Cultural Impact of the Avatar Franchise

Neytiri and Jake on Entertainment Weekly.

This is an article about analyzing and exploring the cultural impact of the Avatar franchise, and how the series has affected humanity, people and culture on a global scale.

Despite only having a single film for over a decade, as well as James Cameron being concerned the film would not break even or make money, Avatar has had various examples of cultural impact in different ways.

NOTE: This article will be written in a somewhat casual essay-like manner for a while, as we gradually find references. It also bounces questions back at the reader in order to inspire thinking and self-reflection.

Analyzing Cultural Impact

Cultural Impact and Quality

It has become an Internet meme over the years that Avatar has had no cultural impact, with some people going so far as to claim no one cares about Avatar, or unironically claiming the series has had zero cultural impact, instead of little. Detractors claim that Avatar supposedly does not have any memorable lines, memes, characters or moments. The implication here is that many people believe is that Avatar is worthless or of poor quality as a result. Some viewers judge the worth and value of the Avatar IP based on its cultural impact. Before The Way of Water, there were also people rooting for the sequel's downfall, claiming it would never reach more than 1 billion at the box office, let alone 2 billion, or claiming Avatar is culturally irrelevant.

One Redditor argues that cultural impact does not necessarily indicate a piece of media's quality, pointing out the idea of indie movies and cult classics. They argue a piece of media can still have quality and value, even if it does not penetrate into the public consciousness, and that it does not necessarily mean an IP or film is bad. As seen on IMDB, the first Avatar has a 7.9/10 based on over a million votes, while The Way of Water has a 7.6, showing the majority of average people view the films as decent movies.

Discussion then often shifts to Avatar's lack of cultural impact considering its gross at the box office. However, this also raises discussion of other films. What is the cultural impact of Jurassic World, Furious 7 and Top Gun: Maverick which earned around 1.6 billion at the box office? Are these movies still quoted and remembered in the public consciousness? How can and does one measure cultural impact?

It should also be noted that Avatar as a series actually did not make as much money as a collective. While it holds spots 1 and 3 for individual movies, Avatar is actually the 14th highest-grossing film franchise of all time, while it is the 19th highest-grossing film franchise in North America according to here. These are franchises that have made more than the Avatar IP: the MCU, DC superhero films, Star Wars, Fast and the Furious, Jurassic Park, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, Transformers, Disney live-action remakes, Harry Potter and James Bond. Avatar is just above the Despicable Me movies which has six films. Still, Avatar is known to be popular outside of North America where the films have made a lot at the box office.

Avatar as a Young Franchise

Avatar is still a young franchise, being released at the very end of 2009. As of 2024, it is only 15 years old. Other IPs such as Star Wars began in 1977, while superhero IPs (Spider-Man, Batman, etc) were released throughout the 20th century.

Avatar often inevitably finds itself compared to Star Wars. However, it may be seen as an unfair comparison to compare Avatar to IP behemoths such as Star Wars, which as of 2024, which has nine main films, with various spin-off films such as Rogue One (which is somewhat ironic as this phrase originated from Avatar as this was Trudy Chacón's call sign), as well as lots of books, comics, TV shows and video games. Star Wars was allowed to have a 32-year headstart before Avatar, allowing it to take root in pop culture; it was also released when there were less movies/books/TV shows to choose from as a whole, and before mainstream modern Internet developed which would take hold of people's attention. If the first Avatar was released in 1977 and the first Star Wars was released in 2009, it is hard to predict this alternate reality. One could humorously imagine "I see you" would replace the pop culture "I am your father" quote parodied in shows like Toy Story 2. A Star Wars released in 2009 may also end up being bashed as an unoriginal generic derivative story about a man rescuing a princess from a man with an evil empire, similar to how Avatar is likened to simply Pocahontas with aliens.

James Cameron said that cultural impact is something that has to be built over time, such as how the Star Wars trilogy had sequels every 3 years. Cameron said that the Avatar sequels in the 2020s will determine its cultural impact.

A common sentiment among some defenders is that Avatar is seen as being popular by younger people, and that the idea of Avatar being culturally irrelevant or unpopular is moreso held by older generations, or people born in the 20th century. The idea is that someone born in 2005, or even 2010, is far more likely to view Avatar as a popular classic film with cultural impact. Someone born in the year 2050 may view the Avatar films as simply another classic popular film IP in the same way someone born in the year 2000 feels about Star Wars, The Terminator or The Matrix, as a work made before their time which had its heyday before their birth. Avatar: The Way of Water was also very popular and trending on TikTok.

