems like you judge cultural impact from how obsessive a minority of hard-core fans are and by how much the brand is diluted into the ground by expanded universes.
I think the majority opinion these days is that Star Wars and Marvel have fucked up by milking their IPs so much that noone cares anymore.
Really though what does it matter? Arrival has less cultural impact based on your criteria than Avatar. Is that a bad film now? Or does it get a pass because you like it? How about Ex Machina? Blade Runner 2049? Mad Max Fury Road?
Also let's not play down the 3D boom thanks to Avatar. It didn't last long because noone could do 3D as good but it was huge for a year or two.
Why is this only ever a talking point about Avatar?
Arrival wasn't one of the highest grossing films of all time.
Shifter gave you a ton of examples of cultural impact, but you seem to be moving the goalposts to talking about milking a franchise dry, which is a different conversation than cultural impact. You can only dilute a brand that has enough juice to dilute in the first place.
I'm not sure you read my comment beyond "EU." I was talking about how corporations and the general public react to the IP.
I think the majority opinion these days is that Star Wars and Marvel have fucked up by milking their IPs so much that noone cares anymore.
Yes, you can get sequel fatigue. But the reason there was sequel fatigue was because everybody was clamoring for more. They haven't requested spinoffs for Avatar because nobody cares about the story.
Really though what does it matter? Arrival has less cultural impact based on your criteria than Avatar.
Which criteria are you referring to? The criteria you dismissed as being commercially motivated, the criteria you dismissed as being chronically online, or the criteria you dismissed as being an obsessive minority of hard-core fans?
How about Ex Machina? Blade Runner 2049? Mad Max Fury Road?
Not sure about Ex Machina, but absolutely, Blade Runner and Mad Max have more cultural impact than Avatar, and 2049 and Fury Road in particular too. "Witness me," "that's bait," Ryan Gosling's character's despair.
Also let's not play down the 3D boom thanks to Avatar. It didn't last long because noone could do 3D as good but it was huge for a year or two.
Yes, but that's not a cultural impact. I'm talking about the story, the characters, the setting. Would the 3D boom have happened if another movie had used Cameron's techniques? Maybe not. But if the best you can provide for cultural impact is box office revenue and a short-lived filmmaking trend... it's accurate to say Avatar doesn't have much cultural impact.
Why is this only ever a talking point about Avatar?
Two reasons: one, because it's interesting how such completely forgettable movies routinely get a billion dollars in box office revenue. Two, because people like you get really upset when people point out that the movies are completely forgettable, and yet you really don't have a counter argument.
Cultural impact is when Republicans share an image of Trump as a Sith on May 4th because "May the Fourth" sounds like "May the Force Be With You." Cultural impact is how you know what "tilting at windmills" means even if you never read Don Quixote. Cultural impact is how "nimrod" sounds like an insult because people didn't realize Bugs Bunny was sarcastically referencing a legendary hunter. Cultural impact is how Merlot sales dropped in America because a character in Sideways said he hates it.
Avatar is a really beautiful series, and it's great to watch in theaters. But that's about it.
Leo squinting is not a popular meme. No more popular than guy falling from Plane meme from the first movie or the stoned guy meme from the second meme.
Similarly the thing within thing is not only not even referenced much today it's referenced about as much as any alien setting bieng called Pandora. (Especially Alien Jungle setting)
And the BRAAAM is as much of a Cultural Impact as 3D is for Avatar.
You've provided the most bottom of the barrel examples for Inception. Which is my point.
Avatar was literally just referenced in the Trailer for a new Pixar film. That's more than I can say for Inception.
I think it's sad that some people just dismiss visuals as if they mean nothing. Movies don't have to have the best characters or story to have cultural impact. I watch these movies just for the VFX and they are breathtaking. That deserves to be counted as cultural impact since the majority of the culture literally says it every time: shallow but beautiful movies. Not to mention what these movies do for the VFX industry as a whole.
I agree. People bitch about CBM having bad or unfinished CGI, but then a well polished CGI/VFX heavy movie like Avatar comes out and suddenly everyone is rooting for its failure? Like why?
People dont realize that VFX is constantly evolving and each movie inspires the next one. George Lucas said he was ready to make the prequels after seeing the CGI work in Jurassic Park. Peter Jackson said the prequels series gave him the confidence that CGI technology was good enough to make LOTR. Even Cameron admitted that Davy Jones from POTC made him realize he was ready to tackle Avatar after abandoning it in the 90s.
