After the appreciation of the film 「Titanic」， I have noticed some meaningful details behind the peoples』 general impression of simply an affectional film. The wreck of the Titanic occurred in 1912, in which the great recession started from the end of the 19th Century still hasn』t ended. Most critics pointed out that the sinking of the Titanic represents the collapse of the Capitalism in the end of the 19th Century. However, I would like to say that, in this movie, the director had not only foreran the crisis of the Capitalism, but also showed some of the human nature, from both gloomy and brilliant aspects, like selfish, mammonish, vainglorious, and love, hope, bravery, faith, and so on. In this essay, I will first reveal this film』s indication of the social context of that age, then I will analyse the two contrary aspects of human nature indicated in this film through some impressive shots.
Under the development of industrial technology, the economy in the Capitalism countries took off. People lived a rich, luxury and expensive life, and this rapid economic development lasted for almost 20 years. People had got used to this kind of life. The huge development in machinery changed people』s life greatly. Innovations of transportation, such as vehicles and tankers, allowed people to travel around. The appearance of these modern transportations was an important milestone of the industrialization. People thus became very confident on human intellectual capabilities. They believed their power of conquering the nature is inapproachable. While the Titanic is also called 「The Ship of Dreamers」， in this film, when it bearing in with the ocean in the darkness, the mysterious ocean represents the unknown nature and the ship itself represents the advanced material capabilities people owned. In a shot that Mr Bruce explains his design of the Titanic, he said 「the ship possesses huge size, stability, luxury, and strength」， and that」 the supremacy will never be challenged」。 In fact, all these words can be thought of the symbols of the Capitalism of that time in many people』s eyes. They thought the Capitalism is just like the Titanic, which should be 「unsinkable」。 The wonderful way of developing economy would stay in good condition eternally. However, things do not always follow the way people wish to be. The economic recession suddenly attacked the Capitalism countries at the end of the 19th Century. It was not until then that people did not realize the impracticality of their idealized 「unsinkable」 Capitalism. Capitalism will sink. And unfortunately it did sink. Just like the movie shows, when the ship broke into two parts and began to sink quicker and quicker, everybody knows the ship is going to sink, the priest kept reiterating to the disciples,」 the former would has passed away.」
As to the human nature uncovered in this film, can be thought of from both negative and positive aspects. I will first elucidate some gloomy characteristics revealed by the film. The first impressive characteristic may be that the fiancé of Rose, Karl would gain his ends by fair means or foul. When he noticed that Rose has obliquity with Jack, he took out the necklace with a diamond of 56 carats named 「the heart of the ocean」， to request Rose not to leave him. He knows that Rose doesn』t love him, but he chose to use money to keep Rose with him. When Titanic was sinking, both Jack and Karl were trying to trick Rose into getting on the accident boat. Since Karl had already bribed a sailor, he lied to Rose that he would ensure that Jack will also get on the boat. Nevertheless, when Karl himself was rejected to get on the accident boat, he again used an intrigue that he picked up an outcast child and pretended to be the father of the child, and managed to get on the accident boat. Another negative social mood of that time exposed by the film is vanity. Rose』s mother wanted to marry her daughter to Karl just because Karl is extremely rich, while she doesn』t care whether Rose loves him or not. When Jack wearing a suit borrowed from a woman to attend the dinner invited by Karl, he was respected by other guests. However, when he wore his own clothes maybe a little bit shabby, and tried to enter the ballroom to look for Rose, he was driven out by the two guards outside the ballroom. The two respondences depending on Jack』s appearance contrasted sharply, and really very shocking for us to imagine a society like that. Anyway, there are some brilliant aspects of human nature showed in this film. There is love, bravery, faith, and beliefs existing at the scene. The presence of love was impenetrated through the whole film. The love is not only expressed between Jack and Rose, but also exists among the families. When the water was poured into the ship, when men are forced to be obstructed from their wives and children, an old couple held each other tightly in the bed; a father comforted his daughter he will just leave her for a while, just a little while… When Titanic was sinking, some musicians were performing pieces of music, some disciples were praying to Virgin Mary around the priest on their knees.
In conclusion, the film of 「Titanic」 is not simply an affectional story between Jack and Rose. It shows more than love. The wreck of Titanic represents the collapse of the Capitalism, which is considered 「unsinkable」 by most people. The film also shows different aspects of human nature. Some people own strong vainglory, while some other possess much of love; still others are rich in firm faith and beliefs. We should always keep in mind that, no matter how enormous the calamity is, no matter how defective the people are, we should believe there are always more virtue than vice in the world.