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Jan 31, 2023·edited Jan 31, 2023

I know it's always perilous to try to presume intent on behalf of writers, but do you think the "no cultural impact" takes persist because of the bubble effect? People thinking the reactions of their circle of friends is representative of the average person? "No one in my Twitter feed is obsessing about Avatar so it has no cultural impact." Even though something like only 20% of Americans are on Twitter and an even smaller percentage post regularly, and an even smaller percentage than that post about movies. But journalists are MUCH more present and active on Twitter than the average person.

The flip side of this are articles I've read bemoaning how some films revered in online film circles flop even though they're clearly pretty audience unfriendly.

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My grandmother adored this movie. She owned it on VHS, and watched it often. In pan-and-scan, of course, but that didn't matter to her. It was just as powerful as it would have been in widescreen.

I thought it was boring. I'm sure it would give me a rush of nostalgia now.

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As someone who buys the “no cultural impact” for Avatar 1 and thinks it’s far too early to tell if Avatar 2 will reverse that trend, I just want to point out that this feels like a rewrite of history to some degree:

>the original left no “cultural footprint,” it had been tremendously successful but slid from the collective memory, and its sequels would be both unwanted and unsuccessful.

That last clause (“sequels would be unwanted and unsuccessful”) was never, imo, part of what many of us meant when we said it was fascinating that such a financially successful fantasy movie hadn’t created a bigger splash in terms of culture. I still felt sure there was a big chance the sequels, if ever completed, would make tons of money and be technologically and visually lauded much as the first one was.

What was a fun thought experiment for many of us got co-opted by more aggressive internet dwellers as a way to sh*t on Avatar overall.

For me, my dislike of both Avatar films is separate from my belief that 1 left a surprisingly small footprint and my acceptance that these movies are likely going to break the box office every time. :D

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I have great fondness for this era of biblical epics, especially Ben-Hur, but I never fully fell for The Robe. It might be time to revisit it.

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It’s fascinating that this mode of Christian movie fell out of favor to be replaced by cheap pandering Shlock like everything Kirk Cameron makes and...slightly more expensive schlock like BREAKTHROUGH or that movie where Jennifer Garner’s kid falls down a tree.

I bet you anything that if someone tried to make a film with the same approach to Jesus as The Robe--I.e. not really showing him at all--it’d be vilified by the pureflix crowd

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I caught Babylon recently, which was, hoo boy, REALLY not my thing. I did find it hilarious that the big, jazzy montage at the end showed the Glorious March of Film Progress leading to Avatar. Like literally everything else in that movie, that was a choice.

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I've never even heard of this movie!

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I'd be interested in learning how quickly theaters were able to refresh their screens to accommodate the new aspect ratio. I'm assuming most (all?) theaters at this time were still using 4:3 screens.

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founding

This is a film that, like Gone With the Wind, was sometimes revived in local theaters in the Salt Lake City area as late, iirc, as the early ‘80s. We might have had to watch it in my LDS seminary class, too, toward the end of the school year. It’s one of those films where I feel like I’ve seen pieces of it but have no clear memory of watching it straight through. I did not know about its place in CinemaScope history.

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I think I’ve seen this movie! My dad is a big Burton fan and my mom liked historical/biblical epics (esp. back in the 80s/90s) and so I’m pretty sure I saw this as an adolescent / young teen. Of course this would’ve been in some godawful pan-and-scan VHS transfer and the movie left basically no impression on me.

In any case, excellent piece! So much fun to read.

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Also, I would just like to note that “cultural impact” debates are an order of magnitude more annoying than even pure popularity metrics. I do not understand why anyone who cares about film gives a fuck.

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Nice shout-out for this essay - "a really smart piece" - on The Ringer's Rewatchables pod today (the Catch Me If You Can ep).

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