Avatar is not the only story thats been retold

[Queen Michael]

Red Harvest.
Turned into Yojimbo.
Turned into A Fistful of Dollars.

I'd just like to point out that Avatar isn't Pochahontas in space... its Fern Gully

Then where's Hexxus? And where's Batty Koda? OR as I like to call them, "the only reasons Ferngully was such a good movie"?
Besides, Avatar offered us a new insteresting biology. Ferngully offered us magic, magic, magic.

 

[Reaper69lol]

Avatar= Pocahontas on a different planet with blue kitty people.... Thats just my opinion please dont shoot me for it.

 

[kingcom]

I think the reason most people disliked Avatar that I've heard was the story has been told many times. I personally liked Avatar and dont think "Its been told before." is a very good argument because lots of current stories have been retold. My example is the newest Robin Hood. Theres been lots of movies of it, but noone is saying its been done before. So what I want from you is: Name current stories that have been told many times but noone is bitching about them.

No, thats not why people dislike Avatar. Stop making it up. People dislike it because its a poor quality movie (weak plot, hammy acting though probably because of the terrible script, a sledgehammer message, and frankly unbelieveable disparity between an advanced and primitive culture) which is treated like the greatest advancemnet in moviemaking and science fiction, although the copy paste job just doesnt help the already bad movie.

Avatar certainly did not have an original story but the people who say it was a bad movie are mostly the people who think hating on popular things makes them edgy.

Why do people make up reasons for why other people believe what they do?

 

[Queen Michael]

I think the reason most people disliked Avatar that I've heard was the story has been told many times. I personally liked Avatar and dont think "Its been told before." is a very good argument because lots of current stories have been retold. My example is the newest Robin Hood. Theres been lots of movies of it, but noone is saying its been done before. So what I want from you is: Name current stories that have been told many times but noone is bitching about them.

No, thats not why people dislike Avatar. Stop making it up. People dislike it because its a poor quality movie (weak plot, hammy acting though probably because of the terrible script, a sledgehammer message, and frankly unbelieveable disparity between an advanced and primitive culture) which is treated like the greatest advancemnet in moviemaking and science fiction, although the copy paste job just doesnt help the already bad movie.

Actually, what I didn't like about Avatar was the way the Na'vi pronounced Jake Sully's name in a way that indicated that they had seen it written down but never heard it pronounced.

 

[cieply]

People who dislike avatar have no problems with a story being retold. It's how it was retold that made a world of diffrence. It was aimed at naive, uneducated, dim people with no imagination or intelligence that had to be spoon fed with the story in order not to get lost or to know who to root for. 0 ambiguity, 0 hard moral choices (this film should be about moral choices or at least about changing the point of view, while we never disliked naavi or liked humans - one of the bigger flaws of that movie).

All in all it was a flashy but horribly written movie.

 

[bat_trapper]

I think the reason most people disliked Avatar that I've heard was the story has been told many times. I personally liked Avatar and dont think "Its been told before." is a very good argument because lots of current stories have been retold. My example is the newest Robin Hood. Theres been lots of movies of it, but noone is saying its been done before. So what I want from you is: Name current stories that have been told many times but noone is bitching about them.

No, thats not why people dislike Avatar. Stop making it up. People dislike it because its a poor quality movie (weak plot, hammy acting though probably because of the terrible script, a sledgehammer message, and frankly unbelieveable disparity between an advanced and primitive culture) which is treated like the greatest advancemnet in moviemaking and science fiction, although the copy paste job just doesnt help the already bad movie.

Avatar certainly did not have an original story but the people who say it was a bad movie are mostly the people who think hating on popular things makes them edgy.

Why do people make up reasons for why other people believe what they do?

I'm not making it up. I know for a fact from threads on the Escapist and other reviews that some people disliked it only because the stories been told before. And even if you hated it for all the reasons you've stated, its still not a argument because of all the other retold stories.

 

[Chechosaurus]

A mate of mine is doing an English degree and one of his lectures told him that there are only 7 basic possible stories that can be told so of course it's been told before and it will be told again.

 

[Mr Thin]

This should've been the first post, shame on you all.

http://www.cracked.com/video_18156_a-trailer-every-academy-award-winning-movie-ever.html

 

[Queen Michael]

A mate of mine is doing an English degree and one of his lectures told him that there are only 7 basic possible stories that can be told so of course it's been told before and it will be told again.

There are a lot of theories about the seven (or three, or five) basic stories, and nobody can agree on what stories it is.

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

It's not that the story is retold, it's that everywhere you look someone tries to convince you that Avatar is the best movie ever and that you suck if you disagree, whether it's advertising, news articles or just someone who watched it, that you kinda have to go into self defense mode and bring about the fact of the retold story, even though you don't really mind it. When something is so successful, your personal opinion is invalid because someone else will argue that millions of people disagree with you, and to prove your point the need to look into details you would not normally obsess about is amplified.

But, this isn't what you asked for in your OP so i guess I'm offtopic. ><

 

[octafish]

Journey to the West has been told a million times, people seem to forget that DragonBall is that story but are disillusioned and believe DB to be the most original thing ever.

Dragonball is journey to the west? I may have to check out Dragonball, who is meant to be the big four, Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Horse?

 

[Queen Michael]

Journey to the West has been told a million times, people seem to forget that DragonBall is that story but are disillusioned and believe DB to be the most original thing ever.

Dragonball is journey to the west? I may have to check out Dragonball, who is meant to be the big four, Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and Horse?

