Abstract The present paper establishes that the Upstairs‐Downstairs relationship is at the heart of James Cameron’s Titanic. The ship, top of modernity in 1912, is actually a metaphor of Society. Indeed, first‐class aristocrats and new tycoons live on the decks while third‐class immigrants survive in the steerage, which reflects the situation on land (where the upper classes live in mansions while the lower classes live in unhealthy suburbs). The difference between the first‐class passengers having a repetitive life of meaningless events, while third‐class passengers are shown as free and happy, is actually at the center of the movie. This want of freedom is the most powerful desire of Rose DeWitt Bukater, a lively aristocratic young woman, who is the heroin and narrator. Her feeling of being trapped in this upper class “club” leads her to meet Jack Dawson, a third‐class passenger who has an epicurean vision of life, to which she aspires. They fall in love, but love cannot survive the sinking of an entire world. In fact, as Titanic, the grandest ship of its time, goes down, the absurd class system suddenly appears as unfair, mostly because of the death of 75% of the third‐
class passengers (in opposition to the 40% of first‐class passengers). The world will never be the same after the tragedy. World War I breaks out just two years later, which shows the class system had become unsustainable. Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Contents Introduction ____________________________________________________________ 3
Chapter I: A little bit of History… ____________________________________________ 4
I.1 The Gilded Age _____________________________________________________________ 4
I.2 Immigration to America ______________________________________________________ 5
I.3 The Edwardian Society _______________________________________________________ 5
Chapter II: The narrator ___________________________________________________ 7
Chapter III: Characterization _______________________________________________ 9
III.1 First‐class Passengers _______________________________________________________ 9
III.2 Third‐class Passengers _____________________________________________________ 11
III.3 Names & Symbols_________________________________________________________ 12
Chapter IV: Clothing _____________________________________________________ 13
Chapter V: Relations aboard Titanic ________________________________________ 16
V.1 Relations between characters of the same class _________________________________ 16
V.2 Relations between the lower and upper class ___________________________________ 17
V.3 Relation to women ________________________________________________________ 22
V.4 Relation to servants _______________________________________________________ 24
Chapter VI: Scene Analysis ________________________________________________ 26
Chapter VII: Themes _____________________________________________________ 30
VII.1 Love between people of two different classes__________________________________ 30
VII.2 Injustice ________________________________________________________________ 30
VII.3 The Sinking _____________________________________________________________ 31
Conclusion_____________________________________________________________ 32
Bibliography ___________________________________________________________ 33
Acknowledgements _____________________________________________________ 34
Appendix ________________________________________________________________
‐ 2 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Introduction Deep down, man has the hope to find a treasure in the wreck of the largest ship of its time, Titanic. The opening scene of Titanic is, as a matter of fact, underwater; submarines are looking for the Coeur de la Mer, a very rare blue diamond worn by Louis XVI. What the treasure hunting crew will find will be much more than that: they will understand that the wreck of Titanic is not only a treasure chest, but rather a drowned world. Man indeed believed that the 20th century would be at peace, and that some kind of Golden Age had been reached. This presumption sank with the ship, on the night of April 14, 1912. The Titanic, symbol of progress, crashed with an iceberg, thus ending illusions of superiority of men over nature. Titanic certainly was a modern ship. It was conceived to receive everyone, lower and upper classes, but these classes were not to see each other during the voyage. As a matter of fact, first‐
class passengers (mostly old aristocrats and new tycoons) were located on the decks, in luxurious cabins and marvellous dining rooms. Two decks lower down, second‐class passengers were less pampered, but still well provided for. Down in the bowels of the vessel were located the third‐
class quarters, far away from luxury, where the Titanic’s immigrants were dreaming of a better life in the New World. Titanic is therefore a metaphor of Society in 1912, which implicitly accepted that the ones with money had power, ruled the world while the moneyless had to struggle to live. The class system has undoubtedly an unfair nature. Tensions between the wealthy world “above stairs” and the more modest world “downstairs” were not ignorable, and forbid some human beings, mostly the ones from the lower classes, to live a fulfilling life. The subject of this research paper is the Upstairs‐Downstairs relationships, in this case between first and third‐class passengers aboard the Titanic. There are after all two entirely different experiences on the ship, depending upon whether one is among the privileged or among the immigrants making their way to America. This fictive analysis will be possible thanks to James Cameron’s movie Titanic. The purpose of this research paper is to establish to what extent this Upstairs‐Downstairs relationship is at the heart of the movie. The center of this research paper is the relationships between first and third‐class passengers aboard the Titanic, where the relation to women and servants will also be pointed out. In order to evidence the central assumption, the present paper will begin with a historical background of the beginning of the 20th century. The narrator of Titanic, Rose, will then be presented to understand in which ways her rebellious attitude influences the story. The feelings of the main characters against the opposite class will next be explained, in order to have a general understanding of the atmosphere one could find in 1912. Since the clothing is an important external sign of belonging to a social class, it will be discussed. A scene where the Upstairs‐Downstairs relationship between the passengers is explicit will therefore be analyzed. Finally, the main themes of James Cameron’s Titanic will be highlighted with respect to the social relationships discussed in this research paper. ‐ 3 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Chapter I: A little bit of History… In this chapter, a few historical elements will be set, for the better understanding of this research paper. Firstly, the general situation at the beginning of the 20th century will be explained. Secondly, the reason of the passenger’s voyage aboard Titanic, and the reason of the massive immigration to America, will become clear. Thirdly and finally, the functioning of Society in 1912, namely the Edwardian Era, will be exposed.1 I.1 The Gilded Age “From the ashes of the Civil War (1861‐1865) sprang an economic powerhouse”2. Factories, hibernating during the war, did not shut down; industry indeed existed before the War, but the most significant portion of the American economy was agriculture. After the War, small businesses (like railroads) grew larger and larger. In 1850, most Americans worked for themselves; by 1900, they were almost all working for an employer. Factories spread rapidly across the United States around urban areas, particularly in the Northeast and around the great Lakes. And so, the American workers began to migrate from the countryside to the city, and American cities expanded very quickly. Plus, after the War, millions of acres were discovered in the Far West, mostly by immigrants. Modern America was born, and in minds came the illusion that progress would rapidly bring Heaven on Earth. Aristocrats were therefore no longer the only rich, even though they remained the dominant influences and reigned near absolute. Indeed, men from modest families, like John D. Rockefeller (the first American billionaire, who revolutionized the oil industry), Andrew Carnegie (who revolutionized the steel industry) and many others became the new tycoons, surpassing even the aristocrats, who owed their own power from their name and heritage from centuries before. The Era also witnessed the quick creation of technological inventions, like telephones, sewing machines, typewriters, motorcars and aeroplanes. In the beginning of the twentieth century, industrial production in America exceeded every country except Britain, who remained the most powerful nation in the world. It was the time when man thought it would become able to take power over everything, when it thought it were at the forefront of what technology could offer. This period, called the Edwardian Era in England, was nicknamed “Gilded Age” by the writer and humorist Mark Twain, because he meant it was glittering above but corrupted underneath. Indeed, the era was infected at the same time by moods of decadence and pessimism, and of optimism and hope. The balance of power in Europe was shaken by the formation of the German Empire (1870) and from that started a series of secret or double alliances between world powers, to be able to defend themselves against the new Empire. All around Europe, there were revolutions, riots and protestations from the workers and lower classes, and around the world, from the natives American or African European settlers wanted to Christianize. Plus, with this rush to the African continent, the last one to be discovered, European nations started having tensions between them. The economy, despite rapid industrialization, was threatened to be decimated by a series of financial panics around the world. All in all, tensions grew between nations, and finally exploded in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I. 1
Sources used in this chapter: Histoire du Royaume‐Uni au XXe siècle (Mougel), Atlas of World History (Grove), edwardianpromenade.com, www.ushistory.org, www.digitalhistory.uh.edu. 2
www.digitalhistory.uh.edu
