Film Log- 2nd Semester- Titanic

Movie: Titanic
1997, Color, 194 min
Director: James Cameron
Actors: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio

Summary: Rose DeWitt Bukater is a 100-year- old woman explaining her story on the Titanic to her grandchilden. She started out on board with her mother and fiancé, all of whom were first-class passengers. Rose tells the story of meeting Jack, a boy from the third-class of the Titanic, and how they fell in love on the tragic voyage of the iceberg-stricken ship.

Q: How does the setting of the film affect the passengers/ their social classes?
A: Most of the film takes place on board the Titanic. Cameron really does an incredible of capturing the essence of the two main characters within their element/ social classes. Rose comes from an incredibly wealthy family and without having to hear it, the viewer can infer this by the people she associates with/ the cabin she is staying in. She is rarely seen in a "lower" ranked class area of the ship. Jack is a third-class passenger and he is mostly shown in the "nitty-gritty" parts of the the ship and where the coal workers help run the ship in an orderly fashion. He is mostly associated with blue collar workers and not-so-luxurious cabins.

Q:How does costuming play a role in the film?
A:Rose and Jack are the two most extreme cases to show how important their costuming was to show the "irony" of two separate worlds falling in love. Jack, as mentioned before, wears casual clothes that get dirty easily (from his work on the ship), and Rose wears elegant, crisp clothing that shows what kind of a background she comes from. Both characters are defined by their lifestyles and this is easily seen through what these two wear. Crewmen, the Captain, and the rest of the guests on board are clearly labeled to be a part of a certain class based on their clothing.