Jamie Kwok
Period 1 Lodge
February 12, 2012
Titanic: Argument of
Definition/Evaluation
Forbidden love is a drug to film
audiences, pulling us in and leaving an audience either satisfied or bereft. We
often want what we can’t have, and a story of forbidden love can end in
absolute harmony or disaster. Director James
Cameron manages to capture deep romance and intense drama, combining them to
create a classic and extraordinary movie, Titanic.
Winning four Golden Globes awards, 11 Academy Awards, ACE “Eddie” Award, Screen
Actors Guild Award, and several more, the general public agrees that this movie
is a classic(IMDb.com). The film features Leonardo DiCaprio,
Kate Winslet, and Billy Zane, all remarkable actors that have participated in
several other famous movies (rottentomatoes.com). Titanic, with its experienced actors and rich storyline is a
remarkable masterpiece that depicts Cameron’s interpretation and imagination on
the events that could have occurred onboard the RMS Titanic.
The movie starts off with a treasure
hunter, Brock Lovett, exploring the sunken wreck of the RMS Titanic, in search of a diamond necklace
known as the “Heart of the Ocean,” claimed to be worth more than the Hope
Diamond. He finds a safe, but realizes that all it contained was a
sketch of a woman passenger that had been aboard the ship. A woman by the name of Rose Dawson
Calvert comes forward and claims that the drawing is of her, back in the day.
Rather than finding a necklace that is worth a fortune, Lovett is introduced to
a priceless retelling of the memories that a lover has imprinted onto one’s mind.
Rose's story begins as a fiancée to a
rich man, Cal, boarding the RMS Titanic
on a voyage to America. Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), out of pure luck in a
poker game, manages to win a ticket to the third-class level of the same ship. Rose,
obviously distraught with her current relationship status, considers committing
suicide until Jack comes along and stops her and later saving her from
accidentally falling off the ship’s stern. Thus began the romantic and perfect
relationship between Jack and Rose. Jack is introduced to the first world
through Rose and is consistently looked down upon, showing the discrimination
and huge socioeconomic split during the time. Rose’s mother and Cal
continuously forbid Rose from seeing Jack, regardless of the joy and
entertainment that he supplies her with. She finds ways to see him anyway, unable to keep away from his because of their expressive love. The relationship develops much further
and Rose decides that when the ship arrives to its destination, she will get
off with Jack and spend the rest of her life with him. This plan is interrupted
as the ship, claimed to be unsinkable, hits an iceberg and quickly floods from
the lower level. The Titanic is
predicted to go down in a matter of hours and the crew gathers the women and
children to go on the lifeboats, though panic ensues as there are only enough
lifeboats to seat half the passengers and they weren’t even filled up as they
were set to sail. Rose risks her life to save Jack, handcuffed in a cellar
because of an accusation made by Cal. The ship soon breaks in half and it
entirely submerges, either bringing down passengers with it or leaving them
afloat to freeze to death. Rose is able to avoid hypothermia by lying on a
headboard while Jack, aside her, is in the ocean water literally freezing to
death. A lifeboat returns to save Rose and a few other passengers that were
still alive. As the camera flashes back to the present day, Rose is surrounded
by mesmerized listeners, intrigued by her story. By nighttime, she brings out
the “Heart of the Ocean,” staring out at the Atlantic. A reminder of the night
she had spent with Jack and the sketch that he made of her, she drops it in the
ocean, to exist at the bottom of the ocean with Jack.
I believe this movie is
considered a classic and an extraordinary movie for several reasons. I recently
saw this movie because of several claims that it was a classic and had an
amazing plotline. But what is a classic movie and what are the qualifications?
A source claims that a classic “serves as a standard, model, or guide” (Dictionary.com).
Titanic serves as a foundation for other romantic movies such as The Notebook or Leap Year which have similar concepts. The whole idea of a quickly
developing relationship with a catch is often used, namely after this movie was
produced. It has an original idea and is consistently looked back to as a classic, romantic movie that one can always cry during. It is also a good movie as something that is good is “satisfactory in quality, quantity, or degree”
(Dictionary.com). There is no doubt that the movie was satisfactory and of
excellence. It consisted of forbidden love and a dramatic plot, keeping the audience
on the edge of their seats, wondering what to expect next. It was fast-paced
and involved each character in the movie, ensuring that they each had a great
contribution to the plot of the movie, whether they may be the antagonist or
protagonist. Each minute movie left my heart pounding from excitement or an overflow of emotions, though it was for an entire 194 minutes.
Some may argue that Titanic doesn’t live up to its
accolades, as lacks in storyline and is simply an overplayed romance. However,
the film in fact has a rich storyline. It isn’t just a film that focuses on the
romantic relationship between Rose and Jack, but it also focuses in on the general
socioeconomic society and the overall relationships between the first and third
class. It also focuses in on the claims made toward the RMS Titanic and the excitement that it stirred up in world. The
romantic relationship itself is extremely realistic and the flaws that Rose and
Jack display completely coincide with those of human nature. With these so-called
“flaws” of the movie disposed of, it is clear that Titanic is a classic movie that should be seen by everyone,
regardless of age or gender.
Works Cited
"Titanic
(1997) - Awards." The Internet Movie Database
(IMDb). 12 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/awards>.
"Titanic
- Rotten Tomatoes." Rotten Tomatoes. 12 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/titanic/>.
"Classic." Dictionary.com. 12 Feb. 2012.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/classic>.
"Good." Dictionary.com. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/good>.
This is one of my favorite movies, and I think you best captured it. I really liked the fact that your claim was that it was a classic movie and the way you qualified it made it seem persuasive!
ReplyDeleteI think that you did an amazing job summarizing this film and I agree that it is an awesome movie. You organized your ideas really well and and your criteria of what makes a good movie is clear. Your argument is very persuasive and I think that you did a great job on this! Also, I like how you stated the critic's thoughts, but then right away responded to them to persuade the reader to still want to see the movie. Good job Jamie!!!
ReplyDeleteYou did a really great job of organizing your ideas. Also, you clearly stated your criteria of a good movie, and defended that definition really well. You present a persuasive argument, and I think you did an awesome job overall!
ReplyDeleteJamie, I think you did a really good job with the structure of your critique. It's clear how you feel about the movie and the way you wrote was really persuasive. You picked a great movie and backed your opinion well.
ReplyDelete