‐ 4 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ I.2 Immigration to America There are different reasons to the travel aboard Titanic from Southampton, UK, to New‐York, USA. On the one hand, the first‐class passengers were traveling on the Titanic for prestige; indeed, the ship is known as the forefront of the time’s technology, with a gymnasium, a tennis court and a heated swimming pool! Dinners were served in luxurious dining rooms, and first‐class cabins were extremely spacious. Therefore, showing to Society they have sailed on the maiden voyage of the Titanic is something very atypical and thus prestigious. In fact, there were many celebrities on the ship: Bruce Ismay, owner of the White Star Line (which owns the Titanic) and Benjamin Guggenheim, the “Copper King”, are some examples in James Cameron’s movie. On the other hand, there are the third‐class passengers. Most are immigrants who dream to find fortune and happiness in the New Continent. Most of them are German, Italian, Russian, Greek, and of course, Irish. Indeed, Ireland has endured a great starvation since 1845, and has lost close to three millions of its inhabitants in a very short period of time: 750’000 starved to death and two millions eventually left the country, mostly fleeing to America. In 1912, Ireland’s population was getting better, but still many people were leaving their desolated island because they knew there was work for them in the United States. Many Germans also fled their country because of severe unemployment and civil unrest in the country. New companies in America were indeed able to give work to all that needed it. Immigrants were therefore building canals, constructing railroads and many other intensive labour works around the country, and much of the country has therefore been built thanks to them. This is the main reason for the massive immigration from “sick Europe” to the doors of the New World. Each immigrant’s dream is indeed, like Fabrizio says, to “go to America to be a millionaire!3” I.3 The Edwardian Society The Edwardian Era is the period between the beginning of the 20th century to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, and is seen as the last “hurrah” of the aristocracy. It is named after King Edward VII who dominated the period. Edwardian Society seemed to belong to another world, living in the style the “members of the club” knew was best, even though lower classes were beginning to question differences between social classes. In fact, this age belonged to High Society, and birth, wealth and manners were the prime qualifications to get respect and obedience from others. It resembled a club more than a social caste, and the image was reinforced by a complicated set of rules and formalities (like the social etiquette, which could be defined as a reputation) which purpose was to increase the distance between those who were in Society and those who were not. Edwardian values are an extension of the Victorian ones, but what differs between them is the mixture of optimism and pessimism people felt around the early 1900s. For example, social rules and morals of the 19th century remained (like social etiquettes, the keeping of pure ladies until marriage, or the proper position of women, for example), but people felt uneasy because of the technological changes, the increasing voices of the “masses” (lower and working class), and the growing tensions between European nations. While at the same time, there was a blind optimism and a belief that with so much modernization of Society and closer ties between people, there was no reason things couldn’t grow better and better. 3
(24:49) ‐ 5 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ As said above, the former aristocratic families lost their money over time, and they were finally reduced to marry the “New Rich”, the ones who joined the upper class club by earning money from their factories. This way, everyone was a winner: aristocrats benefited from money while the “New Rich” received the prestige of the name.4 By the mid‐1900s, a schism arose between the young and their elders, whose wants, needs and desires reigned supreme. These “New young” began to create a separate life from their parents, disturbing the notions that only married settled men and women mattered in Society. This movement helped to break the enduring models of womanhood. Indeed, even if women had started to work since the 1880s, it was not until the 1910s that young women from High Society thought of attending college and of living more or less independently. 4
“Your father left us nothing but a legacy of bad debts hidden by a good name. And that is the only card we have to play.” (Ruth, 1:10:02) ‐ 6 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Chapter II: The narrator Who is Rose Calvert? James Cameron’s Titanic is a story told from the point of view of a survivor of Edwardian times. Rose, who is nearly 101 years old, was Rose DeWitt Bukater, a young, lively and spirited woman, ruled by (and rebelling against) Edwardian values. She is also a survivor of the Titanic, which comes to symbolize Edwardian values and the 19th century world. Its sinking can, consequently, be seen as a reference to the disappearance of a world, especially since it is told and, literally, explored, from the end of the 20th century. Rose is taken to the Keldysh, a ship of a high‐tech treasure‐hunting expedition, and will tell her story. The DeWitt Bukater family is, in 1912, an aristocratic family gone totally bankrupt. Since the death of Mr. DeWitt Bukater, the family is left with no possibility to earn money. Rose’s mother will therefore try to recover from the loss by marrying her daughter to one of the “New Rich”, Caledon Hockley. Rose’s situation is actually trivial, as explained in chapter I.1, dynastic marriages being ordinary situations in Edwardian Society. The only difference from the other girls of her age is that she is openly against this marriage. After the sinking of the Titanic, Rose changed her name, hoping she would never see her relatives again, mostly the ones she hated: her mother Ruth who demanded too much from her daughter and her fiancé Caledon Hockley who was willing to control her. Therefore she became Rose Dawson, taking the name of the man who saved her in any possible way during her voyage on the Titanic, Jack. Rose DeWitt Bukater, according to the passenger list, has died. Rose’s life after the sinking is not explicitly told in the movie. At the beginning of the story, Lewis Bodine (one of the men on the Keldysh research ship) explains the following: in her twenties, Rose became an actress, then married a man named Calvert, and “[punched] out a couple of kids”5. The rest of Rose’s life can easily be guessed: we see pictures of her. In fact, we can see on her old sepia photographs and of her souvenirs that Rose has traveled a lot, some place in a desert, another on an exotic island. She has therefore had a full and exciting life, free from the strict conventions of Edwardian standards which she hated as a young woman. She also learnt to be a pilot and how to ride a horse “one leg on each side”6. She even wore trousers in her young years, which was something very unusual before the 1970’s. In fact, women in the 1940’s only wore pants if they were riding a horse or flying a plane; Rose seems to have taken both opportunities. Rose is thus a strong woman who comes to terms with her sex and her life being an independent woman. Her lifetime after the sinking must have been radically different from before. The reason Rose is invited on the Keldysh is because, according to the drawing Jack made of her the night of the sinking with the Coeur de la Mer, she appears to be the last one who wore it. Mr. Lovett, the captain of the expedition, has spent three years of his life searching the wreck of the RMS Titanic, trying to find this very rare blue diamond, which “would be worth more than the Hope Diamond today”7. As a survivor of the accident, and to explain where the diamond has gone, Rose starts to tell the story of her life on the “Ship of dreams”. The whole movie is, therefore, told from her point of 5
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‐ 7 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ view, and the audience sees the story the way Rose Calvert sees it at the time she tells the story, and not especially at the time she is part of the story. This is probably why the first‐class is clearly not valued, including a few characters in it, specially her mother Ruth and her fiancé Caledon. Rose hated her life, and hated the feeling of being trapped, having no choices as to her future. On the contrary, the third‐class is idealized, for the same reason she dreamed of freedom and of feeling alive. Her point of view on this class has not changed through the years. In the movie, Old Rose therefore chooses what she wants to say about her and about the others during the voyage, and tells them in the way she sees it in 1997, not necessarily in 1912. Perhaps Young Rose was not as good towards the third‐class as she says she was, according to the fact that, at the time she tells the story, the cleavage between social classes is less important than it was at the beginning of the era. Plus, Old Rose is a centenarian, and may have little problems of memory, even though it is not deniable that the Sinking of the Titanic and the philosophy of Jack Dawson clearly marked her life. Also, she is portrayed as an energetic and hard headed old lady who seems to remember the past quite clearly, especially the tragedy which is the foundation of her life and identity.8 8
“I can still smell the fresh paint” (20:19) ‐ 8 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Chapter III: Characterization Every character on the ship has its own approach to the opposite class, and feelings vary between them. The reason of having these several characters in the movie is to show, in short, which kind of atmosphere one could find around 1912 between opposite classes. In this chapter, each Titanic character’s feeling against the opposite class will thus be analyzed. A few character’s names can also be interpreted in an Upstairs‐Downstairs point of view, and those will be considered. III.1 First‐class Passengers Rose DeWitt Bukater “It was the Ship of Dreams to everyone else…To me, it was a slave ship, taking me back to America in chains. Outwardly, I was everything a well brought‐up girl should be. Inside, I was screaming.”9 Rose DeWitt Bukater is a beautiful, intelligent and poised 17‐year‐old woman. She was born in one of the very best families in Philadelphia, USA. Rose has been schooled since childhood to be everything a young woman of Society is expected to be. She has been engaged to Caledon Hockley to “insure [her family’s] survival”, like her mother told her. In fact, since her father died, her family is going through hard times, but Rose never truly felt this lack of money. In the movie, her spirit rebels against the rigid confinements and expectations of Edwardian Society, which rule her destiny. Rose, according to her words 90 years later, respects human beings of every class. Unlike her mother, the third‐class passengers do not disgust her, they even attract her. She seems to be very interested in the way they live, and considers them as being free, as opposed to her. This shows she is a little naïve. In the movie, the third‐class passengers are actually shown as very happy and joyful. The reality must be quite different than she sees it; she idealizes this class, and believes it is perfect. Caledon “Cal” Hockley “ [Le Coeur de la Mer] is for royalty. We are royalty, Rose. You know there’s nothing I couldn't give you. There's nothing I'd deny you if you would not deny me...”10 Caledon Hockley is a handsome, self‐confident, very rich and proud man in his thirties. Son of a wealthy steel family (being therefore one of the “New Money”, as Rose’s mother calls them), Cal aspires to elegance and insists on convenience. He considers Rose as suitable enough to fit the role of wife in his aristocratic future. Cal is a man of property, and is very jealous: he may love to show his fiancée to the others, but he cannot bear the sight of a man touching her, especially a third‐class boy like Jack. His ego actually gets hurt when he discovers that Rose preferred a poor man with no money. Hockley’s attitude against the third‐class passengers is based on hypocrisy. Indeed, he is fake when he speaks to people under his ‘’royal’’ rank. He invites Jack for dinner with the only purpose to laugh at him, like a good joke (“[Inviting Jack] should be interesting!”11). Caledon always sees people according to his needs. For example, he wants to marry Rose for the prestige he could get. He also kidnaps a child to get on a lifeboat, even if he didn’t care about it 9
