James Cameron boasts some of the highest box office profits of all time for his films Titanic and Avatar. Why are these films so popular with audiences? I would argue that Cameron has found a winning combo that works and that these films are far more similar than they first appear.
Chapter 9 in "America On Film" mentions the fact that class struggle is often ignored or downplayed in film, even mentioning Titanic as doing that very thing in favor of an epic love story and special effects. What has a more epic love story than Avatar? What has bigger special effects than Avatar? Here's what I believe James Cameron has found works out for him and why:
1) Start with a love story
It's simple, love stories tend to sell pretty well. Audiences like to see two attractive characters build a relationship from acquaintance to true love on screen over the course of a film. It's what most people want for themselves and so there's a certain satisfaction that comes along with two people finding their "soul mate." This is the most straightforward thing that Cameron has discovered is a definite winner. It's not all that surprising or revolutionary in and of itself until he introduces class into that plot.
While the book suggests that Titanic glosses over the topic of class, I would argue that it's there just as much as Cameron feels it needs to be. Jack and Rose are from different social backgrounds when they meet, suggesting that neither one is the most obvious choice for the other. In Avatar, Jake and Neytiri are from even more mismatched social backgrounds. One is a paraplegic human marine while the other is an 8-foot tall blue alien from another planet. And yet, just like Titanic, they somehow overlook these differences to find true love.
2) Add in an epic tragedy
In Titanic, the boat sinks. In Avatar, the peaceful Na'vi has there home bombed to the ground by a massive military force. Cameron has apparently found that people seem to care for and connect to characters more if they are in imminent and large-scale danger. It's uplifting for an audience to see the romantic couple overcome seemingly impossible odds in order to be together. It's instant box office gold. By combining the newly formed, somewhat mismatched couple with a horrific tragedy, you're basically forcing the audience to care. It's a pretty simple trick, but Cameron has found that it's very effective.
So those are the big things that stand out to me between the two films. They essentially tell the same basic plot: two people from different social classes (or even species) meet, fall in love after spending a lot of time with one another, and then must undergo an epic tragedy that tests their dedication to one another and often includes one of them sacrificing (or nearly sacrificing) themselves for the other. Credits roll. The end. This is the combo that has made James Cameron a millionaire and I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see his next film use this same story arc.
I would agree that Cameron's films are very formulaic. Your inclusion of class in here feels less tenuous than your connections between your former posts and the class material. Don't forget that you can address issues that have already been brought up in the class. This entry seems particularly ripe for a discussion of Classic Hollywood Narrative Style from chapter 2.
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