Dreams and Injustices of Titanic Proportions

Posted 5/14/2023

Historical fiction is a fascinating genre of books and movies.  It has many sub-genres based on historic periods and events.  There is World War II fiction, 9/11 fiction, Colonial America fiction, and much more.  In the sub-genre of Titanic fiction, there have been several books and movies about the sinking of the Titanic, and my wife and I saw James Cameron’s 1997 movie Titanic, which is by far the best-known movie about the supposedly unsinkable ship.  We stumbled on this on our TV programming grid.  We both had seen it in a movie theater when it first came out before we met.  It was the first movie to break the all-time box office record set by Star Wars.

            The Titanic really did sink on April 15, 1912 as depicted in the movie.  However, the two lovers Jack Dawson (third class passenger) and Rose Dewitt Bukater (first class passenger) as well as Rose’s evil fiancé and her family are fictional.  Their fictional story adds power to an already tragic and moving story.

            The sinking of the Titanic exposed several unjust fault lines in society.  According to a study that can be found here Disproportionate Devastation | Titanic (bowdoin.edu), , a gate separating third class passengers from other areas of the ship created problems in their evacuation. Indeed, the survival rate was 62% for first class passengers, 41% for second class passengers and 27% for third class passengers.

                The evacuation was governed by the old ethic “women and children first” is based on chivalry which dates back to medieval Europe.  At a time when many world cultures treated women as human livestock, this may have actually been a well intended effort to elevate and honor women but is unfortunately based on stereotypes about men and women.  Among these stereotypes is that women are weaker than men and therefore need more protection than men and that men are more obligated to be protectors than women.  In reality men are humans with feelings and do not want to die any more than women do. 

                Back to the fictional love story.  As a member of high society, Rose felt like she was in a prison because she was not only required to marry a man for his money but was also severely limited in who she could act, talk, and dress.  There is even a scene in which one of her overseers suggests that he will begin limiting what she can read.  Again, this is fiction, but the socioeconomic barriers and constraints were very real in that era.

                Another theme in this movie is human arrogance.  Those in charge took pride in the speed record that it set on this maiden voyage and bragged that it was the largest human-made moving object in the world.  This sense of invulnerably probably led to its sinking.  One adage I once saw goes as follows:  God engineered the ark; humans engineered the Titanic.

                As can be seen at the beginning and end of the movie, Rose is with underwater explorers viewing the sunken remains of the Titanic and clearly remembers her story of adventure and romance with Jack even though it happened over eighty years ago and she is now 101 years old.  This is the first time she has spoken of him since then.  In her mind and heart, it was wonderful to chase a dream even though it was just for a few days and was later complicated by an unfortunate encounter with an iceberg.  In the mostly intact wreckage of this ship with its grand and ornately decorated interior there were once people with passions, hopes, goals, and aspirations.

NOTE ON GRAMMAR: Actually, the names of ships should be in italics as well as the names of movies but I have the name of the ship in regular font to distinguish when I am talking about the ship and when I am talking about the movie.