Andrew Latimer
How has James Cameron presented and adapted the true story of The Titanic for the cinema?
The Titanic was a gripping story written by James Cameron in 1996. It is a re-write of what happened in 1912, and it tells the story well, and it has many realistic features, and to make the story even more impressive, James Cameron adds a love story to the equation, and the story is a success, which is very emotional, and a calamity at the same time. James Cameron manages to really make the audience watching the movie feel what is going on, and what it would have been like to experience being on the Titanic. The Titanic, is likely James Cameron’s finest piece of work, and he has written others like “Terminator”, and “Aliens.”
The film manages to separate the first class people from the second-class people, and it does it in a way that shows us how to really tell the difference between the two social classes. The first class people get to stay on the really nice part of the Titanic, where as the second-class people stay on a much rougher part of the Titanic. There is a scene that really shows this, when Jack and his friend first get on the Titanic, and find where they’re going to stay. As they are second-class citizens they weren’t very well dressed, and when they find where they’re going to stay, they are impressed, even though it is a small, dull, rough looking room, and they have to share a bunk bed. A first class person would not be happy with living under these conditions. After this part of the movie it switches to where Cal-Rose’s fiancé- and the rest of the posh people will be staying. The posh people are staying in a rather big place, which was clean, bright, and looked very expensive with shiny cutlery, and expensive chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling. The way it just switched from the two scenes showed the differences between the two classes perfectly. When the first class people are having dinner, and enjoying themselves talking about is how wealthy they are, and Jack puts on a front just to impress, and then afterwards the scene changes and when Jack and Rose go to a fun evening out with the second-class people, they are drunk, dancing, having fun, and basically doing the opposite of what the first class people would’ve done. At the part where Cal doesn’t know who Jack is, but he knows he is a second-class person, he refers to him as “filth”, and this shows how it is being criticized. Even at the part of the movie where the Titanic is sinking, the first class people have a back up plan, and can get away quickly, and safely on a boat, where as the second-class people have to scream, and make noise, trying to find a way to survive.
