How has James Cameron presented and adapted the true story of The Titanic for the cinema? The Titanic was a gripping story written by James Cameron in 1996. It is a re-write of what happened in 1912, and it tells the story well, and it has many realistic features, and to make the story even more impressive, James Cameron adds a love story to the equation, and the story is a success, which is very emotional, and a calamity at the same time. James Cameron manages to really make the audience watching the movie feel what is going on, and what it would have been like to experience being on the Titanic. The Titanic is likely James Cameron’s finest piece of work, and he has written others like “Terminator”, and “Aliens.” The film manages to separate the first class people from the second-class people, and it does it in a way that shows us how to really tell the difference between the two social classes. The first class people get to stay on the really nice part of the Titanic, where as the second-class people stay on a much rougher part of the Titanic. There is a scene that really shows this, when Jack and his friend first get on the Titanic, and find where they’re going to stay.
As they are second-class citizens they weren’t very well dressed, and when they find where they’re going to stay, they are impressed, even though it is a small, dull, rough looking room, and they have to share a bunk bed. A first class person would not be happy with living under these conditions. After this part of the movie it switches to where Cal-Rose’s fianc- and the rest of the posh people will be staying. The posh people are staying in a rather big place, which was clean, bright, and looked very expensive with shiny cutlery, and expensive chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling. The way it just switched from the two scenes showed the differences between the two classes perfectly. When the first class people are having dinner, and enjoying themselves talking about is how wealthy they are, and Jack puts on a front just to impress, and then afterwards the scene changes and when Jack and Rose go to a fun evening out with the second-class people, they are drunk, dancing, having fun, and basically doing the opposite of what the first class people would’ve done. At the part where Cal doesn’t know who Jack is, but he knows he is a second-class person, he refers to him as “filth”, and this shows how it is being criticized.
Even at the part of the movie where the Titanic is sinking, the first class people have a back up plan, and can get away quickly, and safely on a boat, where as the second-class people have to scream, and make noise, trying to find a way to survive. As well as this story separating the two classes from each other, it also separates the different groups of people on the Titanic. The Captain of the Titanic is a typical captain with a beard, who feels proud to be the captain of something as powerful as the Titanic. He is smartly dressed, and so are his officers. At one part of the movie you can see the captain standing at the very top of the Titanic, and he can see the whole Titanic, and everyone on it, and he looked on with pride. When the Captain finds out that the Titanic is going to sink, he orders his officers to keep everybody calm, and for them not to worry, but you could tell the officers were just as scared as the crew on board.
The film is a very emotional one, but it is also a disaster film, and what helped it be so successful were the special effects. Right at the beginning of the movie, we get to see the Titanic, and you can see the seabed, which shows us how far under water it is, and the contrasting dark and bright colours also help this. Many of the camera angles during the film helped to show how high up the Titanic was, and how far down the people on the Titanic would fall down, if they were to fall. At one point they changed the camera to a handheld camera angle, and this made everything appear more real. Many of the sound FX during the movie also helped express the feeling of what was going on. When Rose and Jack realized that they were in love, a love song came on, and this showed their feelings for each other. There were many interesting pieces of dialogue in the movie, and one of those was said by Cal, when he said “Not even God himself could sink this ship.” He sounded so convinced that the ship would not sink, and it just showed how clueless he was. What made this movie so great, were some of the excellent scenes, like when it shows the underwater wreck of the Titanic.
It showed just how tragic it was, and it being o huge, it just showed how many people died on it, and how being on the Titanic would have been a once in a life time experience. Another great scene was the incident where Jack stops Rose from jumping over the ship’s rail. It showed how even a second-class person can get through to a first class person, if they just listened, and in this case Jack made Rose see sense. The scene where Jack sketches Rose was a thing of beauty, and it shows that he is talented, despite what people may think of him. Rose can see right through him. Overall, I think that this movie was brilliant, and the reason it was such a success, is because of the love story between Jack Dawson, and Rose DeWitt Bukater, those both being from different classes of people, showed that they really could be a great couple, and they may not have ever imagined it ever happening..