Son-Goku is Monkey.
Oolong is Pigsy.
"Horse"? If you mean monk, I guess it's Bulma.
And Sandy? Beats me.
Man, I love Wu Cheng'en...

This should've been the first post, shame on you all.

http://www.cracked.com/video_18156_a-trailer-every-academy-award-winning-movie-ever.html

In the vernacular of today's youth: LOL

 

[Casual Shinji]

I actually have a comment to make about the Avatar=Pocahontas reason. I don't see that being a bad thing at all for this reason. Avatar is what Pocahontas should have been (not necessarily the space part). Sounds stupid considering that was a Disney movie we watched, but we all know to call bull shit on what really went on. They ought to remake an adult-oriented Pocahontas. But that's just me. I'm sure it would come out really badly anyway, so I fully accept any flames thrown my way. It only sounds good on paper.

They already made an adult-oriented Pocahontas, it's called The New World. The problem with Avatar was that it was hailed is this uber sci-fi movie that would put al other sci-fi movies to shame....wich ofcourse it didn't.

I thought I would dislike Avatar because of the "been there, done that" story and the treehuggerism, but I didn't even mind that that much. It was the characters and the fact that I just didn't buy into this overly fantastical planet, that made me dislike the movie.

OT: As for stories that have been done to death, I'd say American romantic comedies. Especially the ones starring Sandra Bullock or Cameron Diaz.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

That's because it's by Ridley Scott, and Ridley Scott can do no wrong!

Sorry, got a little fanboyish there...

OT: Beauty and the Beast (The Concept). From King Kong to...well, Beauty and the Beast, it's honestly a tale as old as time. Hell, all those movies where a popular boy/girl pretty up an unpopular girl/boy is a type of retelling of it.

It's whether or not they add something to that basic concept that matters.

 

[Jennacide]

Lord of the Rings was based quite largely of the Nibelungenlied.

Largely and loosely are nowhere near the same words in definition. And LoTR is only loosely based on Nibelungenlied.

Avatar= Pocahontas on a different planet with blue kitty people.... Thats just my opinion please dont shoot me for it.

I'd say it's less Pocahontas in Space, and more of Dances with Night Elves. Bears far too many similarities with Dances with Wolves, and just replace Native American's with the even more naturalist Night Elves of Warcraft.

This should've been the first post, shame on you all.

http://www.cracked.com/video_18156_a-trailer-every-academy-award-winning-movie-ever.html

Most of that was kinda facepalm worthy, but the Usual Suspects joke was worth it.

 

[Sibbo]

the reason people dont ***** about stuff like the new robin hood is that they KNOW its gonna be very similar, its not dressing it up, its not pretending to be something its not, its not claiming to be anything new, they know they are going to get something thats been done with just a slightly new take. Avatar was supposed to be an epic new adventure, but its the same old adventure in a different skin, they lied basically, people went in expecting a new story something that hasnt been done to death, while the setting was kinda new, the story wasn't it was the same thing half the other movies spit out.

I reserve the right to poke fun/holes at anything that has made 2 billion. I think thats fair.

I don't ***** about it other than this, that it has grossed so much and to me it wasn't anything great.

 

[ethaninja]

The real reason most people didn't like Avatar was because it was popular and they thought hating on it would make them cool and edgy.

We had a bunch of people bitching about it on this site who hadn't even gone to see it.

'Dur hur hur it's shit cos it's Pocahontas in space dur hur me so funny and original'

Haha yeah, it seems a lot of people do that about everything. Especially the new games that have been coming out.

 

[Superior Mind]

OT:

Star Wars = LOTR

You're gonna have to explain that to me.

I think people did mostly hate it because of the huge hype and positive reviews it attracted. I mean if a film gets that much positive press then people are going to go to it and assume that they're about to see something at will blow their minds out of their skulls. Avatar doesn't do that. Oh it's very pretty and it's a solid story told in a good way, well acted and directed... but aside from the eye candy it's not mind blowing.

After the disillusioned person leaves the theater they feel angry that the film didn't live up to their expectations. The logical conclusion in this case isn't to conclude that, yes some things are overhyped and simply can't live up to that hype, but that the film in question is BAD. Not just bad but awful, certainly worth obsessing over and insisting that everyone else are blind sheep suckered by movie reviewers if they enjoyed the film.

Then the condition gets worse because then some clever person will make a joke or observation. This joke/observation will be told hundreds, if not thousands of times by different people in order to try and demean the film and of couse, earn the joke-teller millions of friends and a never-ending supply of pussy by prooving how clever they are to come up with such observations all on their own. For Avatar this is mostly the similarity point. "It's just like Pocahontas/Dances with Wolves/Fern Gulley," and yeah there are similarities, but "stranger in a strange land who learns to understand the native peoples" isn't a new thing and the fact that Avatar has an environmental message is no more redundant than films that have "war is not good" messages or anything like that. Either way, so what?

But by this stage it's not even about the film any more so making arguments like the one I've just made are utterly pointless, it's more about identity. "I didn't like Avatar" is worn as a badge of honour to prove that someone is somehow better than their movie going peers, because they have a strong opinion that is not neccesarily the same as the majority.

For the record I liked Avatar. I loved the special effects, the story was captivating enough to keep me intrested until the end and the action was suitably entertaining. I hold it as a damn well designed film and all in all a fun evening at the movies. It didn't bring much new to the table and certain things were as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow but so what? I still got my twelve bucks worth.

Also for the record, I have no problem with people if they don't like Avatar. People have their reasons and not all people who dislike Avatar fall into my above description.