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‐ 9 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ when he saw the kid in the first place. This way of taking advantage of people around him shows him as a representative of a flawed system, without scruples. Besides, Caledon feels neglected by Rose, as shown in the quotation. Actually, he is probably shown as a mean person because he is seen through the eyes of Rose, who hates him because her mother chose him for her, and also because he is part of the “rich people”. Rose does not even try to know who he really is, she hates him in principle. Caledon tries to make her happy, to make her fall in love with him, ignoring her personality and her emotional and artistic inclination. As an embodiment of Edwardian Society and of the Gilded Age, he is blind to anything that is not materialistic. Ruth DeWitt Bukater “Of course it’s unfair. We’re women. Our choices are never easy.”12 Ruth is Rose’s selfish mother. She belongs to one of the highest‐ranked families of Philadelphia, and yet her late husband did not leave her much money. In fact, she admits that “the money’s gone.”13. But Ruth is determined to regain money through her daughter’s marriage to Caledon Hockley, a “New Rich”. Mrs. DeWitt Bukater is totally intolerant to Rose’s rebellious nature, which she judges improper for a lady of her rank, and finds in Cal an ally to control her daughter. Ruth is ruled by Edwardian values and her obvious high upbringing, and therefore scorns the lower classes: when she sees her daughter learning how to spit like a man, she is horrified, thinking this as totally unseemly for a woman of their rank. She tries to ridicule Jack in every possible way when she sees him. She also does not like Molly Brown, because she is not an “original” High Society woman. Margaret ‘’Molly’’ Brown “Remember they love money, so just pretend you own a gold mine and you’re in the Club!”14 Molly seems to be the only one to see that everyone in High Society is fake and playing a game. She knows they have only one interest: money. Although she is a first‐class woman, Molly (who is actually inspired from a real woman who survived the sinking) was not born in the upper class. She found her way there by marrying a Colorado mining millionaire. Therefore, she is generally avoided by the upper class people. They also do not appreciate her because she is a plain‐spoken woman who says everything she thinks; she mocks these people all the time. A self determined woman, Molly wears no mask and may be the most “natural” first‐class passenger on the ship. She even calls the first‐class dinner table a “Snake Pit”15, and we can see she does not like them. However, behind her rude appearance, Molly has a grateful heart. Molly’s attitude towards the lower class seems to be compassionate. Indeed, she understands what it is like not being part of the “Club”, and finds herself willing to help Jack during the dinner, which she knows is an unusual situation for him. 12
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(53:38). Molly means that once one who does not belong to the “Club” enters the upper class world, one will be bitten by the members of the “Club”, meaning they will be rude and will try to take one down. They will have no mercy, as if they were snakes. 13
‐ 10 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ III.2 Third‐class Passengers Jack Dawson “When you got nothin’, you got nothin’ to loose.”16 In a way, Jack Dawson is an “every man” character, but who knows what he wants in life. He is a poor 20‐year‐old artist from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Orphan, he worked in different jobs to survive. He traveled through America, trying to make money out of his art, and then comes to Europe to study art in Paris. He finally finds himself able to go back to his homeland: “I won my ticket on Titanic here in a lucky hand at poker”17. Jack is very comfortable with his state in life, and even jokes about it: “Time for me to go row with the other slaves”18. In fact, Jack does not feel any need to be “one of them”. He does not have great esteem of the upper class, and he is surprised that Rose knows about ice‐fishing, believing she is rather an “indoor woman”. At the same time, Jack embodies the freedom of his class, which seems to have the spontaneity and “joie de vivre”, which the upper class lacks totally. As a matter of fact, Jack Dawson is most likely an idealized man. It cannot be doubted he is very good and respectable, but his character is told and seen in Rose’s eyes: therefore he can only be perfect, because he is one of the “free class”, and also her first love. Tommy Ryan ‘’That’s typical. First‐class dogs come down here to take a shite.’’19 Tommy Ryan is an Irish immigrant like every other who certainly wants to find wealth in the New World. Nothing is told about his life in the movie, he just represents the Irish immigrants on board. In the few conversations he appears, Tommy is shown as a revolutionary, who resents feeling inferior. He believes there is no justice and that every one should be equal. He also thinks that Jack is not being logical by trying to befriend a first‐class lady. Tommy actually probably simply dislikes the upper class. Fabrizio De Rossi "I’m lucky. It’s my destiny to go to America!”20 Fabrizio is a young Italian in his early twenties. His dream is to find success and happiness in America. He won his ticket, with his good friend Jack Dawson, in a poker game, and considers himself as the luckiest man in the world. Fabrizio’s character is not scrutinized in the movie. He is just “Jack’s good buddy”, and the audience at least understands that he wants to become rich in the New World, like every other European immigrant. 16
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‐ 11 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ III.3 Names & Symbols A few character’s names can be interpreted according the Upstairs‐Downstairs standpoint. Indeed, the meaning of the names can be interpreted in a symbolical way. For example, the name “Rose” recalls immediately the flower, symbol of love and beauty. It is also a very gracious name, which shows her high rank in Society. But “Rose” is a simple name as well, which could easily fit for a third‐class woman. This name thus suits both classes and is in accordance with the double‐sided nature of the character. In that respect, the most interesting name is Fabrizio’s surname, “De Rossi”. First, in front of the surname is the small word “De”, which usually refers to a high ranked family, which is definitely not the case of Fabrizio. In northern Italy, “Rossi” means red. The color red could be related to communism and to Karl Marx, the founder of the class struggle. In short, Marx wanted to abolish capitalism, because the Rich minority exploited the Poor majority. He also wanted the working class to seize political power, for them to have a say in the way the Society works. This is a very meaningful analysis of the name, because Fabrizio, with all the lower class, fits in this ideology, which is totally contrary to the aristocracy. In conclusion to this chapter, every character in James Cameron’s Titanic has a different role to play towards the opposite class. It not only shows that the relationship between lower and upper class is a key element of the story, but also sets a background and an atmosphere that will not change during the whole story. Even some of the names can be interpreted in an Upstairs‐
Downstairs standpoint which indicates that this relationship is indeed important in the movie, and that it was highlighted on purpose. ‐ 12 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Chapter IV: Clothing This chapter will point out how important one’s clothing was in 1912 for Society, because it definitely showed who belonged to which class. Clothing was a major element during the Edwardian Era, especially for women. Indeed, Society based one’s estimation mostly on appearance. For women, it was a way to affirm their character, because they did not have the right to express themselves in other particular ways. While men were judged on their achievements, women were valued according to their clothing and their attitude. Clothing, of course, also reflected their rank in Society. For example, upper class women wore beautiful and complicated silk dresses whereas lower class women had only one special dress made of modest fabric. It was therefore a time of beautiful clothes as well as the peak of luxury life, but only for a selected few: the very rich or the very privileged, most of the time through birth. The role of the Hostesses (the married women) was very important during the Era21. They actually had to wear a different set of clothes for every different occasion of the day. It was their duty to be dressed in splendour and unashamed luxury, associated with High Society, to entertain their guests in a style where no expense had been spared. But at some point, their dresses, mostly beaded, were so elaborate and so complex that these women needed the help of a maid to get dressed properly. The Maid, usually a lower class girl, was the hostess’ personal hairdresser, valet, dressmaker, milliner and dog walker. The Maid also had to stay unnoticeable during the hostess’ parties. Finally, the Maid earned such a poor salary that they were not even able to live their life independently. Rose, like every upper class girl, has her own maid who helps her tie her corset, style her hair and set the jewellery. The upper class thus needed the lower class even to get dressed. Upper class women wore a lot of decorative accessories, like parasols and gloves used for every season. One important accessory was the hat. Indeed, a woman would never go outside without a hat. These hats were overwhelming, decorated with feathers, lace, whole birds or bunch of cherries, ribbon streamers, etc. Every possible type of trim was used throughout the Era. Actually, the hat showed the wealth of the person who wore it, being noticeable and showy. Rose is the Edwardian lady the most shown, even though she is not the typical one. Throughout the story (which only spreads on four days), she wears seven different dresses, one in the morning and one for the evening, like she is expected to do. Rose’s wardrobe22 defines the character and her mood at the moment. For example, the first time the audience sees her, getting out of the car on the wharf, Rose is the only one wearing white, as if she was dressed to stand out, to show how different from the crowd she feels. Indeed, every single person waiting on the quay is happy about the Titanic almost leaving and to see such a beauty, but Rose is “screaming inside”23. Another significant example is the “suicide dress”; all of red and black fabrics (colours usually associated with Hell), the dress is flamboyant, showing the deep anger she feels. As for the “sinking dress”, it looks very fragile, which could show how week she will feel during the sinking. In another point of view, this dress, with no beads or complications, may show that first and third‐class passengers will be at the same level in front of death during the sinking, theme that will be discussed later in this research paper24. 21
Source of this chapter: www.fashion‐era.com, edwardianpromenade.com and www.ushistory.org See appendix n°1 23
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Cf. Chapter VII: Themes 22
