This book is a comprehensive, current scholarly analysis of the works of one of the world's most renowned and successful filmmakers. Written by some of the top scholars working in film and media studies, philosophy, and literature, the seventeen chapters in this book illuminate the entire artistic career of James Cameron.

Chapter One: We Must Not Forget about the Flying Fish: Piranha II's Influence on Cameron's Subsequent WorksIan Thomas Malone and Antonio SannaChapter Two: Reframing Tragedy: Titanic, Affect and the Arresting ImageFran Pheasant-KellyChapter Three: Exploration, Education and Humanity: James Cameron's Deep-Sea DocumentariesAlissa BurgerChapter Four: Avatar, SF Mannerism and the AnthropoceneMaurizia NataliChapter Five: She's the 'King of the World!' Modernizing Melodrama in TitanicCarol DonelanChapter Six: Losing Touch or Making More Contact? Cameron's Use of Technology and Visual EffectsPaul JohnsonChapter Seven: The Exodus Decoded, The Lost Tomb of Jesus and the Problem of History for FaithJonathan Fischer and Adam BarkmanChapter Eight: No Fate: James Cameron, Jesus, and John ConnorRacheal HarrisChapter Nine: The Simulated Sublime: Exploring Hollywood Ecocriticism in AvatarSiobhan LyonsChapter Ten: The Backlash and Empowerment of Feminism in Xenogenesis, Piranha II: The Spawning, and AliensFernando Gabriel Pagnoni BernsChapter Eleven: Taking Gettier to Tasker: True Lies, Knowledge, and the Prospects of Virtue EpistemologyMichael Versteeg and Adam BarkmanChapter Twelve: "I Wanted to Do Something Outrageous": On the Limits of Parody in True LiesRussell P. Johnson and Naaman K. WoodSection III: The FuturistChapter Thirteen: Genetically Modified Human Beings in Dark AngelSabine PlankaChapter Fourteen: Of Shape-Shifters and Shifting Alliances: The Politics of the Terminator FranchisePatrick ZwostaChapter Fifteen: An Abyss of Aliens: Action, Allegory and Mythological Elements in Aliens and The AbyssCarl H. SobocinskiChapter Sixteen: Refining Genre, Reassessing Gender: Assessing the Sacrificial Heroine in the Works of James CameronChristian JimenezChapter Seventeen: "Two Candles in the Dark": James Cameron's Modern Fairy TalesElsa Columbani