That Sinking Thinking

In the film Other People’s Money (1991), Danny DeVito plays a hero. As Larry the Liquidator he saves companies in danger of insolvency.  He is not a tall actor, not particularly good looking, but he’s whip smart and projects a sense of knowing. Just knowing. You couldn’t cast him as the villain in Titanic (1997) because Hollywood plays tricks. Director James Cameron made sure that the baddy in the aforementioned film should look like a runway model or right out of an ad for Polo by Ralph Lauren. Billy Zane in his prime was one such fellow. 

To balance out the ugly character traits with the beau, Cameron ensured that Zane be cast instead, well someone not of the same facial and height requirements he wanted for his lead opposite the gorgeous and would-have-been uber-uppercrusty Kate Winslet and the handsome but financially destitute artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio). The script already became waterlogged at this moment. But the score and the excellent camerawork and stunts absolutely lift up Titanic to those heights of Best Picture at the Oscars® and the first film to earn a billion dollars at the box office. 

It’s just overrated. From the idea that a documentary ought to be made about the people of African descent aboard in the steerage to the story of Joseph Laroche who had been the only recorded black man on the vessel during its doomed voyage. It shows a shallowness and a cashing in on the emotions from the audiences, including Foundational Black Americans (FBA). Memories of a family member of mine balling her ebony eyes out to this film shows its impact across generations and nations, however. 

It’s just overrated. It deserved the awards for Film Editing and even Cameron might have just skated with the Best Director prize. But the movie is so mired in low-grade behavior like the spitting contest. Of course, of course it’s to bank on the crucial spit in the face later on in the film, but there could have been a much more thoughtful solution to this particular scene. 

An actual image of a suicide by pistol and a reference to it lowers the film to a kind of horrific picture besides the obvious sinking of the ship. While the story between Rose and Jack is fictional, there should have been more care to emphasize the abilities and stories among the other cast members. Like John Jacob Astor and the industrialists who made the ship possible. There lacks a cohesion between the central plot and the subplots that seem to not gel all the way. For instance, the ship’s designer, Thomas Andrews, seems like a single layered character who deserved much better screen time. 

Even Kathy Bates’ character Margaret Brown just had some witticisms and her fullness is never expressed. The idea of blending historical and fictional characters can always be tricky and Titanic hardly EVER passes the smell test. It fails to make a complete distinction with the powers of historians and those on the payroll whose job it was to investigate whether all of the details checked out with reality.

It’s sad that someone of Cameron’s brightness and abilities never took advantage of showing there had been so many more facets to the tale. Even the main characters seem like one note individuals instead of broadcasting morals, ethics, and virtues that extend beyond launching loogies off the ship.

There seems to be a place where Titanic plays in the mind; it actually has great filmic grammar. The spelling’s too poor, however. Those sequences took months to film in a cold pool with actors and crew all spending hours in it. 

It must have been a relief to be able to take home the awards. DiCaprio and Winslet put up a great bit of effort that lends itself to the movie. What makes the whole spectacle worthy of a watch is the epic nature. From its running time to the A-list actors and character actors; to the wondrous score; to the Celine Dion song; to the jaw-dropping computer-generated imagery (CGI), there is a sense that this is a must-see movie at least once in your lifetime. What brings it together is the committed roles of the people cast in the picture. 

Behind the camera, Cameron and crew made it their business to keep the pace, get the details just right, and make an entertaining and somewhat moving piece of art. The project just seems to sink lower than what should be expected of such a colossal endeavor. It’s like the ship itself…said to be unsinkable, but an iceberg besmirched the reputation of that phrase. What brings down the movie is the incredulity at the final scenes where Jack disappears into the water. He could have survived! That entire sequence seems so false and out of place that it’s like the huge chunk of ice that submerged the true-to-life vessel. It's a sinking thinking.

A disconnect seems to remain almost thirty years after the film’s release. The anti-intellectualism that underscores the film, aside from the brief reference to Monet’s Water Lilies for example, shows how the first class are snooty and uppity rather than cultured and sophisticated. The lower classes seem curious and engaging. Did this exist on the ship? The disparity is so glaring that it begs the question whether much thought had been put into making this film more than just a flimsy love story surrounded by horrific actual events.

Much more care should have been invested in the storylines of the random people who populated the separate classes. Their stories deserved to be explored, too. Their ideas, aspirations, and love life should have been included rather than the extensive stunt scenes. The crux of the events that take place seem to be out of place and out of touch with what really happened that fateful night.

Altogether, the movie is flawed not for its cinematic glories but for its sophomoric romantic tale, and for what it could have been. It’s certainly a watchable film as it holds the attention for over three hours. But the main drag of it all is that it is inconsistent. Does it want to be a love story for the ages? Does it want to be a technological wonder for its time? The answers seem as sketchy as DiCaprio’s character’s portfolio. More thought should have been placed on the inner lives of the people if the run time had to have been so long. 

In the future, Mr. Cameron might want to focus on the ideas of tying romantic relationships to capitalistic pursuits and fully integrating the two ideals. In his subsequent films, he falters at this as well. It appears as if Titanic had been the forerunner to the Avatar movies. Industrialization and private property––bad, romance between disparate classes––good. Not that that’s a bad thing, he just emphasizes how the lower classes or savages can still intermingle with upper classes or advanced cultures. And on top of that, he demonizes the very crew, equipment, and ideas that bring his works to life, ironically. 

Dizzying effects, implied sex scenes, and other elements certainly find footing in Titanic. They, however, seem to be like cheap tricks at the town fair, played for pageantry. This overrated title ought to be viewed as a huge event that befit its gigantic premise. It just should have been taken more seriously. The joys and the losses brought about by this arrangement of sights and sounds should spur the gifted director to spin yarn that turns into platinum and diamonds. Not unlike the platinum chain and blue diamond from the film.