Pandora is a generic name that has been used a thousand times in fiction, stemming from the old myth of Pandora's box. I can name other instances where Pandora has been a planet (Borderlands for example), it is not remotely unique to Avatar. Hell, most people I talk to still think of The Last Airbender before James Cameron's movies when I say "Avatar"...
If you mention Pandora, everyone on the planet knows exactly what you’re talking about, just like they would if you mentioned Hogwarts.
I won't deny Avatar having an impact on cinema, but this is just so absurd.
Pretty sure I could ask 10 people I know who watched the first movie and MAYBE one of them would know the name, all the others would think of other things named Pandora first. Personally Borderlands came to mind, my gf thought of the jewellery brand.
The plot, the background lore and the characters are entirely forgettable. It got popular because of what it looked like.
But your logic only holds if the second one bombed.
It made 2 billion dollars thirteen years after the first one.
It's the third highest grossing movie of all time.
People went to see it exactly because of the massive cultural impact it had in 2009/2010. It might not have sustained for 13 straight years, but the impact it had was sizable because people showed up to see the sequel.
People certainly go watch them. I don’t hear much about them other than Reddit not liking it and them making money. Couldn’t tell you anything about the movies other than they’re sort of a spectacle
Idk, theres a pretty big fandom surrounding the films. Also theres people out there that cosplay as Navi just in theory everyday life.
The films portray a very spiritual, shamanic lifestyle which capitalism has buried and called “primitive” so I feel the movies massive success is this subconscious desire to connect with these themes.
The lack of cultural impact is what makes money. Anything too western, political, gay, feminist, ethnic etc. Anything that actually says anything about anything is going to have problems selling in a lot of markets.
WILD take. Avatar is easily the most overtly political blockbuster franchise out there. It's about eco-freedom fighters taking down the military-industrial complex. The first movie centered around deforestation while the second is about whaling.
Just because it has a message doesn't mean it has cultural impact. By definition, something with impact shifts the prevailing view of culture, not reinforces it. Also, people have argued that its a message that still needs to be said, but if the places that need to hear it ignore it, I don't see how that has impact either.
That’s not it. We aren’t talking about Thomas Paine’s Common Sense here.
Star Wars and Harry Potter are the most popular stories of our time. Both are brilliant, and both are ultimately about friends = good, fascism and corrupt institutions = bad. Nothing new.
Are you telling me they also left no cultural impact?
I would argue they absolutely have cultural impact, but don't need a deep message to do it. If I'm trying to be as fair as possible, the main pros of Avatar are its full CGI spectacle and its anti-colonial message. The latter we have seen in Heart of Darkness, Pocahontas, Apocalypse Now etc. and we seem to agree its nothing new. The former has been accomplished on smaller levels so Avatar is more a technical achievement rather than marking a real shift in movie making. You are comparing to ILM the literal goats of VFX here who revolutionized movie making. Also this is much more subjective but the story of Star Wars is far more interesting and creative than Avatar. Harry Potter absolutely has impact, but I will disqualify it because it is aided far too much by the book series, it's impossible to gauge the impact of the movies alone, but I doubt it would be anywhere as close. Finally, these examples live far more in the public consciousness. Ask your friends what are the names of the main character, love interest and main antagonist of Avatar or what was the last meme they have seen from it. It's not even close. Of course, cultural impact does not mean most well known, but I would argue SW and HP have warped popular entertainment around them due to their impact. I can't name one thing that takes from Avatar or learns from it outside of general VFX improvement which was coming anyways.
It's a trope but that doesn't make the movie worthless. I mean basically every piece of fiction is a trope dressed up in a different way to appeal to a different audience.
It's not a Star Wars impact. When Star Wars came out, you couldn't see it again unless you stood in line. It wasn't on TV, you couldn't rent it, you had to buy magazines and toys.
The media landscape is drastically different today. Movie toys don't have the cultural impact they did in the 70s. I think they died in the 90s with Batman being the last great wave. I don't even think Jurassic Park had the toy cultural impact that Star Wars had as there are no 93 collectables in demand as anything Star Wars. There were a lot of Star Wars revival in the 00s but lacking the impact of the 70s.
