Welcome to Committing to the Bit - a column in which I celebrate the most shameless bit-committers in popular and unpopular culture.
It seems like it’s maybe okay to like Avatar again, huh?
For a minute there, it absolutely was not. If box office numbers are any indicator, it seemed like we were all pretty swept away by the beautiful jungle moon of Pandora in 2009. But the discourse quickly shifted over the next couple of years and it wasn’t long before the collective experience of movie magic we all shared was overshadowed by "Avatar is just Pocahontas in space” and “Nobody even knows the name of the main character” takes.
When James Cameron first declared that he would be making not one, not two, not three, but four sequels to his 2009 megablockbuster sci-fi adventure movie, a large portion of the internet yelled that nobody wanted that. Jim responded by saying (paraphrased) “Oh my god, shut up, I don’t care. I am going to make the movies and I have already decided what they are all called and one of them is called The Seed Bearer.”
And look what happened. You fools. You absolute sheep. Who did you think you were to doubt Jim Cameron?
Avatar: The Way of Water has received generally positive reviews and is well on its way to a billion dollars, and it’s all due to the courage of one insane man.
HIS NAME IS JAKE SULLY. HE IS THE SIXTH TORUK MAKTO. AND YOU KNOW HIS NAME.
Subscribe to The Talkies to keep up with Committing to the Bit and lots of other stuff.
Okay, okay, Jake Sully is not actually the man I’d like to focus on today. I’d rather talk about James Cameron, the man who is so fully committed to his Pandora bit that he has already planned out 5 movies even though Disney has yet to greenlight the fourth and fifth installments.
In truth, James Cameron was exactly who I had in mind when I decided to write a column about committing to the bit. He has poured his heart and soul, and lots and lots of money, into a bunch of very ambitious movies that will take a very long time to make, all while people were clowning on his first film and yelling that it has no cultural relevance. Regardless of where you stand on the quality of the first Avatar film, Cameron’s casual dismissal of any and all naysayers as he makes his four very expensive sequels is objectively funny. He’s a very funny man!
One of the first memories I have of grasping the insanity of this enterprise is when it was announced that Kate Winslet held her breath for 7 minutes and 15 seconds while filming a scene for The Way of Water. At the time we didn’t know what kind of character she would be playing, or why she needed to be underwater for long, but it made two things clear: 1) this was going to be a very wet movie, and 2) James Cameron was not cutting any corners. Surely there was some method of shooting that scene that didn’t involve making Kate Winslet hold her breath for 7 minutes, but Jim knew that audiences would smell a fake. In ordered to be truly immersed in the other-worldly ocean ecosystem of Pandora’s Metkayina clan, we needed Kate’s lungs to burn. Could she wear a scuba tank? No! Of course not! How would Jim capture the intricate movements of her nose and lips?
Subscribe to The Talkies to keep up with Committing to the Bit and lots of other stuff.
The comedy in this whole endeavor lies in Cameron’s stubborn belief that he knows exactly what audiences want, and anyone who tells him otherwise is wrong. And it’s even funnier that he seems to be, for the most part, correct. When studio executives begged Cameron to cut down the 162 minute runtime of his first film, he simply told them to “get the fuck out of my office”. Obviously, audiences showed up (over and over) and Jim was vindicated.
The story has been the same this time around. He has never had any doubt that audiences will be slobbering for more of his big wet sequel in which 73-year-old Sigourney Weaver plays a teenage girl. When asked when viewers should plan to take a pee-break in the movie’s three-hour runtime, Cameron said that any time is fine, as everyone will be back for a second viewing.
This guy.
If I could harness just one-tenth of the confidence he has been exhibiting through this process, I would have everything I have ever wanted out of life.
And it doesn’t look like his approach will be any different for the remaining movies (prayers to Eywa for an official green light for The Tulkun Rider and The Quest for Eywa, and no I will not be calling them anything different even if those titles aren’t official yet). According to Cameron, he received three pages of notes for The Way of Water, one page of notes for the third film, and only one note for the fourth film’s script: “holy fuck.”
If the execs are saying “Yes Jim whatever you say Jim” to the fourth movie, can you imagine what the fifth one has in store for us? It’s called The Quest for Eywa! Jake Sully’s children are going to meet God!!! I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I, for one, am happy to keep witnessing this insanity unfold. But at some point, my semi-ironic obsession with the Avatar films grew into more than a bit (which is certainly what it started as). When I saw the 3D re-release of the first film a few months ago, I was floored. That movie is insanely good, and we as a culture were stupid to ever pretend otherwise. I believe that Avatar: The Way of Water is an improvement in pretty much every way. The technology has advanced over thirteen years, resulting in even more beautiful visuals and a more immersive experience. And I think the story in the second film is genuinely interesting and introduces lots of cool new characters and lore and potential plot-lines that I’m excited to see further explored in three more films.
These movies are really good, and judging by the quality of The Way of Water and the things it seems to be setting up, I think they’re only going to get better.
So, Disney, I am begging you. Please let Jim Cameron call Avatar 3 The Seed Bearer.
Subscribe to The Talkies to keep up with Committing to the Bit and lots of other stuff.
