James Cameron's Presentation and Adaptation of Titanic for the Cinema
The 1997 film 'Titanic' is based on the well-known true story of the
R.M.S Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage to New York from
England. The film is based around the sinking of the Titanic, with the
break up of Cal Hockley's (Billy Zane) and Rose DeWitt Bukater's (Kate
Winslet) engagement as Rose falls in love with Jack Dawson (Leonardo
de Caprio) to carry the film along to the accident where the titanic
sank in the Atlantic Ocean. This story is part of a larger story told
to the crew of a ship who are sent to retrieve the Coeur de la Mer,
(Heart of the oceans) given to Rose by Cal before the titanic sank
which is told by Rose aged 101, 84 years after the 'Unsinkable'
Titanic sank.
Director James Cameron (Aliens [sequel to Ridly Scott's Alien], The
Terminator, True Lies) has adapted the Titanic story for cinema which
puts it with films that everyone has seen like: The Lord of the Rings,
the Matrix, Jurassic Park and many others.
Without the romance of Rose and Jack the film would have nothing to
work with apart from the sinking of the Titanic but there would be
nothing to lead up to it. Rose is in the upper classes of society
while Jack is in the working class and this is showing that the
distance between each class is not to big for these two lovers to
cross. It also criticises the gap of the two classes. Even when they
are on the other ship the survivors are still split by class. The
captain and the officers would be higher up in the hierarchy. Those
that work at the bottom of the ship (Engine room) are treated as third
class passengers.
The true story of the film titanic is adapted for the cinema by the
addition of two main characters: Rose and Jack. The characters are
used to carry the film along until the titanic actually sank.
Otherwise it would have no backbone, nothing to go with.
· The social class system at the time when the play is set, (rich and
Social classes have been around since the beginning of time. Most people are lead to believe that rich people live in beautiful and extravagant homes, throw luxurious parties and do not give a damn about keeping it a secret. The poor people are happy to have a roof over their heads and have food on the table and will work their asses off to make a penny. The higher the class that someone is in, the better that person’s life is perceived to be and vice-versa. There is old money versus new money, which determines which side of town one lives on. Everyone knows the difference in social classes and is able to see where most people fit in. In the classic novel, The Great Gatsby, the reader is exposed to many things that show a difference in social class that sadly, still exist in today. Most people have a dream of being in a certain class; whether they ever get to experience it or not, the dream is there. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, shows how social class plays a theme in the story.
The video MIDWAY a message from the Gyre: a short film by Chris Jordan gave me the chills and ultimately upset me. In the beginning of the short film the diretor shows us a glimpse of the seagulls that inhibit Midway Island, North Pacific Ocean, an Island that is more than 2,000 miles from the nearest continent. Jordan includes a clip of a mother gull feeding her baby gull before showing us snapshots of dead gulls with trash and plastic in their bodies. When i first saw these pictures I honestly thought that the photogragher arranged random pieces of plastic found on the isand into a dead seagull’s body. After the snapshots the director included a video of the photographer cutting open in a seagull’s body and taking random objects and pieces of plastic out. When I saw this my heart broke, I was in disgust and mad at us humans. The poor birds dying shown in the following clips were also very sad and graphic. These innocent birds are consumming
The titanic was a gigantic ship. It was the biggest, newest, and advanced ship during its time. The titanic was built in Belfast with the newest and best technology. Then after its completion it would travel to New York. During the tragedy of the Titanic the engineers had a key role on saving people. Although the tragedy of the titanic was sad it taught us many lessons on preventing such a thing again. Although the titanic has sunk to the bottom of the ocean it will never be forgotten.
The tragic history of the Titanic, the sinking of the “unsinkable” giant of a ship shocked the entire world and contributed to important shifts in the mass consciousness of the people who lived at that period and assessed the achievements of new technologies and their role. However, one would have been hardly able to predict in 1912 that this tragedy, no matter how significant and meaningful, would leave such a deep imprint on the history of human civilization. The continuing interest in the fate of the great vessel has taken the form of various narrations and given rise to numerous myths enveloping the true history and, in this way, often obscuring the facts related to the tragedy. In recent years, this interest has been emphasized by the dramatic discovery of the wreck and examination of its remains. The recovery of artifacts from the Titanic and the exploration of the site where it had sank stimulated new speculations on different issues of the failure to rescue the Titanic and the role of different factors contributing to the disaster. These issues have been traditionally in the focus of discussions that caused controversies and ambiguous interpretations of various facts. They also often overshadowed other parts of the disaster story that were confirmed by statistical data and revealed the impact of social realities. The social stratification of passengers that reflected the social realities of the period and its class interests determined the chances of survival, with most of those perished in the Titanic disaster having been lower class individuals.
“Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do you see?- Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster- tied to counters, nailed to benches...
...he class barriers that exist in society and the differences between these different groups. She comes to see the differences and the similarities between her life and that of the two boys.
