Sociological Concepts in Titanic - Essay Example

?Titanic: the associated sociological concepts Summary The 1997 film Titanic, produced and directed by James Cameron is a fictionalized representation of the sinking of RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 14, 1912. It is a story about two individuals coming from different social classes falling in love with each other, only to be separated by death when the ship sank after hitting an iceberg. In 1996, a team of treasure hunters after exploring the wrecked remains of the ship, find a photograph of a nude woman wearing a necklace known as the heart of the ocean. The entire story has been narrated by Rose Dawson Calvert who claimed to be the person in the photograph. In 1912, a first class passenger named Rose Dewitt Bukater boards the ship along with her mother Ruth and fiance Carl Hockley. Their engagement was an arrangement of a sort by Ruth to solve the financial problems of her family. Upset with the engagement, and also feeling suffocated by the constraints of belonging to a high class society, Rose attempts to commit suicide. However, another passenger from third class, Jack Dawson who was a penniless artist manages to save her. In return of saving her life, Carl at first offers Jack some money at which Rose asks whether her life has so little value. Carl then invites Jack to a dinner in the first class dining salon. Soon, Jack and Rose develop a friendship, and after the dinner the couple enjoys a party in the third class. Initially, Rose resists his advances as she was afraid to go against Ruth and Carl. However, she gradually realizes her growing feelings for Jack. She takes him to her stateroom to display the necklace gifted by Carl, and on her request he paints a nude picture of her wearing the necklace. Later on, they witness the ship hitting an iceberg. Meanwhile, Carl finds the photograph along with a mock note written by Rose. He entraps Jack by declaring him as a thief and has him arrested. Jack is taken to the Master-at-arms’ office, and handcuffed to a pipe. While the ship started to sink, Rose saved Jack and soon after on request by Jack and Carl boarded a lifeboat. However, she gets back on board unwilling to leave Jack. As they escape into the first class dining salon, Carl chases them with a pistol but soon loses them just before realizing that he has given his coat to Rose, and the necklace was in the coat’s pocket. As the ship tears in half, Jack and Rose find themselves stranded in the stern with other passengers, as all the lifeboats have already departed. Eventually, when the entire ship sinks, Jack helps her climb on a wooden panel which could remain floated with only one person. Jack remains in the water holding the edge of the panel and assures her that she will die an old woman on a warm bed. Finally, he died of hyperthermia, and Rose gets saved. As she and the other survivors are dispatched to New York on RMS Carpathia, she gives her name as Rose Dawson. In the penultimate scene of the movie, Rose takes the Heart of the Ocean which she had with her all these years, and drops it in the sea just above where the Titanic has sank (Titanic, 1997). Sociological concepts Social class The movie depicted the divisions that existed between people from varied social classes during the early twentieth century. There were separate areas on the ship to accommodate different classes of people, and each area had amenities and facilities according to the class of people. However, the most brutal form of class division was portrayed in the second half of the movie when the ship was struck with disaster. Social class became a determining factor for the rate of survival. Although there were other reasons that contributed towards the low number of survivors like not enough lifeboats available on the ship, it was nevertheless a fact that lower class passengers were not allowed to go abroad the available lifeboats. The top priority was to save passengers from first and second class. From the film, it can be observed that there were two primary reasons for social class differentiation in the rates of survival. Firstly, the third class passengers were forcefully kept away from lifeboats since the priority was to fill the lifeboats with first and second class passengers. This situation could arise because there were not enough lifeboats on board, and those that were available were situated on the deck that belonged to the first class and second class passengers. Secondly, the structure of the ship added to the disadvantage of the third class passengers since they were accommodated in the lower storey of the ship. There is also another explanation for the class differentiation in survival. Many of the third class passengers were emigrants traveling to the United States, and majority of them did not understand English. For this reason, they could not always follow the instructions provided by the ship’s crew. Gender discrimination Gender discrimination was another factor that contributed to the rate of survival. The women and children received greater scope than the men regarding chances of survival. The gender discrimination that existed during the eviction process was because of a policy which stated that in case of a disaster, women and children would be given preference in filling the limited number of lifeboats. Combined with the social differentiation, this policy of gender discrimination resulted in more number of women getting saved from the first and second class than from the lower class. The reason that can be attributed for such gender discrimination in the Titanic survival rate is the general notion that men are stronger than women, and it is the men who bears the responsibility of protecting their women and children. The rich vs. the poor The financial disparities were highly reflected in the accommodation of the passengers depending on the price of their tickets. The poor people received the least priced tickets and the amenities they received were in sharp contrast with those received by the affluent passengers on the ship. Even while boarding the ship, there were different gangways so that people from wealthy class did not have to share space with people from poor class. Even the menu for meals was different for each class of people. The toilets varied with the first class passengers having their toilets made with marble, for the second class passengers the toilets were porcelain, and finally for the third class the toilets were simple and constructed with iron. Apart from the ship’s amenities, a major social concept that existed during the early 1900s was reflected in this movie. The female protagonist Rose’s mother Ruth forced her daughter to become engaged with the millionaire Carl Hockley as this would solve their financial problems. Thus, it can be known from the film that there existed inter-class marriages for financial reasons. Conclusion The social concepts that have so far been described in this paper are just a part of a bigger reason behind the low survival rate of the Titanic disaster. Inadequate number of lifeboats, reluctance of women to get separated from their men during the eviction process, the lower class passengers’ unwillingnee to leave behind their belongings and so on, were few of those reasons that can be attributed to the survival rate. Language also acted as a hindrance since most of the third class passengers were immigrants who had little understanding of English while the ship’s crews offered instructions in this language. Reference Titanic (1997) directed by James Cameron Read More