Factors Working Against Avatar's Impact

Content Drought

Fans of Avatar had to wait 11 years for Jake's story to be continued in the comic Avatar: The Next Shadow

One of the biggest factors against the franchise's cultural impact is that it had a lack of content output for a long time.

Avatar: The Game became abandonware a mere 5 years after the first film, and was removed from Steam, with no PS4/Xbox One ports. Also in 2009, not all families were wealthy enough to afford PS3s and 360s. It also required some decent PC hardware in 2009, and PC gaming as a whole was less popular.

As a result, audiences could not really engage in Pandora except by watching the movie again. It has only had a single film for 13 years, while the Star Wars films released their original trilogy with a new film every 3 years. Avatar was envisioned as simply being a single standalone film by James Cameron, who was unsure if he wanted to even pursue sequels. The core story was over in same 3 hours it began, with the RDA leaving Pandora and the Na'vi being free. Without a continued narrative, most people simply saw the film and moved on with their lives due to the content drought.

In contrast, Star Wars grew exponentially over the years, having spin-offs. However, as a result, the franchise's lore became quite complicated. Wookiepedia has almost 200,000 articles. The amount of writers resulted in tons of contradictions and retcons over the years, with the story having to be compacted into the "Legends" universe in order to not confuse viewers. Avatar has had tighter control over the lore, using internal data sheets, and writers must take special attention to the canon. While this means there has been less stories told in the Avatar universe than there could be, this also means its developers ideally embrace "quality over quantity" and that every Avatar installment has a story worth telling.

Names and Cosplay

An image of Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite with Eytukan te Tskaha Kamun'itan

A common claim is that Avatar has no cultural impact because people are unable to remember the names of characters. However, it should be noted that many of the characters in Avatar also uses unique Na'vi names. Names such as Neytiri, Mo'at, Eytukan, Lo'ak, Tsu'tey, etc, are understandably hard to remember. In Avatar, this is even joked about in the film when Neytiri tries to tell Jake her name which is long, complicated and hard to pronounce. Jake asks Neytiri to repeat her name. In comparison to Star Wars, names such as Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 are easier for most people to remember, with R2-D2 even rhyming.

Another point to consider is that Avatar does not have a protagonist's name in its title, which many IPs use for marketing. Other top-grossing films include Barbie, Harry Potter, Finding Dory. Other IPs include Indiana Jones and James Bond. Disney movies are known for this such as Moana and Aladdin. The MCU also has movies such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Captain America and Joker. While Avatar could have been named Jake Sully or Neytiri, it could be seen as being cheesy and putting too much focus on Jake as a character, when Avatar is supposed to be about the story of the Na'vi, with Jake being used as an audience surrogate.

Na'vi costumes

It is also notable that the Na'vi can be seen as being tough to draw and cosplay. If one wants to dress as a Na'vi, painting their entire skin blue, and having prosthetics for the shape of their nose and ears requires time and effort. The Na'vi are also fit and have lean bodies, and also expose a lot of skin, which some cosplayers are uncomfortable with, especially as they may be photographed.

People's Memories

While this can be seen as blunt, this is a very valid point to consider. Audiences went to Avatar in 2009 and 2010, many of whom have never returned or saw the film again, so naturally memories of what happened in the film would degrade. If someone can not remember the names of a single character in Avatar, or anything memorable from the film such as a single scene, this begins the question: why is it automatically assumed to be the film's fault instead of the viewer's? When it comes to remembering names of fictional characters, can most people remember the names of characters from films they only watched once, over a decade ago? For example, can people remember the name of the protagonist (or any character) from Inception, released half a year after Avatar and also made 839 million at the box office?

It can be argued that most people have a basic awareness of Avatar: that if you found a random person off the street and asked them what color the people are in Avatar, most will be able to say blue, and that if you asked them what the theme of the films are, they would at least be able to comment it is about respecting nature or empathizing with Indigenous people. James Cameron wanted people to focus on the message and themes of Avatar, moreso than more surface-level details such as character names, so in this regard, Avatar may be seen as successful.

Cultural Impact Examples

Discussions and Thoughts

Some people have argued that whenever people talk or think about the Avatar movies or the Na'vi, this technically qualifies as cultural impact, whether it be praise or criticizing the movies in real-life or social media, since mass amounts of people are discussing or thinking about something. By definition, discussion whether or not Avatar has cultural impact can still count as cultural impact. When The Way of Water was released, movie-related Reddits (r/movies, r/boxoffice, r/shittymoviedetails) were collectively talking about the film for weeks and months after. Many people were annoyed The Way of Water exceeded financial expectations. For example, one post showing Tsireya received 16,000 upvotes.

