Analyzing the Titanic (1997) Movie From a Catholic Perspective

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Movie: Titanic

Date: December 19, 1997

Directed by James Cameron

The 1997 film, Titanic, directed by James Cameron is a story about passengers falling in love aboard the Titanic ship. The story follows Jack, a poor artist, and Rose, a wealthy girl. Jack wins a ticket onto the ship and they meet as two passengers. While the ship is believed to be “unsinkable,” things quickly take a turn when the ship hits an iceberg. The ship sinks, leading to the death of Jack, who sacrifices himself to save Rose. This story is narrated by Rose, retelling the story decades later. This film is a story of love that puts a fictional twist on a real historical event. This movie upholds certain Catholic teachings, while going against others.

The First Media Key: Balance

Media should have a balance of viewpoints to avoid bias. In Titanic, the story follows passengers from all walks of life. There are rich passengers, poor passengers, elderly passengers, children, men, and women. This film shows the tragedy from all perspectives to make it representative and relatable to as many people as possible. James Cameron directs the movie in a way that shows that tragedy affects us all, no matter who you are. It also is centered around a love story of two people in very different situations. “I know what you must be thinking. ‘Poor little rich girl, what does she know about misery?’” - Rose DeWitt Bukater

The Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness

Consumers should be aware of the messaging behind the media they consume. With the Titanic film there are many meanings behind the story. First, it is a fictional story based on a real event. While scenes are dramatized for the movie, there is still a lot you can learn about the history of the tragedy through this movie. For example, some of the main characters may be fake, but there are characters based on real people, such as the captain. There is also a deep societal message about the treatment of the poor. In many scenes, we see the conditions the third class passengers had to deal with, being much worse than the first class passengers. For example, when the ship begins to sink, third class passengers are locked in their rooms to allow first class passengers to evacuate first. “For God’s sake man, there are women and children down here! Let us up so we can have a chance!” - Thomas Ryan.

The Third Media Key: The Dignity of the Human Person

All good media should uphold the dignity of the human person. The Titanic film does both a good and bad job of upholding the dignity of the human person. On one hand, we have the overarching message of all people being equal regardless of class, status, age and gender. This message upholds the dignity of the human person by showing viewers that we are all human and all face hardship. However, this movie also has elements that do not uphold the dignity of the human person. For example, there is a scene were Jack draws Rose naked and nudity is shown. “Jack, I want you to draw me like one of your French girls. Wearing this… wearing only this [diamond necklace].” - Rose DeWitt Bukater. This sexual theme as well as a sex scene undermine the dignity of the human person by objectifying and sexualizing the characters.

The Fourth Media Key: Truth-Filled

Media should always be objectively truthful. This movie is truthful in many ways. There are real accounts and real stories from the tragedy included in the movie. Many pieces of the story hold true to the actual events that occurred on the Titanic. For example, the musicians playing as the ship sank is something that actually took place when the Titanic sank. However, there are some elements of the movie that are not true. For example, their is a scene where the captain of the ship commits suicide. This scene is often criticized and debated as it is not historically proven. While there are a lot of elements in this movie that are meant to add depth to the story, some details should have been a more accurate depiction of the true events.

The Fifth Media Key: Inspiring

A truly great movie will leave you feeling inspired as you walk out of the movie theater. Due to this movie being based on a historical tragedy, there are not many inspiring moments. However, there are a few that can be pointed out. Despite being in a bad situation financially, Jack still has a great outlook on life. “I figure life’s a gift and I don’t intend on wasting it. You don’t know what hand you’re gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you… to make each day count” - Jack Dawson. The most inspiring part of the movie is the rescue scene at the end of the movie. While many passengers lost their lives, some were able to be saved by a rescue crew. Many women and children were saved, as they were prioritized first. One of the people saved was one of the main characters, Rose.

The Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed

Titianic was created with a lot of skill and dedication. The director, James Cameron, created the film with great skill. He wrote a story that was entertaining and, in most ways, realistic. The move was filmed with great skill, with many beautiful scenes. My favorite example of this is the famous scene where Jack is at the bow of the boat. “I am king of the world” - Jack Dawson. This film has many beautiful shots such as that as well as many scenes that are made to be very realistic and intense. This juxtaposition allows the viewer to feel fully immersed in the world of the movie.

The Seventh Media Key: Motivated By and Relevant to Experience

Titanic is motivated by experience. It is a movie based on real accounts of a historical tragedy. It is motivated by the real experiences of real life passengers on the ship. While there are many details that are inaccurate, there are many details in the movie based off of real events that occurred aboard the Titanic. James Cameron directed this movie to tell stories of the people aboard as well as tell stories that were created inspired by others. “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 in. Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was” - Rose DeWitt Bukater.

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The real tragedy here isn’t so much that it sunk, rather it was the people who were on that ship that were trying to make some real change in this world, and they’re gone. It is not by coincidence that this ship sank. I think there’s a lot to the story we’re not being told.

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I’ve been interested in the Titanic and other maritime history since I was a kid (that is, for about 65 years). Although aspects of the ship and its sinking are still discussed and debated, I think that all the main facts are available. There’s a huge quantity of information and opinion on Encyclopedia Titanica, which I read regularly.

As for the 1997 movie, Encyclopedia Titanica has 30 pages of threads about it, covering pluses, minuses, errors, virtual slander of some of the real-life characters, and almost anything else you could imagine.

It’s more than 25 years since I saw the movie, so, because this is Catholic Talk, I’ll mention a few things about the film that, as a Catholic, still bother me more than 25 years later.

First, the relationship between Jack and Rose: the nudity and sex were there for voyeurism by the audience and to sell tickets, I think. What the characters did was immoral.

Second, the ending: it seemed to say, “All dogs go to heaven,” to borrow the title of another movie. Or to quote The Myth of the Titanic by Richard Howells (a book I found unsatisfying, but he made a good point): “It seemed as though one had only to be present on the Titanic to be dubbed a hero.” At the end, as I remember it, after Rose dies, she joins a gathering of other people who were on the ship. Faith and what you did in your life seem irrelevant—all who were on board the Titanic go to heaven (or maybe everybody goes to heaven, but there’s a special place for these).

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I remembered two other things I found objectionable as a Catholic: the sex scene with Jack and Rose seemed to have a message that this is love and is OK or even good. And, if I remember correctly, Rose said that Jack saved her in every way that a person can be saved, which seems to cut Jesus out of the picture.