Titanic Film and Jean Paul Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism - Essay Example

Titanic Film and Jean Paul Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism This paper will discuss on titanic which has some issues discussed in Jean Paul Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism. As a result, the paper will clearly show some events or issues in the Titanic film that deals with some of the issues discussed in Jean Paul Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism. Philosophical arguments will be presented to support this arguments as well as counter-argument on the same. To start with the paper, a brief introduction of the film will be discussed. Following a dockside game of cards, Jack Dawson wins a trip on the RMS Titanic, he notices a beautiful girl by the name Rose De Witt Bukater. It turns out the girl is on her way to Philadelphia for her anticipated wedding with her rich fiancé Cal Hockley. She was stressed about her situation because she did not love Cal in the first place (Eaton 1). She as a result contemplates suicide as she makes her way up the deck where Jack arrives just in time to save her from the eminent death. Cal is obliged to invite Jack Dawson over for dinner at their first class dining table where Jack has to put up with Cal’s high and mighty hosts. Jack hereby gets a chance and invites Rose De Witt to the third class section of the ship where they dance for the better part of the evening, and the lady has the best time of her life. Jack made his living through sketching on the streets of Paris; due to this fact, Rose requests Jack to sketch her nude wearing only the blue diamond that was given to her by Cal. When later Cal finds out, he orders for Jack to be locked away (Eaton 5). The ship fatefully hits an iceberg and all the passengers in the ship are doomed, and their lives seem to be hanging on a weak thread. The ship begins to sink deeper into the cold water, and Jack and Rose struggle to find each other and run away from her fiancé Cal. Secondly, a synopsis of the film will be discussed as follows. The journey to Philadelphia was meant for Cal’s and Roses’ wedding. They used the biggest ship by the name Titanic. Jack was a common man who made his living by sketching in the streets of Paris. He wins a trip on the Titanic during a game of cards, so he also boarded the Titanic. Rose did not want to marry Cal so she decided to take her own life, and this is where Jack comes in and saves her (Eaton 20). They develop a very strong friendship which later becomes a romantic relationship as they fall in love. Rose requests Jack to draw her nude as she wears only the blue diamond necklace. Cal discovers the drawing and conspires for Jack to be locked away. This was done to keep him away from Rose. At the same time, the ship hits an iceberg, and this changes the motion of events entirely. The ship begins to sink, and people fight for their lives as they use the life boats to save themselves. Rose refuses to leave Jack behind and sticks with him as they run away from Cal who chases them with a gun due to his infuriation. His bullets diminish, and he gives up on the chase and boards one of the life boats to save his life. Jack and rose struggle to get to the deck and they realize that all the life boats are long gone. They find one wooden block that can only support one person so Jack decided to save Rose, and he eventually died of hyperthermia. Rose was saved by the rescue team later (Eaton 50). At the end of the movie titanic, we see that Rose did not marry Cal as it was planned at the beginning of the journey due to the fact that Rose fell in love with Jack and chose him over Cal. The two love birds Rose and Cal intended to unite together, but the fateful crash of the Titanic to the iceberg made that impossible. Rose is our main character in the movie, and she appears to be a loving person. This is depicted in many instances for instance when she risked her own life by leaving the life boat and rushing back into the sinking ship as she could not bear the thought of living without him. She had to save him at the cost of her own life (Tibballs 100). She is humble because she gives up on having to marry Cal simply because her mother insisted she do to maintain her wealth status. She instead falls in love with Jack who is a poor man, but she does not mind the poverty she is in love. She defies her mothers’ orders for her to marry Cal so as to maintain her wealth status because Cal was a wealthy man. Instead, she falls in love and has an affair with Jack. This was a very courageous move. When she was on the deck about to jump and take her own life Jack saves her life, and they fall in love gradually. This was a turn of events, and it affected the whole agenda of the journey which was to get married to her fiancé Cal who she actually was not in love with. The crash of the ship to the iceberg was another major event that actually doomed the whole journey as people lost their lives whilst others got major injuries. Jack was amongst those who eventually lost their lives whilst Rose got lucky as she got saved by a rescue team. She hides her identity by giving out a false name so that Cal could not find her (Eaton 100). It was a sad love story. Cal is another of the main characters who is depicted to be quite arrogant due the behavior he portrays of being possessive of Rose just because he is wealthy he feels able to do anything and to have his way in every situation. He chases Jack and Rose with a gun because he cannot stand the fact that she is not in love with him. He is also depicted to be a proud character due to the fact that he associates himself only with the wealthy people in the ship and he even floss about his wealth when Jack shows up for dinner at the first class section of the ship. He rubs it on Jacks face (Tibballs 100). Cal comes across the naked drawing of Rose done by Jack and he gets really mad and implicates Jack in a scum just so as he can be locked away. He does this because of his jealous feelings. He gives up on Rose just to save his own skin when the boat was sinking. This was because Rose was on the run with Jack as they had both fallen in love. Jack is depicted as a humble character because as we can see he is a poor man who is struggling to make it in life him being a talented artist. He is intelligent because he wins together with his friend in a game of cards which gets him a third class ticket into the titanic. He loves as well because he decided to save Rose at the expense of his own life which was a very emotional moment in the film (Eaton 120). Jack gets lucky because he meets the most beautiful gal by the name Rose whom he saves during her attempt to commit suicide. From that moment, the two fell in love, and that was quite a turn of events. Jack sketches Rose whilst naked and when Cal finds out he gets Jack locked up. One would think that this ought to change Jacks’ feelings for Rose but instead their love got stronger. The ship hit an iceberg and everyone is fighting for their life Jack makes sure that no matter what Rose will be safe and alive. The impact character in this novel is Jack because since his appearance in Rose’s life much has changed. We see that Rose falls in love with Jack and this growing relationship affects her relationship with her fiancé Cal. Cal is very frustrated and even incriminates Jack so as he can be locked away. He results to violence due to infuriation as we see at the end of the novel where he chases Jack with a gun luckily he runs out of bullets and gives up. The appearance of Jack influences Rose’s life a lot as she instantly gives up on the planned wedding with Cal for her new found love Jack. Jack however does not change his view about life throughout the story although he wins the love of the fair lady Rose. As the story begins, Rose was being forced by her mother to marry Cal due to his wealth so as to maintain her wealth status. Rose was not in love with Cal, and the marriage was against her will. The appearance of Jack in the story affects the couples’ relationship, and it hits a rough patch when Rose falls in love with Jack. This relationship between Cal did not last as it died at sea. Philosophical exegesis of “Existentialism is humanity” Various reproaches are made against humans an example is where people are seen to do only what they want to do and what they feel like doing. From the Christian perspective, humans disobey and ignore God’s commandments, expected values, and they are seen to do or act as they please. They do not take life seriously and fail to see reality. From this point of view, no one is thus in a position to judge the actions of the other (Sartre 10). Most of these reproaches emphasis on the negative or evil side of human life which when critically analyzed might actual have some positivity in it. Paul answers these reproaches saying that for every action and truth, imply a given environment as well as human subjectivity. He also talks of certain common sayings such as one must never fight against a superior force or interfere with matters that are above their jurisdiction. He claims that there is simply no human nature because there is no God to come up with a conception of human nature. As a result, each man is exactly whom they want to be and what he makes himself which is in other words referred to as human subjectivity (Sartre 18). Man is meant to be whom he wills to be. Willing and wishing are referred to as a conscious decision that has to be made. That implies that every human is responsible for whom they are which I personally think is true. We make choices of how to go about our day to day lives. We make good and bad choices as well, and we are each responsible for each of the choices we make. They affect how we live our lives. With regard to existentialism, as much as man chooses for himself he also chooses for all men. This is to mean that that we choose to be, and how we chose to act is a reflection of mankind. As a result, whichever choices we make on how to act and whom to be we have to think of the bigger picture and put into consideration the image it portrays of mankind. That shows that man has a big responsibility of making the right choices for the good of the majority. The state of abandonment is also discussed and here it relates pretty well with the situation Rose (from the film Titanic) was faced with. She had to choose whether to defy her mother’s orders to marry Cal for money or to go ahead and do as her mother wishes. If she did as her mother wished she will have shown respect and obedience towards her mother even though all that would have been to the expense of her happiness, peace of mind and life in general. On the other hand, she could choose to defy her mothers’ orders and refuse to marry Cal a man she does not love (Eaton 180). The story or the film reflects various aspects of existentialist whereby most of the characters are expected to make choices and decisions in life. The emphasis is in certain characters in the novel displaying the importance of decisions, personal freedom and commitment. For instance, Jack is seen as a character who is very committed to what he does as portrayed in his artistic work. He is determined to love and save Rose from the forced marriage. He does not give up on her even after being locked away following the nude drawing he had mad of Rose. His life is in danger when Cal chases his with a gun due to anger, but this does not stop him from loving Rose unconditionally. Rose on the other hand has to make some decisions in her life. In one, instance, she had a choice to decide whether to listen to her mother or not on the marriage issue. Yet we can see that she gives in to her mothers’ wish and agrees to carry on with the wedding plans even though she does not love Cal. She feels that she has been pushed too far and that there is no use in living a life where she has to marry someone she does not love, so she decides to commit suicide (Eaton 200). When Jack shows up to save her from jumping from the top deck, she falls in love with him, and that is when she actually goes against her mothers’ wish and leaves Cal for Jack. It was not easy for her, but she did not weaver. In conclusion, it is evident that some issues in Jean Paul Sartre's existentialism is Humanism are linked to the Titanic film as most of the characters are expected to make choices and decisions in life. The emphasis is in certain characters in the novel displaying the importance of decisions, personal freedom and commitment. Works Cited Sartre, Jean P. Existentialism and Humanism. Methuen, 1948, pp. 1-30. Print. Eaton, John. Titanic, Triumph and Tragedy. W. W. Norton & Company Incorporated, 1995, pp. 1- 200. Print. Tibballs, Geoff. The Titanic: the Extraordinary Story of the 'Unsinkable' Ship. Carlton, 1997, pp. 100. Print. Aidan, Lawes. Titanic: l4th-l5th April 1912, The Official Story. Public Record Office, 1997. Print. Read More