We have all heard about the Titanic. Either we have watched the romance movie or done our research in a different way. No matter where we get our information from we know the biggest parts of the tragedy. The ship Titanic crashed into an iceberg on a cold April night on the Atlantic Ocean while sailing its first trip. But haven’t you ever wanted to know more details about? Maybe how the people who were on it and survived? How could the situation be prevented? Couldn’t they have saved more people? Well in the book “A Night to Remember” it has details on the Titanic you have probably never thought of knowing. While reading the first chapter some parts really caught my attention. One was when people felt the jolt from the collision with the ice berg people didn’t suspect what tragedy was to come. A girl named Marguerite Frolicher, who was accompanying her father on a business trip, woke up with a jump since she was half asleep she was thinking about ‘little white lake ferries’ landing sloppily which made her laugh and thought to herself “Isn’t it funny…we’re landing!”. They really did...
On April 30, 1907, an idea was born out of the minds of Bruce Ismay and William James Pirrie to build an unsinkable ship: the Titanic. A company, Harland and Wolff, out of Belfast, Ireland were commissioned to build this miraculous ship (United States). The company made quick work, and within a few days short of five years, the Titanic was then ready to set sail from its location in Belfast to Southampton, England. On April 10, 1912, the Titanic left for Southampton and arrived within the next 24 hours. There were 2,223 passengers consisting of immigrants to millionaires on board preparing to set sail for New York hoping to find their way to a better life (United States). The Titanic gave many people a chance to start a new life in America,
One of the most famous ideas, person, etc., God, was said he could not force this ship to fail. So, the man who painted the sky, presented Earth with oceans, and built mountains couldn’t sink a ship? If the people of the world had not been so gullible and intrigued to the false, could the ship have survived? It is something to be discussed, but theoretically, yes. If the general public had not pushed the idea of an invincible ship to the Captain of the Titanic, Captain Edward Smith, by default he would have been significantly more cautious when directing and handling the massive craft. The Titanic was revolutionary to modern luxury liners, but society had to ruin its magnificent potential. Overall the conflict between society and the Titanic was slightly indirect. The antagonists all thought they were up talking the ship, and describing it as if it were a messiah. But, the protagonist vessel really couldn’t meet the bar of these expectations. While the antagonists were not “mean” or “cruel” per say, they did contribute to the infamous sinking of the most famous ship of the 20th
Her father died and left her and her mother in a hard situation as he made most of the money. She must marry into a family with a lot of wealth to continue the type of lifestyle she was use to, the abundance of valuable possessions and money. Cal, Roses fiance is one that makes it clear on her place in their relationship. Gender stratification is also a big role in their relationship. Cal makes it exceptionally clear that Rose must obey and reflect well on him, and if she doesn 't not violence could be in place. Gender Stratification shows that Cal is the higher between the two according to their gender. Cal felt that he had prestige over others like Rose and Jack. That his achievements and his high class and being a successful male made him much more qualified to be with Rose, even if Rose didn 't agree. Rose didn 't care about her fiance 's achievements and prestige, as her feelings for Jack were growing. They snuck off to hide from her fiance and because their relationship wasn 't accepted for many
Social class, as defined by the film, is something that affects who you are as a person. In the film, the people saw class as the defining factor of a person. They saw class as a barrier between people. If one person is in a different class than another person, then obviously, they are not supposed to associate. They allowed their social class to dictate their action each day. It was amazing to me just how much the people in the film allowed their class to truly define them and really serve as a boundary in their life. The people in the film lived their daily life with their social class as the most influential factor. Their worth and value as individuals was not determined by anything else except the amount of money they had. It was really interesting to see how the amount of money a person had somehow equated with their worth in society. The same is true within our society today, but in the film, this aspect was especially evident. The film really shed a light on just how impactful social class is and just how much we allow it to
Social class is an underlying factor to which all characters run their lives. It is always a priority and influenced most, if not every part of their lives. Most of the characters in the novel respect the rules of class and are always trying to climb the social ladder. Or if they are atop this ladder, they make it a mission that they remain there. Mrs. Bennet tried very hard to have her daughters marry the most socially advanced men and in the end the daughters chose socially respectable men.
Filmmaking is an art like no other. It brings people together to create magnificent stories that people can view either on their television or on the big screen. The creators of film could not have imagined how far filmmaking would go and how much it would impact the world of entertainment. The invention of filmmaking has evolved over a long period of time and will continue to impact the world of entertainment.
Within the context of film industry, the film Titanic by James Cameron belongs to epic romance/ disaster genre. The film, released in 1997, was a global box office hit because the director provided equal importance to history, fiction and romance. To be specific, one can see that the film’s plot is based upon the history of RMS Titanic. On the other side, the main characters including the protagonist and the heroine (Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater/Dawson) are fictional characters. Besides, the element of romance between the main characters (Jack and Rose) is the film’s main attraction. Thesis statement: The critical analysis of the film Titanic proves that the innovative mode of storytelling (flash back and other techniques), Acting, Cinematography, Editing, Sound, Style and Directing (equal importance to fictional and historical characters), Societal Impact, and Genre (epic romance/disaster) are the most important factors behind the film’s success as a historical/fictional masterpiece (special references specific shots, scenes, characters, stylistic devices and/or themes).