Titanic - Analysis of the Movie - part 1: Introduction and plot synopsis

CATEGORY: MOVIES; WARNING: THIS ANALYSIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

[Image at left from the Wikipedia 'Titanic (1997 film)' page; "Titanic poster",[a] licensed under fair use via Wikipedia.]











Welcome to the analysis of Titanic. Buttons at the bottom of each post enable navigation through the parts of the analysis.

Titanic is a 1997 American epic romantic disaster film which was directed, written, co-produced, co-edited and partly financed by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its ill-fated maiden voyage.


Production on Titanic began in 1995, when Cameron shot footage of the actual Titanic wreck. The modern scenes were shot on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, which Cameron had used as a base when filming the wreck. A reconstruction of the Titanic was built at Playas de Rosarito in Baja California, and scale models and computer-generated imagery were used to recreate the sinking. The film was partially funded by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox, and, at the time, was the most expensive film ever made, with an estimated budget of $200 million. Below is a plot synopsis of the film.


Plot
In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team aboard the research vessel Keldysh search the wreck of RMS Titanic for a necklace with a rare diamond, the Heart of the Ocean. They recover a safe and find inside a drawing of a nude woman wearing only the necklace. The drawing is dated April 14, 1912, the day the Titanic hit the iceberg. An elderly woman calling herself Rose Dawson Calvert and claiming to be the person in the drawing visits Lovett, and tells of her experiences as a passenger on the Titanic.

Above left: A safe found aboard the sunken Titanic is hauled onto the Keldysh. Above right: An elderly Rose Dawson Calvert views this hand-held mirror found in the safe; she says the mirror is one that belonged to her.

In 1912 Southampton, first class passengers Ruth DeWitt Bukater, her daughter, 17-year old Rose DeWitt Bukater (wearing large hat), and Rose's fiancé, Caledon "Cal" Hockley, board the Titanic.



Ruth emphasizes the importance of Rose's engagement; the marriage will resolve the DeWitt Bukaters' secret financial problems. Made distraught by the engagement, Rose considers committing suicide by jumping off the ship's stern; Jack Dawson, a penniless artist, intervenes and convinces her not to jump. Discovered with Jack, Rose tells Cal she was looking over the edge and Jack saved her from falling. Cal is at first indifferent to Jack's actions, but when Rose indicates that some recognition is due, Cal offers Jack a small amount of money. After Rose mocks Cal by asking if saving her life meant so little, he invites Jack to dine with them in first class the following night. Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship, even though Cal and Ruth are wary of the young third class passenger. Following the dinner, Rose secretly joins Jack at a party in third class.

Jack and Rose dancing at the party in third class.


Cal and Ruth both disapprove of Rose seeing Jack, so Rose attempts to rebuff Jack's continuing advances. However, she soon realizes that she prefers him to Cal, and goes to meet him during what turns out to be the Titanic's last moments of daylight ever. They go to Rose's stateroom, where she asks Jack to sketch her nude wearing only the Heart of the Ocean necklace, which was Cal's engagement present to her. Afterward, they evade Cal's bodyguard and make love in an automobile in the ship's cargo hold. Later, the pair go to the ship's forward deck, witness a collision with an iceberg, then overhear the ship's officers and designer discussing its seriousness. Rose and Jack decide to warn her mother and Cal.

Cal opens his safe, and retrieves some items from it (below left). He finds among these items Jack's sketch of Rose, and he also finds a mocking note from Rose (as shown at below right).

Furious, Cal arranges for his bodyguard to slip the necklace into Jack's coat pocket. Accused of stealing it, Jack is arrested, taken to the Master-at-arms' office, and handcuffed to a pipe. Cal puts the necklace in his own coat pocket. Rose evades both Cal and her mother, who has managed to board a lifeboat, then frees Jack. The crew starts to launch flares to attempt to obtain help from nearby ships.

Once Jack and Rose reach the top deck, Cal and Jack encourage Rose to board a lifeboat (as shown at left).


Cal claims that he has arranged for himself and Jack to get off safely. After Rose boards, Cal tells Jack the arrangement is only for himself. As Rose's boat lowers away, she realizes she cannot leave Jack and jumps back on board the Titanic to reunite with him. Infuriated, Cal takes a pistol and chases them into the flooding first class dining saloon. After using up all of his ammunition, Cal realizes, to his chagrin, that he gave his coat and the diamond to Rose.

With the situation now extreme, Cal returns topside and boards a lifeboat by carrying a lost child in his arms (shown at left).


