Literary Criticism

Literary Genre: Film

Titanic

Directed by James Cameron

Narratology, in literary theory, the study of narrative structure. Narratology looks at what narratives have in common and what makes one different from another.

Like structuralism and semiotics, from which it derived, narratology is based on the idea of a common literary language, or a universal pattern of codes that operates within the text of a work. Its theoretical starting point is the fact that narratives are found and communicated through a wide variety of media—such as oral and written language, gestures, and music—and that the “same” narrative can be seen in many different forms. The development of this body of theory, and its corresponding terminology, accelerated in the mid-20th century.

The Plot Summary

In 1912, 17-year-old first class passenger Rose boards "Titanic" in Southampton with her fiancé Cal and her mother Ruth DeWitt Bukater. Ruth stresses the importance of Rose's engagement, as the marriage would solve the DeWitt Bukaters' secret financial problems. Distraught by her engagement, Rose considers suicide by jumping off the ship's stern; a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson intervenes. Discovered with Jack on the stern, Rose tells Cal that she was looking over the ship's edge in curiosity and that Jack saved her from falling. Pressed, Jack confirms her account. Cal is at first aloof to Jack, but when Rose indicates that recognition is due, he offers him a small amount of money. After Rose mocks Cal for this, asking if saving her life means so little, he invites Jack to a first-class dinner the following night. Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship, even though Cal and Ruth are wary of the young third-class man. Following the dinner that night, Rose secretly joins Jack at a party in the ship's third-class quarter.

Rose and the other survivors are taken by the RMS Carpathia to New York, where Rose gives her name as Rose Dawson. She hides from Cal on Carpathia's deck as he searches for her. She learns later that he committed suicide after losing his fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Her story complete, Rose goes alone to the stern of Lovett's ship. There she takes out the Heart of the Ocean, which has been in her possession all along, and drops it into the ocean. While seemingly asleep in her bed, the photos on her dresser are a visual chronicle that she lived a free life inspired by Jack. The young Rose is then seen reuniting with Jack at the Grand Staircase of the RMS Titanic, applauded and congratulated by those who perished on the ship.

The Interpretation

This movie perfectly fits the Narratology theory because when Rose heard about the drawing and claimed that she is the woman in it wearing the diamond necklace, she was asked if she knows the whereabouts of the necklace, Rose recalls her time aboard the Titanic, revealing that she is Rose DeWitt Bukater, a passenger believed to have died in the sinking. She then begins her story.

Titanic started its story through recalling what Rose experienced in the past.