A Critical Companion to James Cameron, edited by Adam Barkman and Antonio Sanna

Abstract

Over a span of forty years, James Cameron has become synonymous with the box-office blockbuster. Bigger stars, budgets, and technological innovations have led the director to transcend spectacle-centric contemporaries like Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay, reframing him in the words of Thomas Elsaesser, as “the embodiment of the post-auteur author” (248). For Elsaesser, the post-auteur author is distinguished in part by their ability to synergise art and business into a single entity. As is the case with Cameron, this often culminates in the formation of a production studio or visual effects company, but Cameron’s desire to create universally appealing films while exercising total control over their production seems to transcend even this tradition.

Keywords

• avatar
• titanic
• auteur
• director
• cameron