Films of James Cameron

Matthew Wilhelm Kapell teaches American studies, anthropology, and writing at Pace University in New York. Stephen McVeigh is a lecturer in the Department of Political and Cultural Studies at Swansea University. He has written extensively on the representation of war in film and literature.

“a noteworthy and important addition to a lively ongoing conversation”—The Journal of Popular Culture; “the book clearly explores how Cameron’s films are a construction of their times, responding to a wide range of political cultural, and social influences”—Science Fiction Studies.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Introduction: Persistence of Visions—Approaching the Films of James CameronSTEPHEN MCVEIGH AND MATTHEW WILHELM KAPELL      Surveying James Cameron’s Reluctant Political Commentaries: 1984–2009STEPHEN MCVEIGH AND MATTHEW WILHELM KAPELL      Fighting the History Wars on the Big Screen: From The Terminator to AvatarACE G. PILKINGTON      “She’s a goddamn liar”: Perspectives on the Truth in Aliens and TitanicANDREW B. R. ELLIOTT      Art, Image and Spectacle in High Concept CinemaBRUCE ISAACS      “You have to look with better eyes than that”: A Filmmaker’s Ambivalence to TechnologyELIZABETH ROSEN      “So, what’s your story?” Morphing Myths and Feminizing Archetypes from The Terminator to AvatarDEAN CONRAD      Between Aliens and Avatar: Mapping the Shifting Terrain of the Struggle for Women’s RightsELISA NARMINIO AND MATTHEW WILHELM KAPELL      Terminators, Aliens, and Avatars: The Emergence of Archetypal Homosexual Themes in a Filmmaker’s ImaginationROGER KAUFMAN      “I see you”: Colonial Narratives and the Act of Seeing in AvatarJOHN JAMES AND TOM UE      Gonzalo Guerrero and the Maya Resistance to the Spanish Conquistadors: A Sixteenth Century “Avatar” of AvatarC. SCOTT LITTLETON      Conclusion: Seeing the Films of James Cameron MythicallyMATTHEW WILHELM KAPELL AND STEPHEN MCVEIGH      About the Contributors      Index