Symbolism in Titanic
Chris Bailey
There are many things that have come to my attention after repeated
viewings of TITANIC. I think this movie is a lot deeper than it is
given credit for. Does anyone else think the following thoughts are
unintended coincidences or strokes of genius?
Could the Madame Bijou character be a symbol as to how Rose will turn
out if she mourns after Jack? Wearing the Heart of the Ocean, waiting
for her long lost love to return.
Has anyone noticed how much Cora looked like her porcelain doll? It is
evident in the trailer when they flash morph between them. Before being
drawn, Rose says "The last thing I need is another picture of me looking
like a porcelain doll" and we see the dolls head resting at the bottom
of the ocean at the very start. Maybe there is a link between the two;
"With your help I'm going to be drawn the way I want" and "With your
help I'm not going to end up at the bottom of the ocean". That could be
a very useful foreshadow. Recall that I don't think we see Cora again
after the sinking. I presumed that she didn't survive.
What about the note that Jack writes for Rose, "Make it Count" "Meet me
at the clock". It struck me that "Make it Count" doesn't really have a
great deal to do with simply going to the steerage party with him
although I suppose it could slightly. I noticed that the message is on
two lines and that it could be interpreted as "Make it count and then
meet me at the clock", suggesting that Rose should make her life count
and then meet him at the clock in heaven when she's finished (if you
think, like me, that she died at the end)
Probably the most obvious one, Rose using the power of liberty to choose
that she married Jack as she gazes at the Statue of Liberty. A beautiful
moment.
And what about one of the main focuses throughout "The Heart of the
Ocean"; its the name that strikes me. Why shouldn't the place where one
of histories finest ships lies to rest be considered the heart of the
Atlantic? We then see Rose returning the necklace to the sea. Why
shouldn't she regard the place where she liberated her life and the
place her inspiration, Jack, died for her; as the heart of the ocean?
Not exactly a symbolism but a clever moment nonetheless when they are
singing the hymn. "As we cry out to thee, For those in peril on the
sea ..." Such a simple touch, but so moving within the context.
Does anybody else think that this is a smarter movie than it is given
credit for? I really enjoyed TITANIC for its face value and unexpected
depth. What a movie!
Chris
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rose goes into his arms, a girl of 17. The passengers, officers and crew
of the RMS Titanic smile and applaud in the utter silence of the abyss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the screenplay of one of the finest movies of all time.
Titanic by James Cameron
sch...@shreve.net
Thank you so much for your insights. They add even more to my favorite movie
of all time especially the Make it count and meet me at the clock
observation and Madame Bijoux (I was wondering if she had any hidden
meaning). If there is anyway to contact James Cameron and let him in on your
observations to see if they were intended, you should definitely try. I'm
sure he would be impressed. Also did you notice the use of hands and time
(clocks) throughout the movie, if not, see it again and let me know what you
think. The hands struck me after the fourth time I saw the film and Friday
when I saw it for the seventh time I watched for them and the hand references
are all over the place. I don't know if they are actually symbolic or if they
are a director's favorite but they can definitely be seen throughout the
movie. Some quick examples: Jack specifically draws hands in all his
sketches, Rose's hand during the car love scene, Jack's hand drawing Rose,
the position of Roses's hands in the sketch, "give me your hand and I'll pull
you back", and "Do not let go of my hand". Let me know if you have any
opinions.
theories on this.
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Rob Findlay
Reposting a previous post:- (by 'Erin')
A Hand For James Cameron
I wasn't surprised when I read that TITANIC director James Cameron used
his own hands for the close ups of Jack drawing Rose's portrait.
Throughout the film Cameron places great emphasis on hands, letting them
tell the story in places where words might fail. Like when Jack first
reaches out to Rose on the railing, when she's getting ready to jump.
"Take my hand. I'll pull you back in." (Close up of his hand reaching
for her, then her hand sliding into his.)
There's a meaning well beyond the actual words, as we discover as the
movie unfolds.
It's not a coincidence that the very first thing we see of Rose DeWitt
Bukater is her white-gloved hand coming out of the car. It's so sterile
and pristine. There's absolutely no sign of the emotions and passion
that hand will evoke.
And don't miss the fact that Jack wins passage on Titanic in a lucky
"hand" of poker. As he says, "A VERY lucky hand."
There's almost not a scene when Jack and Rose are together that Cameron
doesn't use a close up shot of their hands.
When they meet on the grand staircase for dinner, Jack kisses her hand,
jokingly telling her, "I saw that in a Nickelodeon once and always
wanted to try it."
During dinner he's separated from her, so to "speak" to her personally
he slips a note into her hand.
Later in steerage they dance wildly, but not out of control, because as
Jack and Rose spin around and around faster and faster their hands are
locked safely together.
Jack and Rose are always safe, as long as their hands are together.
