Titanic – A study in human psychology

Titanic is a story of two lovers, a study in human psychology, a smack down on the aristocratic bourgeois, an tantalizing crush on the pride of human marvels, and of course a tragic history retold - all in dramatic, enrapturing and brilliant cinematography.

Story of two lovers

I remember the night I first saw Titanic, I just couldn’t get the image of Rose out of my head. I remember being blown off by feet (figuratively) the first time Cameron zoom in on her – red hair, milky white skin with delicate pink on the cheek, parted succulent lips, marine blue eyes, a ravishing face – clad in corset and gloves, sporting her hat with confidence, speaking with authority and softness – the portrait of a classic Victorian woman.

On the other hand of the spectrum is Jack Dawson. A high-spirited, boisterous, unkempt and pragmatic vagabond. Unsure of where he might end up the other day, he is what I would call unafraid of life. What I really admired about Jack was his indomitable spirit to learn, unlearn and relearn and be confident. How he escorted Rose through the dinner, introducing himself with unfaultered, genuine confidence. The way he defended his dignity at every bitter lash made by Rose’s mother at his condition to defile him. As he proclaimed at the dinner, that he is grateful for “air in my lungs, and a few sheets to draw on”. It was this exalted and allow me to say, sweetly deluded perspective of life that made Rose fall for him as is evident when she chose the penny less Jack over the rich and fat Cal though she knew it won’t be easy. It made me realise people don’t want to be rich forever. What they really want is variety lest things become boring. All of life is an attempt to escape from boredom.

Rose came out all right. She learnt to spit, to swim, to wade through neck deep, freezing water and punch a man. (These are pretty scandalous things to do for a Victorian lady). But what she truly learnt (and we did too) from Jack was to be fearless and to never waste life.

Aristocracy.

Oh god where do I begin? The first half of the movie contrasts the lives of first-class and third-class passengers onboard the Titanic which is a genius instrument employed to highlight how the same bureaucrats and aristocrats are skimpering and rattling like rats for their wasted lives in the second half. Their every action measured and planned, forced and unhearted. The women chatting in a particular manner, the men crashing on brandy and cigars talking nuisance and boasting themselves to embroil themselves in a false delusion of self-righteousness.

Cal Hockley having the worthless courage to say, “The better half” when Rose says only half the people onboard can be saved. Oh and this genuine scum bag. Shouting at rose, slapping her, abusing her, bribing the officer, using a little child to get on the lifeboats (I mean come on, have some guts). Do these kind of men believe they have some ownership of their partner? What mental injury compels them to believe so? (I admit I’m writing this post partly to let out my rage and shout and insult this crap of a wimp to my heart’s content).

The movie is rife with instances of bureaucratic mundanities. The dinner being a prime example of one.
The most magnificent example of irony was when the cranky old bureaucrat came down from his house in the best of his suit, donning a round hat refusing to wear his life jacket lest his suit gets dirty, sitting down and coolly asking for brandy while literally half the ship is underwater. Are these people really so numb and detached from reality by all the drugs, drinks and humping that they do? Another hilarious shot Cameron sneaked in the grosteque second half was the musicians playing music to keep the first class “lively”. As Tommy was running past them, he exclaims, “Music to drown to? Now I know I’m in the first class.” The pleasant music forms a chilling contrast to the harsh reality that was unfolding as the truth really hit home: They were gonna die. 1517 of the ~2231 passengers drowned, or froze due to hypothermia. Roughly half of them could have been saved.

A study in human psychology

Cameron had painted a fairy tale love story onboard a most dramatic accident in human history. And as all fairy tales need characters, he made sure we had plenty.

Margaret Brown aka “The Unsinkable Molly”, a character based on a real survivor onboard the Titanic, was a godmother to Jack. She helped him suit up for the dinner so he feels confident, educated him through the etiquettes of high class dinner, defended him in conversations when the bitter words became unbearable for Jack (though those instances were few I believe). She was a mother figure Jack never had. Her affection and gratitude towards Jack was because she truly understood the struggles of the lower class, herself being a “New Money” — a slang employed to emphasise a newly acquired wealth as opposed to inherited “born with a silver spoon” wealth. And partly because she could see through people and knew that Jack was a good person at heart.

Mr. Andrews and Mr. Isamay, who were singing hymns for the invulnerability of the Titanic, later are seen stung by their own words. Particularly hideous was the character of the cowardly Isamay, who wanted to make morning headlines but ended up sneaking into one of the first lifeboats. Human nature is selfish and flawed. To confront it in its raw and real form takes courage. There were heroes onboard too – those who sacrificed their lives for others. But unfortunately, those who poised as heroes turned out to be cowards. The ship captain, Mr. Murdoch, Isamay, Rose’s mother and of course, Caledon Hockley.

As Bassanio says in “The Merchant of Venice”:

How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false
As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins
The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars;
Who, inward search’d, have livers white as milk;

And the numerous little shots, though equally valuable in spinning a complete tapestry of human nature, of all these unnamed passengers as they struggled, scurried and hung on to their dear lives for as long as they possibly can. The girl Rose saw when she was at the hull of the broken ship in a vertical position, had no one to save her unlike herself as this thought was evident in her eyes. Her hands couldn’t hold and she did fell and drowned. Or the helpless, possibly oblivious steerage mother with an infant in her arms innocently asking the Captain, “Ka-pi-ten, Ka-pi-ten, where should I go?” It sends shivers down the spine to imagine how brutal it must have been onboard that fateful night of May the 31st, 1911.

Soundtrack

Perhaps, the most famous song is “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion, sung in the end credits.

That is, of course, not to forget James Horner’s beautiful compositions.

Sidenote

$2.195B on a $200M budget. Not bad, eh?