Titanic (1997), Looking Back at the Past: Approach to Marxist Criticism

The film began with the search for the valuable and precious Heart of the Ocean necklace. Brock Lovett and his team believed that the necklace sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean along with the Titanic. They failed numerous times until they found a vault that they believe contains the necklace. As it was broadcast live on TV, they opened the vault only to be very dismayed that there was no diamond necklace inside. Just a sketch of a naked woman wearing the treasure they were looking for. Lovett was hopeless until he received a phone call from an elderly woman who claimed to know who the naked woman was. Rose along with her granddaughter landed on Lovett’s ship. He didn’t want to believe Rose. Not until he said that she is the woman in the drawing. She began to narrate the story of her as a first-class passenger on the “unsinkable” ship. The flashback began with the arrival of a carriage with Rose DeWitt Bukater, her mother Ruth, and her wealthy and ignorant fiancé Caledon Hockley. First class passengers boarded the Titanic. At the same time, a young Jack Dawson won third-class tickets to the Titanic in a game of poker with his friend Fabrizio. Rose was forced by her mother to marry Cal to save her degrading wealth status. Unhappy about marrying a man she doesn’t love, she ran to the edge of the Titanic near the propellers and planned to commit suicide by throwing herself into the icy ocean. Fortunately, Jack saw Rose trying to jump off the railing. He successfully convinced her not to jump. “You jump I jump.” he said. As a thank you to Jack, Rose urged Cal to invite him to dinner.

After said dinner, Jack secretly invited Rose over for “the real fun.” That’s in the third-class party. They had a lot of fun and Rose was free to do the things she was never able to do with first-class people. They began to fall in love with each other. On the other hand, Bruce Ismay, the ship’s owner, proposed to Captain Thomas Andrews to tie up the Titanic’s course to gain publicity. And yes, indeed. They got publicity in a different way. Jack and Rose continued to see each other on the boat even though Rose’s mother disagreed. Rose asked Jack, who was an amazing artist, to draw her nude using only the Heart of the Ocean. They were enjoying the night until the Titanic hit the iceberg. The first affected were the lowest part of the ship where the workers were. As the Titanic sank, all women and children were asked to board small boats and some less fortunate poor people were locked below.

On the other hand, Jack was framed by Cal for stealing the Heart of the Ocean and was locked in a room as a prisoner. Rose refused to board the lifeboat with her mother and some first-class passengers. Instead, she went back to find Jack. The two fought against all odds. They met Cal who forced Rose to board the lifeboat and told her a lie that he and Jack had their own lifeboat to catch. As she lowered the lifeboat, Rose just couldn’t bear the thought of being without him, so she jumped back onto the sinking Titanic. Cal was so furious that he tried to kill them by shooting at them, but was unsuccessful. After the ship sank, Rose and Jack held cold hands as Rose lay on a floating door and Jack froze in the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Jack was already frozen before help arrived. When Rose reached safety, she saw Caledon looking for her and hid from him. In the pocket of the coat that Cal lent him, was the Heart of the Ocean. When asked what her name was, instead of saying her real name, she said Rose Dawson. The movie ended with old Rose throwing the Heart of the Ocean overboard. That night she dreamed that Jack was waiting for her on the grand staircase of the Titanic, they kiss and are applauded by those who were lost in the disaster.

From the beginning of the film to the end, the difference between rich and poor was clearly shown in the film. From the part before they got on the boat, until they got down into the water. The iconic couple Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and Rose DeWitt Bukater, played by Kate Winslet, show this division between rich and poor. Jack was the poor nomadic type. He didn’t even buy the ticket from him, but he did by winning the third-class tickets in a poker game that happened minutes before he sailed the ship. However, Rose Bukater was not only rich, they were the richest people in the world during that time period. They were in the first elite class where they could enjoy the complete luxury of the RMS Titanic and all the pleasures that it offers. Not only can they board the ship and sleep and eat in the best part of the ship, but even their cars, which are also undoubtedly the best at the time, can also travel with them in the bottom of the ship. boat. But that’s just the beginning of the movie.

After some time on board the ship, Jack saw that Rose was planning to jump from the stern of the ship, which was where they first met. This part shows that even if you have a lot of money, you can’t really buy genuine happiness. Jack saw it and talked her out of jumping, and was then invited to dinner. After dinner, Jack secretly invited Rose to the party for the third-class passengers, where Rose had so much fun that she didn’t go up to first class. Another part where the film shows the difference between the “rich” and the “poor”. The clips went back and forth from the quiet atmosphere of first class, drinking and smoking alcohol and expensive cigarettes, to the noisy, chaotic and fun lower deck of third class, comparing the two, where Rose and Jack enjoyed themselves. the rest of the night, until the iceberg finally hits the ship. At this point, the strategic locations of the first and third classes make sense. If a ship was damaged, hit by an iceberg and was going to sink, the people below, which is 3rd class, are the first to experience how the waters slowly swallow the ship. While 1st class people can safely board the emergency boats without a single drop of water falling on them, because they are located on the upper decks of the ship, where they can receive the news from below and decide what to do. do while the passengers on the lower decks panic. But this is where things start to change.

After the Titanic was hit by the iceberg, it began to sink, slowly moving down and being swallowed by the cold water of the North Atlantic Ocean. The ship’s damaged hull caused waters to rush in from the bottom of the ship to the top. People on the lower decks begin to wonder why water is getting into the ship. While the first class has no idea, what is happening next. But when the latter get the news, they are handed life jackets while the 3rd class passengers fear drowning. The ship continues to sink, the 1st class passengers are already out of the ship’s cabins and on deck, waiting to board the small emergency boats, while the 3rd class passengers are locked below deck so they don’t interfere with the First class trying to get to safety. The small boats were also not enough to keep everyone on board safe, not even half of them. That’s why they decided who lives and who dies according to their class, if you’re rich, you live, if you’re poor, well, I’m sorry. That’s why we’re locked down below, while the first-class passengers quietly board the ships. But still, not all 1st class passengers get on board first, they let the women and children board the boats first before the men. But before everyone was safe, the people from the 3rd class passengers like Jack, who was with Rose, broke through the barrier between 1st and 3rd class and they all headed to the upper deck of the ship. ship, causing a mutiny. . The ship then sank, some of the people, mostly first class passengers, women and children, were in the emergency boats, and the rest went down with the ship or in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Overall, the movie is without a doubt one of the best movies of all time. It has many interesting topics to ponder and the iconic love story of Jack and Rose that proves that love will find a way to bring people together, even if one is a first class passenger and the other is lower class. How about you? Will you allow labels and socioeconomic status to get in the way of your connection and interaction with others?