In the gymnasium, when Jack is pleading with Rose to break free, he
shows his emotion by tenderly stroking her face. It's such a simple
gesture but it evokes such feeling.
Contrast it with Cal. He expresses his feelings for Rose by giving her
the necklace. Hardly the same thing. You'll notice that on boarding, Cal
escorts Ruth through the crowd and up the gangplank. He does it again on
the way to dinner. Why isn't he escorting his fiancée? Maybe because
Cameron doesn't want Cal touching her. In fact there's only one time
that Cal's hand actually touches Rose's bare skin.
When he slaps her across the face.
That action speaks volumes, as does the hand-shot Cameron chooses to use
when Jack takes Rose flying. A close up on their hands, intertwining and
caressing each other in this incredibly sensuous dance. And when they
kiss? Instead of staying on their faces, Cameron pans around to the side
to show Rose's hand as it goes up around Jack's neck and into his hair.
Not a casual touch surely, but a lover's embrace.
When Jack is drawing Rose's portrait his hands sensuously caress the
paper as he smoothes and smudges the charcoal. And he has her put her
hand near her face, almost as if he needs the hand to complete the
expression of who she really is. Because in this film, hands express as
much, if not more, as the face.
Take, for instance, the first time Rose truly defies the social system
that's smothering her. She raises her hand to Spicer Lovejoy and gives
him the finger.
Later, when Jack and Rose climb into the backseat of the car her
invitation to him is a simple (but very erotic) "Put your hands on me,
Jack."
Throughout TITANIC Cameron uses their hands as a symbol of the lovers'
connection.
And when their love-making climaxes? We don't see faces contorted with
passion or bodies writhing in rhythm. We see Rose's open hand slam
against the steamy window, leaving a mark that will be there long after
they've gone. That was intense!
Later, when Rose and Jack return to her suite to warn Ruth and Cal that
Titanic is sinking, she tells Jack, "It will be all right. Just don't
let go of my hand."
She knows.
And what is the only way Cal is able to keep the lovers apart? By
cuffing Jack's hands behind his back.
And again, when Rose goes to rescue Jack, raising the ax to break his
bonds, what is it that's most at risk? His hands. On the one hand
(sorry) that's appropriate because Jack is an artist, so his hands are
his tools and his livelihood, but surely we're supposed to respond to it
on a much deeper level, considering how Cameron has led us, step by step
(hand over hand?) to this point.
After Rose gets yelled at by Cal and corsetted by her mother, she tells
Jack (in the gymnasium) that she can't see him anymore. But something
changes her mind and sends her looking for him. Do you remember what?
It's the scene at afternoon tea, while her mother and the other ladies
are droning on and on about the wedding invitations. Rose looks across
the way and sees a little girl who is being groomed by her mother to be
a prim and proper lady. It's a simple scene but so stifling! And what
image does Cameron choose to convey this sense of oppression? The
child's white-gloved hand, smoothing the napkin on her knee. The same
image he chose for Rose at the beginning of the film.
So Rose goes to Jack and he teaches her to fly. From that point there's
almost not a scene of them together in which they're not holding hands.
The most poignant, of course, being that last one in the water when
Rose, realizing that their hands have actually frozen together, has to
forcibly remove her hand from his. To physically (albeit not
spiritually) break the connection between them. Even then she promises,
"I'll never let go, Jack."
And life goes on, as Rose shows us.
I love the special attention Cameron pays to Rose Dawson Calvert's hands
throughout the film. From the first shot of her aged hands working the
clay on the wheel, shaping this formless lump into something more, the
way she shaped her life after meeting Jack. To the shots of her cradling
and caressing the objects Lovett brought up from Titanic. To the end,
when she climbs up onto the railing of the Keldysh, her hands, though
wrinkled and old, still showing the strength that has brought her this
far, to return the Heart of the Ocean to where it belongs.
Of course there are other miscellaneous hand images throughout TITANIC.
Think of Lovejoy, for instance. For most of the movie he's just this
quiet sort of hulking presence. But when he interacts with Jack, what do
we see? A hand offering Jack a cigarette. A hand offering Jack a bribe.
A hand slipping the necklace into Jack's pocket. And a hand punching
Jack in the stomach. (Did anyone else think Lovejoy was going to hit
Jack with his gun? But that would have been too impersonal. It had to be
the hand, you see.)
But obviously the most important examples are Jack and Rose.
When Titanic is about to make her final dive, Jack gives Rose three
instructions: Take a deep breath and hold it. Kick for the surface. And
whatever you do, don't let go of my hand.
It's as if as long as their hands are together their souls are touching
too.
Maybe that's why in the closing scene, when Rose is back on Titanic,
Cameron's first shot of her is a close up on her hand. Her beautiful,
elegant glove-free hand. Now we know how sensuous and erotic it is. And
when she slips her hand into Jack's we can feel like all the promises
have been fulfilled.
