James Cameron’s Deep Sea Research
James Cameron is famous for his big- budget films based on different kinds of research. Very few commercial filmmakers take such hassles of doing research as Cameron does. But research makes his film distinguishable from other commercial filmmakers and he is successful in making the audience awed with his work and creative talent.
One of the most important arenas for Cameron seems to be the sea. While making Titanic (1997), he went to see the real Titanic ship under the deep Atlantic sea. The outcome was great. The film became hit because of its relation with the real-life story through the projection of the haunted real-life Titanic under the deep sea. So, deep sea research is nothing new for Cameron and such research makes his film more than a fiction. It takes the films into the height of ecstasy and gives them a grandeur.
Not only in Titanic, but also in his Sci-Fi film The Abyss, produced in 1989, Cameron shows us a deep sea shot. It was a film based on a venture by the deep sea researchers where the hero dives into the sea from a submarine. His motive was to find out and disarm a weapon that got lost into the depths of a chasm. The scenes were very tense where the hero tries hard to communicate with his colleagues. The pressure one feels under the deep sea is wonderfully shown in this movie through its history-making scenes of those tense moments. The scenes were so much breathtaking and dramatic, that the critics said this never happened before in any film.
After his experiments with his films, Cameron has now started another deep sea research. Cameron is now the real life deep sea adventurer. He made an epoch-making descent beyond the abyssal depths. It is said that these are the deepest part of the oceans of the world. He did it under a campaign named as the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench. It is launched in south of Guam in the west Pacific. This event has become one of the most challenging deep sea researches ever. Participation of Cameron has given it another dimension.
The Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench is the first event where manned water vehicle is sent to such deep quarters under water. In the past such a thing happened only once. That was in 1960, done by Jacques Piccard and Don Wash. 50 years after that event, this Challenger Deep event is organized.
The motto of this deep sea event is to show that the Americans can handle any sort of challenges coming from speed, space, depth and attitude. So far Cameron tried to show it in his movies. But now by taking part in such a venture, he has proved it in his life also.
American preoccupation with technological experimentation is nothing new. But this time, this event got a different dimension due to the depth it chased. Again, participation of Cameron also has made it one of the most talked-of issues. It was really a brave effort by the researchers to decent into such abyssal depths.
by Rosa Becker