‐ 13 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Rose also rebels against the clothing, going out on the decks with no hat, while every other woman on the first‐class promenade wears one. She also gets crazy when she remains unable to take her dress off alone, without her maid to help her25. Rose is therefore a different lady than the other upper class women, considering her wish of independence, which is already shown by her attitude towards clothing. Rose actually seems to feel as if all these complicated dresses were too much for her. Indeed, after the painting of the portrait, she wears the “sinking dress” which is, as said above, rather neutral, with no complications of any kind. Also, more startlingly, she takes off all her clothes to be drawn by Jack. Symbolically, this scene embodies her dilemma: she wants and manages to be her own self with Jack, but in a way she still clings to her social privilege when she decides to wear the Coeur de la Mer, the blue and huge diamond. Interestingly enough, Rose finds the jewel in one of her pockets after the sinking, and keeps it hidden until old age. It is only in the final scene that she parts with it, as if she had made peace with her past, dropping it into the waters where the ship and Jack has disappeared. Clothing is therefore used to enhance one’s character. Mrs DeWitt Bukater’s dresses26 are for example very complicated, made of magnificent fabrics and beaded with thousands of little pearls. She is dressed to be seen, to show her rank in Society, but never stands out by her style. Actually, her dresses, though beautiful, are rather mundane. She mostly wears dark colours (dark green, maroon, gold, etc), and her dresses are mostly turtlenecked. Ruth is therefore shown as a strict lady before the audience even knows her temper and beliefs. As for Molly Brown, she wears noticeable dresses. She mostly stands out in the scenes were she appears, and frequently wears opposite colours to Ruth DeWitt Bukater. It marks their complete difference. For example, while Ruth and her friends are wearing light colours, Molly wears black, maybe to show how an outsider she is. Upper class men’s clothing was not easier. First, most of their shirts were buttoned in the back. There was also buttons collar, tie pins, cuff links, watch chains, hats and finally canes. All in all, men did not spend less time than women to get dressed. They wore beautiful dark suits, as if they were going to a party everyday. In the movie, they wear black high hats, which seem to be at the forefront of fashion. Men were therefore very elegant and placed great importance in their appearance, like women. Titanic’s first‐class men characters are dressed accordingly, as if they all had the same beliefs. It is interesting to notice that, on the Titanic, every passenger of the same class wear the same kind of clothes, as if it were a uniform. It was shown that the upper class people wear the same suits and the same kind of beaded dresses. What about the lower class? In the movie, third‐class men wear brownish pants pulled high by suspenders27. Their shirts are of a clear colour while their coats are dark (whether brown or grey). Their shoes are simple and worn, and they wear hats, maybe depending on their origin: Fabrizio wears a beret (the typical cliché hat of old Italian movies), and Tommy wears a worker’s cap. As for women, they wear long colourless dresses, most of them plaid, with a wool shirt or shawl on top. As a matter of fact, the lower class wore poor clothes, almost rags. The dominant colours were, for men and boys, brown, black and grey while women were sticking with brown, dark greens and purples. The reason of these sad and cold colours is that the dyeing did not hold well on the modest fabrics they used, compared to the silk which was worn by the upper class. Often, third‐
25
Deleted Scene 2 See Appendix n°2
27
See Appendix n°3 26
‐ 14 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ class passengers wore traditional working class clothes, actually the ones they worked with. Indeed, elegance was not a priority they could afford. In order to conclude this chapter, clothing is indeed important to know in which social class one is or not. James Cameron, Titanic’s producer, has correctly used the clothing of his characters as a tool, not only to determine in which class they are, but also to define their character. It means that the difference between both classes is indeed important for the movie. ‐ 15 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Chapter V: Relations aboard Titanic One could expect that, on the ship, differences between classes are reduced for practical reasons. On the contrary, Titanic is like a small city. Classes are separated and compartmentalized, as they are on land, which not only reproduces the cleavage between them but also organizes it spatially. Indeed, New England cities by 1900 were organized in such a way that immigrants, poor and African‐Americans (actually the former slaves, freed during the Civil War) regrouped in separate locations, far from the city center, where only the rich could afford living. These people were piled up into these unhealthy neighborhoods, placed near the factories. This location recalls the Titanic spatial organization, where half of the ship is devoted to the 325 first‐class passengers who represent 24.7% of the passengers while the other half, actually the bottom of the ship, is occupied by the 706 Third‐class Passengers. V.1 Relations between characters of the same class The relationships between characters of the same class, the way they interact with each other depending on their familiarity, will be studied in this part. First‐class passengers are courteous and civilized between themselves, as they have been taught since childhood. For example, a mother shows to her daughter the way she has to sit correctly on her chair and eat28. Girls and boys indeed had a strict upbringing in the time. Spontaneous behavior was strictly forbidden, and everything they did had to be thought before it was done29. Therefore their social status leads them to wear a mask of perfect respectability, following a code of conduct. They all call themselves “Mr. Hockley” and “Miss DeWitt Bukater”, and only relatives call each other by their first names. For example, Rose calls her fiancé by the nickname “Cal”, Ruth calls her soon‐to‐be son‐in‐law “Caledon”, but other first‐class passengers call him “Mr. Hockley”, in sign of respectful distance. These relations are thus based on respect and politeness to everyone, even the ones they do not like. For instance, Ruth DeWitt Bukater is having tea with some gossipy friends of hers30, and when Molly Brown comes along, they all pretend they want to go for a promenade, instead of telling her frankly they do not want to spend time with a “rude” woman. In fact, women relationships are mostly based on gossips about other women or even friends. For example, when Jack has dinner with the first‐class passengers, Rose introduces every person in the room ironically, by telling him meaningless rumors that people say about these people31. However, a distance between them may remain. Indeed, even though most of the upper class people are rich, there are still some who are richer than the others. For example, John Jacob Astor, the richest man on the ship, may have more power and influence than Caledon, for example. There would then be a hierarchy between people of the same class depending on their financial power. 28
(1:16:27) Source: Titanic coffret Deluxe, DVD 2. Audio reviews of producer Rae Sanchini and Jon Landau. 30
(50:10). Molly also says to Ruth that “[she] needs to catch up on [her] gossip”, which shows they know that the talk about others’ problems all the time. 31
"There's the Countess of Rothes. And that's John Jacob Astor...the richest man on the ship. His little wifey there, Madeleine, is my age and in a delicate condition. See how she's trying to hide it. Quite the scandal. And over there, that's Sir Cosmo and Lucile, Lady Duff‐Gordon. She designs naughty lingerie, among her many talents. Very popular with the royals. And that's Benjamin Guggenheim and his mistress, Madame Aubert. Mrs. Guggenheim is at home with the children, of course." (57:07)
29
‐ 16 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ On the contrary, lower class people are shown to behave in a very natural way with each other. They do not seem to follow any Code of Conduct. They fight, they scream, they laugh, they play, they live, even though their life is not easy. Indeed, they are poor, but for them, this voyage is the one of hope; a new life is waiting for them and they must be thrilled to leave the misery they knew in Europe. All the same, they are, in Rose’s eyes, happy and sociable, and she sees them as if they were fighting together against one enemy: ignorance. Indeed, the lower class is deliberately ignored by the upper class, who considers its people as non‐humans, but Rose also feels as if she was ignored.32 One interesting fact is that, just like between the first‐class passengers, there seem to be a hierarchy between characters of the same class. For example, Tommy talks about the Irishmen who built the Titanic with pride, but he tells that in a way that he seems to feel superior to Fabrizio (who asked him the question). V.2 Relations between the lower and upper class The differences of attitude towards life between the lower and upper class people will be analysed in this part. Indeed, depending on which class one is, one will have a different point of view towards subjects such as Worldview, Upbringing, Solidarity, Work and Spare‐time, Culture and finally Dreams. Analysing these issues one by one will confirm that James Cameron’s Titanic is based on the Upstairs‐Downstairs relationships between both classes. Worldview In 1912, people believe that the 20th century would be free of wars, epidemics, famines or injustices. They also think they have reached the top in technology, some kind of Golden Age, and that humans finally rule nature. James Cameron, the director of the movie, wrote an interesting and significant note about the feeling of superiority of men in the time: "That's one of the interesting things about the Titanic disaster. They thought they were the lords of the sea. They thought they had dominated nature. But nature will never be dominated. We have to ride with it, but we're not going to steamroll right over the top of it. They thought they could pave the world and drive their big, metal ships across the ocean with impunity. They were wrong." 33 That is the reason why people believed the Titanic was an unsinkable ship. Caledon, in the typical modern man, tells it himself: “God himself couldn’t sink this ship”34. Man therefore considers himself as superior to God. He totally overreaches himself. He is presumptuous, and will finally fall. This feeling of highness could only be punished, if we consider it like a Shakespearean play, where the one who considers himself higher than the limit is punished in one way or another at the end. The upper class people therefore believe themselves as being the masters of the universe. In addition to believing they control nature, they also rule humanity. Ruth, for example, is rude to everyone from the lower class. Even Molly Brown is scorned, because she actually was not born in the same class and Ruth probably feels like Molly stole her place in High Society. Old Rose also says: “The others were curious and gracious about the man who saved my life [Jack]. But my mother looked at him like an insect, a dangerous insect, which 32
“No one who cared, or even noticed” (Old Rose, Off‐comment, 35:44)
Source: http://www.titanicmovie.com/present/index.html 34
(21:35) 33
‐ 17 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ must be squashed quickly.”35 This quote shows how superior Ruth feels besides the lower classes, and how comfortable she feels about showing she scorns them. Indeed, she does not try to hide the fact that she hates Jack. And the reason she hates him is because she caught her daughter learning how to spit, and Ruth does not accept her daughter’s impulsiveness, because it is not in accordance with the Code of Conduct. As for Caledon, he cannot help being mean and offending to the lower class, especially Jack: [Before the Dinner] “Dawson! It’s amazing. You could almost pass for a gentleman!36”. Caledon wants to say that Jack will never fit in the upper class, whatever costume he wears, even though there are no differences of appearance between Jack and another lambda first‐class passenger once he wears the proper clothes. Caledon is certainly sarcastic because he feels Jack, despite of himself, is in competition with him for Rose’s heart. He also invites him for dinner in a very kind and polite way, but right after he says to his valet “that should be interesting”37, which shows he only invites him to make fun of him. Again, after the Dinner, Caledon tells Jack that Politics would not interest him, as if the lower class boy was not smart enough to understand anything about it. All in all, Caledon definitely feels as if his rank in Society assures him to choose who is part of the “club” and who is not. Molly, on the other hand, actually understands since the beginning that the only reason Jack was invited to an upper class dinner is to make fun of him. To fight this mean ploy, she will lend the third‐class boy one of her son’s suits, and help him pass this tough social test. As for Thomas Andrews, the mastership builder of the Titanic, respects Jack when he arrives in the first‐class hall to find Rose38. He salutes him in a friendly way, apparently with no hypocrisy, as if he did not even notice Jack was not in the place he is supposed to be. It is possible his kindness is due to his deep respect to Rose, whom he seems to like very much. During the sinking, Mr. Andrews cares about the destiny of all the third‐class passengers, and lets himself die because he cannot cope with the fact that he unwittingly killed so many people. Upbringing Upbringing is very important during the Edwardian Era. Indeed, children are brought up in very different ways depending on which social class they were born. For example, third‐class little girls are told (by their father) how the engine of the ship works39 while first‐class little girls learn (by their mother) how to sit properly at dinner.40 Indeed, dinner is an important ritual for the upper class. They have learned since their childhood how to be a good host and how to sit and eat properly. Lower class passengers are, on their side, not brought up the same way, and therefore have not learned how to eat in the “upper class style”. For example, the Dinner scene41 is very representative of the differences between both classes. Rose and Molly are helpful to Jack during the dinner, showing how to use things properly. Rose shows him how put the napkin in such a way, while Molly explains how to use the silver 35
