Titanic Essay

Discuss the ways in which Cameron has used Binary Opposition to create meaning in the Titanic.

In this extract from the titanic, Cameron uses the mise-en-scene of the extract creates a binary opposition between the rich and poor. When the audience first sees the titanic, you notice that the bottom of the ship is black, and the top of the ship is white. This would be irrelevant, if we didn’t see that the poorer, middle class passengers entered the boat at the bottom, and the richer, upper class people would enter the boat higher up, and their cars would be placed directly on top. This would have been filmed this way so the audience gets a clear understanding that the poor were considered not important and almost evil in comparison to the white of the rich people, which shows that they are pure, clean and perfect.

The audience then sees Rose, who is wearing a white dress, linking to the purity and perfection associated with the rich, upper class. But more importantly, the audience is introduced to her before Jack; which shows that she is a much higher ranking and more important character in society and in the film. Moreover, the use of Rose arriving in a gold plated car reinforces the idea that she is of a higher ranking than Jack. Gold is considered a very rare and expensive metal, which can connote that Rose plays a very important role in the film. This contrasts to the way Jack is introduced to the ship. We see him running which could connote that he is of less importance in society and in the film. Yet, we know he is to play a very important part in the film, Cameron could have decided to introduce jack this way to make him an unsuspecting hero.

Cameron also presents the binary opposition of ‘Rich and Poor’ by iconography. The clothes and the color of the clothes that Rose wears clearly denote that she is of upper class. The rich purple headwear she has on also denotes that she is from a rich background. This contrasts with what Jack and the people around him are wearing in his scene. All of the characters have a mixture of dark brown and green clothes on (dirty colours) which denote that they are poor. Many of the extras in the scene also wear flat caps, an indexical sign of the working class of that time. The audience also sees Rose’s mother who is wearing a green dress. Unlike the working class, her green is of a very deep and rich tone. This connotes that she is jealous of her daughter. The fact that her daughter is a bright, beautiful, young woman, obviously makes the mother very proud, but also makes her have some sentiment of anger inside, as the mother knows that she is not the ‘main attraction’ as such anymore. This will make the audience wonder if the mother is going to play a fully innocent part in the film.

In addition to this, the lighting of both scenes can determine the class of both protagonists. Whenever Rose is in the shot, she is in daylight – high key lighting – which connotes that she is pure and innocent, whereas when the scene changes and we move into the bar where jack is, the lighting becomes low key, when compared to the outside by the ship. This can connote that Jack is not a very good person and that the audience should be wary of him.

In addition to this, Cameron uses binary opposition to determine the differences between the male and female protagonists of the film. The opening of the scene, the audience can see that Rose does not have the overwhelming emotion that the rest of her family has. As she approaches the ship, and lays eyes on it for the first time, the visage on her face remains glum and lifeless; an indexical sign denoting that she does not want to be on going onto the ship. Jack’s arrival to the ship is very different to Rose’s. The audience sees him rushing towards the ship with pure excitement thrown across his face; with fast paced, upbeat music in the background, which will make the audience immediately think that Jack is a chaotic character, an anti-hero. This would reinforce the differences in class and status at the time - Rose has a very ungrateful attitude towards having the opportunity to sail on the titanic, whereas Jack is extremely grateful to have scraped a chance to ‘go home’ on the ship.

In comparison to this, the audience can see a binary opposition in the fact that Rose feels as though she is restricted by something. In the extract, Rose reveals her true feeling towards going on the ship. ‘To me it was a slave ship. Taking me back to America in chains’

This denotes that she is unhappy about being aboard the Titanic, yet, it also connotes that she feels restricted by her class and family. Cameron would have presented Rose in this way to show the differences between the main protagonists, so that it makes the audience start to wonder and question how the two characters come together later in the film.

Rose, as a character, juxtaposes Jack. When the audience is first introduced to Jack, he reveals to us that he is gambling with all of his possessions. He throws in all of his last change and possessions, which consist of a pocket watch. The diegetic sound of the pocket watch connotes that time is running out for Jack and this is last chance. The fact that he is willing to part with all of his belongings denotes that he is a man that has no worries in life. Nothing restricts him. The fact he is gambling connotes that he isn’t a normal hero or ‘good guy’, as gambling is deemed a game played by the ‘bad guys’. In contrast to this, we see a playful side to Jack, he states that Fabrizio wont be seeing his mother for a long time, due to the fact that they had just won everything on the table. This makes his character Juxtapose the posh, serious and sophisticated character of Rose.

Cameron would have included this to make sure the audience make the symbolic link between gambling and a bad person, and have second thoughts about Jack as a character – can you trust him? Will he make the right decisions?

Word Count: 1066.

By Reece Garside.