ReviewsThoughts When Re-Watching “Titanic”

I saw Titanic in 3-D with a friend last week. More specifically, we saw Titanic in 3-D on the 100th anniversary of the ship sinking. I wish I could say that we were big enough nerds that we planned this ahead of time, but sadly, it was a coincidence that we discovered after we picked a date.

The 3-D was very well done and enhanced the viewing experience of the film. The sequences of the ship sinking were even more effective than they were the first time around, and at one point I almost leaped out of my seat when it felt like the ship’s furniture was floating towards me. And of course, I cried when the band played “Nearer My God to Thee” over the sequence of the elderly couple, the mom and children, Guggenheim, Victor Garber, and King Theoden preparing to die – my favorite part of the movie by far.

Of course, the movie is not without its flaws. The dialogue is bad, and Billy Zane is terrible, and some of the movie is way too sentimental. I had all of these criticisms when I first saw Titanic as a thirteen-year-old. In fact, I was one of those insufferable snots who loudly talked about how much I HATED that movie, because I thought I was so above liking anything that was commercially popular. (I was a lonely child.)

Eventually, I grew out of that junior hipster phase and admitted that I liked Titanic and not only because Kate Winslet is so beautiful in that movie that I can hardly stand it and I want her hair and all of her dresses! (The flying dress is my favorite, though the jump dress is a very close second.) But as an adult who writes about feminism and social justice issues, I was struck by two cringe-worthy scenes that didn’t cross my mind as a thirteen-year-old.

First, there is a scene where Rose boards the Titanic with her mother and her Cartoon Villain fiance. Old Rose narrates:

“It was the ship of dreams to everyone else. To me it was a slave ship, taking me back to America in chains. Outwardly, I was everything a well brought up girl should be. Inside, I was screaming.”

When watching this scene, my friend and I both cringed and had to stifle awkward, disbelieving laughter. We’ve joked about Rose’s White Girl Problems before, but for some reason, this particular line had never stuck out to me. This time? It was all I could do to not send James Cameron a card with this quote on it and a hand-written “Are you kidding me? Sincerely, Lady T.”

I don’t want to minimize how stifling and horrible it can be for a woman to have to marry an abusive man. Even rich women in the early twentieth century didn’t have a wealth of options for their lives. But to compare it to a slave ship? A SLAVE SHIP? Coming back to America in chains?! Old Rose, you know who was actually brought to America in a slave ship?Slaves.

The other problematic aspect I want to address has to do with David Warner’s character. David Warner plays Billy Zane’s right-hand man who follows Rose around. As written, His character is as much of a Cartoon Villain as Zane’s, except he’s a much better actor and comes across as more genuinely threatening than cartoonish. (On a side note, I’ve always wondered where I’ve seen David Warner before, and I finally looked it up and saw that he was Lysander in this version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream!)

Anyway, his character is wholly irredeemable. He’s mean to Rose and helps frame Jack. But don’t worry – he gets his just desserts. When the ship splits down the middle, he falls into the cracks between the two halves of the ship and is electrocuted to death! Yay!

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it wildly inappropriate to create a scene where you’re supposed to cheer for a villain’s death in a film that depicts a real-life tragedy that ended the lives of fifteen hundred people.

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3 Responses to Thoughts When Re-Watching “Titanic”

  1. Crystal says:

    Hi Lady T! I have been following you on feedly since forever and I love how your angry rants makes me laugh in agreement, and how my eyes are now permanently peeled for the underlying prejudices in film and on tv… However I kind of think that this article exemplifies the conflict between the realistic portrayal (that you so often endorse) and political correctedness… I actually think the ‘slave ship’ line is intentionally ironic to introduce the viewer to the melodramatic, naiive, teenagery side of Rose. I agree with you on Billy Zane being ridiculous and his henchman dying in the middle of that scene being kind of inappropriate though!
    xox

    • Lady T says:

      Thanks for the kind words and I’m glad you enjoy the blog. I’m also glad you took the time to comment. I have to disagree with you, though, because I think Cameron’s characterization is extremely black-and-white in this movie, where characters are either good guys or bad guys with very little gray area (the possible exception being Rose’s mother). Especially considering that Rose gives up that evil money and throws that evil diamond back into the ocean at the end, I think we’re very much meant to see Rose’s comfortable lifestyle as a prison, and take her “slave ship” comment seriously.

  2. Katy says:

    Hello Lady T .First of all I have to say that I really like your blog everytime I read it makes me feel in such as a good mood . I saw the movie too and I really liked it .I remember watching this movie when I was a young teenager .Now that Im older I have a differrent conception about the movie ,Besides What I love the most about the movie is the moral : Never give up no matter what . I think everybody needs that message in differents part of our lifes. About the extremely black-and-white characterization I agree with you. I would´ve liked to see a more natural act in the movie as in really life there is no bad or good person , it depends of the context of each situation I think.
    PS: Sorry for my english . Im not a native english speaker
    bye and take care Lady T .

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