(53:30) (58:43)
37
(39:00) 38
(1 :11:42) 39
(33:40) 40
(1:16:27) 41
(59:11) 36
‐ 18 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ when Jack asks her if the eight forks, knives and spoons are for him. “Just start from the outside and work your way in”42 is Molly’s answer. Jack finishes, with the conversation going on and with Ruth annoying him by asking disrespectful questions43, by eating the way he always has. Or perhaps he provokes them by conforming to their expectations about the lower class. However, he picks his nose, talks with his mouth full, bites in his bread, throws the matches across the table and finally, he calls Caledon by his surname “Cal”, which is disrespectful knowing Jack does not know him so well. All in all, Jack makes a lot of mistakes during the dinner, but nothing in the first‐class passengers’ attitude shows they notice them. This scene also shows the first‐class passengers’ life as a repetition; at the end of the dinner, Rose will hiss to Jack “Next it will be the brandies in the smoking room”44, and the second after, one of the host will ask who wants to join him in the smoking room. Another quote Rose says attests that the first‐class is shown as a life of repetitions: “I saw my whole life as if I'd already lived it...an endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches...always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter.”45. This is the reason why Rose appreciates so much Jack’s speech about living each day as it comes.46 Indeed, her dream is to live this very same way and it is in big part the reason why the lower class fascinates her so much. One interesting fact is that the presumptuous upper class hosts do not reject Jack’s epicurean wisdom47, even though their lifestyle is completely opposite to it. It shows that they agree with him and that they believe Jack’s philosophy is a good one, but they are too materialistic too change anything in their life. Or perhaps the only thing that they caught in the sentence is the word “count”, which they venerate. Whatever, their agreement with an epicurean lifestyle shows contradictions within their value system. Upbringing, or the lack of upbringing, is also shown in the lower class. For example, Jack has learnt how to spit, and proposes to teach to Rose how to do it too, she having never learned to, being an upper class woman. But Jack also says that when his parents died, he was on his own to survive, which would have never happened in High Society. Indeed, the orphan would have been taken care of by another member of the family, but would have never been left on his own. Solidarity The notion of friendship seems to differ whether one comes from the upper or the lower class. For example, first‐class women’s friendships are definitely based on gossips about other people from their class. Indeed, it is important to notice that in that time, there were no celebrities (actors, singers or sportspeople) like there are today. The celebrities were the upper classes, and they were therefore being talked about48. First‐class men actually have friends depending on their type of work. For example, men who are sitting at the dinner table (during the Dinner scene) have all made fortune (they are New Money) by operating a mine, selling copper or steel. Therefore, their friendships always have a materialistic motivation. 42
(59:20) “Tell us of the accommodations in steerage, Mr Dawson. I hear they’re quite good on the ship.” (58:41) 44
(1:01:22) 45
(34:55) 46
“Oh yes Mam’, I do [think that rootless experience of life appealing]. I mean, I got everything that I need right here with me, get the air in my lungs, a few blank sheets of paper…I love wakin’ up in the morning not knowing what’s gonna happen, who I’m gonna meet, where ever I’ll wind up. I figure life’s a gift and I’m not attending for wasting it. You never know what hand you’re gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes to you. To make each day count.” (59:40) 47
They even make a toast to it: “To making it count” (1:56) 48
cf. note 12
43
‐ 19 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ As for the third‐class passengers’ friendships, they are rather based on affinities. Jack and Fabrizio have probably met each other while they were working or having a drink in a bar, but it is difficult to think that one wanted to take advantage of the other in the first place, for the reason that neither one nor the other has something to give. Their friendship with Tommy was also based on laughter and “joie de vivre”. Another fact is that when Jack and Rose meet for the second time, after he saved her life, their conversation is particular. While the third‐class passenger calls her by her first name “Rose”, she cannot help calling him “Mr. Dawson” in return, even if he asks her not to. This difference points out how different relationships are inside the classes, how relaxed the third‐class passengers are between them. Work and spare‐time Working is at the center of one’s life in 1912, as it is today. First‐class men all have a factory or a mine to watch. Caledon has a steel factory, for example, but it is obvious that he does not work in it himself. Indeed, the lower class works for him. Therefore, on the ship as on land, the upper class rules the lower class. As for the spare‐time, on the ship, first‐class passengers spend their days doing what they prefer to do, which is having dinner with the other Rich, and like Rose says (about men after dinner) “Now they retreat into a cloud of smoke and congratulate each other on being master of the universe”49. Women spend their days gossiping. It is actually interesting to notice that on the ship, and it is not shown in the movie, the first‐class part had gymnasium, tennis courts, a golf course and a heated swimming pool, for those who wanted to exercise during the voyage. On land, upper class passengers do pretty much the same kind of hobbies. Men look after their business while women look after their house and organize dinners for the hosts. They also take part in events (balls, polo matches, etc) to show themselves, keep up appearances and develop their social “network”. Third‐class passengers do not work on the ship, like they use to do on land. They spend their time talking and having a nice time dreaming about the new life that is waiting for them in the New World. Their dream is actually totally opposite to the upper class that clings to an old world order. Women knit, men drink, children play. On land, when they can afford taking free time, they do things that can help them in their life (on the contrary to the upper class that do not need their polo matches to survive). For example, Jack went ice‐fishing with his father when he was young, but they ate what they caught. Culture Music: The first‐class passengers listen to classical music. A small orchestra plays music during every dinner. Actually, during each scene of the movie inside the first‐class hall, violins are playing a soft song. It is pretty easy to guess that first‐class dance on this kind of music too. The third‐class passengers listen to popular music, and in the movie they listen to an Irish band. The band seems actually be made up of a few passengers who took their instruments with them and started to play for fun, but they undoubtedly have not been paid by the White Star Line to play for the third‐class passengers, like it is the case for the first‐class passengers. The way the lower class dance is also spontaneous. Indeed, Jack confesses he has no idea how to dance to the music, but just goes with the rhythm. This is new to Rose who probably learnt every step to every type of the upper class dances before going dancing. 49
(1:01.29) ‐ 20 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Art: Art is seen in three different ways in the movie. First of all, there is the artist, Jack. Art is not a valuable good for him, but a craft, and he is the artisan. Secondly, there is Caledon (embodied by probably the majority of the first‐class passengers). He sees art in its value, for what it is worthy. Thirdly, there is Rose. She loves art for its artistic value. She acknowledges that Jack has a talent, for example. Artists are actually not seen very well at the time, because most of them are very poor and cannot live from their work. But first‐class passengers like having paintings to hang in their apartments, so they buy some. Rose, on the contrary, loves art so much that she even wants to hang her new paintings in the ship, even if the voyage is not supposed to last for so long. Rose has paintings of Claude Monet (1840‐1926), a French artist who was already famous in 1912. But she also has paintings of Pablo Picasso (1881‐1973), who was in 1912 a little artist like every other, and therefore, as Caledon says, his paintings “were [at least] cheap”50, which is funny knowing how famous Picasso is today and how precious his work pieces are. Rose has therefore good tastes on art, judging a painting “fascinating” before the world discovers it. Dreams The dream of the lower class is to become rich and powerful. Actually, they want to become someone in the eyes of the upper class, they envy them and their life. This desire is embodied by Fabrizio and Tommy, who are both poor immigrants. On the other hand, the upper class’s dream is to become more and more powerful and influent than they already are, or at least to stay in the place they are. For example, the White Star Line had already built the Olympic, a smaller but similar ship to the Titanic (usually nicknamed as its “little brother”), but it was not enough for them. They wanted to build something bigger and better, and this desire of greatness is the origin of the Titanic. Something interesting in the movie is that both Jack and Rose, who are the main characters, have conversations and dreams that have nothing to do with those of their class. Rose actually dreams of being free (thus, in her eyes, poor) while Jack does not care about being one of the first‐class passengers. To point out how different their thoughts are, two small conversations will be analyzed. Deleted Scene 4 Rose: You know, my dream was always to run away and become an artist! Living in a garret, being poor but free! Jack: You wouldn’t last two days. There is no hot water and hardly ever any caviar. Rose: …I happen to hate caviar. And I hate having people telling me what dreams I should or shouldn’t have. Jack: You’re right. I’m sorry. Rose: Well…all right. Everybody expects me to be this delicate little flower which I’m not! I’m sturdy. I’m strong as a horse. I’m here to do something, not just sit around to be decorative. You see these hands? They were made for work. There’s something in me Jack, like a dynamo, I feel it; I don’t know what it is whether I should artist or a sculptor (…). I don’t know, a dancer like Isadora Duncan or like a moving picture actress!
