Avatar the Psychology of the Movie.

I mentioned in the last post that Avatar has sold over 2 billion dollars worth of tickets. To sell this many tickets indicates that the minds of the people of the world have resonated with the movie. This indicates that the movie has tickled, and then satisfied, many of the reasons that people go to movies. Avatar has allowed people the experience of seeing and hearing one man’s vision of an Edenic planet and all of the beauties and wonders of this fictional planet. People have been allowed the experience of adventure, exploration, to learn, to see good conquer evil, to see a new people, to see the weak defeat the strong. Avatar has been able to incorporate all of the standard symbols that move human beings and to satisfy many of the longings of the human heart.

One of the interesting issues of the movie Avatar is that there are several internet reports of people being depressed and sometimes having suicidal thoughts after seeing Avatar. The general thought is that people respond so intensely to the movie, that they long to be able to see a planet like this in reality and to have the kinds of experiences presented in the movie. To have that depth of experience indicates clearly that Avatar has hit into the psychology of mankind.

Another facet of the psychology of Avatar is that of the general archetypal symbols that Avatar has incorporated into the themes of the movie. Each archetypal symbol touches the psyche of humanity and elicits a positive response, especially that of watching the movie, often multiple times, and encourages them to want to share with their family and friends so that they to can have the kind of fulfilling imagery that Avatar has so clearly provided.

Some of the archetypal symbols are the following:
1. The Garden of Eden.
2. The thrill of learning.
3. The thrill of adventure and exploration.
4. The experience of being chased by large creatures that look like dinosaurs.
5. The conflict of good versus evil.
6. The conflict of life and death.
7. The experience of the need for family and sociability.
8. The learning of the elders.
9. The experience of survival against overwhelming odds.
10. Space travel to a new and wonderful world.
11. The ability to create coherence out of chaos.
12. The love between a man and a woman – very much like that in Eden.
13. The experience of interconnection with God.
14. The experience of interconnection with the life of the planet and all of its creatures.
15. Spirituality and life and death.
16. To be able to live happily ever after.
17. The resurrection.
18. The presence of a God/man – an Avatar.
19. Total immersion and accomplishment of entering into a new culture.
20. Overcoming handicaps and fears.
21. Imperialism.
22. The experience of church and fellowship.

All of these experiences resonate with audiences all throughout the world. These experiences resonate so well that people have set new records of spending to go and see this movie. The interesting part is that all of these symbols and experiences are integral parts of the Bible. All of these things God created for mankind to help him grow, mature, and accomplish things, all for the glory of God. God offered the reality of Pandora for His people in the beginning and He plans to offer these things again after sin has been taken care of.