Titanic
James Cameron
1997
Titanic is a story of history, survival, social class, and love. On April 10, 1912, Titanic, the largest cruise ship in the world up until that time, set sail from Southampton, England for it's doomed maiden voyage. The movie Titanic is a fictional story based on a real event.
Rose Dewitt Bukater is from a wealthy family that is not wealthy anymore but no one knows that. She is supposed to marry Caledon Hockley. He is also from a wealthy family and will inherit a large sum of money when he gets married. Jack Dawson is a poor artist who won his ticket on the Titanic in a card game. Everyone happily boards the Titanic for the voyage across the North Atlantic. However, Rose isn't happy to be going on the Titanic. She doesn't want to marry Cal. She boards anyway, concealing her unhappiness. Jack gets on the ship just in time. After dinner one evening Rose runs out onto the deck. She feels unhappy and trapped. She climbs over the railing and considers jumping. Jack was on the deck when Rose went running by. He goes over to her and tells her not to jump. She tells Jack to leave her alone. He refuses saying, "If you jump, I jump," and talks her into climbing back over the railing. Rose and Jack are attracted to each other. Rose tries to resist it but she can't. She is unhappy and doesn't want to marry Cal but when she is with Jack she is happy and feels alive. Rose goes to Jack and tells him that she wants to be with him and when the ship docks she is leaving with him. Jack is thrilled. At about 11:30 pm on April 14, 1912, the Titanic hits an iceberg. Rose and Jack are on the deck when it happens. Jack knows the accident is very bad. When the ship is sinking Rose gets in a lifeboat. As it is lowered down she looks up at Jack and jumps off the lifeboat back onto the Titanic. Jack runs to the lower deck to find her. When he does he asks her why she got off the lifeboat. Rose replies, "If you jump, I jump." She has no intention of leaving Jack. As the ship sinks Rose and Jack hold onto the stern. Rose notices they are right where they met. The ship goes down at about 2:20 am on April 15, 1912. Rose and Jack survive the ship's sinking but they end up in the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean. They find a floating piece of wood and try to get onto it. Jack realizes that they can't both get on and he gets Rose up on it. Jack stays in the water and knows he won't survive for long. When the rescue boat finally comes Rose is rescued and Jack has died. Rose goes on to live her life and has many successes. She never forgets Jack.
Rose Dewitt Bukater is from a wealthy family that is not wealthy anymore but no one knows that. She is supposed to marry Caledon Hockley. He is also from a wealthy family and will inherit a large sum of money when he gets married. Jack Dawson is a poor artist who won his ticket on the Titanic in a card game. Everyone happily boards the Titanic for the voyage across the North Atlantic. However, Rose isn't happy to be going on the Titanic. She doesn't want to marry Cal. She boards anyway, concealing her unhappiness. Jack gets on the ship just in time. After dinner one evening Rose runs out onto the deck. She feels unhappy and trapped. She climbs over the railing and considers jumping. Jack was on the deck when Rose went running by. He goes over to her and tells her not to jump. She tells Jack to leave her alone. He refuses saying, "If you jump, I jump," and talks her into climbing back over the railing. Rose and Jack are attracted to each other. Rose tries to resist it but she can't. She is unhappy and doesn't want to marry Cal but when she is with Jack she is happy and feels alive. Rose goes to Jack and tells him that she wants to be with him and when the ship docks she is leaving with him. Jack is thrilled. At about 11:30 pm on April 14, 1912, the Titanic hits an iceberg. Rose and Jack are on the deck when it happens. Jack knows the accident is very bad. When the ship is sinking Rose gets in a lifeboat. As it is lowered down she looks up at Jack and jumps off the lifeboat back onto the Titanic. Jack runs to the lower deck to find her. When he does he asks her why she got off the lifeboat. Rose replies, "If you jump, I jump." She has no intention of leaving Jack. As the ship sinks Rose and Jack hold onto the stern. Rose notices they are right where they met. The ship goes down at about 2:20 am on April 15, 1912. Rose and Jack survive the ship's sinking but they end up in the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean. They find a floating piece of wood and try to get onto it. Jack realizes that they can't both get on and he gets Rose up on it. Jack stays in the water and knows he won't survive for long. When the rescue boat finally comes Rose is rescued and Jack has died. Rose goes on to live her life and has many successes. She never forgets Jack.
Titanic analysis
The movie Titanic is an excellent example of the differences between social classes. The social ranking is obvious in everything on the ship. The upper class passengers had a separate entrance to the ship from the lower class passengers. First class passengers had access to all areas of the ship while second and third class passengers had their movements restricted to specific areas. The second class passengers had a little more access to some areas of the ship. Passengers in third class were the most restricted. One example of this is separate decks for first class passengers. Jack was on a lower class deck looking at Rose on the first class deck. Jack's friend told him to not even think about being with Rose. He knew that people were expected to stay in the class they were born into. There was a huge difference between the first class and lower class areas. First class was equipped with the best of everything. The first class passengers enjoyed fine china, nice restaurants, and being waited on for anything they wanted. The lower class areas had the bare minimum of accommodations. Lower class passengers ate in their own areas. This difference is shown in Titanic in the scene where Jack took Rose to the lower class areas. The passengers there were having fun. They danced, were loud, and enjoyed the party like atmosphere. Rose was shocked at first. Then she let her guard down and ended up having fun and partying like everyone else. The movie seems to suggest that people in the highest social class don't have as much fun as other people. Their lives were very restricted, especially for women. Rose experienced both the upper and lower class existence. She knew that her life in the social elite would be very controlled with certain expectations about how she should act, dress, speak, and eat. One scene in Titanic shows a young girl of the upper class being taught how to have tea. Her napkin had to be placed just right and she had to be sure not to slouch when sitting. Rose watched the girl being told exactly what to do and could not stand it anymore. If she had a life with Jack in the lower class she knew she would have more freedom to do what she wanted instead of having every thought and movement controlled by social expectations. A third example of class difference is when people were getting into the lifeboats. Someone commented that there weren't enough lifeboats and that half of the passengers would die. Cal Hockley commented, "Not the better half." It is interesting how the upper class of that time period had everything that money could buy but they were also very restricted by expectations. The lower class was barely scraping by but had more freedom from strict manner requirements and more fun.
http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(phim_1997) - Picture
http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(phim_1997) - Picture