Unpopular Entertainment Opinions • Page 107

I like Aliens more because it's fun but Alien is the better film imo

 

Avatar is not something people reference or is broadly parodied, there are no iconic scenes, no famous lines, no memorable characters. It didn’t influence future movies or culture outside of bringing back another wave of 3D, which of course sucked. It was an isolated popular film that didn’t bring about any lasting impact either in practice or in the popular imagination. It’s the movie with the blue aliens who have magic hair. Cameron is making so many sequels because it was so financially successful (which the draw of it was 100% because it was a technological marvel of the time), and because it’s James Cameron and he can pretty much do whatever he wants. Compare that to something like Aliens or T2 or Blade Runner 2049 or the Star Wars prequels or plenty of other sequels (good and bad) that were never originally planned but came about years later because the originals were so ubiquitous in pop culture.

 

The Aliens Director’s Cut makes it a much better film because of the reveal that while Ripley was asleep and didn’t age, her child daughter grew up on earth over time and died in her 70s, meaning she missed out on raising her. When she comes across Newt and inadvertently becomes her guardian against the xenomorphs, she has a renewed chance to become a mother again. This emotional arc is what made her character more effective the second time around

 

its pocahantas

 

Make that one miss for Mr Cameron

 

“I don’t like it so that means it had no cultural impact!”

 

Dude you compared it to Marvel, which only undermines your own point. Marvel is ubiquitous and tons of people care about it to an unhealthy degree and have followed it vociferously for over a decade. Who has done that for Avatar?

 

My comparison was saying acting like it was a miss would be as misinformed as calling Marvel a miss. Neither of them are categorically not misses.

 

Except you give no reason for it not being a miss except “it grossed a ton when it came out” and “James Cameron has spent the last decade working on sequels.” That doesn’t speak to what we are all talking about: its impact on popular culture.

 

I mean it's objectively not a "miss" whether we like it or not (I did not care for it), but that doesn't make Marx's points any less valid. I don't think I have a single argument against one, although I feel there may have been SNL parodies back in the day? Its legacy is purely the spectacle of it all, and not necessarily the story/acting/etc

 

I mean when I said he had almost zero misses I meant just great entertaining movies. It just so happens a few of them have massive cultural impact.

 

Yeah it’s also just not a good movie lol

 

I referenced a few other things as well that you are ignoring, but one I brought up that you even specifically mentioned, it pushing 3D technology back into the mainstream, was undeniably enormous.

 

I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but the only discussion that ever happens around Avatar is about its complete lack of impact, and that is endlessly hilarious.

 

Lol yeah, I definitely won’t be arguing it’s a good movie, it’s just weird to me how people seem to want to deny it’s success and influence.

 

Genuinely curious to see how the next one does.

 

I doubt any of the sequels will make as much money but I’m sure they’ll look amazing in theaters

 

Like, there’s tons of movies or shows or bands that are vapid, uninteresting piles of shit to me, but if they’re massive and influence tons of other artists, I wouldn’t deny that that’s a reality. That’s all I’m saying.

 

not to keep this convo going if it goes nowhere, but who has been influenced by Avatar? And in what ways? (Genuine question - as others have said, it’s never referenced or brought up in really any capacity and I’ve never heard someone say they made a show or film because of their love of Avatar and i don’t even know if 3D even exists anymore after it tried to become a thing for about 2-3 years with the TV’s and a handful of movies)

 

When I look at a list of highest grossing movies adjusted for inflation, “starting another 3D trend” seems laughable compared to Star Wars or Avengers or even the one-off films that are permanently engrained in pop culture ethos. It wasn’t even the *first* 3D film! It just made it a fad again! I have an extremely hard time agreeing that that constitutes an undeniably enormous impact, or even particularly influential. Like what movie kicked off the 3D trend of the early 00s? Polar Express? Spy Kids 3D? That’s what you’re comparing it to lol

 

I saw this tweet a couple months ago and couldn't believe Avatar was being referenced for something.

 

I actually am looking at the wiki of 3D use in movies and it seems like there were actually quite a few movies using 3D throughout the 00s before Avatar, especially in the year *prior* to Avatar being released. Avatar just made it so that studios added some dumb, insignificant 3D to *every* big movie for at least 5 years.

 

As far as “cultural impact”, or like people remembering characters from the movie or whatever, does Avatar’s lack of sequels feel like a pretty significant strike against it to anyone else? Like if Star Wars had been a one and done thing, I don’t think it would have nearly as much of the cultural significance as it currently does. Or maybe I’m just grossly misunderstanding Star Wars lol

What I do know is that Avatar had a ton of hype and then basically did nothing to build on it at all except for weirdly tease like 10 sequels for a decade for some reason

 

Browsing the wikipedia page they basically invented a bunch of visual effects techniques and technology for this movie and they're probably doing the same for the next ones. So the industry has probably felt a huge impact more than pop culture at large.