00:00The woman is the strong point in Cameron's universe, physically and mentally.
00:04In his cinema, the heroines are misunderstood, underestimated, despised women,
00:09but yet lucid about the issues, the world and the danger that surrounds them.
00:12In Xenogenesis, the hero is already a heroine and manages to save his friend from a robot attack.
00:17In Piranha 2: The Flying Killers, Anne will investigate her piranha attacks.
00:21She is the character with the most composure and common sense.
00:24In Abyss, Lindsay has a reputation that precedes her.
00:26Men only see her as a pain in the neck, when she could rather be described as rough and ready,
00:31courageous, curious and a genius designer.
00:34She literally comes back to life, because she is the heart of the film.
00:37In Aliens, after more than 50 years of hypersleep,
00:39Ripley wakes up to find her family dead and she must face her worst nightmare again.
00:44She will be the path of reason, facing capitalism, patriarchy, the ignorance of soldiers and an army of xenomorphs.
00:51Finished, the scared young woman in panties.
00:53Here, the hair is cut, the look is determined.
00:56Dressed in workman's clothes and carrying a machine gun, Ripley is no longer about to give in.
00:59Two years later, the same observation is made for Sarah Connor in Terminator 2.
01:03The young waitress, completely overwhelmed by events, gives way to a formidable warrior whose only purpose now is her mission.
01:09Sarah is no longer a woman, nor a mother.
01:11She has become what she must fight, a machine.
01:14In True Lies, Elen Tasker is a rather reserved woman.
01:17Her life, her work, her husband, all of it bores her, but she doesn't dare do more.
01:21It is through the discovery of Harry's double identity that she will discover a buried courage, an unsuspected femininity and a desire to live life at 300 miles an hour.
01:28Like Elen, Rose is a prisoner of her condition as a woman, her status as a wife and her reality.
01:34The liner is his prison, Jack is his escape.
01:36Through him, she will forget her obligations, drop her good looks, and live each day as if it were her last.
01:42In the eyes of those close to her, she is nothing more than an object to be proudly displayed, to be traded for a little money.
01:46She has no say in the matter, yet decides her own fate, understanding that life is not worth living,
01:52if she has to live in this supposedly noble abundance where human value does not count.
01:56She will prefer to join Jack, a true symbol of freedom.
01:59Finally, Neytiri, arguably the most accomplished female character in Cameron's universe.
02:03At once a formidable warrior, passionate about the environment that surrounds her, a teacher, courageous,
02:08She is the bridge that unites the viewer to the universe of Pandora.
02:11In the second opus, she is more withdrawn, but remains a character with heart,
02:15and adds to her qualities the fact of being a loving and understanding mother, much more than Jake, who is downright stricter.
02:20Aware of the dangers, he does not want to move it, even if it means losing the bond that unites a parent to their child.
02:25The same is true for Sarah Connor, who sees her son only as a quest to be accomplished, a future leader to be shaped.
02:30thereby removing any gesture of affection that a mother should have.
02:33She no longer sees him as a little boy seeking affection, but as John Connor, humanity's last hope.
02:39The paradox is that it is a machine that is John's source of comfort, the perfect parent he never had.
02:44And of all the possible fathers who came and went over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only one who lived up to it.
02:51Parenthood is another theme dear to James Cameron.
02:54He often portrays her as strict and trying.
02:57Jake Sully, Sarah Connor, but also Rose's mother in Titanic,
03:00who only sees in his daughter an opportunity to keep his fortune without worrying about her happiness.
03:05Then there's Aliens, of course, where we see two mothers fight.
03:08The alien queen who defends her eggs, and Ripley who sees in this orphan the child she lost,
03:12and who will do everything possible and put his life on the line to protect her.
03:16But before parenthood, there is love, and Cameron knows how to do that too.
03:26From the fruit of the love between Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese is born the last hope of humanity.
03:31It is Bud's wedding ring, a representation of his love for Lindsay, that saves him from certain death.
03:35And in return, it is this love that will revive Lindsay from drowning.
03:38Moreover, the story of this couple on the rocks coincides with James Cameron's romantic disappointments at the time,
03:43who divorced in 1989, the year Abyss was released.
03:46In True Lies, it is the love between Harry and Helen that overcomes the terrorists.
03:50This love being literally stronger than a nuclear bomb.
03:53I married Rambo.
03:54Titanic and Avatar operate in the same dynamic.
03:57Rose and Jack, Naitiri and Jake, will experience an impossible love story, coming from two different worlds.
04:03However, Jack and Jake will manage to adapt to the world around them.
04:06But yet, it is their singularity, their naivety and their courage which will find favor in the eyes of Rose and Naïtiri.
04:13You know how to see people.
04:15I see you.
04:17I see you.
04:21Both couples will have to fight for their love to be accepted, or at least recognized as such.
04:26In both cases, we are dealing with a Shakespearean love story, and Cameron is the last to have written one like this in cinema,
04:30with such epic breath and passion.
04:33Many find this denial, and it probably is.
04:35But that these two films have combined to gross $5 billion in theaters alone,
04:39proves that people will never get tired of this kind of story,
04:42and that love is always at the heart of what great cinema is.
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