Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Although James Cameron first came to prominence through commercial, yet tightly crafted stories (TERMINATOR series, ALIENS), his later career has been spent on self-indulgent, technocratic films such as TITANIC and the AVATAR series. In MovieMacro #6, Alex Sheremet and Keith Jackewicz dissect AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER along artistic and political lines: is James Cameron guilty of “cultural appropriation”, or does this question miss the point; what can we say for the obvious USA / Marine Corps analogues AVATAR taps; can technical achievement in the service of nothing (or almost nothing) have merit; will James Cameron’s later films be considered technically dated in a way that the TERMINATOR and ALIENS films will not?
If you found this video useful, support us on our Patreon page and get the patron-only B Side to this conversation: patreon.com/automachination
B Side topics: NoJumper & the "ethical pimp" subculture on YouTube; the work of Soviet (and then Ukrainian) dissident Ivan Katchanovski; what finding middle ground on Russia / Ukraine narratives should look like; police brutality & the murder of Tyre Nichols; Keith argues how the celebration of cops, gangs, insurgents, the military, & the Wild West is similar; is there a psychological profile for wanting to be an American cop; Alex explains why even a small percentage of renegade cops sets the tone for an entire police force; stories from a Brooklyn high school on identifying future cops; why all cops are the same color; the IDF to American cop pipeline; immigrant politics through the eyes of immigrants; Asian American activism before Stop Asian Hate; how Cambodians, Vietnamese, & Laotians are treated as out-groups by in-groups; working class culture vs. immigrant culture; the introduction of BIPOC discourse; small business leadership in local politics of Flushing, NY and Manhattan's Chinatown; incel activism; the strange rise of Peter Zeihan, Glenn Greenwald, Michael Tracey, & Matt Taibbi; why politics of any ideological stripe attracts bad writers; what the hell does Glenn Greenwald want with Marjorie Taylor Greene; Keith speculates on future elites eliminating transparency of thinktank / ideological funding
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Read more from the automachination universe: automachination.com
Read Alex’s (archived) essays: alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
0:32 – James Cameron’s AVATAR 2 & the Bruce Lee connection; the film’s strained attempts at poetry; is this a ‘serious’ film for children or for adults; do AVATAR’s technical leaps matter in the face of poor writing & overall construction; why video games from the 90s aged better than the “very innovative graphics” of the 2000s
12:42 – James Cameron’s art-psychology vs. a lust for business, money; AVATAR, AVATAR 2 as part of a string of post-Terminator artistic failures; TITANIC as Metamucil; why AVATAR is a cult classic for some leftists; James Cameron’s grating use of teen slang that will quickly become dated; the artistic / philosophical function of AVATAR’s exotic world; why YouTube comments under AVATAR 1 clips are so revealing; Hollywood as imperial propaganda; the STARCRAFT connection
33:37 – visceral & ideological thrills in AVATAR; James Cameron as a technologist, not an artist; why video games and other forms of interactive entertainment might subsume all big-budget Hollywood fare; DreamWorks’s ANTZ has good writing, but is visually dated in a way that conventional films of the era are not; THE ELDER SCROLLS games reveal how quickly a ‘serious’ aesthetic becomes dated; GLASS ONION & kitsch, art-exploitation; John Ford’s STAGECOACH as right-wing art with redeeming qualities
53:25 – the Internet, AI content aggregation, the advertising collapse & Google as metaphors for modern art; Keith shows off his barrel chest, barrel arms;
1:01:30 – charges of cultural appropriation against James Cameron; the Noble Savage myth & potential backlash to a more nuanced representation of indigenous groups; Occupy Wall Street vs. anarchist decentralization; how charges of cultural appropriation obscure the real issue of cultural misappropriation for silly, asinine, & useless ends
Tags: #avatar, #avatar2, #jamescameron, #moviereview, #amc
Although James Cameron first came to prominence through commercial, yet tightly crafted stories (TERMINATOR series, ALIENS), his later career has been spent on self-indulgent, technocratic films such as TITANIC and the AVATAR series. In MovieMacro #6, Alex Sheremet and Keith Jackewicz dissect AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER along artistic and political lines: is James Cameron guilty of “cultural appropriation”, or does this question miss the point; what can we say for the obvious USA / Marine Corps analogues AVATAR taps; can technical achievement in the service of nothing (or almost nothing) have merit; will James Cameron’s later films be considered technically dated in a way that the TERMINATOR and ALIENS films will not?
If you found this video useful, support us on our Patreon page and get the patron-only B Side to this conversation: patreon.com/automachination
B Side topics: NoJumper & the "ethical pimp" subculture on YouTube; the work of Soviet (and then Ukrainian) dissident Ivan Katchanovski; what finding middle ground on Russia / Ukraine narratives should look like; police brutality & the murder of Tyre Nichols; Keith argues how the celebration of cops, gangs, insurgents, the military, & the Wild West is similar; is there a psychological profile for wanting to be an American cop; Alex explains why even a small percentage of renegade cops sets the tone for an entire police force; stories from a Brooklyn high school on identifying future cops; why all cops are the same color; the IDF to American cop pipeline; immigrant politics through the eyes of immigrants; Asian American activism before Stop Asian Hate; how Cambodians, Vietnamese, & Laotians are treated as out-groups by in-groups; working class culture vs. immigrant culture; the introduction of BIPOC discourse; small business leadership in local politics of Flushing, NY and Manhattan's Chinatown; incel activism; the strange rise of Peter Zeihan, Glenn Greenwald, Michael Tracey, & Matt Taibbi; why politics of any ideological stripe attracts bad writers; what the hell does Glenn Greenwald want with Marjorie Taylor Greene; Keith speculates on future elites eliminating transparency of thinktank / ideological funding
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Read more from the automachination universe: automachination.com
Read Alex’s (archived) essays: alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
0:32 – James Cameron’s AVATAR 2 & the Bruce Lee connection; the film’s strained attempts at poetry; is this a ‘serious’ film for children or for adults; do AVATAR’s technical leaps matter in the face of poor writing & overall construction; why video games from the 90s aged better than the “very innovative graphics” of the 2000s
12:42 – James Cameron’s art-psychology vs. a lust for business, money; AVATAR, AVATAR 2 as part of a string of post-Terminator artistic failures; TITANIC as Metamucil; why AVATAR is a cult classic for some leftists; James Cameron’s grating use of teen slang that will quickly become dated; the artistic / philosophical function of AVATAR’s exotic world; why YouTube comments under AVATAR 1 clips are so revealing; Hollywood as imperial propaganda; the STARCRAFT connection
33:37 – visceral & ideological thrills in AVATAR; James Cameron as a technologist, not an artist; why video games and other forms of interactive entertainment might subsume all big-budget Hollywood fare; DreamWorks’s ANTZ has good writing, but is visually dated in a way that conventional films of the era are not; THE ELDER SCROLLS games reveal how quickly a ‘serious’ aesthetic becomes dated; GLASS ONION & kitsch, art-exploitation; John Ford’s STAGECOACH as right-wing art with redeeming qualities
53:25 – the Internet, AI content aggregation, the advertising collapse & Google as metaphors for modern art; Keith shows off his barrel chest, barrel arms;
1:01:30 – charges of cultural appropriation against James Cameron; the Noble Savage myth & potential backlash to a more nuanced representation of indigenous groups; Occupy Wall Street vs. anarchist decentralization; how charges of cultural appropriation obscure the real issue of cultural misappropriation for silly, asinine, & useless ends
Tags: #avatar, #avatar2, #jamescameron, #moviereview, #amc
