Titanic! You all have heard about it, read or seen the movie. You all know when it started and with what fate it met. You remember the movie for the actors and the director and for the awards that it won galore. And yes I know it is also among your favorite movies of all time.
But for me, this movie is really special. As usual I caught up with this movie very late- years after it had been released and after people had watched it a million times! When it burst onto the scene, I did not particularly think much of it. It wasn’t something I thought I would want to watch or something I would like. Little did I know!
A story about a ship, its voyage and the life of mainly 2 people on board in it. Jack Dawson and Rose De Witt Bukater. Two people living extremely different lives. The classic poor boy and rich girl! Even though this is the classic setting, it proves that still it can be successful. The poor little rich girl trapped into this world where she does not belong. Her heart longs for freedom and here she is trapped where no one really cares that she exists, taken for granted. Under social obligation of sorts and under pressure from her mother, she tries time and again to settle and accept this life of hers but her soul longs to break free.
And there is Jack Dawson a free bird, who roams around the whole world and who earns his bread by his drawings. He is care-free and enjoys his life doing what he wants, wins the lucky ticket at a game of poker, meets this girl and it is love at first sight, again a classic theme, but successful.
Now I remember asking this question to my family members when this movie came- whether it is a real story. And my mother answered that it indeed is. But what I also really wanted to know was whether this story about Jack and Rose is real too, did these people really exist on the original Titanic ship. And she told me that it isn’t. And today before writing this post, I have indeed confirmed that the characters of Jack, Rose, her mother Ruth, her fiancee Cal, his bodyguard Spicer, Fabrizio, and the treasure hunters are all fictional creations of James Cameron. In the passenger list however, there was a man by the name of "J.Dawson" who died on the Titanic. His name was actually Joseph Dawson. He was a worker in the boiler room of the ship! This fact does not deter hundreds of movie fans from leaving flowers and notes at the gravesite though! Sadly it isn't a real story about Jack and Rose, although a lot of us wish it were.
Titanic is such a legendary story, it connects with people of all ages from all countries because it is basically a human tragedy which every human can connect with!
Every time I watch this movie, (and trust me I have seen it far too many times) certain kind of feelings come up in me which I cannot understand. It is a unique feeling- heart wrenching at times. Very few movies, rarely any if at all make me emotional in such a way. I have been wondering and have already asked a few people including my cousin sister and my pen pal too, the fact that when I watch this movie, I become sad but still at the same time I also enjoy watching it. To me it is absolutely puzzling. Can this two exist together? Can a person enjoy watching something that makes him sad? I have found no answers in all these years. Maybe it can be and I am unnecessarily worrying about it and trying to solve this, what seems to be a mystery to me which in reality might be a simple fact and truth.
If any of you however know the answer to this or have an opinion on it, please do tell it to me!
I don’t really need to write much about this movie per se, you all have seen it and know a lot on it. My focus here was in fact about focusing on the other aspects and what it means to me. For me Jack and Rose are two characters permanently etched in my memory, and the song by Celine Dion is something that I can listen to any day and it brings back all those feelings that the movie brings out in me.
Some of the things of the movie that I really like and remember and feel are the most significant in the movie- The first time Jack and Rose look at each other, their first meeting a very strange one where she is contemplating suicide and he just turns it into a casual conversation and tactfully prevents it, their second meeting after this which is really beautifully thought out- this forthright and direct boy who asks if she loves the man she will soon get married to which completely stumps her and the response, typical of a ‘lady’ the culturally brought up, one was has been taught what is appropriate socially and what is not, is among the most beautiful scenes of the movie. From what I know, the actual script was different though and many things were changed in this scene too and a lot of dialogues and even a lot of scenes have been deleted which you will easily find on You Tube, even an alternate ending. The various moments they share together- The comparison and contrast of the sophisticated but artificial first class world and the poor but simple and honest world of the third class, everything is so wonderful. It is for me among the greatest love stories I have ever known. The love of Jack and Rose is really real for me. In each gesture, word and look it comes out. And some of the lines that touch my heart, this movie has everything and no matter how many times I watch it, the response within me is always the same!
What I also came to know is that both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet were so young at the time the movie was made. He was perhaps 22 and she was 21. The scenes from the point where the ship hits the ice berg and to the point when Rose is rescued are really great. ‘The moment’ in the movie for me is when Jack has died and she realizes it and lets him go. What a touching moment!
Well, now there you go- another post of mine about a movie that involves a ship and a character named Jack.- Titanic besides the earlier one of Pirates of the Caribbean! I really want to ask people to name a movie that contains a ship and has a character named Jack. I want to know which answer among the two is given the most and what comes to mind first! Of course assuming there is no third movie with the same combination. What is your answer?
This time I really tried to make this post as small as possible because my posts are way too big by any standards and people generally aren’t really interested to read the whole long posts! Also one of my characteristics is that before writing about any topic, I really, really have to get in that topic, I almost surround myself by that topic for days, I go as deep into it as possible almost like an actor when he is portraying a character in a movie, he wants to live that character, be that character all the time to really feel it and make it a reality and so for this post, I went through the sadness for two days by watching the movie yesterday night till 1:40 in the night and today searching things related to Titanic only!
Hope I managed to catch the essence of it!
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