50
(27:46) ‐ 21 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ This conversation shows that Rose does not feel as if she is in the good place, that she is not born to be a simple hostess and wife like every other women of her class. It also shows that she is ambitious and wants to be independent. But it also shows how scoffer Jack is towards the upper class, by not believing Rose could survive without her first‐class habits. Jack actually has a pretty low opinion of the upper class. He sees it as totally stuck in its own universe. Jack probably thinks that the upper class spend its life in a castle, never taking a walk outside or doing such a thing as ice‐fishing, which is not truly wrong. His low esteem of the class reappears when Rose bottoms up a pint of bier. He looks at her in a surprised way, and Rose asks him: “You think a first‐class Girl can’t drink?”51 No, he probably did not think they could. Scene (45:57) Rose: Look, I know what you must be thinking [of me wanting to jump off the ship]: “Poor little rich girl, what does she knows about misery?” Jack: No. It’s not what I was thinking. What I was thinking was what could have happened to this girl to make her think she had no way out. Rose: Well, emmm…It was everything. My whole world and all the people in it. And the inertia of my life…plunging ahead, and me, powerless to stop it. (She shows her engagement ring, Jack admires it). Five hundred invitations have gone out. All of Philadelphia Society will be there. And all the while I feel I’m standing in the middle of a crowded room…screaming at the top of my lungs, and no one even looks up. (…) Why can’t I be like you, Jack? Just head out for the horizon whenever I feel like it?... This last sentence shows how much Rose is blind, and does not understand how complicated life with no money is. Jack lives pretty well but it is because he is alone and has never known something else than being poor, but he still takes life in a good way and seems to be far from depression. The conversation also shows Rose is not stupid and understands how other classes can perceive hers. All in all, Jack and Rose question the whole system by not integrating it. They act oppositely to every other character of their class, and that is the clue of the story. To conclude this chapter V.2, first and third‐class passengers do not have the same approach of these few subjects, which means that the relationship between both classes can only be complicated. Indeed, the people of the lower class, as they are shown in the movie, are regardless of any benefits and take life as it comes to them, because they cannot live in any other way. The upper class is shown as living in a totally opposite way, which proves there is a true difference between them. V.3 Relation to women “You will honor me, Rose. You will honor me the way a woman is required to honor her husband.”52 51
(1:06:09)
(Caledon, 1:08:24) 52
‐ 22 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ According to Ruth, being a woman in their Society is unfair, because their “choices are never easy”53. Indeed, women have limited options and choices. To make it simple, the only purpose of an upper class woman’s life is to marry, to insure progeny and to manage the household (by managing the servants). All in all, a woman is not very valuable in the Society’s eyes, and is mostly interchangeable. In this present chapter, it is mostly the relations to first‐class women that will be highlighted, because third‐class women are not very visible in the movie. First of all, women have to be perfect enough to find a husband and make their own family earn money (the dot).54 They do not get to choose which husband they will share their life with; the family chooses him according to the contender’s wealth. Therefore, love is only optional. For example, Rose has to marry Caledon because her mother needs the money and Caledon wants her aristocratic name. Marriages are thus contractual arrangements, and love is not involved in any way, at least not as a prerequisite. Secondly, women are not free. Indeed, women in the beginning of the twentieth century were always under someone’s control. First, they were under their father’s control (her mother’s, in Rose’s case), and once they were married, under their husband’s. They never had the possibility to choose on their own, their “tutor” always having something to say about their choices. For example, Helga, a third‐class woman55, is not allowed to follow her lover Fabrizio when the boat is about to sink; she has to stay under her father’s control, because he chooses so. Another example is, of course, Rose. When Caledon finds out his fiancée actually spent a good part of the night having fun and dancing, he almost hits her and yells at her as if he owned her56. Cal being upset illustrates his expectation to have a total control on his wife, like he does with all his possessions. Thirdly, a woman had to be perfect each hour of each day, because of the gossips surrounding her. In fact, gossips were the base of women’s friendships, and a woman could never dishonor her husband by showing herself neglected. They had to be beautiful, wearing wonderful dresses and jewelry to show how rich and perfect they were. Actually, a man’s fortune was shown on his wife. Women were pretty much trophies for men of high rank: having a beautiful wife was a way of distinction, which leads to a constant masquerade and hypocrisy, as illustrated by the importance of gossips. Finally, high education was not accessible for women, and the idea that they could study was simply not an issue. Ruth shows the low esteem she has of her own sex by actually believing that “the purpose of University is to find a suitable husband. Rose has already done that”57. This quote affirms that in Society’s eyes, women do not need education; they just need to find a husband. Indeed, playing the piano, dancing, learning French and German and knowing table manners was all that was considered necessary to become a woman in Society. They actually just needed to know how to take good care of their husband but were never thought as if they could live on their own. For example, upper class men talk about politics every night in the smoking room. Women are not allowed to come, and certainly would not even dare to ask. 53
(1:11:10)
“I don't understand you, Rose. It's a fine match with Hockley that will insure our survival.” (Ruth, 1:09:52) 55
Deleted scene 17 56
“You will never behave like that again Rose, do you understand that? “ (Caledon, 1:08:00) and “I’m not a foreman in one of your mills that you can command. I’m your fiancée!” (Rose, 1:08:09) 57
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‐ 23 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ However, the way women are seen through both classes is not radically different. Of course Rose believes lower class women have an easier life than her. But it cannot be true. They may sometimes be allowed to marry a man they like, everyone being pretty much on equal footing in the lower class. But they also have to procreate; they have children and one husband to take care of, and they also mostly have to work to insure the family’s survival. Lower class women can certainly not afford to have a maid or a cook to help them, having to save every penny. All in all, being a woman in the beginning of the twentieth century is not easy, for any of them, and they are clearly considered to be inferior to men. The point is that it does not appear to be an issue for a majority of women. In the movie, only Rose seems to suffer of this inferior status. V.4 Relation to servants Only a few servants appear in the movie: Caledon’s valet, Rose’s maid, and finally Mr. Guggenheim’s servant. All things considered, these three servants do not have the same kind of master at all, and do not earn the same place in their master’s life. There also are the countless other servants hired by the White Star Line, who serve dinners and open the doors. Trudie is Rose’s maid. She helps her to dress, does what Rose tells her to do (like putting the paintings at one place58, and everything a maid is supposed to do. But Rose is shown (in Old Rose’s description) as a woman who respects her maid as a human being, even though the cleavage indeed exists. For example, after Rose went dancing all night in the third‐class section, Caledon gets mad and breaks the table and all the dishes on it. Trudie runs to see if her mistress is fine, and then starts to gather everything that fell. Rose wants to help her (“Let me help you”59), and apologizes. Of course Trudie refuses to get help from her mistress. As opposed to this relationship based on some sort of respect, Ruth is rude with Trudie. In her mind, because Trudie is in a lower class, it is normal she has to be talked as if she were not human. For example, when Trudie is tying Rose’s corset60, Ruth wants to talk to her daughter, and the only way she finds to tell Trudie to leave her alone with Rose is “Tea, Trudie!” on a short imperative tone. Ruth does not even mention that she wants to have a word with her daughter, the maid not being supposed to have a conversation with her mistresses. In conclusion, Trudie is treated in a respectable way by Rose but is considered as less‐than‐nothing by Ruth. Mr. Lovejoy is Caledon Hockley’s valet, handyman and bodyguard. His job is to keep Caledon out of trouble, and protect the family name. He is ready to use whatever means is necessary, including physical force, to prevent anyone from interfering with his employer. On the ship, his main job is to watch on Rose, and make sure she does not do anything that would shame Mr. Hockley. Rose actually believes he was a policeman before being her fiancé’s valet. His name is an antithesis of who Mr. Lovejoy really is: at no moment in the movie, he smiles or looks joyful. When the boat is about to sink, Mr. Lovejoy helps Caledon in any way he can to get on a lifeboat. When his master sneaks a way through, he does not care about his valet anymore, does not even look back for him. Mr. Lovejoy dies on the ship, saving his master’s life instead of his own. We can see that Caledon, just like Ruth, does not take others into consideration unless they are useful to them. 58
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‐ 24 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ The last servant the audience sees in the movie is Benjamin Guggenheim’s one. He follows him like a puppy, and is the one who carries everything Mr. Guggenheim would need. In the movie, we see this character when the first‐class great hall is about to be flooded. Mr. Guggenheim says to a crew member, who wants him to wear a life jacket, that “[They] are prepared to go down as gentlemen”61. The audience cannot guess if Guggenheim has chosen this path for himself and for his servant, or if his servant has chosen to stay faithful to his master until the end. Any way, before he dies, Mr. Guggenheim will ask two glasses of brandy, which shows he does not ignore his servant is going trough the same pain as he is. Also, Mr. Guggenheim is seated, while his servant is standing up next to the armchair...This relationship is therefore a “normal” master‐
