Titanic is outstanding in its writing, visuals and special effects. Even a person who does not like love stories will be won over by the action. However, perhaps the most praiseworthy element of the movie is the exploration of the issue of social class and divide.
Jack (played by Leonardo Di Caprio) is a young man who wins the trip on the Titanic through a fluke card game. Rose DeWitt Bukater (played by Kate Winslet) is riding the ship to America in order to marry Cal Hockley (played by Billy Zane). Rose is unhappy about her upcoming marriage and considers committing suicide by jumping off the ship’s deck. Jack talks her around and the two fall in love. However, their love is short lived once the Titanic hits an iceberg (Cameron, 1998).
In this movie, the story depicted is told as a flashback. Rose is narrating the story, which is mostly from her point of view. This method of storytelling works very well for the movie. Rose is 101 years old at the beginning of the story, and she tells a treasure hunter the whole story of her experience on the Titanic. The technique is executed in a tender manner and the voice is believable throughout.
The recreation of the Titanic vessel is flawless. The rendering of the ship’s exterior was completed using Digital Alpha processors running Linux (Ram, 1998). Especially in the disaster scenes when the ship is sinking, the quality of the ship is amazing. As Janet Maslin (1997) points out, “sets match old photographs right down to the sculpture and woodwork.”
Running for just over three hours, the movie is long. However, for the most part, the storyline is so gripping that it does not seem this lengthy. In particular, once the ship has started to sink, the pace of the movie picks up dramatically. Cameron does not rush the telling of the story and this serves to build tension even more fully. As with most ships, the sinking of the Titanic was a slow event; this allowed Cameron the time to explore the relationships and interactions between the characters when faced with disaster.
The dialogue in this movie is excellent. Cameron wrote as well as directed Titanic. Each character has their own unique voice and the relationships depicted are multifaceted and believable. Clearly, in the case of a movie, the abilities of the actors are vital. The actors in this picture are committed and authentic.
As the Titanic was believed to be unsinkable, the builders did not install enough lifeboats for all the passengers on board. When the ship surprised everyone by sinking, the lifeboats were given to the upper and middle classes. The people of the lower classes were left to die; there is a particularly moving part in the movie when a group of less fortunate people were even locked, deliberately, into the cabin area and abandoned. The exploration of the class system in 1912 Britain is, perhaps, the most interesting element of the movie.
Cameron has made intelligent choices with this movie and those choices have resulted in a ground-breaking cinematic experience. From the set to the dialogue, Titanic remains true and authentic enough for a Hollywood movie. However, where Cameron really excels is in his commentary of the social class system in Britain.
Cameron, J. (1998). Titanic. Fox.
Maslin, J. (1997). Titanic: A Spectacle as Sweeping as the Sea. The New York Times.
Retrieved from
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE7DB113FF93AA25751C1A961
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Ram. (1998). Titanic Movie Review. Retrieved from
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/titanic.html
