“Very Lunar, Very Desolate”
James Cameron has become one of the biggest achiever-adventurers of our times. He’s become mythical. The Mariana Deep dive is the kind of thing that Teddy Roosevelt used to be known for. He’s on the level of Sir Edmund Hilary or T.E. Lawrence.
Jeff, back in 2008, you had written an article http://tinyurl.com/ck9hu3f in which you expressed: ” Cameron is back on it now, somewhat, but for at least eight years he retreated into a kind of rich-man’s sandbox retirement that involved a lot of deep diving, a 3-D documentary, more diving and a lot of kicking back. In short, a complete abdication-renunciation of what he had it in him to do — a Napoleonic retreat from the task of creating smart and exciting movies that matter. The navel-doodling that guided Cameron from ’98 to ’05 (or ’06) was, for me, shattering. Where would the world be if other men and women of strength and vision in other fields followed Cameron’s example? Think about that.”
Do you still feel the same way about his break from narrative filmmaking or are you now on the side that it actually mattered what he did in that time in between? I’m truly curious, I’m not being snarky. I remembered your article because almost back in 1994 I had to write a paper about a creative person I found visionary, and I picked Cameron, so articles like the one above always stick in my brain when I come across them. That, and the fact that while watching Hunger Games, it struck me that if a guy like Cameron directed it, I wouldn’t be getting motion sickness from the constant unnecessary use of shaky-cam and I’d actually be able to see what was going on in action scenes.
No he’s like those idiot billionaires a decade ago who were in an insane race to circumnavigate the globe in a hot air balloon. There is no useful knowledge to be gained from diving to the depths of the Mariana trench. It’s pure ego. He.s the only one with the time, money and inclination to do it,
While I agree that Cameron is like the billionaires traveling the globe in hot air balloons for kicks, to say “There is no useful knowledge to be gained from diving to the depths of the Mariana trench,” is ludicrous. There is always useful knowledge to be gained from unexplored places. Cameron may not be the best person to dissect that knowledge, but presumably he’s passing on his samples to actual scientists. It’s an ego trip, for sure, but it could still be scientifically important.
drbob, this discussion on Devin’s site shows why you haven’t even begun to think this through:
http://badassdigest.com/2012/03/26/up-for-discussion-james-camerons-historic-dive/
Is there something wrong with ego as a driving force? Columbus to the Indies, America to the moon, Pitt to Jolie…all ego.
“He’s on the level of Sir Edmund Hilary or T.E. Lawrence.”
Uh, no.
Not to slight what he has accomplished, but it shows a sophomoric lack of understanding of what Hilary and Lawrence did to think it’s on the same level.
Cameron joins the Billionaire Boys Adventure Club of Steve Fossett and Richard Branson of rich dudes who decided to prove something. Not knocking the danger (it killed Fossett and nearly killed Branson more than once) but to suggest it’s on par with true adventurers calls for a reality check. Just look at the equipment Hilary used if you need to understand.
ego shmeego – This took courage. Anyone else here ready to sign up to go that deep, that long, knowing the distance between where you are and where your next breath of fresh air is – and oh, yes, you’re all by your lonesome.
Major chutzpah, balls and, yes, courage.
” Not knocking the danger (it killed Fossett and nearly killed Branson more than once) but to suggest it’s on par with true adventurers calls for a reality check. Just look at the equipment Hilary used if you need to understand.”
And who financed Hilary? The British government. These things are always expensive, and someone else always writes the big checks. And no one pays for exploration out of the goodness of their heart. We got the moon shot because we had to beat the Russkies. (And the minute we did? Yawn. See ya, Apollo 18, we gots plenty of ‘em moon rocks.) We wanted gold, so kings and queens larded up ships and set them off for riches. One reason there’s ZERO support for public funding for oceanographic exploration – it was slashed again this year in Congress – is because no one sees anything in it for them.
Sure, Cameron has an ego. Big ol’ massive one, too. Does it make this expedition less noble because he put his own money behind his ego instead of asking you for yours, or finding a giant corporate benefactor? He’s giving the technology he designed for the last decade to the world. Do you think that your government would do that? Or would they find a way to drape it in secrecy and find a military application for any such exploration?
And remember this about Cameron – he’s a pilot. He’s logged WAY more dive time than most who do this for a living – close to 70 dives now, I believe. And unlike, say, Branson and gang, he’s a full-on engineer, too. He’s made jaws drop at NASA with self-designed Mars rover designs that were more practical and well-designed than anything they came up with in house. He’s revolutionized ROVs. He designed the first scuba apparatus that allowed vocal communication. The 3D cameras he designed are being seriously explored for medical uses.
Yeah, I admit, I’m suspicious of rich guys throwing around their money. But one thing that everyone says about Cameron, even the people who despise him, is that he pretty knows everything better than you do, or is willing to learn and listen until he does. (It’s why he’s insufferable and an asshole. He expects everyone else to know everything, too.)
He’s a LOT like Stanley Kubrick, actually. They both came from poor-to-working-class families. No college. And a lot of guys like that, they want to know everything about everything. Maybe it’s to make up for deficiencies they see in not having had formal education, but they decide they can reinvent everything, and they do. Kubrick fucking had his own lenses made by NASA, invented new filing systems, hell, invented movie gross tracking. And Cameron is doing the same thing, but on a bolder scale and one that could have far more benefits to humankind.
