James Cameron Reveals How His Approach To Writing The Avatar Movies Has Changed

It's been 13 years since the release of James Cameron's "Avatar," and about that much time has likewise passed in the film's fictional timeline. In the new sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water," Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), blissfully living life on the planet Pandora, are now parents of four children. Jake hasn't grown out of being a hard-headed Marine jarhead, and he has been raising his kids as an ersatz military unit. His kids call him "sir." When the family finds themselves hunted by invading humans, they have to move to a faraway archipelago and seek to protection of a water-dwelling Na'vi tribe. It's here that Jake's usefulness as a parent begins to wither, and the drama passes into the hands of his kids. "The Way of Water" is just as much about teens finding their agency in a watery paradise as it is its action. 

Most notably, Cameron himself has aged 13 years since the release of "Avatar," and he has not just matured as a film technician, but as a person. Cameron turned 68 this year, and has five children, one of whom he recently adopted, and the eldest of whom was born in 1993. Incidentally, none of his kids seem to be very big fans of the first "Avatar." Being a parent of adults and teenagers has changed Cameron's view of storytelling, and his age dictated a lot of the content of "The Way of Water." He now seems less interested in telling raucous stories of young people falling in love and fighting revolutions, and more interested in relatable family dramas about character who learn, as parents, to let their children find their own paths. 

Cameron said as much in a recent conversation he had with Robert Rodriguez, printed in the pages of Variety. Cameron revealed that he wrote the first draft for "Avatar" long enough ago that he was only just then a parent for the first time and wasn't giving much thought to living with teenagers, or indeed to the ongoing concerned of married adulthood. He had already divorced three times and was not yet married to Linda Hamilton, his fourth wife. Cameron said:

"I wrote the first film in 1995. And I wasn't thinking about being a husband, father, family guy or any of that stuff. But sitting down in 2012, I said, 'What story do I want to tell?' Of course, I'm going to go back to Pandora — I'm going to go back to Jake and Neytiri. And it's like: What if Romeo and Juliet didn't die? What if they married and had kids, and they had a family, and they had to think about something besides each other?"

A large part of "Water" involves Jake finally learning that his military-forward mindset is not as useful as it once was, and, indeed, it might actually be keeping his family in danger. For someone like Jake, the war can never end. "Water" shows that Jake seems incapable of relaxing and being happy with his family. Cameron continues:

"Jake and Neytiri have taken it upon themselves to try to save their world from these hostile colonizers from Earth. But at what point do you have to lay down your guns? And they've got boys coming up who want to be warriors; they're 14 or 15 years old, and they're feeling that testosterone and that sense of mission. How do you tell them, 'Don't be like me?'"

There are no spoilers here, but a broad description of the end of "The Way of Water" will be employed below. Proceed with caution.

There is a notable message at the end of "Water" that might be compared to the "Fast & Furious" movies, in that both films spend a great deal of time stressing that family is all. "Water" doesn't let Jake Sully grow up much, but he does find a way to channel his soldier-like instincts toward defending his family unit rather than out against the world in general. It's not a profound shift, but it is vital in providing the character with an arc. He is no longer a general, but a hard-headed paterfamilias. This arc, once Cameron was surrounded by his own teenage kids, seems to be mirrored by Cameron's own experience. He described it thus: 

"When I was writing the new films, I was going through that as a father of teenagers. And my conclusion was, no matter what you go through in terms of dysfunction, the family's your fortress. And I wanted to somehow, through my art, convey that, because I thought it was a big missing piece in action movies these days." 

As Cameron continues to make "Avatar" movies — third and fourth and fifth movies are currently in the works — it will be interesting to watch them evolve as he does. "Avatar" films, audiences have learned, take a long time to make, and it is possible that Cameron will become a grandfather, and perhaps even a gentler person, as time passes. Or perhaps he will become an aggressive curmudgeon. We can be sure, regardless, that the "Avatar" sequels will come to reflect where Cameron is in his own life.