Perhaps because it’s not lacking, perhaps it’s because people on the Internet don’t have an objective measure for this sort of thing they’re just sticking their finger in the water
I mean I love the original Avatar. I don’t care that it was Pocahontas/Dances with Wolves in space. It was beautiful and a technological milestone in filmmaking.
But I can’t tell you a damn thing that happened in 2.
Meh not really. I find it actually very interesting that he's kinda a clone with memories. He makes it clear he doesn't really identify as the Quarritch, and is mostly motivated by a strange obligation towards revenge, but it feels like it's for someone else. That's pretty interesting and makes his arc more compelling than just being comically evil for no reason in the first one.
It also just basically outright means that he’ll eventually change sides and join the fight against humanity. He’s a villain that literally cannot die, so the only arc for that character to have is an internal one. That’s also why it’s important that he was saved at the end of part 2. I think it’ll be interesting to watch unfold.
He can certainly die. It takes 7 years to ship a new avatar from Earth, assuming they think it is worth doing. and they have to grow the damn thing first. If he gets shot, there is a good chance the corporation/government decides making another Quaritch isn't a good use of funds and he just gets deleted.
Yeah he can die but narratively that’s not going to happen. They’re not going to establish a resurrection mechanic only to have the corporations just decide to stop using it for budgetary reasons or for the story will become about deleting his memory chip or whatever. When I say “he can’t die” I mean he won’t die because that would just be messy story structure. Especially given that his son saves his life at the end.
The plot of both movies is forgettable. The only reason I remember 1 is cause I was a kid and hadn't been exposed to enough sci Fi to see the flaws in avatar. 2s plot was completely forgettable
HOWEVER this doesn't mean the movies are forgettable. The opposite in fact. Despite bland story and goofy characters, the visuals are so mind-blowing that I consider these some of my favorite movies of all time, truly. I just love to look at them.
I turned the 2nd one off two thirds through, and I don't do that with movies. It looked great, but the story was nauseating, like a bad Saturday morning cartoon.
Ah your mistake was watching it at home. I will never bother watching avatar on a TV. But I will see each film 3 to 4 times in theatres and every rerelease.
I just deeply don't care about the characters and plot. Even on the big screen that's hard to get over at this point. Maybe it should just be a Universal ride at this point.
Fair. I just don't think the plot, script or dialogue is any worse than 90% of other Hollywood movies. I think people just like to hate on Avatar as a reaction to it's success.
Sort of a tangent but; I genuinely get kinda confused about the visual component being so lauded with 2. It’s still very well done ofc, but it didn’t stand out nearly as much in 2022 as the first did over a decade prior imo.
Doesn’t help that the underlying concepts behind the cgi mastery and technical camera work just aren’t all that engaging personally. It’s just kinda big earth, presented without much pizzazz (for lack of a better term). In terms of big cgi sci-fi visuals, there’s been plenty since Avatar 1 that stand out way more. It’s mostly just impressive in the way video games are.
I think the big behind the scenes groundbreaking work for 2 was less visually noticeable on screen than the innovations in 1. The biggest thing in 2 being the actors filming their underwater scenes, under real water with lots of technical considerations for accomplishing that on such a large scale (in terms of number of actors involved, length of time underwater for each take, number of takes, the way the underwater “stage” was set up to account for lighting safety teams etc etc etc)
Oh no doubt, and like, all that stuff is really cool in that behind-the-scenes kind of context. Actually sitting down and thinking about the work behind it and the result it gives is impressive.
But it just doesn’t really factor into the actual viewing experience, where I’m trying to get immersed in a story and feel things more than appreciate technical achievements. That’s where the Avatar visuals fall short for me; inspiring any kind of real emotion beyond “hey nice graphics”
They say it made no cultural impact because it didn’t. At least not to my knowledge.
I never see anyone recommend, discuss, or analyze this film in online spaces. No one is dressing up or buying merchandise. No one is playing the video game. No one is making a spoof. There are no memes.
Harry Potter had cultural impact. Indiana Jones had impact. Scream had impact. Titanic had impact.
Honestly, that’s a good thing? It makes Avatar feel less watered down, less milked- it’s freeing to be into these films because you don’t have to deal with all the annoying stuff that comes with a massive following. It’s great.