"I'll never let go."
If, after that, you have any doubts about the symbolic importance
Cameron has assigned to the hands, just remember Jack's words to Rose,
when she's looking through his sketchbook.
"I think you had a love affair with her," Rose teases.
"No. With her hands."
Cameron has a love affair with hands all the way through TITANIC. I'm
glad too, because the subtlety and beauty of the hand symbolism just
added that much more to an already wonderful film.
~*Erin*~
sch...@shreve.net wrote in message <6gs82b$k43$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
ScrWrite
>Could the Madame Bijou character be a symbol as to how Rose
>will turn out if she mourns after Jack? Wearing the Heart of the
>Ocean, waiting for her long lost love to return.
Yes, I noticed this too. I think the parallel is too close for it to
be coincidental. Madame Bijou is a negative example for Rose;
a warning.
>What about the note that Jack writes for Rose, "Make it Count.
>Meet me at the clock". It struck me that "Make it Count" doesn't
>really have a great deal to do with simply going to the steerage
>party with him although I suppose it could slightly.
I think it does; more than slightly. Going to the party with Jack is
her first real defiance of the plan that's been scripted for her; it's
an action that could jeopardize her engagement to Cal. Recall the
emphasis placed on Rose during Jack's "make it count" speech. The
idea is that as the movie progresses she learns from him that life
is too fragile -- our time here too short -- to spend our days drifting
idly. And therein lies the signifcance of the clock; our time here is
perpetually running out. We must grab hold of the things that count.
(In particular, the people that count; recall the close up of Jack
grabbing Rose's hand to pull her back over the railing. And even in
death his hold stayed firm. Could the act of Rose prying loose
Jack's frozen hand be evidence of her refusal to succumb to the
same fate as Madame Bijou?)
>Not exactly a symbolism but a clever moment nonetheless when
>they are singing the hymn. "As we cry out to thee, For those in
>peril on the sea ..." Such a simple touch, but so moving within the
>context.
Yes, a beautiful moment. Titanic's effective use of foreshadowing
is one of the many things that elevates it from simple melodrama
into the realm of tragedy. Notice how we become so involved in
the story of young love that we nearly forget the ship will sink.
And yet the knowledge is there, hovering like a spectre in our
peripheral vision -- occasionally moving into plain sight in moments
like the one you mention -- and casting a sense of tragic destiny
over everything that transpires. (Perhaps the saddest part of the
film is when Rose tells Jack she'll be getting off the ship with him
when it docks.) It's a situation that parallels life; for many people
(and for the young in particular) death is barely more than an
abstraction -- we try to push it out of sight, but occasionally it
forces its way into consciousness, perhaps in the form of a
ticking clock (Titanic is filled with spitefully ticking clocks) or
a line from a song. "Those in peril on the sea" includes all of us.
>Does anybody else think that this is a smarter movie than it
>is given credit for?
Some critics have cited Titanic as evidence of the sorry state
of filmaking, but in fact it is evidence of the sorry state of
criticism. Titanic is a great tragic masterpiece; a cry of outrage
at the cruelties that lurk at the core of existence -- death,
selfishness, aging and decay... but above all it is an expression of
hope in the human will to transcend these things; selfishness
transcended by self-sacrifice and love; aging transcended by
living life fully. And in the very end, Titanic shows us a
profound optimism -- that death must be transcended as a
balance for all our suffering here.
M.D.
Chris Bailey
sch...@shreve.net wrote in message <6gs82b$k43$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
>Thank you so much for your insights. They add even more to my favorite
movie
That was the objective. Don't get me wrong, the movie is absolutely
superb with what it presents to us at face value but its depth and
subtlety astounded me.
Also did you notice the use of hands and time
>(clocks) throughout the movie,
I certainly did. It was evident in scenes that sometimes didn't call for
it. James Cameron clearly stated that he wanted his sketch of Rose to
emphasise her hands and eyes. Now I wonder why he wanted that?
I thought non-verbal communication between Jack and Rose was another
strong point to look out for. Critics have pounded away at the weak
dialogue between Jack and Rose. I prefer to say that the dialogue was
appropriate to their situation of teen love in its humour and simplicity
but their body language was superb as it should be. Watch how Rose
conveys so much meaning throughout the dinner scene without hardly
saying anything.
Chris
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"For those in peril on the sea ..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From James Cameron's Titanic
Chris Bailey
>>What about the note that Jack writes for Rose, "Make it Count.
>>Meet me at the clock". It struck me that "Make it Count" doesn't
>>really have a great deal to do with simply going to the steerage
>>party with him although I suppose it could slightly.