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COMMITTING TO THE BIT: Only Eywa Can Judge Jim Cameron
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Welcome to Committing to the Bit - a column in which I celebrate the most shameless bit-committers in popular and unpopular culture.
It seems like it’s maybe okay to like Avatar again, huh?
For a minute there, it absolutely was not. If box office numbers are any indicator, it seemed like we were all pretty swept away by the beautiful jungle moon of Pandora in 2009. But the discourse quickly shifted over the next couple of years and it wasn’t long before the collective experience of movie magic we all shared was overshadowed by "Avatar is just Pocahontas in space” and “Nobody even knows the name of the main character” takes.
When James Cameron first declared that he would be making not one, not two, not three, but four sequels to his 2009 megablockbuster sci-fi adventure movie, a large portion of the internet yelled that nobody wanted that. Jim responded by saying (paraphrased) “Oh my god, shut up, I don’t care. I am going to make the movies and I have already decided what they are all called and one of them is called The Seed Bearer.”
And look what happened. You fools. You absolute sheep. Who did you think you were to doubt Jim Cameron?
Avatar: The Way of Water has received generally positive reviews and is well on its way to a billion dollars, and it’s all due to the courage of one insane man.
HIS NAME IS JAKE SULLY. HE IS THE SIXTH TORUK MAKTO. AND YOU KNOW HIS NAME.
Subscribe to The Talkies to keep up with Committing to the Bit and lots of other stuff.
Okay, okay, Jake Sully is not actually the man I’d like to focus on today. I’d rather talk about James Cameron, the man who is so fully committed to his Pandora bit that he has already planned out 5 movies even though Disney has yet to greenlight the fourth and fifth installments.
In truth, James Cameron was exactly who I had in mind when I decided to write a column about committing to the bit. He has poured his heart and soul, and lots and lots of money, into a bunch of very ambitious movies that will take a very long time to make, all while people were clowning on his first film and yelling that it has no cultural relevance. Regardless of where you stand on the quality of the first Avatar film, Cameron’s casual dismissal of any and all naysayers as he makes his four very expensive sequels is objectively funny. He’s a very funny man!
One of the first memories I have of grasping the insanity of this enterprise is when it was announced that Kate Winslet held her breath for 7 minutes and 15 seconds while filming a scene for The Way of Water. At the time we didn’t know what kind of character she would be playing, or why she needed to be underwater for long, but it made two things clear: 1) this was going to be a very wet movie, and 2) James Cameron was not cutting any corners. Surely there was some method of shooting that scene that didn’t involve making Kate Winslet hold her breath for 7 minutes, but Jim knew that audiences would smell a fake. In ordered to be truly immersed in the other-worldly ocean ecosystem of Pandora’s Metkayina clan, we needed Kate’s lungs to burn. Could she wear a scuba tank? No! Of course not! How would Jim capture the intricate movements of her nose and lips?
Subscribe to The Talkies to keep up with Committing to the Bit and lots of other stuff.
The comedy in this whole endeavor lies in Cameron’s stubborn belief that he knows exactly what audiences want, and anyone who tells him otherwise is wrong. And it’s even funnier that he seems to be, for the most part, correct. When studio executives begged Cameron to cut down the 162 minute runtime of his first film, he simply told them to “get the fuck out of my office”. Obviously, audiences showed up (over and over) and Jim was vindicated.
The story has been the same this time around. He has never had any doubt that audiences will be slobbering for more of his big wet sequel in which 73-year-old Sigourney Weaver plays a teenage girl. When asked when viewers should plan to take a pee-break in the movie’s three-hour runtime, Cameron said that any time is fine, as everyone will be back for a second viewing.
This guy.
If I could harness just one-tenth of the confidence he has been exhibiting through this process, I would have everything I have ever wanted out of life.
And it doesn’t look like his approach will be any different for the remaining movies (prayers to Eywa for an official green light for The Tulkun Rider and The Quest for Eywa, and no I will not be calling them anything different even if those titles aren’t official yet). According to Cameron, he received three pages of notes for The Way of Water, one page of notes for the third film, and only one note for the fourth film’s script: “holy fuck.”
If the execs are saying “Yes Jim whatever you say Jim” to the fourth movie, can you imagine what the fifth one has in store for us? It’s called The Quest for Eywa! Jake Sully’s children are going to meet God!!! I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I, for one, am happy to keep witnessing this insanity unfold. But at some point, my semi-ironic obsession with the Avatar films grew into more than a bit (which is certainly what it started as). When I saw the 3D re-release of the first film a few months ago, I was floored. That movie is insanely good, and we as a culture were stupid to ever pretend otherwise. I believe that Avatar: The Way of Water is an improvement in pretty much every way. The technology has advanced over thirteen years, resulting in even more beautiful visuals and a more immersive experience. And I think the story in the second film is genuinely interesting and introduces lots of cool new characters and lore and potential plot-lines that I’m excited to see further explored in three more films.
These movies are really good, and judging by the quality of The Way of Water and the things it seems to be setting up, I think they’re only going to get better.
So, Disney, I am begging you. Please let Jim Cameron call Avatar 3 The Seed Bearer.
Subscribe to The Talkies to keep up with Committing to the Bit and lots of other stuff.