The breathtaking visuals in James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water are unlike anything viewers have ever seen on the big screen. It would not be wrong to say that waiting more than ten years for the sequel was worth it because it introduced a completely new method of filmmaking and set new standards for the use of CGI in movies.
Along with this, Cameron has taken things a step further by introducing Kate Winslet’s Ronal, a stunning illustration of a female warrior growing a new life inside of her. Even though she was carrying a baby the entire time in the 2022 sequel film, Winslet’s character actively fought the RDA rather than staying still.
According to Cameron, this kind of character portrayal is the best way to show how the women’s empowerment movement has had a greater impact than superheroes like Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). Did he make a sly jab at female-led superhero films?
James Cameron’s Expectant Warrior Is More ‘Empowering’ Than Captain Marvel?
Last year, James Cameron revealed that Avatar: Way of the Water is a feminist movie with representations of female emancipation that are unlike anything in the Marvel or DC superhero universes. The director discussed this when he appeared on Variety‘s Directors on Directors:
“Everybody’s always talking about female empowerment, but what is such a big part of a woman’s life that we, as men, don’t experience?. And I thought, ‘Well, if you’re really going to go all the way down the rabbit hole of female empowerment, let’s have a female warrior who’s six months pregnant in battle.’”
The Academy Award-winning director continued by contrasting his choice with those in Marvel and DC films:
“I thought, ‘Let’s take the real boundaries off.’ It was the last bastion that you don’t see. Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel — all these other amazing women come up, but they’re not moms and they’re not pregnant while they’re fighting evil. They have relationships, but they really don’t. They never hang up their spurs because of their kids. The things that really ground us and give us power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don’t experience it.”
Moreover, Kate Winslet, 47, revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that she found it “just so cool” that her character (Ronal) was expecting a child:
“Jim [James Cameron] has so much admiration for women and pregnant women and what pregnant women are capable of, and how pregnant women are actually much more resilient and physically capable than I think often people give us credit for or would expect.”
James Cameron Questioned The Way of Filmmaking
James Cameron took numerous measures to ensure that his Avatar: The Way of Water would stand out from the plethora of comic book movies that are released each year. One of which involved including warriors who are expectant mothers.
Last year, the director admitted to The New York Times that he really wanted his protagonists, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), to struggle with being parents and being heroes at the same time. To quote him:
“When I look at these big, spectacular films — I’m looking at you, Marvel and DC — it doesn’t matter how old the characters are, they all act like they’re in college. They have relationships, but they really don’t. They never hang up their spurs because of their kids. The things that really ground us and give us power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don’t experience it, and I think that’s not the way to make movies.”
The Avatar sequel has received largely splendid reviews, despite Cameron’s admission that some people were rooting for it to fail. Critics praised the innovative visual effects and breathtaking design while breaking several records.
Three more sequels are in the works, with the next film due out in December 2025.
Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water are both available for streaming on Disney Plus.
