Life And Career Of James Cameron Film Studies Essay

Ever heard of some really good movies called Titanic, Terminator, and Avatar? Iconic director James Cameron is the brains behind making these and other great films that were, and still are very popular throughout the world. In his life, he has been extremely successful. Titanic went on to become the highest grossing movie of all time. You can give the credit to Cameron’s genius special effects and amazing story lines. His movies are all very interesting and really capture the imagination of the viewer. Cameron’s contributions to the movie world make him a big time Hollywood director. James comes from a working class family, where his parents worked very hard to support him. Oscars and numerous other awards can be found all over his house. He is a really good director and his movies are very loved around the world.

James was born in the year of 1954 Phillip and Shirley Cameron. He was delivered in Kapuskasing, Ontario Canada. Cameron’s Dad was an electrical engineer at a power plant. His mom, Shirley was a creative type. Shirley played a large and significant role in stimulating the artistic prowess inside of her son. She enlisted him in numerous acting lessons, painting instruction, and even hired him a personal piano teacher. She did this to encourage James to be as artistic and in touch with his creative side. At school, Cameron was a pretty good student. He didn’t like math because of one reason. There was only one answer to every problem. He was never able to fully be creative in his work.. James really liked reading and writing, but really liked in science fiction and space/futuristic novels. His all time favorite book as a student was 2001 A Space Odyssey. The amazing futuristic and descriptive writings of the novel really stuck with Cameron and shaped him into the creative director he is today. After reading the book Cameron had a revelation. He wanted to be in the business of art. The form he chose was directing. He felt like he would be really good at it. But he knew his dream of stardom was one of a Hollywood fairytale. So instead of pursuing a career as a director, James finished high school and went on to college.

After receiving his high school diploma, Cameron transitioned into college. He chose to pursue a physics at Cal State Fullerton. He really liked studying physics there, but in the back of his head, a feeling of incompleteness still stuck in the back of his head. Cameron still wanted to test the waters as a film maker. After this sudden change of heart, he switched his major to English and went on to continue his studies for one more year. As the year past, Cameron came to the decision that college was not where he wanted to be anymore. James dropped out and moved into a small apartment in Los Angeles. There, he worked odd jobs here and there. In the mean time, he was always writing scripts and coming up with ideas for his films.

At this point in his life, Cameron was at ease with his decision. His parents continued to support him from across the country. A changing point came though when Cameron first watched original Star Wars. This was in 1977. Just like the books he used to read as a child, watching Star Wars really resonated with him. It was exactly the kind of thing he was into. So, after he saw it, he really decided to pursue his dream as a director. He quit his current job and proceeded to focus all of his time and energy into film making. Cameron’s close knit friends in LA got together as he told them about the dream he wanted to purse. They all agreed they were interested and wanted to be a part of it. The group got together and created a movie. The movie was small and very low budget. However, it caught the attention of writers in Hollywood and got Cameron’s name out there as a legitimize director. They hustled enough money and eventually were able to get all the equipment necessary to create movies.

Cameron’s first movie as a big time director was awful and terrible. The producer of the film told him that he was a terrible director and would never make it in the business. The negative comments only encouraged him to pursue his dream. He wanted to prove everyone wrong. He wanted to show Hollywood that a kid from Canada could become one of the best film makers in the history of movies. James swore to himself from that point that everyone of his next projects would be top quality and extremely well done.

The movie he came up with was Terminator. Futuristic and sci-fi effects were the backbone behind this movie. People had never seen a story like this. They were consumed by the awesome explosions and amazing gun fights. The future governor of California, Arnold Shawrtzanegier got his first big break in this movie. After this, he blew up and went on to become a big time action movie star.

Terminator was extremely successful, and James proceeded to create great picture after great picture. James Cameron then unveiled his greatest movie. In this film, he went away from his big explosions and fights scenes like we had seen in his previous movies. Instead, he created a movie that tugged and pulled at the emotional sensors of the human brain. This movie was Titanic. Titanic made Cameron a very rich man. It would go on to become the highest grossing film ever. It made billions and billions of dollars. The movie is very cool because it is so detailed. In one scene he replicated the exact china that was used on the real Titanic. Also, on the scene where Jack and Rose are floating in the ocean, if one is to look into the sky, the consolation of stars is exactly that of the night the real ship sank.

After Titanic, Cameron’s reputation grew as a film maker and he continued on his quest for stardom. Cameron has been a part of many projects, not only the movies he has directed. He assisted fellow directors and also helped produce some of his friends movies. He also has an interest in acting, and sometimes fulfills roles in his own, and others movies.

One of Cameron’s most recent movies is one about a blue alien species. Avatar is a very cool and intriguing movie. It has awesome special effects and if you see it in 3-d it will enhance the experience greatly. Avatar went on to surpass Titanic as the highest grossing movie of all time. His ingenious is really shown in this movie. His creation of a whole other race, with there own language, customs, and culture is a extremely amazing feat. It truly shows the brain power and imagination that he truly possesses. This skill is what makes him so successful in his directing.

In all of his movies, Cameron usually has some reoccurring things that usually always take place. Some of these themes are apocalyptic, man’s dependency on machines, and more then usual, a woman will have a very prominent role in saving the day. Most of Cameron’s movie have one or more of these elements in them.

Cameron has married many women in his life. In his years, he has had 5 wives. First he was married to Sharon Williams in 1978. In 1984, he married Gale Hurd, the producer who bough Terminator. After Gale, he married Kathryn Bigelow in 1989. After Biglow, Cameron married Linda Hamilton, whom he has one daughter with. Finally, he married his current wife, Suzy Amis in 2000. When it comes to religion, Cameron does not really have any beliefs. He considers himself an atheist. Meaning he believes that after death, a person’s body just becomes part of the earth, and that is it.

director James Cameron is the brains behind making these and other great films that were, and still are very popular throughout the world. In his life, he has been extremely successful. Titanic went on to become the highest grossing movie of all time. You can give the credit to Cameron’s genius special effects and amazing story lines. His movies are all very interesting and really capture the imagination of the viewer. Cameron’s contributions to the movie world make him a big time Hollywood director. James comes from a working class family, where his parents worked very hard to support him. Oscars and numerous other awards can be found all over his house. He is a really good director and his movies are very loved around the world.