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James Cameron, his paradox of technology, and the female hero

Posted by Bambi B (A) on August 29, 2009 at 08:50:16

In Reply to: RE: Technological piece de resistance, and the story may have surprising insight posted by patrickU on August 29, 2009 at 05:25:01:

PAINTING: "Double Portait of Henry Ford"

Patrick,

Yes, the glasses are a disadvantage,and probably a drag on 3D acceptance but as I wear glasses when watching movies, it is not too distracting. And, if my intuitions and reports are correct, once we're watching " Avatar " we will immediately forget them. Decades from now, the 3D glasses and virtual reality goggles will probably be seen as a cumbersome interim technology to some form of holography.***

*** And, as has been true for every communication technology from cave painting to fresco to printing to film to video to computers, within 6 months of the invention of that holography, it will be used for porno!

James Cameron in my view has more the mind of an engineer and craftsman than artist, but he is more complex than I think his target audience understands, and this complexity creates an air of irony around his movies.

Cameron’s work has produced some astounding and memorable images: Governor Schwarzenegger as Terminator prying out his eye- (homage to Chien d' A?"), the "T2" morphing from the checkerboard floor to security guard clone, Big Mama Alien at home laying eggs, the erect stern of the Titanic against a star field, and many others, and his movies are visually stunning, but in addition to the wondrous level of technical achievement, what I believe is important in Cameron's work is the consistent, pervasive warning about the dangers of technology that seem to underlie all his work. Upon review, technology is always depicted as a kind of human arrogance, prone to spectacular failures, RE: the “unsinkable” Titanic, corruptions of use RE: “Abyss”, “Terminator”, and as a gateway- and entry point- for real nastiness, RE: "Terminator", "Aliens", and I believe, “Avatar”. Cameron in this regard is making modern versions of Chaplin's "Moderns Times"!

Cameron is not completely even-handed in this aspect as he is vehemently pro-space exploration and will never make that appear as unnecessary or too risky. Cameron would never have made "Apollo 13" even though the underlying theme of human struggle against technological failure is identical. Cameron would do a superb "Hindenberg", but the George C. Scott version probably covers it and of course, the flaming demise sequence couldn't be stretched out long enough! -"Oh, the Humanity!"

The problem is that Cameron in my view often has written better stories for the machines than the people- I find the characters often seem more an infestation to movies that yearn to be documentaries about technological potential. With "Avatar" though he may have found a way to create a CG "techno-human" style as the ultimate integration of his animal/machine first expressed in "Terminator". And, as I believe "Avatar" has a love story involving the remote, virtual animal/machine, perhaps we will see -ironically a more convincing, more realistic love story than DeCaprio, Winslett, and the Fabulous Blue Doorknob. -This is what I find intriguingly paradoxical about Cameron's movies. The strange layering of fantasy and reality within the technological warning agenda is really amazing.

It's also interesting that the important character- the hero and sensible, calm and capable is almost always female- Sarah Connor in "Terminator", Jamie Lee Curtis in "True Lies", Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as the female engineer and ex wife of Ed Harris, of the underwater drilling rig in "Abyss", Sigourney Weaver and "Newt", the plucky little girl in Aliens- a 22nd Century Shirley Temple", and the main "villain" in Aliens is Big Mama Alien- the Queen bee surrounded by male worker drones, "Dark Angel" in the series, and so on. Can you name the actor that played My impression of the alien main character in "Avatar" in fact to me looks far more feminine than masculine. I find this to be a general trend- look how many fantasy/action figures in movie are female now- how about "Lara Croft"? Well-, “relatively” female, as I see these characters as male personalities but with cleavage for entertaining the 13 year old boy in all of us!

I may seem an apologist to Cameron in trying to suggest an importance to his work, but I think the underlying existential theme of "be careful what you wish for" as it is embedded in technological fantasy for the younger teen is quite brilliant, the technical and craft aspect of his movies engineering genius and a sign of consistent, incredible discipline. After the $2,400,000,000 income from "Titanic", and by his intensely intellectually curious nature, Cameron is free to spend the rest of his career making patient, super-crafted movies and I think will continue to amaze us in many, many ways. And, as an explorer- more than 40 visits to the Titanic- and I'm guessing one of the first paying passengers into space on Rutan's taxi.

We’re living in an interesting age for movies, but not at one of the pinnacles- “Van Helsing” alone brings the average too far down !

Cheers,

Bambi B

PS: My concept for a Broadway musical "Titanic 2", story by Bambi B, libretto by Tom Stoppard, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and John Adams:

"Titanic 2":
The heartwarming, tender, five hour long story of a song and dance troupe from Liverpool living- and performing- in an air pocket in the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic. The musical highlights include the songs: "Air Pockets, Diamond Lockets", "Decompressions of my Heart", "I got those 14,000 Feet under the Ocean Blues, and "White Star, Hopes Far".

The surprise upbeat ending is said to be super-fabulous.

Edits: 08/29/09

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