"Titanic" as a Story about Love

Leonardo Di'Caprio and
Kate Winslet

TITANIC
Friday, January 09, 1998
Titanic, a story about the Blue Diamond

James Cameron’s "Titanic" challenges the common belief that it is impossible to do a good movie against the background of a blue bore like ocean. Thanks to the grand-scale of the re-enactment and a blend of epic story and romance, he pulls it off.

Near my home, in a Costa Mesa Edwards theater I enjoyed both the film and the reaction of the local audience. People were taken by the tragedy, in my row women spilled a few tears. But when Gloria Stuart threw the heart-shaped blue diamond into the ocean and we saw the gorgeous stone sinking, a loud sigh signaled the eclipse of emotions.

An unsophisticated audience cannot go wrong in its collective experience. Audience emotions culminated here and not earlier when Rose learned Jack was dead or when the invisible Angel of Death flew over the wrecked ship silencing the drowning passenger’s cries for help. Something important was going on behind that strange silence. One had the feeling the story still hadn’t come to its conclusion.

Why did the diamond’s disappearance in the black waters cause the feeling of dénouement, awe and relief?

The search for the unique stone opens the movie and foreshadows the outcome of upcoming events. Undersea explorer, Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) scours the ship’s wreck for it. Finally, he finds a locked safe. He’s certain he has found the stone but the safe only contains drawing of it worn by a naked young woman. An old woman claims she’s the person in the drawing. Brock Lovett invites her over, hoping to obtain the invaluable stone. Instead he hears a "useless" love story which isn’t going to cover his losses. On the contrary, it makes him realize he’ll never find the Blue Diamond.

In other words, we are introduced to a treasure hunter who will not find what he’s seeking. The "Titanic" had attracted passengers who have the same kind of treasure hunter mentality. They are close to what they want but never get it. The builder of "Titanic" is almost there—his project became the real ship—but we know what will happen to the engineer and his dream-ship! A rich man on board, Billy Zane’s Cal Hockley will not marry his bride. A penniless mother will not receive security. A captain will not retire. A young artist will not become famous. The beautiful young lady will be never happy. The mysterious blue diamond "Heart of the Ocean" touches the lives of all these characters.

Cal Hockley hopes to win the heart of his bride by presenting the famous "Heart of the Ocean" to her. But we know Kate Winslet’s Rose DeWitt Bukater doesn’t love her groom. We see her attempting to commit suicide. Then she falls for her rescuer, struggling artist Jack Dawson. At this point we expect her to decline Hockley’s gift. Instead, when the hated groom makes very clear what he wants from her and offers her the rare stone, she accepts it.

The next time we see the diamond, it is on Rose’s neck as she poses nude for Jack Dawson. The artist passes the test: he is not mesmerized by the stone, nor by the Kate’s nudity; he is drawn by the wish to make a good sketch. When Cal Hockley finds out about this, he takes the diamond back. But when he throws his coat on Rose’s shoulders he forgets the stone is in the pocket. For some reason, James Cameron makes old Rose (Gloria Stuart) recall it. When "Titanic" was sinking, she put her hand in the pocket and pulled out the stone! She was aware of having the stone with her. Cal Hockley also has a moment in which he remembers putting the Blue Diamond in the coat pocket that he threw over the Rose’s shoulders.

Rose carried the diamond through the entire unspeakable catastrophe. It’s so feminine: a woman’s survival instinct is so strong she cheats death itself. But the mystery doesn’t end here.

Old Rose tells us that Cal married again, inherited his father’s money, lost it and committed suicide. Why didn’t he ever contact Rose? So few people survived the "Titanic" they all knew each other. Probably, their names were published all over the newspapers. It’s impossible Cal couldn’t find her, especially considering his financial situation. It could happen only if Rose didn’t allow it to happen!

When Rose arrived in the United States, she assumed the name "Rose Dawson" to honor Jack’s memory. No one doubts it but could she also have changed her name to elude Cal? We never find out. This uncertainty doesn’t belittle the film. It adds an air of mystery to Rose’s image.

There is only one genre that succeeds with this sort of uncertainty. It is called the Viking’s saga. and it was born in the same North Atlantis waters where the "Titanic" sank. . A saga teller tells the story only through witnesses who ‘saw it with their own eyes’, or ‘heard it with their own ears’. Nevertheless, these witnesses cannot reveal the entire story, because no one sees everything. There is always something that remains untold.

In Cameron’s story we are not told if the Blue Diamond has some magical power? Old Rose doesn’t share her secrets. We wonder, if there was a curse on the "Titanic"? Otherwise, why were all the holders of that stone deprived of what they loved most? Was it true that the Great Blue Diamond couldn’t stand competition? Did The Stone destroy the admired "Titanic" and the artist who preferred the temporary beauty of an alive woman to its frozen beauty? Did the same Blue Diamond save the woman who, in a sense, betrayed her love by keeping the stone?

Rose kept that diamond her entire life. It took 100 years to face her betrayal. Then she lets the diamond go. Almost at the same instant she is reunited with Jack in another dimension. You may call it as you like, the dream-world, death or afterlife. She is young again, he is young again, and their togetherness continues in the other and probably better world.