servant relationship, but they respect each other, even if the cleavage still exists. The other 885 crewmen hired by the White Star Line are not to be forgotten. There is the Deck Crew (the Captain, the eight officers and the seamen), the engineering department (the engineers, the boiler men, the firemen and the electricians), the victualling department (the stewards, the servants and the galley staff), and all the restaurant staff, the musicians and the postmen. Captain and officers aside, the victualling department staff, numbered 421, are in almost every scene, carrying goods or opening doors or serving dinner, but none of them actually has a name or an own character. They are everywhere, but somehow they stay invisible. As for the engineering department, the boiler men appear at the beginning of the movie62. Their workplace certainly looks like hell: they roast in the light of fire all day long. As a matter of fact, the scene at 28:55min shows very well the hierarchy prevailing within servants aboard Titanic. We first see Captain Smith and one of his officers; secondly we see the engineers and the electricians, and thirdly, the boiler men, roasting. This scale shows the consideration and the state of these hard‐working boiler‐men, how low they are compared to the captain, up on his sun deck. In conclusion to this chapter about the relationships aboard Titanic, it is noticeable that each kind of relationship has an Upstairs‐Downstairs relationship. Servants are ruled by masters, the lower class is ruled by the upper class, and women are ruled by men. Even within the same class, there are inferior‐superior relationships, depending on what one has done in its life or not. It is now pretty clear that the Upstairs‐Downstairs relationships are indeed important in James Cameron’s Titanic. 61
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‐ 25 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Chapter VI: Scene Analysis Beginning of Chapter 13 (33.35 ‐ 34.50) Introduction This scene is basically the first time Jack and Rose see one another. It is shown as love at first sight, at least for Jack. While Jack, Fabrizio and new friend Tommy spend some time outside, in the space reserved for third‐class passengers, Rose appears alone, on a sundeck, which is one of the places where only the first‐class passengers can go. In this scene, both classes are actually represented. Third‐class passengers are at the end of the ship, above the rattling engine. First‐class passengers are in the middle of the ship, above all. Both classes can indeed see each other. First‐class passengers can go wherever they want, but not third‐class passengers. As to the camera, it is positioned in such a way that Rose actually physically dominates the lower class, which is socially true. Dialogues The dialogues of the scene are as important as what the audience sees. It shows the revolutionary feeling of the lower class, which cannot be expressed in any other way. (Jack draws a father and a daughter. Fabrizio is next to him, near another third‐class passenger) Fabrizio: The ship is…nice, uh? Tommy: Yeah it’s an Irish ship. F: Is English, no? T: No! It was built in Ireland. 15’000 Irishmen built this ship. Solid as a rock, big Irish hands. (A crew member and first‐ class dogs pass in front of them, out on a walk) Tommy: That’s typical. First‐class dogs come down here to take a shite. Jack: Uh…It lets us know were we rank in the scheme of things. T: Like we could forget? (He smiles) …I’m Tommy Ryan. J: Jack Dawson. T: Hello F: Fabrizio T: Hoi… (To jack) Do you make any money with your drawings? (Rose arrives in a sunlight halo. Jack stares at her. Tommy looks behind.) Tommy: Oh, forget it, boyo. You’d as like have angels fly out o’ yer arse as get next to the likes o’ her. (Jack does not listen. Rose looks in his way, and then cannot help looking at him again. Then, Caledon arrives, tells her something and she walks in front of him.) Sound At the beginning of the scene, the audience hears the noisy engine. The third‐class passengers seem to be the only ones to hear it, being at the end of the ship. They actually probably have been placed there instead of the first‐class, who would be bothered by the constant noise. At the moment Jack sees Rose, the piano and the violins starts playing a soft song, typical instruments of love themes. The third‐class passengers are therefore seen as being the ones who can be bothered by the noise, in favor to the first‐class passengers. The soft melody leans that love is in the air. ‐ 26 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Light The third‐class is in dull and greyish light at the beginning of the scene, to show the poverty and the “sadness”. But as Rose appears in a halo of sunset light, coloured of pink and yellow and red, the scene is lit. She looks like a goddess, and illuminates the whole scene. It can be interpreted as a metaphor of Love in Jack’s point of view: the world lights up in wonderful colours for Jack who is instantly fascinated by Rose. Moreover, the fact that Rose illuminates the scene makes the audience understand that their love, which is already impossible because of the separation of their classes, will be at the heart of the story. Space The whole scene is definitely spaced in such a way that the Upstairs‐Downstairs relationship is logical: Jack is, with all the other third‐class passengers, down, while Rose is up on her sundeck, dominating the lower class. This configuration involves that the scene was meant to show spatially the problematic social difference between Jack and Rose since the very beginning of their relationship, but also to mark the difference between the upper and the lower class. Third‐class passengers are also very numerous on a restricted area, while first‐class passengers are scattered on the deck. The lower class, despite their size, are therefore squeezed in a small space while the upper class, restricted to a small number of privileges, have the whole ship if they want. This illogical situation shows, once more, that the upper class rules the lower class. Characters’ Attitude First‐class The dogs on a walk are a pug (Chinese dog), a greyhound (Persian dog), a Fox‐terrier (English hunting dog), which are expensive High Society dogs, which like their masters, have a pedigree. They walk the dogs in the restricted area of the third‐class, as if they were walking the dogs with the dogs, the dirty ones, the subhuman creatures who live in the steerage. Rose is standing at the barrier with a very neat posture. Every other first‐class passenger around her are seated on the benches or talking near the barrier. There are only a few that the audience can see in the background; Rose is the center of the scene. As Caledon arrives by her side, he takes her sharply by the arm and seems to tell her something like “What are you doing?” But she goes away from him without even acknowledging him. Perhaps she does not want to have a fight with him on the deck, where everybody can see them. It would not be appropriate. This small scene shows that Rose and Caledon do not go along so well. The fact that Jack is a witness to this scene announces that he will be one of the main interference in the first‐class couple. Third‐class Lower class children play freely, running around, and men talk while sitting where they can, without worrying about their posture. Women, on their side, knit or take care of their many children. Tommy smokes, leaning listlessly on the barrier. Fabrizio and Jack are sitting in a very masculine way; in a position upper class men would never dare to have. It shows that third‐class passengers are not stuck in their Code of Conduct like the first‐class passengers, and that they are much more tolerant towards others. Jack draws a father and a daughter. Artistic professions are not very valued at the time, because of the hard taking off. The fact that Rose sees Jack for the first time as a drawer shows he assumes his low state in Society, and that he will not try to take advantage of Rose’s position in High Society to make money. A father explains to his young daughter how the engine works, or how the boat moves forward. This is unusual, because the entire engine work is normally a man’s work. At least, first‐class ‐ 27 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ women have no idea of the way an engine works. This scene is actually probably another of Old Rose’s idealisation of the lower class, which is here shown as democratic, equal between men and women, and boys and girls. Characters’ Clothing Rose is wearing a light green dress made of silk, decorated with pearls and white lace, but her belt is decorated of bright red flowers. Green is known as a colour of hope and chance, but red, besides being the colour of passion, is the colour of anger. It shows that Rose in this scene feels appeased while watching the beautiful sunset and the deep horizon, but that inside, her anger does not leave her. Her hair is tidied in a neat bun, and she wears expensive jewellery (necklace and earrings), which are indications of her high rank in Society. But, unlike every woman of her class, Rose wears no hat. This shows her rebellion but also the oncoming crisis: the next scene shows her to the back of the ship with no hat and with her hair untied. Jack wears every‐third‐class passenger’s clothing. He is dressed to fit in the class, and does not look particularly different from them. Fabrizio and Tommy wear the same type of working clothes than he does. Caledon also wears his every‐day suit, a slim black one. The contrast between both classes’ men is thus very strong in this scene, and immediately shows their social differences. Dialogue Analysis This scene only shows a conversation between third‐class passengers. Tommy Ryan, a typical immigrant, is actually pretty much the only one who speaks. This scene is therefore different from the others where Jack is the third‐class passenger at the center of a scene, and thus shows another side, more negative, of the lower class people. When Fabrizio says the Titanic is a beautiful ship, Tommy replies with pride that the Irish built it, even if it is registered in England. He means that his people are the reasons of this beauty and also that the upper class has nothing to do with this. In a way, he puts himself in a higher position than Fabrizio, who is yet in the same class than him. There actually seem to be a hierarchy within the same class. Tommy uses some typical Irish expressions, like “shite” or also “boyo”, but also does not pronounce his words in good English (he says “yer” for “your”, for instance). His language is thus colloquial, and it obviously shows that he has not been brought up in High Society. Tommy’s sentence “Could you forget?” proves that everything around the third‐class passengers is made in a way that one cannot forget the place one has in Society. It actually starts by the fact that the lower class people are locked at the end of the ship, not free to go where they want, as if they were in a cage. It is interesting to notice that Tommy’s first question to Jack is “Do you earn any money with your drawings?” which shows how much the Irishman dreams about becoming rich. His interest shows how typical immigrants