(Washington Insider Magazine)— James Cameron has made some of the most technologically advanced movies of our generation. He has written and directed three movies that have made over $2 billion at the global box office and he has revolutionized filmmaking for generations to come. So, it’s obvious that the man has a lot to be proud of. However, his career does not seem all peachy and keen when looking at the entire landscape of his work.
Cameron won three Oscars for his work in Titanic back in 1997 and over a decade later in 2009, he revolutionized visual effects forever with his film Avatar. He made more fortune with the sequel thirteen years later. The problem is that, at this point, Cameron seems to have solidified himself as a one-trick pony.
James Cameron uses big visual effects to gain an audience, which is fine but it feels like Cameron doesn’t know how to create a soft, sensitive film that’s more about human connection than just a big visual gag to grab the audience.
Filmmaking isn’t about making the best or biggest set pieces. It’s about the subtle communication and depth that a film can relate to its audience members. If we look back to movies like Inherit the Wind or The Best Years of Our Lives, do people remember them for their amazing special effects or do they remember them for how they made audiences feel?
They focused on emotional resonance that left people feeling hopeful, sad, happy and, ultimately, entertained. What made those movies great was the writing and the story. It brought in people and faces that came looking for good storytelling and wanted to be mentally challenged rather than distracted for a few hours.
If you look at the Avatar movies, they are visually arresting but they lack a lot when it comes to revolutionary storytelling. It’s basically a live action/CGI version of Pocahontas. It doesn’t cover new ground in that department and almost seems like another retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where two lovers of différent backgrounds are drawn to each other and come together through difficult circumstances.
I don’t want to hate on the man but it seems James Cameron is so used to grabbing attention with visuals rather than grabbing attention with how you make people feel. If the story feels repetitive, dull or derivative, audiences will feel entertained, at first but after a while, they will grow tired of the gag and want something with more substance rather than style. That’s exactly why the Star Wars sequels failed.
All in all, Cameron is truly an amazing talent in the realm of film and the craft of filmmaking, but it seems that his legacy will be that of making great set pieces while leaving the storytelling to take a back seat in his films. The sad part is that as long as James Cameron is going to be alive, his last films will be Avatar-related, which might seem perfectly fine for him, but leaving a legacy like that still has its limitations.
