Titanic (1997)
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If I had to choose a film that has affected my life or changed my perspective I would find it difficult. Many films provide us with a false sense of reality. We watch them to escape our own lives for the running time, to imagine a world without our mundane problems. We get to relive something great through the eyes of others, with bigger problems than our own. A film that has changed my perspective and has affected different stages of my life has to be one of the biggest blockbuster films, ‘Titanic’. James Cameron provided a film based on the events on the night of April 14th 1912 when the Titanic sank. He combined actual footage of the Titanic and a subplot of a missing diamond with a romantic storyline on the night of the sinking.
What makes this film epic is not just the long awaited special effects but the romance element that captivated audiences. Many would think that the cliché storyline is the least important aspect of the film but I think otherwise. The plot and the love interests are what affected me the most growing up and throughout my life have made me think about my own problems. I have watched this film so many times now but at each stage of my life it meant many different things to me.
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Nowadays Titanic is underrated as people do not share the same romantic weakness as I have. I see the love between these two characters as an escape from my own life. The pendant Rose wears signifies their love as she holds onto the ‘heart of the ocean’ all her life until she is finally reunited with Jack once again at her death. These types of strong bonds give us hope in our own lives that there is something more to life and something worth living for. Jack tells Rose to ‘never let go’ and throughout her life in the story she follows this message by never letting go of Jacks spirit and memory.
The poignant end to the story that Rose is finally reunited with Jack at the clock on the Titanic never fails to bring tears to my eyes. There is a little part of everybody that hopes that in the afterlife we can re-live our fondest memories with the people that made the most impact on our lives. The fact Rose is reunited with Jack after all those years shows the everlasting love which inevitably makes this a film for only true romantics.
The poignant end to the story that Rose is finally reunited with Jack at the clock on the Titanic never fails to bring tears to my eyes. There is a little part of everybody that hopes that in the afterlife we can re-live our fondest memories with the people that made the most impact on our lives. The fact Rose is reunited with Jack after all those years shows the everlasting love which inevitably makes this a film for only true romantics.
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The idea of mixing the past and the present also provides the film with enough substance to last the full 194 minutes. I find it never gets boring as it has interludes of the actual Titanic wreckage[1] as well as collaborating the 21st Century with the 1900s and brings the past to life in a sense. For me, bringing to life the characters on board one of the most famous ships in history is something that is epic and screen worthy. What Cameron does brilliantly is mix fictional characters with historical characters to get a real sense of the Titanic as it could have been. Cameron wanted the film to be like a ‘Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic’[2] and he certainly achieved this. I definitely came away from the cinema hoping there was a love story true to this on board the real Titanic.
What inspires me in this film is some of the real elements that are incorporated such as the orchestra that carried on playing until the end to try and keep the people calm during the sinking. The second half of the film is all about the sinking and how people reacted and the true colours of the characters are shown. The fact that Rose jumps off the boat that would take her to safety as she knows Cal – played by Billy Zane will not save Jack. Her feelings became so strong over such a short time that she would rather die on the ship than allow Jack to be alone. This is what makes Cal insane with jealousy as he is used to getting what he wants but when it comes to true love, the heart wants what it wants and not even the promise of safety or money can stop it.
This is when the real action begins as Cal begins shooting at the lovers and would rather see them both dead than together. His true colours show he cannot really love Rose but ultimately always saw her as a possession rather than an equal partnership. Although Rose is higher in class than Jack, love transcends all boundaries and obstacles. She sees in Jack all the honest and humble qualities that Cal doesn’t possess and this is what she has always wanted. Her life has been nothing but manners and etiquette. Her level of interest in her current life bored her and she was looking for something else, something inspiring. That was when she met Jack and he saved her from this life.
Jack’s worldliness and experience attracts Rose to him, she sees his life as the complete opposite to hers. His drawings highlight his ability to see people for what they really are. He saw through Rose and knew she wasn’t happy with her life. He saw her purity and her need for adventure and gave her the ultimate adventure for such a brief time in her life but a time that changed her significantly and for a lifetime. She lived her life in modesty but to the fullest after his death, briefly shown in the photographs she kept at her bedside. She kept true to her word and never looked back but always kept Jacks memory alive in her heart and through her life. True love should affect all of us in this way at some point in our lives, otherwise we have not lived.
Religiously I watch this film when I need to be reminded of what’s important in life or what is missing from mine. A great love is what everyone hopes for and what everyone deserves. A great love can only happen once; we always remember the one true love in our lives. At a stage when I thought I began to feel love I watched this film and realised that the love I had was not a great love, it wasn’t eternal. A great love is the kind that lives on in your heart even after your apart not only in death but even in separation. The song allocated to the film ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion is perfectly chosen for this film for this reason – that Rose’s love for Jack will always go on.
Films like the ‘Titanic’ will always be epic and stay with us through our lifetime as they show how love should be or how we wish it could be. It takes us away from our own lives and allows us to escape into a true great love, just in case we never get ours.
I had to add in two of the soundtracks to this film that I just love:
I had to add in two of the soundtracks to this film that I just love:
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