In this extract from Titanic,
Cameron uses binary opposition to convey the differences between the rich and
poor. In the opening scene, the Titanic establishes a class division by its
colour compatibility. The top half of the ship is white, this connotes purity
and cleanliness. The white is also located on the top; this relates to social
classes, white is more associated with people of a wealthy status whereas the
bottom half of the ship is a dark brown/black colour which represents anonymity
and sadness. This has intentionally been filmed this particular way because
then the audience gets an intelligible understanding that the lower class
characters were not considered important in comparison to the upper class
characters.
The first character that we meet is Rose, this
already exhibits her status and importance because there already is a crowd of
people around, but we
see her first. In the first
establishing shot of Rose, the setting around her was bright. This connotes
that Rose is almost being ‘glorified’ because she is appearing more elevated
than the other characters. When Rose is arriving, there is lots of beeping of
cars and the crowd starts to proceed away from herself and her family. This
reinforces Rose’s wealth and status; during that period of time, it was much of
a luxury to be able to own a car, let alone someone chauffer you around in one.
The Gold plating of the car is symbolic of wealth; Gold is considered a very
uncommon and expensive piece of metal which connotes that Rose’s family live a
luxurious and wealthy lifestyle. The first aspect of Rose we see is her hand;
this is significant because Rose carefully reaches her hand out of the car to
be escorted from the car. This denotes that people of wealth rely on other
people to help and take care of even the little things in life, they lack
independence. Rose’s outfit is predominantly white, including her glove that see
first, this has connotations of purity, she looks very pristine. Once Rose has
stepped out of the car, we get a very close up camera shot of her purple hat
before we see her face. The colour purple has connotations of royalty and
status. This establishes Rose’s wealth and status one last time before we get
to see her face; it’s almost a reminder for the audience about what type of
character Rose is. Rose’s ruby red lips connote passion and feistiness. Her
lips contrast with her pure white skin which also has connotations of wealth
and status because in that time period, people who had more olive skin were
seen to be of lower class, suggesting that they worked outside and did a lot of
labour work in comparison to people with white, porcelain skin, they were
regarded of a higher status.
When the audience is first
introduced to Jack, he unveils that he is gambling away all of his possessions,
including a pocket watch and his last handful of change – this reinforces the
difference between both of the characters, Rose’s money influences others and
she has it in the form of notes, giving it out where and when she pleases.
Whereas that is all the money that Jack has left, and he has decided to gamble
it away. The sound of the pocket watch in the background connotes that time is
quickly evaporating away for Jack and this could be his last ever chance of
having freedom. The fact that we see Jack after Rose connotes that wealth;
status and power are seen more positively rather than poverty and desperation.
Jack’s desperation is evident when he presents that he is willing to let go of
all his belongings for a chance to board the ship. This denotes that he has no
worries and has nothing more to lose in life. Jacks grey and dirty clothes
denote that he is living a poor life of poverty. The colours for each character
have been carefully selected by the director to show to an audience how the
people with status dress compared to how people who are poor.
Cameron also uses binary
opposition to establish the differences between the male and female characters.
It is evident to the audience that when Rose lays eyes on the ship for the
first time, she has an unimpressed emotion on her face, she portrays herself as
reluctant; this is an indexical sign denoting that she does not want to board
the ship at all. This contrasts with Jack’s arrival onto the ship. When he
finds out he is gets to board the ship, his face lights up and he screams with
excitement. The sound in the background plays a significant part in this
specific scene, when Jack starts running towards the ship as fast as he can,
the music is very upbeat and enthusiastic which reinforces Jacks eagerness and
anticipation to board the ship. Before they could board the ship, the lower
class people had to have a health check in case they had lice or bad hygiene. There
is a particular scene in the extract which shows a middle aged man receiving a
health check; this presents to the audience what a health check is and how it
works. However, the people of a higher status did not have to go through having
a health check because the member’s staff just assumed that they were clean. When
Rose starts to board the ship, in contrast to Jack she carefully walks up
towards the ship, connoting that she is going to the higher quarters of the ship,
denoting that Rose and her family have power. The classical music in the
background reinforces Rose’s unenthusiastic tone about boarding the ship. Whilst
Rose is walking up a bridge to board the ship, Jack is recklessly running
towards the ship but passes under the bridge. Before entering the ship, Jack
has to literally jump to board it because there is a gap whereas Rose gets
guided onto the ship by a member of staff, making sure she is safely boarded.
Word count: 1012
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