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Titanic, the unsinkable ship sank: a Marxist critical approach

The film began with the search for the valuable and precious Heart of the Ocean necklace. Brock Lovett and his team believed that the necklace was submerged to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean along with the Titanic. They failed numerous times until they found a vault that they believe holds the necklace. As it was broadcast live on television, they opened the vault only to be very dismayed that there was no diamond necklace inside. Just a sketch of a naked woman with the treasure they were looking for. Lovett was desperate until he received a phone call from an elderly woman saying that she knew who this naked woman was.

Rose along with her granddaughter landed on Lovett’s boat. He didn’t want to believe Rose. Not until he said that she is the woman in the picture. She began to tell her story as a first-class passenger on the “unsinkable” vessel.

The flashback began with the arrival of a carriage with Rose DeWitt Bukater, her mother Ruth, and her wealthy and ignorant boyfriend Caledon Hockley in it. First class passengers boarded the Titanic. At the same time, a young Jack Dawson won third-class tickets to the Titanic at a game of poker with his friend Fabrizio.

Rose was forced by her mother to marry Cal to save her wealth situation. Unhappy to marry a man she does not love, she ran to the edge of the Titanic near the propellers and planned to commit suicide by throwing herself into the frozen ocean. Fortunately, Jack saw Rose trying to jump off the railing. He successfully convinced her not to jump. “You jump I jump.” he said. As a thank you to Jack, Rose urged Cal to invite him to dinner. After said dinner, Jack secretly invited Rose to “the real fun.” That’s at the third-class party. They had a lot of fun and Rose was free to do the things she could never do with first class people. They began to fall in love with each other.

On the other hand, Bruce Ismay, the owner, proposed to Captain Thomas Andrews to accelerate the course of the Titanic to gain publicity. And yes, indeed. They gained publicity in a different way.

Jack and Rose continued to see each other on the boat despite the disapproval of Rose’s mother. Rose asked Jack, who was an amazing artist, to draw her naked wearing only the Heart of the Ocean. They enjoyed the night until the Titanic hit the iceberg. The first affected were the lowest part of the ship where the workers were.

As the Titanic sank, all the women and children were asked to board small boats and some less fortunate poor people were locked downstairs. On the other hand, Jack was framed by Cal for stealing the Heart of the Ocean and was locked in a room as a prisoner. Rose refused to board the lifeboat with her mother and some first-class passengers. Instead, he went back to look for Jack. The two fought through thick and thin. They ran into Cal, who forced Rose to board the lifeboat and told her a lie that he and Jack had their own lifeboat to catch. As the lifeboat was lowered, Rose simply couldn’t bear the thought of being without it, so she jumped back onto the sinking Titanic.

Cal was so enraged that he tried to kill them by shooting them, but was unsuccessful. After the ship sank, Rose and Jack held cold hands as Rose lay on a floating door and Jack froze by the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Jack was already freezing to death before help arrived. When Rose got to safety, she saw Caledon looking for her and hid from him. In the pocket of the coat Cal lent him was the Heart of the Ocean. When asked what her name was, instead of saying her real name, Rose Dawson said.

The movie ended with old Rose throwing the Heart of the Ocean overboard. That night she dreamed of being received by Jack on the great steps of the Titanic, they kiss and are applauded by those who were lost in the disaster.

The movie featured many events, but this review will focus primarily on its Marxist approach. In the main part of Rose’s flashback, the different social classes were already introduced. The ship was divided into three classes; the first class, the middle class and the third class. However, the film mainly focused on the first and third class. Before entering the Titanic, everyone except first-class passengers would undergo a certain lice and luggage inspection. First class passengers have a different entrance where they do not even have to join the rest of the passengers and can enter freely without any inconvenience. It was also shown in the story how wrong it was for first class passengers to mix with third class passengers and vice versa.

Then when Jack saw Rose’s ravishing beauty, his friend Fabrizio instantly told him that she is a very rich woman and that it would be almost impossible to be with her. Another, when Jack was invited to a first-class dinner, it was apparent from Rose and Cal’s mother the difference they felt with Jack because he was not like them. But of course not all first-class people are like that because there were Rose and Molly Brown who didn’t care at all about Jack’s social class.

The difference in the social gatherings of first class passengers and third class passengers was also shown in the film. At a first-class social gathering, men and women drink soft classical music, tobacco, and expensive wine. They were expected to act sophisticated. While then at the third-class party, lively classical music was being played at full volume, everyone can dance, laugh and enjoy freely. They have big mugs of beer as they jump to the beat of the music. Rose had fun with this experience, but in the society they lived in at the time, it was very bad. Her mother forbade her to be with Jack because she was supposed to marry Cal, a rich man who can save them from their great loss of wealth.

Finally, that devastating moment came when the Titanic hit an iceberg. Something very disappointing and disturbing happened when the passengers were getting into the lifeboats. The women and children of the first-class passengers were the first to board, but not only that was disturbing. A boat that was designed and tested to hold 64 men was not filled to capacity because first class passengers were afraid and bothered that they were too crammed into the lifeboat. There were 3,327 souls on board, but those people still thought of their selfish convenience. Another injustice arose when third-class passengers were locked on the level of their ship while the Titanic was sinking. Despite the depressing situation, people kept thinking of nothing but themselves and did not even have a conscience in their hearts. The last description of an unfair system was when the entire Titanic sank. Many people managed to float in the middle of the ocean in life jackets, crying and crying out for help. The ship carrying the first-class passengers, despite having a lot of free space, did not even help the dying passengers. However, the ship that was packed and crammed with third-class passengers returned to save the survivors. The 20 lifeboat capacity the Titanic was holding was questionable enough, as it can only accommodate 1,178 people. However, not even 1,178 people survived. Only 706 lived to tell the tale.

The movie won many awards for many reasons as well. He did justice to the sinking of the Titanic. He didn’t sugarcoat the things that happened. From social classes to the actual sinking of the Titanic; everything was commendable and outstanding. The story of Jack and Rose, while fictional, was presented realistically, except for the part where they fell madly in love with each other for a very short period of time. But for me, it was quite acceptable even though it lacked a bit of realistic plot because Rose found genuine happiness with Jack and he found it with her too. Love cannot be measured by the time you spent together. The cinematography was also commendable. The sinking of the ship Titanic was presented objectively. It really was based on the actual event. The chosen soundtracks were precisely made for the film. According to Janet Maslin of The New York Times, Titanic is a huge and thrilling three-and-a-quarter hour experience that seamlessly draws viewers into the beauty and anguish of its lost world. And it really did. The film contains more important lessons and insights into farm life. First, until this generation, social discrimination continues to occur. It is everywhere, no matter where you are. I can’t give a direct solution, but all I can do is tell you to look around and see if we will live a better life if we continue to judge people based on their social class. In fact, it is true. There are wealthy, average and poor people. But that does not mean that we make the poor poorer and the rich richer. Second, fight for what is right. We live in a world where evil exists and yes, we cannot eradicate it completely. But we can decrease it and prevent it from dominating. Start with yourself. Be an ambassador for justice and hopefully everyone will follow. In times of despair and hopelessness, how far will you go to save your life and that of your loved ones? Everything, something and nothing. You can do anything, to the point of being selfish like Cal and some first class passengers or selfless like Jack. You can do something, and this is rarely found in people because this something doesn’t give anyone a step, but instead lends a hand like Rose. And lastly, you can’t do anything at all, as despair swallows you deep and darkness creeps into your heart, just like the rest of the victims of the Titanic, the unsinkable ship that sank.

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