Identity Crisis: Why DID James Cameron Steal the Dances with Wolves Plot for Avatar?
By now, you’ve heard of how wildly successful James Cameron’s latest 3D adventure Avatar has been doing in theaters. Even my parents have seen it, and they’ve only seen Passion of the Christ and Titanic in theaters. That’s big. It means that the reach and pull of the movie is beyond the typically targeted demographics. But for all its hype, technology and $500 million budget, why did the movie have such a simple (read: generic) plot?
This may surprise you, but just because you’ve heard someone (or many) call the plot to Avatar “dumb” doesn’t meant that the writer, James Cameron, is dumb. His success is already a testament to this. Nor should you be foolish enough to believe that Cameron was so egotistical that he didn’t employ top writers and editors to check over his script, or that there weren’t many versions of it despite what anyone says. I’m convinced that the main reason Cameron chose this plot is because it is a universal and lasting story, one that all audiences even in the future will be able to relate to and understand.
Dances with Wolves Test
Still don’t believe me? Okay, try this. Approach anyone age 21 and younger and ask them what Dances with Wolves was about. Then ask them to name the lead actor in it, Kevin Costner. Keep trying this and you’ll keep seeing blank faces or encounter prolonged “I can’t quite remember…” statements. Many audiences in the future will judge the movie on its own merits, and will not compare it to films in the past no matter how close the association. Horror remakes continue to do well because despite their repetitive nature, they’re still new for someone. And more importantly, the formula works.
That’s right, I said it: Formula.
“A man who does not know himself encounters a new land, and discovers that he shares more in common with the ____________ than his own people.”
How many times do we have to sit through this type of plot? It’ll never end, I assure you, because it’s a great story despite how many times it’s been done. You can tweak it all you want, but it’s all the same – The Last Samurai anyone? Self-discovery is what’s important here, and at some point, we all really can relate to it. And let us not forget, Cameron wrote this movie as a “game-changer,” one that would be measured by the movies that came before it and after it. While that likely won’t happen, that was the intention and the movie will certainly be remembered as a milestone for the movie industry. The Silver Age, the Golden Age, and now the 3D Age. When people watch this movie 40 years down the line however, the story is what will help to keep the movie’s place in history, not the technology that made it so special today.
Avatar is not genius because it’s new, it’s genius because it’s old but feels new.
