# Is James Cameron biting off more than he can chew? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-james-cameron-biting-off-more-than-he-can-chew/785002 "2017-04-22T17:03:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-james-cameron-biting-off-more-than-he-can-chew/785002/61 "2017-04-24T22:57:42Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Huh? What does this mean? (sincere question). > > And if “drama” is a genre film, what are some examples of non-genre films? > > (sorry for the hijack). See, cinefiles think mere drama is for the unwashed masses. Good films don’t have drama or tragedy. They only have angst, preferably existential, and ennui. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-james-cameron-biting-off-more-than-he-can-chew/785002/62 "2017-04-24T23:02:31Z")
First of all, the word is “cinephile” and all it means is, quite literally, someone who likes movies. Plenty of good, even great, movies have drama or tragedy or even comedy. The Godfather, for one, is among the highest rated films in existence and it’s basically a tragedy; the story of how a decent man (Michael Corleone) descends into evil, alienating those closest to him. Citizen Kane, too, is a also considered a great film and it’s also a tragedy. The main character became immensely wealthy and powerful, but died alone and longed for the simple things of childhood. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-james-cameron-biting-off-more-than-he-can-chew/785002/63 "2017-04-25T02:10:00Z")
> [@Atomic\_Alex](#): > > I know I’m in the minority on this one but while it was indeed very pretty I thought the alien world wasn’t particulary interesting or imaginative, its basically just a flourescent multi-coloured jungle with six-limbed creatures. > > I’m also someone who doesn’t have any interest in or understand the attraction of living in a primitive non-technological society. > > Still I enjoyed the movie for what it was and I do wonder what direction he’s going to go with the sequels. > > As for Cameron himself I lost a lot of respect for him when he portrayed a named historical person as a coward in the Titanic movie when in real life he was actually a hero. Why he felt the necessity to do that I don’t know. Are you referring to First Officer William Murdoch? Or Margaret “The Unsinkable Molly” Brown? Both characters were underserved (or done outright disservice) by Cameron’s treatment; Kathy Bates was the perfect choice, was perfectly cast, to play the plucky, headstrong Margaret Brown. Instead, she meekly acquiesced to Quartermaster Hitchens threats in the lifeboat. But even more egregious: the suggestion that William Murdoch accepted bribes (partially refuted/vindicated in the movie, but it should never have been portrayed/insinuated in the first place!) and then publicly committed suicide was unconscionable. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-james-cameron-biting-off-more-than-he-can-chew/785002/64 "2017-04-25T14:07:33Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > I’d love to see another Avatar movie. > > It was a very good Spectacle movie. It wasn’t a Plot movie. It wasn’t a Clever movie. It was all spectacle, and it did that better any movie I can remember. There’ve been other 3D movies, but the experience with them wasn’t nearly as immersive as the 3D in Avatar. There’ve been other Alien World movies, but their alien worlds weren’t nearly as detailed or complete as in Avatar. I loved the spectacle, too. So here’s the thing; what I’d like to see is another movie that pushes the envelope of cinema as a visual feast like “Avatar” did. But the thing is, **I don’t care if the movie is an Avatar movie.** f James Cameron announced he was making a movie that was going to blow my eyes right out of my sockets and he had shit in store for us you just can’t believe, but it was a totally new story with new characters, I’d find that at least as intriguing as another Avatar. Actually, I take that back; I’d find it MORE intriguing. With “Star Wars,” to use a really unfair example, the movie was an awe-inspiring spectacle, but people were intrigued to see more of the story. They like Luke and Han and Leia and they thought Darth Vader was badass and R2-D2 was cute. They wanted more of those people. You make a good point about Transformers, which is bafflingly popular, but hell, even that has a long pop culture backstory that existed prior to the movie. Let me suggest there might be another, different bump in the road. The thing is, too, that we are, right now, at an absolute frenzy of franchise movies. Marvel has done more movies that I can name and they have nine hundred more in the works; DC is branching their universe out big time. Star Wars is doing another trilogy plus spinoffs a-plenty. There have been six or eight or fifty “Fast and Furious” movies now, and whatever they say I’m telling you there will be more. Transformers. You get the idea. Everyone’s making a shitload of money and lots of people are being gainfully employed and having fun and it’s great. It’s a self-perpetuating hype machine. Gotta go see “Thor 16” to keep up! But… what if this is a bubble? What if the public’s interesting in serial movies start to wane? That won’t happen in 2017. Won’t happen in 2018. It probably wont happen in 2019… but we’re starting to look forward pretty far, and you have to admit that this gigantic ballooning of cinematic-universe movies looks a LOT like a bubble, and bubbles have a way of bursting. A number of studios are planning on living off these things for years to come, but what happens if the public’s taste in these things starts to fall? I’ll tell you what; there’s no Avatar 5. Cameron is projecting Avatar 5 to happen in 2025. Maybe this stuff will still be super popular, but you can’t guarantee me that’s the case. Eight years is forever. Movies in 1962 and movies in 1970 were quite different. Movies in 1976 and 1984 were different. Movies in 1992 and 2000 were different. Changes come, and audiences wanted something else; New Hollywood, blockbuster filmmaking, and computer animation all changed the face of cinema. We use films like Bonnie and Clyde, Jaws, Star Wars, Pulp Fiction and Toy Story as turning points in what people realized they could watch, and therefore wanted to pay for. Who’s to say that won’t happen again, and suddenly some of these big franchise films will start to fail? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-james-cameron-biting-off-more-than-he-can-chew/785002.md?page=3)