James Cameron: The Adventure Found Under the Surface
“The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure". This quote comes from a letter written by Christopher McCandless shortly before he would make his fatal final pilgrimage to Alaska. With modern documentation and resources, the sense of adventure and discovery can often feel like a dying movement. Having defined previous generations with a seductive promise of an unknown where mysteries could be revealed and new discoveries were around every corner, the world has become a place now defined by safety and knowledge. While productive, it is hard to imagine those like Ernest Hemingway, Roald Amundsen, or Christopher McCandless existing in the modern world and finding the poetry they defined themselves with. Even society itself has become so mainstreamed and connected that the sense of adventure John Steinbeck looked for when writing Travels with Charley: In Search of America feels impossible to recapture in any authentic way. While for some this is a depressing reality to live in, some still push forward with few examples being as clear as James Cameron.
From the beginning of his career, Cameron dedicated his cinematic presence to bringing something new to audiences. From alien infestations to murderous Terminators that can defy how humans understand life itself, Cameron presented a rare force of ambition and ability that almost instantly led to some of the most iconic and successful works in the history of cinema. As Cameron searched for adventure and awe-inspiring plots, he found himself looking toward the ocean. Based on his own high school notes about the possibility of adventures that could be had under the ocean's surface, Cameron directed The Abyss in 1989. Focusing on a group of scientists who discover an alien life form at the bottom of the sea, This is the first domino in a line that would end up defining Cameron's career.
The ocean represents one of the last great unknowns on Earth. Being one of the only places where scientists haven't fully investigated and understood, the sense of discovery and adventure lived on under the waves and Cameron became immediately fascinated. Following The Abyss, Cameron switched his gears to a far more human-based story defined by the power and secrets of the ocean, the RMS Titanic. Sinking in 1912, decades of effort and research went into finding the wreckage until finally it was unearthed in 1985. The ocean had taken a landmark in human development and had hidden not just the physical aftermath of the disaster, but also the remnants of life left on board. There is a deep power displayed in this concept that Cameron clearly understood and was intrigued by. Within Cameron’s 1997 film, Titanic, there is a key scene early in the film where the elderly Rose (Gloria Stuart) first sees the drawing Jack completed of her on the ship. She is presented the piece as it lays at the bottom of a tray of water. This water might be clear, but it is unmistakably there and is the force responsible for the split between who she was in the drawing, and who she is now.
While the thematic power of water soaked its way into Titanic, the production of the film also gave Cameron first hand experience with the process of exploring the ocean with large chunks of Titanic's runtime becoming dedicated to these efforts. Cameron found a sense of discovery and adventure here that sometimes feels like the work of fiction instead of reality. From this point on, Cameron kept his toe in the water of underwater discovery with the filmmaker creating multiple documentaries regarding the subject and even participating himself in various expeditions. While this started surrounding the concept of finding the Titanic and understanding the secrets the ship still held, Cameron started to notice what else was swimming on the ocean's floor. In his 2005 documentary, Aliens of the Deep, Cameron finds himself in the depths of the ocean not for a discovery of humaniti’s touch, but for the natural world. The deep contains some of the most shocking and alien creatures alive on Earth and due to a lack of exploration, venturing into the dark abyss and finding these creatures can feel like traveling to another planet. Within the film, one can see Cameron's face light up with excitement at what he discovers. There is something palpable and real being felt that is undeniable.
Cameron knows the power of his own emotions and knows the potential they hold for others. While films like Aliens of the Deep might showcase these discoveries to the general public, what is captured in the film is only a fraction of the actual experience of diving beneath the waves and going on this adventure. At the time, there is nothing that can equate to this and Cameron knows there is something special here. As he did with his fascination with extraterrestrial life and the weight of the Titanic, Cameron sees a vision for this emotion to be experienced on the big screen. The biggest issue with this is technology. Instead of waiting for others to figure the specifics out, Cameron jumps head first in trying to create a way to transport audiences to alien worlds that can recapture what he experienced. First, he looks to figure out the technology on land where there are far fewer factors and bugs to work through.
This is an experiment that pays off for Cameron massively. Avatar was released in 2009 to wide praise with countless individuals across the globe flocking to the cinema to see something unlike anything released before. Cameron reinvented cinema, but he wasn't done yet. Taking the focus under the waves remained a goal and after nearly 15 years of development, Avatar: The Way of Water was released in cinemas in 2022. The film had extended sequences dedicated to bringing the audiences under the waves to discover life unlike anything seen before in any form of media. While nothing can compare to the experience Cameron had under the sea, it is hard to imagine any experience being as close to that as Avatar: The Way of Water.
Cameron is a modern adventurer. Rather than take checks by playing it safe, Cameron dedicated both his personal life and artistic life to finding adventure and bringing it to his audience, even if he had to create his own worlds to do so. While Cameron has taken audiences to distant worlds, his messages and concepts remain distinctively human. Pandora is a reflection of Earth and it is clear that the love Cameron put into crafting the flora and fauna of the planet is based on the love he feels for the creatures here on Earth. There is something beautiful and poetic to this that only builds on Cameron's place and success as an artist. Few bring this level of inspiration to their work and Cameron is sure to go down as one of the most important filmmakers in the history of cinema as a result.
