Titanic, social injustices go on and on: a critical Marxist approach

It was said to be the ship of dreams. Would you gamble and leave everything behind just to set foot on the ship, but only ask to stay on the lower decks and be humiliated by the upper classes? Or would you come aboard with a heavy heart knowing that this ship is a slave ship taking you back to America in chains while betrothed to someone you hardly want to keep your family legacy with? Titanic was directed and written by James Cameron, which is a fictional ill-fated romantic account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Cameron felt that the sinking of the Titanic was “like a great novel that really happened”, but that the event had become a mere morality tale; the film would give the audience the experience of living the story. Since the movie has two timelines, one in which Brock Lovett, the treasure hunter, broke away from the ruins of the real Titanic in the modern era, while the other set foot in 1912, where the maiden voyage began. of said ship. It was the Edwardian era where it stands as a romantic golden age of long summer evenings and garden parties, basking in a sun that never sets on the British Empire. However, the division between classes was still so apparent from this. Since the Titanic boarding has three classes namely the first class or the bourgeoisie, the middle class which is the working class and the lower class known as the proletariat. Overall, this review addresses the texture of each class and its ability to live, literally and symbolically. However, classes are not required to restrict an individual who to see, socialize, and love. As shown by the ill-fated relationship of Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson.

“It’s been 84 years and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept on. The Titanic was called the ship of dreams, and it was. It really was.” said Rose DeWitt Bukater as she recalled her younger self who sailed on the Titanic and her iconic tragedy. While she was sailing aboard the Titanic at the upper class level, she met a man named Jack Dawson who was a proletarian and had just won a ticket from him to sail on the Titanic by playing games. Even though they are separated from heaven and earth by their social classes, they plan to see each other often, even if it means betraying Rose’s mother and her fiancé, Caledon Hockley. One night, the Titanic collided with a huge invisible iceberg that they couldn’t avoid. It was then that the Titanic began to sink rather rapidly. All the women and children were asked to board small boats and some less fortunate poor people were locked below. Rose survived, but her true love, Jack Dawson, did not. Rose went on to live a full life, but she was no doubt waiting to be reunited with her beloved Jack in the afterlife. She remembered everything like it was yesterday.

Focusing on the approach of Marxism, in this story there were undeniable social conflicts. James Cameron did justice to all aspects of the film without overlooking another, especially the social injustices. The first thing that is reflected in the film was when the lower class passengers had to go through a long inspection line just to look for their body lice while the working class and the bourgeoisie got on board smoothly and conveniently. It was also pictured in the Molly Brown situation where rich snobs call her “new money” which means someone who doesn’t know how to act and live aristocratically, it was so easy to judge a person by rich people just because they are capable of it , as Caledon Hockley, Ruth DeWitt Bukater and others looked at Jack Dawson tactlessly. Another was when the dogs were taken to the lower decks just to go to the bathroom, reminding the passengers what scheme their society has. But the epitome of injustice was portrayed when the Titanic ship was already sinking. Since there are only numerous lifeboats available, upper class women and children were given priority and those below were kept locked below decks, leading them to a frenzied demonstration and fighting crews and the ship’s officers. This situation briefly describes that social classes are the key determinant of who will survive and who will perish. In fact, only 3% of first class passengers drowned compared to 16% in second class and 45% in third class.

Titanic was an iconic movie that will surely mark a place in your heart as it was full of breathtaking scenarios that could relate to what is really going on in this world. His effective expression of the natures of man deserved all his awards. Especially since he seemed to be the pioneer of high standards in cinematography, script, production, actors and almost every aspect of the movie. With the change of timelines and the transitions of each scene were remarkable for it to be a classic movie. The actors were commendably professional and very talented in bringing each character to life, be it lead or extra. The ending in which Old Rose DeWitt Bukater casts the “Heart of the Ocean” into the vastness of the water symbolized the quiet acceptance of memories of Jack Dawson and the ship of dreams, Titanic.