Chuck Mayer

In defense of Titanic...

Hello fellow HTF'ers,

To start with, none of this is directed at any members of this forum, living or dead. It is merely a set of observations I have made for the last 4 years, and the reactions I face when discussing this movie.

1) Yes, it won the Best Picture award in 1997. And I agree that the award doesn't always go to deserving pictures. Sometimes the best aren't even nominated. At the time, it was riding an unprecedented wave of adulation and coverage.

2) Yes, it is the highest grossing movie of all time, both at home and abroad.

3) No, it won no screenplay awards.

4) none of the previous things should mean anything to someone who loves movies.

5) There are legitimate complaints about Titanic, as with any movie, be it Tomb Raider or Pulp Fiction or Schindler's List.

But let's start at the beginning (or better yet, late 1997)...this was JC's first movie after True Lies. It had a infamous and troubled shoot, considered by most to be as arduous as ever filmed. It had proceeded to go well beyond budget, forcing Cameron to forgo his directing fee (although not his screenwriting fee). Paramount and Fox were playing F'me, F'me games regarding the premiere since they both had distribution rights (Paramount - home and Fox - abroad) even though it was essentially Fox's movie. But as people saw the movie (critics mostly), the bad press become good buzz. So on December 19, 1997, it premiered against Tomorrow Never Dies. The SDTRK had been out since Thanksgiving, and was like all other SDTRK's...a mediocre seller. The movie made 27 million that weekend, not bad for a 3 hour running time. There was one book out. James Cameron's Titanic, a softcover book with photos and anecdotes, similar to many other blockbusters. I had to preorder one and B&N, because they weren't going to get any in.

So what does it matter? The point is simple...the movie was hyped just like any other holiday movie. On December 19, 1997, it was just another movie. One week later, everybody was talking about it and telling their friends to see it. Theaters were selling out. Young girls are falling in love with DiCaprio, and asking to go again. One month later, the SDTRK is number 1, and Celine's song has more airtime than commercials. Two months later, it is on the cover of every magazine, and every hack somewhere is trying to make a buck using the name or the story.

So why hate the movie? I know of several people who hate it, and haven't even seen it. Why? Principle? To maintain status as an aesthete, as a "true" lover of movies? Why condemn the movie for the phenomenon that followed it (as said in another post)? I have heard it called overrated and undeserving. Based on what? The power of movies is transportation, suspension of disbelief, and wonder. Titanic provided more of it for more moviegoers than any movie since GWTW, as evidenced by it's popularity and gross. How did it do that? DiCaprio? No, The Beach didn't do very well, and neither did The Man in the Iron Mask. Is the movie hated because girls loved him/his character?

To the movie...I am not going to make any trite defenses. There are those that have consciously seen it for the story/movie it is, WITHOUT preconceptions or a negative frame of mind, who did not care for it. Bravo! The fate of every movie. But the hate directed at this movie is unfounded and unjust. It is a technically accurate, brave production of a solid script. Again, it is not perfect. I am tired of people hating it to be trendy, or to set themselves apart for that reason alone. It is hated by some just because it is loved by others.

1997 had a lot of great movies...Face/Off, Contact, LA Confidential, Batman and Robin (just making sure you are actually reading this), and so on. If you haven't seen it, or you saw if after the world took notice and showered it with attention, give it a chance on it's own merits. Both Janet Maslin and Roger Ebert have very positive (there are other negative ones if that is to your taste) reviews online somewhere. I feel that Titanic is a GREAT movie. I am eagerly awaiting a SE (which will be a LONG while) to do it justice.

If you made it this far, thanks for your time and open mind. Take care

Chuck

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He had a plan. Maybe you just didn't see it 'til it hit you between the eyes. But, it started to make sense... in a Tyler sort of way. No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.

andreasingo

I agree 100%.

Lou Sytsma

I agree as well.

At least the budget for this movie showed up on the screen.

John M Miller

I respectfully disagree.

I dislike Titanic because its characters are incredibly one-dimensional and the writing is trite. For crying out loud, why must every blockbuster movie have characters that are so completely good or bad? In the case of this movie, the evil rich people would rather chase the poor through the bowels of a sinking ship with a gun than get on a boat and get to safety. Even more than that, the supposedly good characters, Jack and Rose are enlightened while the bad guys are very myopic. For example, in the scene where Rose is unloading the artwork she bought, Cal remarks, “What’s that?” To which Rose replies, “Picasso.” Cal then smugly remarks, “Picasso? Uh he’ll never amount to anything.” Honestly, how dumb does this screenwriter think we are?