>
>I think it does; more than slightly. Going to the party with Jack is
>her first real defiance of the plan that's been scripted for her;
Possibly ... but it was only a party. I thought her first real
defiance was meeting Jack on the boat deck for the flying scene. I
thought it was excellent the way she tells him to leave her alone in the
gym and then a great scene follows where she watches a girl being told
how to sit and drink correctly. Didn't that girl look like a
representation of any daughters Rose may have if she continues with this
charade of marrying Cal?
>an action that could jeopardize her engagement to Cal. Recall the
>emphasis placed on Rose during Jack's "make it count" speech. The
>idea is that as the movie progresses she learns from him that life
>is too fragile -- our time here too short -- to spend our days drifting
>idly. And therein lies the signifcance of the clock; our time here is
>perpetually running out. We must grab hold of the things that count.
Perhaps a double meaning. I really think its a well driven point
throughout the movie this "Make it Count". Interpreting the message in
two ways; make it count by meeting me at the clock and make your life
count and meet me after, really strengthens the point even if
unintentionally.
>>Not exactly a symbolism but a clever moment nonetheless when
>>they are singing the hymn. "As we cry out to thee, For those in
>>peril on the sea ..." Such a simple touch, but so moving within the
>>context.
>
>Yes, a beautiful moment. Titanic's effective use of foreshadowing
>is one of the many things that elevates it from simple melodrama
>into the realm of tragedy. Notice how we become so involved in
>the story of young love that we nearly forget the ship will sink.
>And yet the knowledge is there, hovering like a spectre in our
>peripheral vision -- occasionally moving into plain sight in moments
Couldn't agree with you more. Notice how long the ship agonisingly seems
to take forever to hit the berg (no doubt intentional) and you're still
sitting there thinking "They might miss it this time" "PLEASE miss it!"
>like the one you mention -- and casting a sense of tragic destiny
>over everything that transpires. (Perhaps the saddest part of the
>film is when Rose tells Jack she'll be getting off the ship with him
>when it docks.)
I certainly noticed how Jack drew out the word "long" when he's telling
Fabrizio that "You're not going to see your mother again for a LONG
time". That was heart-wrenching as well and the film was only just
getting going.
>Some critics have cited Titanic as evidence of the sorry state
>of filmaking, but in fact it is evidence of the sorry state of
>criticism.
Hear, Hear!
Chris
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
And God shall wipe away the tears from their eyes and there shall be no
more death, neither shall there be sorrow or crying and neither any
more pain; for the former world has passed away. <sob>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
MFLuder848
>>Could the Madame Bijou character be a symbol as to how Rose will turn
out if she mourns after Jack? Wearing the Heart of the Ocean, waiting
for her long lost love to return.>>
I don't think you exactly got it. Rose should, and has the right to, morn over
Jack. This drawing symbolized what Rose saw herself in the future (before she
broke free from the social standards) : rich, lonely, miserable.
>>Has anyone noticed how much Cora looked like her porcelain doll? It is
evident in the trailer when they flash morph between them. Before being
drawn, Rose says "The last thing I need is another picture of me looking
like a porcelain doll" and we see the dolls head resting at the bottom
of the ocean at the very start. Maybe there is a link between the two;
"With your help I'm going to be drawn the way I want" and "With your
help I'm not going to end up at the bottom of the ocean". That could be
a very useful foreshadow. Recall that I don't think we see Cora again
after the sinking. I presumed that she didn't survive.>>
Nope...she waves at Rose in the final scene.
Good comments!
--Scott
MFLuder848
>>I thought non-verbal communication between Jack and Rose was another
strong point to look out for. Critics have pounded away at the weak
dialogue between Jack and Rose. I prefer to say that the dialogue was
appropriate to their situation of teen love in its humour and simplicity
but their body language was superb as it should be. Watch how Rose
conveys so much meaning throughout the dinner scene without hardly
saying anything.>>
Wonderfully said. These engotistical critics (many who are jealous of the
film's success) expected the leads to talk like distinguished intellectuals
instead of energetic teenagers. I thought the dialogue was perfect: packed
with meaning, while written in a believable way. And the body language, what's
unspoken, is a terrific element to the film.
--Scott
sis
Chris Bailey wrote:
> sch...@shreve.net wrote in message <6gs82b$k43$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...
>
> Also did you notice the use of hands and time
> >(clocks) throughout the movie,
>
> I certainly did. It was evident in scenes that sometimes didn't call for
> it. James Cameron clearly stated that he wanted his sketch of Rose to
> emphasise her hands and eyes. Now I wonder why he wanted that?
A friend of mine and I have a webpage devoted to "The Hands of Titantic"
that shows all the different ways Cameron used "hands" in this romance. I
think you''ll like it....it's
http://personal.netwrx.net/Dunner/titanic2.htm Enjoy!!! :)
Jackie