Director
James Cameron
Leading Actors/Actresses
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Gloria Stuart, Frances Fisher
Genre
Romance, Tragedy
Language
English
Awards
14 Academy Award Nominations, 11 wins.
Date of Release
December 19, 1997
Producer
John Landau
Setting and Context
Aboard the Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, April 1912
Narrator and Point of View
Narrator: Rose Dawson Calvet.
Tone and Mood
Romantic, melodramatic, epic, tragic, thrilling.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonists: Rose and Jack; Antagonists: Cal and Lovejoy
Major Conflict
The major conflict is between Jack and Rose, who want to be together, and Cal, Ruth, and Lovejoy, who want to tear them apart.
Climax
The climax of the film occurs when Jack and Rose consummate their love affair just as the ship strikes an iceberg.
Foreshadowing
Cal exclaims, "God himself could not sink this ship!" just before boarding, ironically foreshadowing the fact that the ship will indeed sink.
Understatement
As he is dying, Jack tells Rose he intends to write a "strongly worded letter" to the White Star Line, comically understating the severity of his position.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
Instead of creating a replica, James Cameron obtained deep sea footage of the actual wreck of the Titanic, using submersibles.
Allusions
Rose alludes to the work of Freud and the "male preoccupation with size" as a subtle rebuke to J. Bruce Ismay's obsession with Titanic's scale.
Paradox
Rose describes the opulent Titanic as a "slave ship" because it is ushering her toward a loveless marriage to Cal.
Parallelism
Jack says "I jump, you jump, right?" and Rose repeats the line back to him later in the film.
