Introduction
Titanic (1997) is an epic film directed, written, produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Titanic is an epic film that shows a love story in a setting of a great disaster. The story involves a seventeen-year-old Rose who falls in love with Jack, who rescues her. The whole story takes place on board the famous ship. The movie describes Rose’s penniless mother forcing her daughter into a marriage with a rich, supercilious snob Cal. Devastated, Rose attempts suicide and is saved by Jack, who is a traveling artist. Later on, Rose and Jack fall in love, despite being from very different social classes. Rose decides to leave Cal and gets together with Jack, and right at that time, the Titanic crashes into an iceberg. The plot then turns into Rose and Jack’s attempts to save themselves from a sinking ship. Overall, Titanic is a cultural phenomenon and will be further analyzed through the auteur theory. Its production techniques and the movie’s connection with society will be discussed over the course of this essay as well.
Auteur Theory and Titanic
Auteur theory is a film theory that states that the director is the author of a film and, therefore, their intentions are what shape the film’s narrative. Auteur theory is a way of analyzing films that focuses on the role of the director in shaping all aspects of a film (Morrison, 2018). This includes what the movie looks like, who plays which roles, and how it ends. To some, it is an ultimate goal to achieve total control over every detail in their movies.
James Cameron is an ultimate example of an auteur director, thus making Titanic a perfect film to analyze through the lens of this theory. Cameron not only directed but also wrote the screenplay, produced, and even co-edited Titanic. The three components of auteur theory are technical competence, different personality, and interior meaning (Morrison, 2018). All three components in Titanic fully demonstrate Cameron’s directing talent.
In terms of technical competence, the film is ahead of its time. The special effects from 1997 can match contemporary easily. The ship is demonstrated in great detail and is nearly a perfect copy of the actual ship. That is one of Cameron’s distinctive touches, that attention to detail. The film is one of the most expensive movies ever made. The director not only wrote the screenplay but also helped with montage and editing, as well as casting choices.
Regarding distinguishable personality, Titanic is a historical fiction where fictional characters cross paths with real ones. It is a “Romeo and Juliette” story on the Titanic, and it works because it makes the storyline relatable. The plot has seven fictional characters, and the rest are real people, demonstrating the incredible amount of historical research done for that movie. The film can relate to the modern audience because of the simplicity of the love story in it. James Cameron is famous for this hands-on approach, and Titanic is a testament to his genius. Auteurs make films that have many layers of hidden meaning. Titanic’s basic layer of meaning is that it is a tragic love story. However, when digging deeper, one can see the social drama and tragedy, explore examples of toxic relationships and discover the life purpose of the heroine. The film’s biggest theme is a social drama, showing classism and gender inequality.
Production Techniques in Titanic
There is a number of specific techniques and design elements employed in the film as they contribute to the overarching narrative and theme of the film. They include elements of mise-en-scène (e.g., lighting, sound, the composition of the frame, costuming, etc.) and editing (e.g., cuts and transitions, shots used, angles, etc.).
The production design of Titanic is incredibly specific and accurate to the time; all the little nuances and touches turn the title character, a ship, into an actual one that the audience cares about. In every other scene, the shot demonstrates the ship, which artfully grabs the viewer’s attention to the details of the Titanic. The composition of the frame also reveals the details in the shot. Especially the moment when Rose is presented with a diamond by Cal, and the shot shows them reflected in the mirror, slowly zooming in. The scene shows how desperate and trapped Rose looks, and the exact opposite for Cal. It is a relatively simple shot, but it makes the storytelling incredibly impactful, demonstrating a clear difference and incompatibility between the characters.
Another design element that contributes to the narrative in Titanic is costume design. At the beginning of the scene, Rose is dressed very similarly to her mother. The heroine has agreed to marry for money and is following a path chosen for her. Throughout the movie, her dresses change and become simpler. When Rose and Jack finally get together, she wears a very simple grey dress, seemingly showing her agreement to become a part of his social status (which is much lower than hers). When Rose is rescued, she wears that simple dress and a man’s coat; she is completely stripped of anything that might identify her class. This shows that the heroine has chosen a path for herself to move forward, and she departs from her old life.
The shots and transitions in the sinking scene demonstrate Cameron at his finest. The director shows how every single detail of the entourage on the ship is destroyed. It is followed by the close of the characters, and their emotions make the scene more powerful. Moreover, the story turns the ship from a simple exterior into a character of the film. In the scene where the head engineer apologizes to the main characters, the shot is angled to demonstrate that the boat is sinking. The apology is made for not building a stronger ship, which gives the boat a voice, thus turning it into a character. It is not the engineer apologizing; it is the ship apologizing, which makes the sinking scene much more powerful.
The Film and Society
Titanic presents three main issues: classism, sex, and gender inequality. The main characters are from different social classes, which causes the majority of problems. Throughout the story, Titanic skillfully demonstrates classism, where characters from different classes are treated very differently. When saving of upper-class passengers was extremely different from the lower-class ones, to the point where it caused the loss of many lives. Another social problem in the film is gender inequality, where Rose is not allowed to make her own choices and is patronized by Cal. The film raises very deep social questions that are still relevant today.
Conclusion
James Cameron is an example of an auteur director; he directed, wrote the screenplay, produced, and even co-edited Titanic. This gave him an opportunity to fully control the filmmaking process resulting in a masterpiece. One of Cameron’s unique touches is omnipresent attention to detail, which makes the film stand out. The film uses visualization and design techniques that emphasize the characters’ journey. Titanic is a social phenomenon that demonstrates the highest skills in acting and directing and presents contemporary social problems that did not lose their relevance even now.
References
Morrison, J. (2018). Auteur theory and my son John. Bloomsbury.