Avatar TWOW Japanese Premiere: Part 2

 To begin, it's important read what has now by default become "Part 1" on this topic. Please also know that there will be multiple links in this blog post peppered throughout.

I also want to say, for those who maybe thought my information on The Cove was a little long, I feel I had to share certain information to get across why this act of sitting at a dolphin show in Japan was just so egregious, and why people got so very upset at Cameron.

So, there's been an apparent development from Mr. Cameron concerning his and TWOW cast attendance at a dolphin show at an Aquarium in Shinagawa, Japan. 

As I expected, Cameron was pissed.

And all those dolphin activists who said, "I used to like him and Avatar but I'm not going to see the movie now!" Well, please slow down, take a moment, and read this.

Concerning Cameron's reputation, one really has to wonder why people are so quick to turn against him. It's because they're impatient, and they get angry rather than just be "disappointed." If you were disappointed you would wait for an explanation before trying to tear down someone who has literally spent millions to send out the message to take care of our environment, and know that whales are just like us-- and an explanation has come.

James Cameron wrote a letter to at least two people explaining what happened: Brian Skerry, who is an ocean photographer who worked with Cameron on the National Geographic series Secrets of the Whales, and to Louie Psihoyos, the director of The Cove, and who worked to direct The Gamer Changers on Netflix, which Cameron put together.

Both Mr. Skerry and Mr. Psihoyos shared on their Facebook pages portions of, or the full letter from Mr. Cameron. I'm re-posting Mr. Cameron's letter here, as posted by Pr. Psihoyos, as a record and for simplicity's sake:

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    “We were on our whirlwind publicity tour for Avatar: The Way of Water across multiple countries, and I was getting whisked along from one appearance or interview to another for a week straight, literally doing twenty or thirty interviews a day.

We landied in Tokyo and I got handed a schedule that showed, as my first of 6 stops of the day, a fan event at an aquarium. That sounded OK. I was visualizing something like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, with its great science and conservation programs.

There was zero mention of a dolphin show.

I literally found out there was a dolphin show AS we were walking out on stage. We were already out in the lights and fans were cheering.

I said something snide on-mike like, “I’m sure the dolphins were all asked for their consent to be part of the show” or something like that. I was seething.

But I didn’t want to create a big public incident. Maybe I should have, in retrospect. But my instinct is always to meet people where they are. Which is the whole point of Avatar: The Way of Water. To shift consciousness.

When you see the movie you’ll see that it’s all about saving whales, and treating them with empathy as equals. It’s the pivotal message of the film.

So there’s obviously no way I would have agreed to standing up in front of a show based on captive dolphins.

It was a blunder on the part of the Disney promotion and publicity group.

Captive dolphins aside, according to NRDC an estimated 650,000 dolphins and whales are killed or seriously injured by massive fishing fleets every year.

So, if people really want to save the dolphins, they should put down the damn tuna melt. In fact, stop eating fish altogether and stick to plant-based proteins, as I have for the last 10 years.

I wanted you to know this was a faux pas outside my ability to foresee or prevent, and that I’m sorry about it.”

=== End of Letter ===

The receipt of this email was also covered by Yahoo! News here, and as far as I can tell with a Google search they are the only ones to follow up with this story.

Every other news site that shared how angry people were at Cameron, haven't posted anything about this letter. Of course not.

The thing is, people hate admitting they were wrong and that their actions were not correct. James Cameron did, because he said "in retrospect" maybe he should have walked out. But many don't--whether it is angry animal activists, The Dolphin Project themselves (who have not said a word about this, either) or just people in general.

The man walks the walk, he doesn't just talk the talk. No one should have doubted him, and yet the speed of which people turned against him so harshly floored me more than him being at the show.

Also, the fact is, no matter what Cameron does or does not do, he'll constantly be judged by animal activists, by vegans, by whoever. And not all of them are going to be happy.

To me, he did the right thing by sending this letter to whom he did. I mean, who better than the director of The Cove and his good friend and fellow documentarian who did The Secret of Whales?

I honestly think it is telling he sent this to his close friends, to two people who also have standing in the cetacean activist communities. He probably knew the news sites would not care to follow up, and this also strikes me as more genuine. He is reaching out to the people who are hurt the most, regardless (so far) of the rest. To me, this means it's not about his reputation, it's about apologizing and healing.

 

Finally, to those who said I was making excuses for Cameron--well, I'm not expecting an apology. Maybe you can take an example from Cameron, realizing in retrospect you could have taken a different approach, and acknowledge you were wrong to judge so quickly. In any case, I do hope you decide to see Avatar: The Way of Water anyway, because I know you'll like it.