On June 23, the whole world stirred before the catastrophic accident of the Titan submersible. Five passengers died during a tour of the Titanic wreck on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, about 600 km from Newfoundland (Canada).
When everything is not finished, James Cameron – director Titanic (1997) – frankly commented on the event in an interview. He controversially compared the explosion of the submersible Titan to the Titanic tragedy that occurred more than 100 years ago.
The director of controversies
Above ABC News , James Cameron is not afraid to point out the similarities between the two disasters. According to him, it was “the captain was constantly warned about the ice ahead of the ship, but rushed at full speed into the ‘ice field’ on a moonless night and as a result many people died.”
The director born in 1954 also “exaggerated” the explosion of the Titan ship when he commented that this similarity was somewhat bizarre and amazing. “There’s never been a death at such depth, certainly no explosion before,” he said.
Immediately, James Cameron was criticized by many viewers. Most believe that this comment can confuse public opinion and create fear among adventurers.
James Cameron is the man who made the movie Titanic successful – won 11 Oscars 1998
This is not the first time James Cameron has made controversial statements. The Canadian director is famous for many blockbuster hits in Hollywood but is also often the focus of public criticism.
In 2017, James Cameron made many people angry when he criticized the film Wonder Woman directed by Patty Jenkins.
Specifically, in an interview in the newspaper The Guardiandirector Titanic frankly commented that this is a setback for the world film industry. He said: “All the flattery for Wonder Woman make people misunderstand this is a great movie. She’s just an old icon, created by the men of Hollywood.”
Immediately, many viewers thought that James Cameron was having a sexist attitude. He was also not kind when he criticized his colleagues, not to mention juniors.
Later, Patty Jenkins herself had to speak out against comments about her. She asserted: “James Cameron is incapable of understanding Wonder Woman or the meaning behind it. Although he is a great filmmaker, he is not a woman.”
In addition, James Cameron also faced a strong boycott wave from the audience. In 2010, the director was “stoned” for asking Native American tribes to “fight harder” against genocide. Speaks that offend the natives cause Avatar (2009) was turned away by many.
13 years later, Avatar 2 continued to be ostracized. James Cameron is accused of racism, disrespecting indigenous culture. His way of constructing the plot is completely “emotionless”.
Before the statement about the Titan ship, James Cameron was opposed by the audience a few times
Endless passion for the ocean
Fans seem to know that James Cameron is a scuba diver, even though he grew up in Ontario (Canada), which is hundreds of kilometers away from the ocean.
The director once shared this with National Geographicsaid that he started scuba diving at the age of 17, the older he gets, the more he loves it.
The filmmaker repeatedly dived himself to the bottom of the sea to discover the wreck of the Titanic during the making of the blockbuster Titanicas well as documentaries Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) recounts the sad disaster. According to VarietyJames Cameron made a total of 33 deep-sea expeditions.
Besides, the director also wrote a book on the ocean theme, titled Exploring the Deeppublished in 2017. The work synthesizes photos, maps and recounts Cameron’s experience after each discovery of the Titanic wreck.
According to CNN , James Cameron accumulated a lot of experience with his passion for scuba diving. The director has his own submarine, having conquered the New Britain Trench more than 8 km deep.
He also dived to Earth’s deepest point, the Challenger abyss in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, with a depth of more than 10 km. At the same time, the director also broke the record for the longest solo dive in the world when he spent more than 3 hours on the seabed.
James Cameron stands in front of the one-man submersible called Deepsea Challenger during an event in 2013
James Cameron compares seabed exploration to space exploration: “It’s a very murky place, very desolate, very isolated.” The director felt like he was on another planet. “There’s a huge border down there that’s going to take us a while to understand,” he said.
Most recently, James Cameron has just returned to the cinema with the work Avatar 2. The entire movie scene was filmed underwater, as a way of expressing love for the ocean. The process of incubating and implementing the project took many long years, costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
It is his own experience and knowledge that has helped James Cameron confidently speak about the Titan. However, the director’s confidence is a bit excessive and not really in the right place, especially when the Titan ship disaster is still shocking the whole world.