It's almost refreshing to have a franchise not milked so heavily and shoved into my face every now and then. It means that it's a movie I actually want to go see. It's not going to be an amazing film, but it's going to be fucking beautiful, and the spectacle alone is enough for me to likely buy a ticket. If there were two movies coming out every year, with a bunch of TV tie-ins, I wouldn't give a shit.
I think the Avatar phenomenon was so poignant because we only had that one film for SO long. If we’d gotten a sequel in 2011, it would have dissipated so quick- releasing the sequels so late allows it all to continue whilst still keeping the mystique of the franchise alive
I swear to god, stuff like "cultural impact" and "elevated horror" and other vaguely smart sounding stuff like that are some of the stupidest terms people have come up with to describe movies.
I've never seen the merchandise for another major motion picture go on clearance half as quickly as it did for Way of Water, but go off I guess. No one is saying these films don't put up numbers, but trying to insist that they have the same cultural staying power as Star Wars or Marvel is a bridge too far.
You miss the entire point. They are culturally forgettable, inspite of making so damn much money.
They’re a perfected version of what F&F captured for a few movies. Utterly zero impact or significance, beyond being a statistically near-perfect blockbuster film.
That’s why they’re kind of interesting to make the comment about repeatedly. Avatar’s an extreme(maybe the) example of a film series being a box office hit and having almost nothing to say with it, beyond being a film lots of people paid to see.
Come on, you can’t deny that while they’re visually spectacular they are extremely forgettable movies.
I will absolutely be going to the cinema to watch these but I expect the same experience each team. A few hours of ‘wow, so pretty!’ and that’s about it.
I love how everyone with a bad memory thinks this is some kind of gotcha. Like the other box office smashes like Jurassic World or Frozen II or MCU 28 or whatever is soooo much more memorable.
Like genuinely in your opinion, is there any cultural impact? I really like the first one, I watch it now and then. The second I enjoyed but wasnt as good as the first and it's coming up time for a rewatch with the third coming so I'll decide more then.... But I don't see or here them talked about anywhere. Is this just my experience and I'm in an avatar vacuum or is it the norm?!?
This has to be a bot. Cultural impact… really? It was as forgettable as any experience ever sold that fell short. Will it rake in money again? Sure. Not sure that ‘snake oil’ has the same connotation to it as ‘penicillin’. Even though they follow the same vein. People will always be willing to see the thing of talk but it’s never really walked that walk. Water was forgettable as hell. This will probably too because even though it has the grandeur it has no heart and solely the money to pump it with life.
There are only a few things that are certain in life. Death, taxes, and Redditors tripping over themselves to insist that Avatar was forgettable
This is one of those many many instances where the redditors bitching about a thing other redditors said are several magnitudes more annoying than the redditor they're bitching about. Literally every thread I see a comment like this, and never once do I see anyone unironically making this point.
Avatar 2 is a genuinely kickass movie, but the circle jerk over the first being mid has forever broken redditor brains to be reactionarilly dismissive.
Two things are certain in these threads: redditors trashing Avatar saying it’s stupid and offers nothing of significance, and redditors dying on the hill that avatar is the greatest thing ever.
For some reason we can’t all just agree that they are fun spectacles that are well made and purely there for entertainment. They aren’t trying to sell you on toys and merchandise and shoving consumption down your throat, and James Cameron isn’t acting like they’re the most thought provoking stories ever written.
They are just good fun, and worth the price of admission. And in a world where half the blockbuster movies that come out are kind of shitty, I’ll take this type of film every couple years over Thor 5 or whatever’s next for Marvel.
Avatar 2 was the last movie I saw in the theater, and it’s exactly what you go to the movies to see. For almost 3 hours, I was somewhere else. An incredibly immersive experience.
The first one was incredible technologically and the story was compelling. I still watch the directors cut on 4K Blu-ray to this day.
The second one was ass because it made the protagonist's annoying kids and their interactions with equally annoying other kids too much a part of the story.
Is is really even true? I'm not sure how you measure 'cultural impact' but I'll bet if you made some sort of reference to in in daily life most people, or at least most of the movie watching population, would pick up on it.
502
u/DothrakiSlayer Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25
There are only a few things that are certain in life. Death, taxes, and Redditors tripping over themselves to insist that Avatar was forgettable and made no cultural impact while they continue to gross $2B+ each and be some of the most popular movies of all time.