Cameron's Women

Filmmaker James Cameron has created some of the most empowering roles for women.  His devotion to the art of film and his creativity has been expressed in the form of aliens, robots and underwater adventures.  It is worth dissecting and delving deeper into the roles that his actresses have championed and accomplished in the 1980s. 

For his first full feature film “The Terminator”, James Cameron casted the role of Sarah Connor with Linda Hamilton, whose towering performance is not to be forgotten.  The film is set in 1980s Los Angeles with Sarah Connor, a local waitress, being hunted and protected by two figures from the future.  Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the role of the killer robot out to kill Connor, while Michael Biehn plays the soldier from the future out to protect her and her unborn son.  In this film we see Linda Hamilton transform from an everyday woman who does her part to survive modern life into the hero that the future needs.  This is one of the most empowering roles for women in modern film history because it shows an actress who is at once vulnerable, scared and yet willing to risk it all for a soldier she doesn’t know.  As an audience we can feel every nervous emotion she displays on screen yet we are not surprised when she overcomes her own fears to save herself and the future that she is being warned of.  In fact we cheer for her bravery as it is not only necessary for the film’s plot but also because it is believable, exciting and inspiring all at once.  Few films had shown this type of character arc in an actress and both James Cameron and Linda Hamilton deserve top credit for starting a trend in having women be taken seriously as action movie stars.  This film is not only one of the best of the 1980s but also of the 20^th century for its tale of hidden strength and towering determination to save the world from the monsters that lurk in the dark.  And what better actress to save the world from such monsters than the loving and motherly personality of Sarah Connor, whom Linda Hamilton embodied perfectly in the first of The Terminator series. 

James Cameron’s next film “Aliens” was another landmark in the progression of strong female lead characters for action movies.  Though Sigourney Weaver picked up this role from the previous “Alien” film, her performance in the sequel was expanded on, giving her more screen time and action scenes.  This gave audiences one of the most surprising and empowering roles for women that had rarely been seen up to this point in time.  Weaver plays Ellen Ripley, a space crew member who has been lost in sleep for 57 years and is called back in to help the US Marines rescue colonists on a distant planet.  The film is packed with suspenseful action scenes and gore between the muscular Marines and the terrifying aliens; brought to life by the original mind of Swiss artist H.R. Giger.  Weaver’s portrayal of Ellen Ripley never lets down.  Throughout the movie she is bold, fierce and yet vigorously protective over the young girl Newt.  This is made especially evident in the film’s finale when Ripley risks her life to save Newt from the clutches of the Queen Alien, who towers over the others in size and resilience.  The sheer size of the Queen makes Ripley’s triumph over her all the more rewarding because it is in that moment that this female character defeats another one of James Cameron’s monsters.  Ripley’s triumph over the Queen and resilience throughout the film makes Sigourney Weaver stand out as one of the most respected action heroes of the 1980s.  Her performance and Cameron’s imagination make this another landmark film for action movie fans and strong women alike.