Jack and Rose return to the top deck. All lifeboats have now departed and passengers are falling to their deaths as the stern rises out of the water and the ship's power goes out. The ship then breaks in half, and the stern rises 90 degrees into the air (below left). As it sinks, Jack and Rose ride the stern into the ocean. Jack helps Rose onto a wooden panel only buoyant enough to support one person (below right). Holding the edge of the panel, he assures her she will die an old woman, warm in her bed. Jack dies from hypothermia. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe has commandeered a lifeboat to search for survivors. Rose gets Lowe's attention and is saved.

Rose and the other survivors are taken by the RMS Carpathia to New York, where Rose gives her name as Rose Dawson in memory of Jack. She hides from Cal on Carpathia's deck as he searches for her. She learns later that he committed suicide after losing everything in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Rose's story causes Lovett to abandon his search. Rose goes alone to the stern of Keldysh, takes out the Heart of the Ocean — in her possession all along (below left) — and drops it into the sea over the wreck site. When she is seemingly asleep in her bed, the photos on her dresser show she lived a life of freedom and adventure thanks to Jack. A young Rose is then seen reuniting with Jack at the Grand Staircase of the RMS Titanic, congratulated by those who perished on the ship (below right).[b]

a. Poster for Titanic: The poster art copyright is believed to belong to 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures.
b. Wikipedia, Titanic (1997 film). Web, n.d. URL = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film).

Titanic analysis - part 4: The RMS Titanic was, in reality, a 'disguised' RMS Olympic

CATEGORY: MOVIES



Above left: Early in the movie, a man makes use of a computerized simulation to explain the Titanic sinking scenario to an elderly Rose (seated at left). Above right: A close-up of the Titanic on the man's computer screen. The forward starboard (front right) portholes on C deck, are enclosed in the green rectangle pointed to by the yellow arrow.

A magnified view of the enclosed area from above. Note that there are fourteen forward starboard portholes on C deck on the computer diagram of the ship, which is presumably based on the original Titanic drawings that were created when the ship itself was designed. The point is that it was intended that Titanic, when built, would have fourteen portholes on the forward starboard side of C deck.




















Above: A little later in the movie during Rose's 'flashback' of Titanic's voyage, it is evident that there are fifteen forward starboard portholes on C deck of the ship. The discrepancy between the designed and actual number of portholes is explained below.


The accepted version of the sinking of Titanic is that she sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning of 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg, during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK, to New York City, US; the sinking resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 passengers and crew.

An alternative theory concludes that the ship that sank was, in fact, Titanic's sister ship Olympic, disguised as Titanic, as an insurance scam.

Olympic was the older sister of Titanic, built alongside the more famous vessel but launched in October 1910 (Titanic was launched in 1912). Her exterior profile was nearly identical to Titanic, save for minor details such as the number of portholes on the forward C decks of the ships.[a]

In September 1911 during its fifth commercial voyage, the Olympic collided with the HMS Hawke near the Isle of Wight, southern England. It was later determined that suction from the Olympic had pulled the Hawke into the ocean liner. Both ships suffered major damage, and the Olympic did not return to service until November 1911.[b]

Because of the finding that Olympic was to blame for the collision, its insurers allegedly refused to pay out on the claim made on it. Since construction on Titanic had not yet been completed, and Olympic had to be repaired, a serious financial loss would be incurred by the company that owned the two ships, White Star Line, due to loss of use. To make sure at least one vessel was earning money, the badly damaged Olympic was patched-up and then converted to become the Titanic. The real Titanic when complete would then quietly enter service as the Olympic. One alleged plan was that the patched-up Olympic, disguised as Titanic, would then be disposed of in such a manner so that White Star could collect the full insured value of a brand new ship.[a]

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Since the maker of the film under analysis here, James Cameron, depicts the designed number of portholes on the Titanic (14, on the forward starboard part of C deck) to be different than the actual number when it set sail (15 at this location, the same number as on the Olympic - see first photo below), the indication is that he believes that the Olympic and Titanic were, in fact, switched.

Recall from previous posts in this analysis that Cameron placed inaccuracies in the film. He did this intentionally, in order to get us, the audience, to question (and research) the accepted version of events surrounding the Titanic and its sinking. When we see that we have been 'deceived' about the history of the Titanic by Cameron, we are to extrapolate this to the fact that we have been lied to about the ship's history in real life. Then, each of us will be in the proper frame of mind such that we can realize and accept the fact, that the Titanic was switched with the Olympic.

Olympic arriving at New York on her maiden voyage in June 1911. There are fifteen forward starboard portholes on C deck. The name "Olympic" can be seen inside the brown oval (click image to enlarge). [Image from the Wikipedia 'RMS Olympic' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; edited for clarity.]

