James Cameron's Industrial Technofetish

Amanda Fernbach's "Fetishization of Masculinity in Science Fiction" discusses the use of technoprosthetic fetishes in technomen (which technodisavows their technolack), taking most interest in James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day. In her essay, Fernbach's analysis of T2 defines masculinity through technological add-ons; the Terminator's tech gadgetry in addition to the "more suggests less" fetishism of weaponry creates a masculinity superior to that of the "lacking" humans. Even John Connor, future leader of the world, fetishizes tech (the Terminator) as a prop for the lack.

I'm definitely on the pro-Cameron team for T2 and Aliens alone (come at me, film bro), but I can see a direct correlation between his content and his processes in light of Fernbach's article. Cameron has been as influential as any director in the industry, most recently developing immersive 3D technology for Avatar, but has also spent much of his career on CGI and camera innovation. Yet, it's abundantly clear that the man is not a fantastic screenwriter; he has a vision and a message -- one which may be a little too transparent -- but will never go down in history as a prolific storyteller.

Cameron seems to be using his technological wizardry as a cover-up for this, which directly parallels the technofetish of his films. He -- like the Terminator -- is equipping himself in a "more suggests less" way, where his lack of writing talent is compensated for by his bombardment of shiny new coolness. Thoughts?

THINGS I DID WHILE BLOGGING:

1. Checked Facebook three times. (No updates. :.(.. )
   
2. Looked up the lyrics for the horribly awesome '90s hard rock song "Space Lord" by Monster Magnet.
3. Tried finding some kind of funny James Cameron parody.
4. Frantically clicked out of my Google Image search sitting in North Quad when it turns out "Avatar" and "parody" together yields a lot of NSFNQ results.