Popularity by Numbers

Avatar: The Game sold almost 3 million copies

A common phrase from certain people when The Way of Water was released was "I do not know anyone who likes Avatar" or "I don't know anyone who has seen Avatar." Some have poked fun at this anecdotal evidence, feeling it says more about the individual themselves than the movies, and perhaps the amount of friends they have, although it can also be partially explained that people often tend to interact with like-minded people.

The film became the highest-grossing film in under two months by the end of January 2010. It also set a record of being the fastest-selling home entertainment release of all time in the United States, selling 6.7 million DVDs and Blu-rays in four days, showing that people enjoy Avatar beyond the theatre.

James Cameron's Avatar: The Game sold over 2.7 million copies by the middle of 2010. This is an incredibly impressive number, especially for a new IP, and when the majority of gamers were still buying most of their games physically and were used to camping outside gaming stores, instead of becoming more comfortable with digital distribution as they are today (and Steam was starting to become mainstream).

The official music video for I See You has received over 32 million views. The trailer for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has received over 18 million views.

When 'The Way of Water' was announced to be playing on Meta, its post received 43 million Likes.

Messaging

Neytiri saying "I see you", a message about empathy

Neytiri loses her child in war

Another aspect of cultural impact when can be overlooked are the feelings, emotions, values and psychological messaging a film has on its viewers once the film is over (also explored in the Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome section below).

Avatar is a film with themes about empathizing with others, seeing the potential in them, keeping an open mind yet also trying to distinguish between truth and lies (Jake Sully and the audience are told that the Na'vi are savages but he discovers the Na'vi are more than this claim). Avatar also deals with the exploitation of minorities, xenophobia, racism, the detrimental effects of gun violence and pollution, the horrors of war, mental health and struggling with grief, and corporations often having terrifying influence in society over the common Average Joe whom they are able to silence if they oppose, such as when Norm Spellman and Grace Augustine are arrested.

Here is a line of discussion: what sort of cultural impact should humanity consider more important: viewers being inspired to fight for environmental causes/empathizing with other people/thinking about animal rights... or purchasing plenty of toys and merchandise and sharing funny memes and lines?

Environmental Impact

Avatar inspired a million trees to be planted around the world, with CCH Pounder and James Cameron planting one here

Avatar can be considered a green franchise. The first Avatar attempted to make people feel emotional over the destruction of trees (the Tree of Voices and Hometree). The Way of Water was even re-run at theatres for Earth Day, and the developers of the Avatar sequels only had vegan plant-based meals served on set to spread an environmental message, as eating animals has environmental consequences. James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, and Edie Falco are also vegans. James Cameron contributed to the Avatar Plant Based Cookbook.

In 2010, the "Avatar Home Tree Initiative" was a project that was a collaboration with Earth Day and Twentieth Century Fox. The project finished in 2011. It is said this project planted over a million trees in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US.

The Way of Water also collaborated with The Nature Conservancy to keep the oceans and marine life safe and clean.

When Avatar was first released, it caused a large soar of alien-like air plants to be sold.

The Avatar Fandom

Avatar received a fandom and community websites dedicated to discussing the film and learning the Na'vi language. The Avatar fandom also has a reputation for being welcoming, tight-knit and friendly with little infighting, likely due to the spiritual themes of the film about ascending consciousness with empathy, as well as acceptance of others ("I see you").

In October 2021, the Avatar Reddit finally surpassed 10,000 members which is small compared to many other series. For example, in the same month, the Avatar: The Last Airbender Reddit had over a million members. James Cameron's other series Alien had 80,000. The Way of Water caused the Reddit to grow exponentially, reaching over 200,000 members in around a year. By August 2024, it reached over 500,000 members.

There exists a special relationship between the Avatar fandom and Warhammer 40,000 fandom which origins that appear to date back to the first film's release, when a fake quote of Quaritch circulated around online taken from a Warhammer fanfiction. While many Avatar fans are aware people hate the Avatar series as well as the Na'vi, and the relationship between the two fandoms is not actively hostile, the Warhammer fandom is known for their banter towards at Avatar fans with popular pro-RDA videos, and spreading "PURGE/KILL/DESTROY THE XENOS" on various Avatar online social media which allows comments.[1][2]

Avatar in China

Avatar was removed and banned from 1,600 theaters in China in fear that it could motivate mass amounts of people to create an uprising and revolt against its government. Chinese protestors even displayed banners, comparing themselves to the Na'vi.

In 2010, a pillar in the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in China got renamed to "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain" due to the film's popularity.