RMS Titanic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912. There are fifteen forward starboard portholes on C deck. The name "Titanic" is discernible inside the brown oval (click image to enlarge). [Image from the Wikipedia 'RMS Titanic' page, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; edited for clarity.]



a. Wikipedia, 'RMS Titanic alternative theories'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic_alternative_theories.
b. 'Olympic'. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 30 Sep. 2015. URL = http://www.britannica.com/topic/Olympic.

Titanic analysis - part 3: More inaccuracies; putting Titanic deaths in perspective

CATEGORY: MOVIES








Rose prepares to break Jack free so that he can be saved from drowning.



From Warren Farrell's book, Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say:

"While we know [the movie] Titanic had a fictionalized story line, it developed a reputation for being meticulously researched with many characters based on reality. In some ways that was true. But one of the most fascinating stories behind the movie is the story revealed by what is and is not fiction. ...

Titanic Fiction: A woman saves a man at the repeated risk of her life.

Titanic Fact: There is no record of a woman risking her life to save an adult man, no less repeatedly.

Titanic Fiction: Men in charge decided to lock third class (steerage) passengers below the decks.

Titanic Fact: Public Record Office documents in London show that this never happened - in fact, a higher percentage of men from second class died than men from third class (92% vs. 88%) and 55% of the third class women lived, which would not have been possible had they been locked below.[a]

Titanic Fiction: Being poor made one even more disposable than being a man.

Titanic Fact: Being a man and being poor both increased disposability, but being a man increased it significantly more than being poor. First class men were 22 times more likely to die (66% vs. 3%) than first class women.[b] The richest men were significantly more likely to die than the poorest women. ...

Here is the breakdown by class and sex:[c]


              Class                   % of men dying       % of women dying

1st	66%	3%
2nd	92%	16%
3rd	88%	45%

Finally, the multiple scenes of men as cowards...negates the reality, especially regarding First Officer William Murdoch, who was portrayed in the film as taking a bribe, shooting a third-class passenger, and then killing himself. In real life, 'Murdoch behaved heroically, sacrificing his life after laboring frantically to save others.'[d]"

We will soon find out why it is, that Cameron intentionally placed these historical inaccuracies in his movie.


a. AP & Nando Times, "New Fight Over Film Version of Titanic Tragedy", April 9, 1998, in Farrell, Warren, Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say, New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1999, p. 289.
b. Ibid., p. 289.
c. Ibid., p. 289.
d. Joseph Sobran, "The Story of the Real Titanic", Universal Press Syndicate, April 1998, in Farrell, Women Can't Hear, p. 290.


    

Titanic analysis - part 2: Cameron has intentionally placed inaccuracies in the film

CATEGORY: MOVIES



Above left: Two deep see diving vehicles explore the Titanic wreck, at the beginning of the movie. Above right: Brock Lovett uses a handheld video camera to record pictures of the Titanic's deck, from one of the diving vehicles. He is heard saying, "Dive six. Here we are again on the deck of the Titanic, two and one-half miles down, three thousand eight hundred twenty-one meters. The pressure outside is three and a half tons per square inch. These windows are nine inches thick and if they go, it's [goodbye] in two microseconds. Alright, enough of that bullshit."

There is a problem with Lovett's numbers. Since 1 meter = 3.281 feet, 3,821 meters is equivalent to about 12,537 feet. The pressure at this depth would be approximately 5,585 pounds per square inch (psi),[a] but Lovett says the pressure is 3.5 tons psi, and since 1 ton = 2000 pounds, the number given by Lovett equates to 7,000 psi; this is quite a bit higher than 5,585 psi.

Brock is also wrong about the thickness of the windows. He says they are 9 inches thick, but the Russian Mir, the actual Deep Submergence Vehicle that is carried by the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, is capable of descending to a depth of 6,000 meters, and each of its three viewports is only 18 centimeters (7.1 inches) thick.[b]




Above left: The Russian spelling of the name on the side of the scientific research ship used in the movie (click image to enlarge), when 'translated' into English letters, reads "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh." Above right: The Deep Submergence Vehicle being retrieved from the water, after its crew is done exploring the Titanic wreckage.

James Cameron has intentionally placed inaccuracies in the film, with the hope that the audience will notice them. In upcoming posts in this analysis, we'll look at some more inaccuracies, and we'll see why Cameron wants us to notice them.


a. The 5,585 psi figure was obtained using the MyCalTool 'Pressure at depth' calculator, URL = http://www.calctool.org/CALC/other/games/depth_press.
b. Wikipedia, Mir (submersible). Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_(submersible).