Film director, visionary, demi-god — James Cameron seems to be on top of the world.
But recently, he’s been the subject of bad press after anti-smoking groups raised concern over the behavior of Sigourney Weaver’s character, Grace Augustine, in the recent mega-blockbuster Avatar. Augustine lit up on more than one occasion during the two and a half hour film.
Cameron defended his choice to include 3-D tobacco smoking in the movie by explaining that Augustine was not a role model for viewers. Furthermore, Cameron claims the smoking habit was a critique of gamers and their addictive tendencies. As Augustine ignored the well-being of her physical body and placed added emphasis on her avatar, so too do gamers allow their bodies to deteriorate while they sit at their computers.
Either Cameron just pulled that out of his ass, or…actually, I’m pretty certain he pulled that out of his ass.
What do you think?
[via The New York Times]