Memes, Webcomics and Parody Videos

The first Avatar meme

In early 2010, Matt Bateman wrote a synopsis of Pocahontas and replaced many phrases and names from those Avatar with a humorous slant, such as mentioning Jake learns how to tame dragons instead of grow crops. He posted it on Reddit and then it became extremely popular, circulating on social media sites and even journalist outlets such as The New York Times. This can be considered the first Avatar meme, albeit poking fun at the film.

In 2011, the second meme could be considered to be an image of Jake saying Na'vi costumes are not okay, mocking a "WE'RE A CULTURE, NOT A COSTUME. THIS IS NOT WHO I AM, AND THIS IS NOT OKAY." poster. The image spread on humor websites.

Since its release, Avatar has also been parodied in a variety of webcomics and spoof videos. For example, one webcomic parodied a scene from the video game. Even in 2023, a comic parody received over 40,000 upvotes on Reddit.

The Tsu'tey falling meme

In 2021, a clip of Tsu'tey falling off during the final battle became the popular "blue guy falling" Internet meme due to the very serious music and singing and Tsu'tey's complete loss of control, with people making captions of different situations, even reversing the video or flipping it to make it look like Tsu'tey is floating into the sky for comedic effect. Here is an example of the meme.

Other memes include Avatar Staring Guy and Avatar Chud.

Merchandise

“	Unfortunately, the most easily parsed metric for “cultural impact,” at least on the social media spaces where this sort of thing is discussed, is also the bleakest one: buying shit. Toys, games, T-shirts...	”
—A Polygon article

A figure of Jake Sully in a wheelchair, inspiring children to empathize with disabled people. It also challenges the idea that heroes need bulging muscles.

Avatar has had various merchandise over the years. Admittedly, Avatar is put in a rather awkward position when it comes to this, as making tons of plastic toys can easily be seen as going against its themes about respecting the environment, so using an IP having lots of physical merchandise as having cultural impact can be seen as problematic. On Avatar Reddit, fans have also expressed discomfort towards other fans when they show off their Avatar collections full of plastic toys and whatnot.

Regardless, Avatar merchandise exists. The series has artbooks, a board game, Monopoly Avatar, a chess set, various toys, Funko POP!s, LEGOs, and action figures to the degree even Parker Selfridge has his own figure. There was also an Avatar slot machine (Avatar: Treasures of Pandora) and two pinball machines, one based on The Way of Water called Avatar: The Battle for Pandora.

Science and Technology

Avatar heavily popularized 3D in the 2010s, influencing many movies after to be created in 3D. The 3D revolution in the early 2010s included inventions such as 3D TVs and the Nintendo 3DS. Many gamers revere the Nintendo 3DS for its glasses-free 3D and backwards compatibility with DS games, and it is unclear if the system would have been still been made in an alternate reality where Avatar was only released in 2D.

Sigourney Weaver swimming in balls

Many people consider the film as raising the bar for realistic CGI and performance capture. The motion capture technology has also been used in disease research.

The Way of Water also made new developments for underwater special effects and motion capture.

In 2014, a new pterosaur genus, Ikrandraco, was named for the Mountain Banshee, and includes the species Ikrandraco avatar, which has a crest on the lower jaw reminiscent of the ikran's.

A moth species, Arctesthes avatar, was named after the film in 2019. It was the winner of a naming competition in 2012 to raise awareness about a proposed coal mine at the locality where this species was found. It was chosen because of the parallels to the movie plot: a mining company threatening the local ecosystem.

Avatar in Music

Multiple popular songs exist that incorporate the Na'vi Language:

• TheFatRat and Maisy Kay's "The Storm" (chorus in Na'vi); an alternate full Na'vi version was produced by Maisy Kay.
• Maisy Kay "The Beast Within" (partially in Na'vi)
• Willow Smith "Wait a Minute!" ("And I cried at the curb when you first said, "Oel ngati kameie" which means I See You)
• Willow Smith "Natives of the Windy Forest" (few Na'vi lines)

Real World Buildings

In 2012, David Hasselhoff owned a nightclub in Johannesburg, South Africa called Avastar themed after the film.[3]

In Banja Luka in Europe, a cafe-bar called Avatar opened.[4]

Virtual Worlds

Second Life taking advantage of the Avatar hype

Worlds modeled after Pandora in Second Life and VRChat were created by communities, along with Na'vi avatars for players. Linden Lab, the developers behind Second Life, had a significant rise in downloads and a boost of in-game transactions caused by Avatar. Second Life even had advertisements with blue (non-Na'vi) avatars among backgrounds resembling Pandora. While legal, they still had to change this to avoid confusion they were collaborating with the filmmakers. In Second Life, players can find worlds dedicated to the series where players can turn their avatar into an avatar/Na'vi, and explore locales such as the RDA's bio labs, Grace's school house, and so on.