What is more disturbing is something slightly subtler. In one scene, Jack is barred from being in a church service where Rose is because this was exclusively for rich people. The fact is, there was no such thing as separate services for rich and poor people on the Titanic. The writer did this to make the rich look more elite and the poor more sympathetic. The fact that Rose, herself nuvo riche, will hobnob with the peons does not atone for this mistake.

That said, I am not saying that Titanic doesn’t have good qualities. Anyone with a beating heart should recoil in the scene of the sinking of the ship. In fact, I thought this was very well done. But it didn’t do the emotional damage on me as it did on others because I did not believe the characters were real, so I could not care for them. This is admittedly subjective. In addition, I also think Titanic was also a very deserving winner of Best Cinematography for Russell Carpenter, as well as Best Special Effects.

In the end, my view of Titanic is that some will enjoy it, but there are so many other great films out there to watch, so why waste three hours on this? If you want a story of love that can’t be, watch Lean’s Brief Encounter. If you want something that really tears your heart out at the end, watch:


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Fellini's Le Notti di Cabiria

MickeS

One more voice in agreement here. Great movie.
My only beef with it is that we lived in an apartment complex at the time of the video release, and the guy downstairs was a HUGE fan of this movie, and played the movie and the soundtrack constantly... at very loud volumes. So I grew rather tired of it.

But it was and is a fantastic achievement, both artistically and technically. It manages to tell the story of the Titanic with a quick pace and very exciting action sequences, and yet make the movie focus around the love story between the central characters. The dialog isn't what it's remembered for, but the screenplay was nevertheless, IMO, very impressive, in that it effortlessly moved from scene to scene, and made the 3 hour plus running time fly by.

It will be interesting to see how people feel about it in, say, 10 years time. Another James Cameron movie, "Aliens", is still in my book the greatest action movie ever. DOn't know if "Titanic" will age as gracefully, but I see no reason why it couldn't.

/Mike

MickeS

And don't forget the smoke from the chimney! This is the worst movie EVER!

Seriously, I can understand your other complaints, but whenever I read about these petty complaints about the accuracy of the script I can't help thinking of the COmic Book Guy from "The Simpsons"...

/Mike

Chuck Mayer

John,
Although we may disagree, I appreciate the criticism you brought forth. I myself feel somewhat differently about the characters, but I can easily see where you are coming from. I started this thread to try and work against some of the backlash. Liking movies is a personal issue. I don't expect everyone who sees it to feel the way I do. I just didn't want to apologize for liking it. On a fact basis, you are right. It is an extremely well-made movie, and deserved WITHOUT QUESTION every technical Oscar it received. Again, thanks for the legit criticism.

Take care,
Chuck

Alex Spindler

I think from the perspective of the film as a whole, it will stand on it’s own primarily due to the technical achievement of the event itself. The movie, which is titled Titanic after all, is the story of the sinking of the ship couched between a love story that attempts to humanize the story and make it less a documentary.

While the historical merits of the film can be argued, especially about events that cannot be know for certain and had to be inferred, the amount of detail that is done correctly is astounding, and is virtually unknown in a Hollywood film. Everything from the physics of the disaster to the set design is meticulous and accomplished with talent and reverence. Truly a movie that uses special effects to further the movie instead of the other way around, it doesn’t have many other peers.

Now the outer story is pretty cookie cutter romance novel material, it takes a back seat at all the right times to the core of the movie. Could they have wrapped this movie in a more complex drama? Absolutely! But I have to wonder if a more complex love story would have made the film less accessible, hurting it financially. With a triple digit budget, I would think a more accessible story line may have been considered an asset, even if it earns snickers from the movie enthusiast and critical crowd. Especially when there is a lot of confidence in the true subject of the movie, the boat and the event itself. Pearl Harbor can’t have the same level of confidence and paid dearly for it.

So do I think the love story in Titanic will endure? No way. As soon as the target audience discovers stories with more complex plots they will grow weary of the one in Titanic.

Will the sections of the Titanic sinking endure? Absolutely. I believe that it stands as one of the most impressive depictions of an event of this magnitude ever filmed.

But what do I know?

Brad_W

I can't help thinking of the COmic Book Guy from "The Simpsons"...

/Mike
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LOL! "I would like 100 tacos for 100 dollars, please."

anyway, I liked Titanic. That's my in-depth oppinion.

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"I was born to murder the world." -Nix (Lord of Illusions)

My Home Page http://www.geocities.com/masternix/DVD.html