Title: Unfathomable The question was to die for something or to live for nothing. The fundamental nature of Rose DeWitt Bukater’s character shines in her comment regarding Picasso’s paintings when she states that “there is truth, but no logic” (Titanic). Her artistic avowal was questioning the balance of the value of subsistence against the method and validity of its content, which was also her personal dilemma. In Director James Cameron’s epic movie Titanic, the young debutante, Rose, her affluent affianced Cal Hockley, and Rose’s mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, board the lavish, ill-fated ship in an entourage of extravagance. Almost avoiding his providence, American Jack Dawson and Italian friend, Fabrizio DeRossi make the final boarding of the unsinkable Titanic by winning steerage class tickets on the steamship minutes beforehand in a “lucky” game of poker. As the ill-fated vessel departs upon her wayfaring, passengers are separated and sorted by their respective class of societal rank based on wealth and affordability of ticket. As an unlikely, star-crossed romance blooms between Jack and Rose, her moral convictions and her heart conflict with her societal and familial obligations. In Cameron’s factual depiction of the R.M.S. Titanic’s unfortunate destiny, he spins the fictional, heartrending love affair between Jack and Rose while exposing the noxious narcissism of the upper class through the use of literary themes. Through the theatrical use of communion in the course of dining, a cleverly
Cited: Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2003. Titanic. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Videocassette. 1997 Paramount Pictures, 1998.