References in Other Media

Main article: List of References To Avatar in Other Media

A reference in The Simpsons

There have been references to Avatar in other media. Avatar has had references and parodies in shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Saturday Night Live and Rick and Morty. It also received a sexual music video in Robot Chicken.

Sigourney Weaver reprised her role as Grace in a Saturday Night Live skit that has received over 30 million views and, like the Robot Chicken skit, has sexual overtones.

Exhibitions

TORUK - The First Flight by Cirque du Soleil - Trailer

The film received three exhibitions and touring shows; the first lasted from 2011-2014, while the other began in 2016 in Asia and is still open today. Cirque du Soleil's Toruk - The First Flight was also a play that lasted from 2015 to 2019.

In 2017, Avatar received a themed area in a theme park called Pandora: The World of Avatar in Florida. In 2023, it was announced another Avatar experience would be coming to Disneyland Resort in California.

In Singapore, an exhibition called Avatar: The Experience received 2 and a half million visitors between late 2022 to February 2024. Attendees also had to pay to get in, showing the amount of people willing to forfeit some money in order to experience a real-life sensation of Avatar.

Resonating with Native Americans

James Cameron with Indigenous people

James Cameron was approached by Indigenous leaders who enjoyed that the story was echoing their struggle and that it was being portrayed to a mainstream audience. Many Indigenous people saw elements about the Na'vi that resonated with them, particularly their struggle in defending their homeland from governments and corporations. One commented, "I thought the movie was really very good. It really represents the reality that many Indigenous peoples face, and, of course, the reality of how Indigenous peoples relate with nature."

Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome (PADS)

Concept art of Jake Sully in his room

Avatar has had a profound impact on certain people psychologically, especially lonely people without friends who live in bustling cities without nature. It can emotionally affect viewers to the degree that viewers coined a phrase for the phenomenon called "Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome" (PADS) or the "Avatar blues". This effect was quite popular in late 2009/early 2010, especially due to how immersive the film was in theaters in 3D. An article written by TheGuardian comments that while PADS is not a medically recognized condition, the feelings people experience after Avatar are still very real.

Jake feeling liberated on Pandora.

The film has induced feelings of severe depression or a full-blown existential crisis in some people which has made them feel like their existence on Earth feels trivial compared to the beauty and freedom of Pandora, wonder what their point on this planet is, and why humanity exists. People commented it felt like everything they have ever worked for, and their beliefs, are a meaningless hollow illusion. Avatar has made people feel more misanthropic and lose faith in humanity like Jake Sully does. Some viewers have even had suicidal thoughts from watching the film, hoping to be reborn in a paradise-like place in some afterlife. One viewer named Mike commented:

“

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. 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.'

”

Another viewer named Ivar commented:

“

When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed... gray. It was like my whole life, everything I've done and worked for, lost its meaning. It just seems so... meaningless. I still don't really see any reason to keep... doing things at all.

”

Concept art of Jake Sully in a city

A misconception about PADS is that it only occurs because Pandora is incredibly beautiful, especially at night when the flora glow, and that viewers merely miss the sensation of nature. However, this is not the sole reason for PADS; the story of Avatar deals with themes that can raise people's anxieties about their mortality, future, humanity, racism, religion, if a deity such as God exists, environmental destruction of Earth and its animals, and make people question what sort of worlds could be out there in outer space.

Jake sleeping among the Na'vi.

Those who suffer from PADS also tend to desire the feeling of a loving peaceful community that the Na'vi share; one scene in particular shows Jake sleeping in hammocks with the Na'vi, which is a stark contrast to human neighborhoods, who live in separate buildings with city infrastructure often lacking community centers for neighborhood blocks. The Na'vi also know everyone in their clan, while many human beings do not know everyone who lives on their neighborhood block, even a few houses over. Another contrast between the Na'vi and humanity is that they do not appear to use money, or force people to work 40 hour work weeks to survive in a paycheck-to-paycheck manner, paying bills and rent.

While there is no universal cure for PADS, viewers cope with their feelings in different ways. Some people try to get to know their neighbors better, or spend more time with nature. Some viewers returned to Avatar and The Way of Water, contributing to their box office, or choose to play the Avatar video games. The lingering feelings of PADS is also what drove many people to become involved with the earliest Avatar fan communities such as tree-of-souls.net.