James Cameron and The Value of Life Storytelling
Welcome back! We’ve been busy! After lots of filming days over the past few months we’re glad to play catch-up on the blog.
Earlier this summer Iris attended C2MTL a creativity and commerce conference featuring Academy Award Winning director and producer James Cameron as a Keynote Speaker. Famous for his Hollywood blockbusters, which include the top two grossing movies of all time Titanic and Avatar, Cameron has spent the past five years “off the set” exploring and filming in the deep-sea.
If you don’t record your life history, who will? James Cameron speaks to C2MTL attendees in May 2014 about the importance of telling and sharing your stories in order to preserve wisdom from your adventures so that future generations may benefit.
Photo: © David Sidaway
With passion fueled by twelve submersible dives to the Titanic during filming, Cameron formed Earthship Productions to further pursue ocean exploration, conservation, and documentary filmmaking. On March 26, 2012 he made a record-breaking 35,787-foot solo dive to the deepest known place on Earth, the Mariana Trench off the coast of Guam. During his keynote speech at C2MTL Cameron recounted how on this particular submersible dive, he had a revelation. It became very clear to him that in undertaking such a risky endeavor it would be of paramount importance to take time to reflect and record the life-changing event as part of one’s life’s stories to preserve for posterity.
Recording your life story is a precious gift to your family and friends and yet the benefits go beyond preserving your legacy for the generations to come. Reflecting on and recording life to date is also of tremendous value to the storyteller. By doing so you bestow upon yourself the gift of retrospect, allowing better clarity and perspective for your own future. A life story is the sum of many experiences and recording important ones while the memory is still bright can add a level of detail that may be lost as time passes and memory fades.
You don’t need to dive down as deep as 35,787 feet to understand just how valuable it is to record your own life’s experiences. James Cameron highlights the importance of storytelling with his message that the life you live is unique to you and deserves to be recorded so that others may benefit from your efforts, personal history, and wisdom.
