Recently I've been studying a rare phenomenon known as "Post-Movie Depression Syndrome" and it has piqued my interest. Seemingly originated by James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster "Avatar", this so-called disease is a depression that occurs with people who long to live in or experience the worlds and environments presented in sci-fi and fantasy films. According to my recent studies, the most common culprit of causing this syndrome is the movie "Avatar", as many moviegoers have left the theater with such cases of longing to experience Pandora, that some have contemplated ending their life.

There are entire forums dedicated to support for people suffering this rare phenomenon, and one victim, named Mike, posted this in a thread about PMDS on an Avatar fan-forum. "Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it," Mike posted. "I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.'"

Other fans of the film have a similar dillema, in that seeing Avatar made them disgusted with the human race entirely. I've never experienced anything of the sort, but I think I can kind of understand where these people are coming from. When I left the theater after seeing the film "Tron: Legacy" I was a bit disappointed because I was so in love with the setting of the film's digital world- but not hardly to the scale of depression or suicidal thoughts.

So, basically, I figured that Vizzed had such a large population of SF/F fans and I was curious to see if anyone else has experienced a similar feeling. Please share your thoughts and experiences, I thought it might be an interesting topic of discussion.

Thanks! -EmosewaRepus

I have heard of this, but I honestly think that it is caused by people being unable or unwilling to keep in mind that films are by definition not real. A lot of people were disgusted with humanity after Avatar because they were confronted with all the dark aspects of it in a format that they could not ignore... replace bright blue Na'vi with Native Americans however and they ignore it just fine.

Being sad that something is not real is fine, like you I am often sad that a given fantasy world does not really exist... but never enough to become suicidal.

i don't get like this over movies
but video games like Final Fantasy make me wish the worlds were real and i could be killing giant enemies
i remember playing WoW and wishing that it would never end lol
but video games have always been one of my addictions just cuz i've been playing them all my life