Cameron's Feminism

You know that scene in James Cameron's Aliens (1986) when Lt. Gorman (William Hope) -- the leader of the expedition of Marines to the planet that Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has warned is overrun with ferocious skeletal xenomorphs that incubate in human bodies -- freaks out because he's in waaaaaay over his head. Personnel are being wiped out left and right and his simulator training wasn't enough to prepare him for the real world?

At that pivotal point, Ripley (a role that earned Weaver an Oscar nomination, bitches!) steps into the gap left by Gorman's breakdown and is able to save the remaining members of the expedition -- for the time being -- and even offers Gorman the chance for redemption.

Well, ALL of the current administration, not just the "War Department," is Gorman -- dithering, mumbling, blathering about "spit and polish" and readiness and sucking it up and on and on and on.

We've reached the point -- seems like it's been a few light years, frankly -- where leaders disappoint and demoralize those directly reporting to them and the rest of us on the regular. They're not up to the challenges of true leadership. Talking and pretending are NOT meaningful action. It's almost like their understanding is rooted in television. Peter Weir's The Truman Show (1998)? 🤔

Those of us who are still invested in this country's future -- and have not checked out either physically or emotionally -- are waiting for a reality check to set things aright.

In my book, James Cameron is an uber-feminist. The array of powerful women at the center of his epic adventures is impressive and in many ways inspiring -- Ripley in Aliens, Lindsey in The Abyss, Neytiri in Avatar, Helen in True Lies, Sarah in The Terminator, etc.

Maybe turning the wheel over to women (or even capable men, for that matter) who know what they're doing, are clear-eyed and focused and not blinded by their vanity to the distresses they're causing would be the way to go.

Sure, basing real-world decisions on Hollywood mythologizing can be dangerous, but can it be any worse than what we've got?