react toward the thought of money, which is a totally different attitude than Jack, who does not bother about it. Tommy’s last sentence is also meaningful: “Oh, forget it, boyo. You’d as like have angels fly out o’ yer arse as get next to the likes o’ her.” It shows that Tommy considers Rose as an angel, which actually shows he considers her upper world as Heaven. It also indicates that he considers the lower class as if it was living in Hell. This opposition shows how low and unhappy Tommy (and certainly not only him) feels about his status in life. But this sentence also signifies that Jack has no chance (in Tommy’s eyes) of being with one of these rich angels, simply because he is not part of their world, or more simply because he has no money. ‐ 28 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Conclusion All in all, this scene shows the contrast between first and third‐class passengers aboard Titanic. It is yet noticeable that the third‐class men do not question their place in Society at all. But it is obvious that they want a change in Society, and that they ask for recognition as human beings (and, namely, not as dogs). This scene also shows how the Upstairs‐Downstairs relationship can be operated in a movie, how the camera alone can show the social difference. The fact that Rose dominates Jack in the scene shows their social difference. It also shows that they are close, but at the same so far away from each other. ‐ 29 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Chapter VII: Themes There are many noticeable themes in James Cameron’s Titanic. Nevertheless, love between two people of two opposite classes, injustice between human beings and finally the symbol of the sinking of the ship will be the three themes which will be discussed in this research paper. Furthermore, these themes will demonstrate in which ways the movie is based on the Upstairs‐
Downstairs relationship between social classes. VII.1 Love between people of different classes The movie’s theme is, of course, love, if we consider Jack and Rose did fall in love in two days. But there is an obstacle on the path of love. The story in Titanic is actually a cliché, the love story between a lower class happy boy and an upper class lonely girl. In Titanic, the interference is indeed the love between two characters of two different social classes. Therefore, the movie shows how socially impossible love between two characters of opposite classes is according to Society. Or, rather, how arbitrary and absurd differences are, and how old‐fashioned: Titanic is the biggest manmade art effect, just as the western world is the most powerful society ever. And yet, it sinks, just like the western world is about to collapse into the First World War. The reason of the impossible love is money. Indeed, the upper class does not want to see any poor earning their money (Even if in Rose’s case, Jack would not have gained a penny, but Ruth would have not gained a dot, and there is the problem). As for the lower class members, they do not understand why a poor guy would want to be with one of the people who hardens their life, by not treating them as human beings. But the center of this theme is that, despite the prejudices, love overcomes the absurd system. Indeed, according to the movie, love finds its way, even if people know they are not supposed to be together according to the social rules in force. Their feelings are indeed not going to change no matter what. But the movie also shows that even if opposite class characters are in love and are ready to flee together63, the love story will be short‐lived. VII.2 Injustice Another theme of the movie is the unfair nature of the class system. Indeed, upper classes believe their superiority is natural. The lower classes think the same way, even though morals are changing and their feeling of being equal with everyone grows and grows. Rose has humanity by principle, but as said in chapter V.2, she is different than the others of her class. Her superiority indeed makes no sense for her. She refuses the rules of the classes, and not only because she fell in love. What is interesting is that the established order of the classes, symbolized by the Ship, sinks. To go further, Rose is saved because she was fighting against the injustice of the cleavage between the classes. But Jack dies with the ship because he ignored the order and did not care about it. His death is actually that of a tragic hero. Ruth and the others were saved because they were first‐
class passengers, meaning they were rich enough to buy themselves a ticket for life. But they were also saved because they were women, which is quite paradoxical. For once in their life, they are superior to men, because they are the only ones who can give life. That said, it also confirms their limited role in Society, as explained in chapter V.3. 63
“When the ship docks, I’m getting off with you with you!” (Rose to Jack, 1:33:25) ‐ 30 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ It was said that classes thought that the separation was natural. And the Titanic crashes with an iceberg, which is very natural. It could be a sign, a proof, that social classes are nothing natural at all. VII.3 The Sinking Titanic could be interpreted as a symbol of Society. It actually predicts what is about to happen, with the outbreak of World War I. Indeed, in 1914, only two years after the sinking of Titanic, the chaos of War will bring the upper classes to change the western society, forever burying the former order, not to mention the communism revolution of 1917, which intended to eradicate the classes’ differences. During the sinking of Titanic, the masks fall and the truth comes back, plain: a poor Irish immigrant just like a High Society English aristocratic can die. Everyone is just human and therefore everyone is on the same level. However, the established order sinks. This tragedy challenges the meaning of the classes; the ship, metaphor of Society, sinks. After the sinking, people therefore asked themselves the reason why so many first‐class men were saved in favor to the third‐class women, for example. It actually took the death of thousand people to open their eyes: the class system is not fair. The symbol of the sinking would also show the apocalypse of the system which obviously does not work, and it is demonstrated by the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Unfortunately, during the sinking, third‐class passengers did not have the same chances than the first‐class, because they were not allowed to go to the lifeboats before all the first and second‐
class passengers had been saved. Indeed, the rule was: first‐class women and children, first‐class men, and then the others. After the sinking, the new rule became: “Women and children first, and then the first‐class, and then the others”64, as it still is today. The class separation was thus gone, which shows how different and guilty people felt towards the class system, which turned out to be ridiculous. It is truly the last time first‐class passengers benefited from so many privileges.65 Walter Lord66 (1917‐2002) even quotes: “It looks like, if one was passenger of the third‐class, hope and courage was forbidden.” Indeed, the balance of the drama is heavy. On the 2220 passengers sailing on the Titanic, crew included, 1522 perished. Among them, 40% in first‐class, 56% in second‐class, 75% in third‐class and 76% for the crew. Among the women, 4 of the 143 women died in first‐class (3 actually wanted to stay…), 15 on the 93 in second‐class, and 81 on the 179 in third‐class. Among the children, every kid of first and second‐class was saved, except one, while 49 of the 76 who were sailing in third‐class died. It is now obvious that lower class passengers were pretty much ignored during the sinking.67 As for the symbolism, the ship sails horizontally, and everything is as it is supposed to be. But during the sinking, the boat rises and becomes vertical. It is evident that things do not go so well, but this verticality takes back to the theory that everyone is on the same footage, which is totally ironical. Rose’s superiority and Jack’s inferiority is nothing and does not make sense anymore. 64
Walter Lord, la nuit du Titanic Walter Lord, la nuit du Titanic 66
Walter Lord is an American historian. He collected many information and witness from the survivors of the Titanic. He is considered to be the man who knows the most about the tragedy. 67
Walter Lord, la nuit du Titanic, and recording Titanic: survivors in their own voice.
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‐ 31 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Conclusion The Upstairs‐Downstairs relationship between the first and third‐class passengers is indeed at the heart of James Cameron’s Titanic. As a matter of fact, the more the movie is watched, the more elements of this relationship are popping out. At one point, each sentence or character’s attitude can be referred to that issue, which shows that Cameron has transcribed the relationship between the lower and upper class very well, and nothing seems to have been left aside. Furthermore, Titanic, the most modern ship of its time, is a metaphor of Society in every possible way, and represents in a way the world as it should be in the eyes of the upper class. First, classes are placed in separated quarters and have nothing do with each other, as they were two distinct planets. Second, the ship is at the top of modernity: the dream of the upper class people is in fact to create a world according to this image of perfection. The sinking of the Titanic also challenges the meaning of the social classes relatively to Nature. The fact that it is an iceberg which provokes the sinking, and not a human action for example, can be interpreted symbolically. The ship, metaphor of Society, crashes with an iceberg, a natural phenomenon. The ones who believed they were born superior to the rest of the world may have died precisely because they felt above Nature. As if Nature rebelled against this ridiculous belief of social classes and punished them. This sinking could also be seen as the beginning of a new social awareness. As a matter of fact, from the 19th April and during a month, the sub‐committee of Enquiry appointed by the American Senate heard 82 survivors. It was cynically said what an immigrant was worth compared to a banker. It was also noted that forty‐nine children died in third‐class, whereas in first‐class there had been only one such death. Slowly, the evident unfair nature of the class system started to grow stronger in every mind. The lower class people started to rebel against this injustice and the upper class members had to formally agree that everybody was originally on the same level. In 1914, World War I broke out, bringing chaos in the world. Just after, in 1917, the communism revolution attempted to eradicate the class system, which shows how morals changed and how social movements widened in only five years. Titanic thus definitely marks the sinking of one unfair world, the Edwardian Era. ‐ 32 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Bibliography Books Lord, Walter. La nuit du Titanic: 14‐15 avril 1912. Trans. Yves Rivière. