Drama and Romance in Titanic Film - Essay Example

My Heart Will Go On Evaluative Argument of Titanic Titanic, one of the most epic and expensive films in history with 11 Oscars to its name has been an object of both appreciation and censure of the critics. Some of the more religious people viewed it as deteriorated portrayal of a historic event. According to them, Titanic could have been a perfectly good historic drama with good side effects and graphics along with costumes of that era. They did not expect a cheesy romantic love story with a good amount of sexual encounters between a poor third class passenger and a wealthy engaged woman. To justify James Cameron’s technique and vision in bringing back to life the tragic sinking of the biggest ship of the time made by man I would like to analyze the film in a way that will help in its proper interpretation. Titanic belongs to the genres drama and romance. In my view, the director gave the whole event a more personal feel and instead of focusing on the tragedy of the entire ship passengers involved the audiences in a clever manner. I found myself getting highly attached with the characters emphasized in the film including Captain Edward and Molly Brown. The main characters, Jack and Rose, played by Leonardo De Caprio and Kate Winslet, were beautifully pooled in with the main story that is the destruction of the ship Titanic. The main goal of the movie was not to highlight on the love story but the film has a greater meaning. It is about man’s technical intelligence, his imperfection and pride. Other highpoints include courageous acts, class difference and the relationship between one human with another on the basis of nothing but humanity. We cannot say that just because the element of romance tended to overshadow the real event, the film is not worth praising. This most expensive, most technologically advanced ship started on its magnificent first voyage with its makers proudly claiming to be ‘unsinkable’. The White Star new liner, Titanic hit an iceberg on 14th April 1912. James Cameron decided to retell this story through the most expensive film ever made. Hitting the cinemas in 1997, this movie became the highest earning motion picture that earned over a billion dollars. On the opening weekend Titanic earned $28,638,131 and its total worldwide earnings were over $2,185,372,302 (Ash, 2003). The extraordinary success of the film soon flooded into the markets and you could buy everything related to the film starting from its soundtrack to the ‘heart of the ocean’ and couture fashion. Titanic was talk of the town as seen from internet chats in chat rooms, TV shows and articles published talking about nothing but everything ‘Titanic’. According to Michael Klein, writer of the book ‘Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Greatest Shipwreck’, Titanic has had a tremendous influence on pop culture, incredible trend setters and perplexed market experts who find it queer that the public is willing to buy into a disaster. The box office success and cultural effect of this film does make one wonder that why this film did as well as it did. After all even its own home studio was skeptical of its potential. They also sold some of its rights to Paramount to help bear any overruns of the huge production costs. The romance between people from different social orders, the charisma of the lead stars, a great visual representation by Cameron along with the sentimental appeal of its recreation of classic Hollywood style all give a clear reason for the unparalleled success of Titanic. Titanic offers a complete package; it is a film for everyone to enjoy. (Sandler, 1999) For those who criticize the romance element I would like to say that it was the director’s clever insight and thought that added to the height of success. We are all humans and as humans we are attracted to the emotions of love and passion. He appealed to the modern audiences who could possibly have been bored with too much of only history. Younger girls and boys were also more involved in the movie due to this factor. The book ‘Titanic: Anatomy of a Blockbuster’ talks about the reason for the phenomenal success of this film. According to an article mentioned in this book ‘The Drama of Recoupment: On the Mass Media Negotiation of Titanic’ some other reasons for the Titanic craze was also the interest of the press and public curiosity. For example the release of the sound track ‘My Heart Will Go On’ before the movie premier also created hype amongst the public. So we can rightly say that the promotion of the film was a major component of the film’s success. I think this is all part of well thought and impressively smart moves by the marketing team of Titanic. Even though the success and admiration of the audiences all over the world cannot be denied, Titanic could not avoid the disapproval of critics. But as mentioned in the critical appraisal by Todd Kappelman Titanic rushing to a conclusion about a movie like Titanic is not a wise move. He referred to Francis Schaeffer who warned people about judging someone or something hastily. (Schaeffer, 1982) The movie completely fulfills the criteria of the both the genres drama and romance. It beautifully combines both elements of the story into a mesmerizing tale that managed to captivate the audience. The sinking of the ship is simply flawless and according to the Wall Street Journal ‘The details of the disaster are enthralling’. The choreography and the way Cameron portrayed the feelings of the characters at that time is astounding. The movie truly does justice to the genre of drama in these scenes. It can be rightly said that the love story and the breathtaking cinematography and direction propels the entire film. People felt the feelings of the characters and that is what is actually comes down to; human feelings. Titanic gave the audience an overwhelming cinematic experience with Cameron’s perfect style of incorporating drama, romance, tragedy and telling the tale of the tragic voyage. The movie satisfied audiences of every age giving them a brilliant piece of entertainment. REFERENCES Ash, Russell. Top 10 of Everything 2004. New York: DK Pub, 2003. Print. Sandler, Kevin S. Titanic: Anatomy of a Blockbuster. New Brunswick, N.J [u.a.: Rutgers University Press, 1999. Print. Schaeffer, Francis A. The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview. Westchester, Ill: Crossway Books, 1982. Print. Read More