I can see you being skeptical about a jetsetter like Branson. But Cameron is hardcore, and that’s why he he’s gained so much respect from scientific and engineering communities that are traditionally skeptical about sugar daddy interlopers trodding on their ground.
Wells is right. His impact is monumental.
(And to address your specific point about danger…if Hilary’s equipment failed, would he instantly be crushed into an area about the size of a tiny box? Hilary may have had terrifyingly primitive equipment, but at least he would have had a fighting chance if something went wrong. And he wasn’t alone, seven miles down, underneath the ocean. He had Tenzig to help him all the way.)
just for the sake of argument, i’d like to suggest that hillary didn’t know he had primitive equipment…he thought he was pretty well outfitted…
i’m guessing that, many years down the pike, people will be talking about cameron’s ‘primitive’ equipment…..
However, none of this makes the dialogue in “Titanic” any less dorky.
The difference between Cameron and somebody like Branson is that Cameron has dreamed of going to the bottom of the ocean since he was 5 years old – he used to dangle homemade laboratories with mice in them into the Niagara river, he endured the most gruelling shoot in movie history to document his love of the ocean and abyssal trenches. Whereas Branson is a rich dude just doing things to make money. Cameron is the real deal when it comes to exploration, Jeff is completely right in what he says.
He’s also got balls like giant rocks. No fucking way I would ever go down there.
“However, none of this makes the dialogue in “Titanic” any less dorky.”
Nobody’s perfect.
Devin Faraci is an idiot. Why would anybody listen to any of his ‘opinions’? I’m genuinely confused. Of course, outside of a few dweebs on the internet he’s a complete unknown. So I shouldn’t get too upset about his existence.
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Great video! It is indeed strange that so much attention to space, but not to the sea. Very funny that so many kilometers he still sends a tweet. I expect that this increased attention to the sea is a good idea (Y)It seems to me that you are tired of being so deeply
Ponderer’s comment is very well argued. And, yes, for whatever unpleasantness he might bring to others’ personal tables, Cameron really does have balls of steel.
For myself, though…given the options of “going down there,” and doing a load of Devin Faraci’s laundry, I’d have to say it would be no contest in terms of choosing the former.
“Devin Faraci is an idiot. Why would anybody listen to any of his ‘opinions’?”
Did you even READ the link? It’s a page of Devin – to his credit – letting his skeptical ass get kicked on the subject, and his opinions shredded, point by point. Jeez.
“…and doing a load of Devin Faraci’s laundry… ”
Speaking of laundry, I need to get my brain scrubbed now. ::shudder::
Gotta go with RoyBatty on this one. It took guts, but really people…perspective.
I’m all for perspective here, but honestly…I don’t see putting a hugely backed Hilary with the full backing of the British government and extraordinarily gifted and experienced sherpas AHEAD of a Cameron, who not only repeatedly takes dangerous dives but goes a step further and designs a lot of this stuff himself. (In the face of conventional wisdom, as well – many oceanographers thought Cameron’s design for his little sub was absolutely nuts.)
Seriously, what’s the difference? Does slow exposure to the elements trump the possibility of instant death by unimaginable pressure? Is it because old-timey beats new-fangled? Does that mean astronauts weren’t really explorers and were, as The Right Stuff labeled them, spam in a can?
I’m not being snarky. I really want to understand.
I would agree that he has balls of steel if he made one movie without any type of visual effect. Give him one camera, two actors, and see what he can do. I bet anything he wouldn’t be able to do it. I bet he would cry and become paralysed with fear at those kind of limitations.
Besides his documentaries? Because, you know, that’s even purer.
You know what I mean, pedant.
Why are you being a twelve-year-old snot? I dealt with you in a respectful and adult manner. Your insult doesn’t even make SENSE. Maybe you could’ve called me obtuse – I could see an attack on that front – but you’re claiming I’m misunderstanding you by “relying too much on book learning or concerned with insignificant detail?” Is THAT what you’re accusing me of in replying to you?
And yes, I know what you meant. And I brought up his documentaries because they are FAR harder to make, FAR harder to control, and FAR more difficult to make into a coherent narrative than any dramatic work. That’s certainly a lot harder and more intimidating then sticking two actors in a room.
(And if you don’t believe he can accomplish your reductionist filmmaking ethic, that he’s afraid of it, then you missed the extended scene in The Abyss where Ed Harris watches his wife drown, which was great, actor-based filmmaking. He couldn’t have been more direct and emotionally focused if he had just put two actors on a stage with a spotlight.)
he’s the king of the world.
Regardless of whatever complaints we all may have about James Cameron as a filmmaker, there is one great theme that goes through all his work, and that’s the theme of taking care of the planet around you. Almost all his films involve some kind of disaster that threatens to destroy our world unless we learn to live with it and protect it with everything we’ve got. Yes, maybe he hits this note a little too hard sometimes, but in the time we live in right now, when global warming is a major threat, it’s important that we are reminded of the unbelievable sights and benefits the world has to offer us, in ways both large and microscopic.
I actually would love it if Cameron devoted the rest of his life to philanthropic work saving the environment, because if anybody could do it, he could.
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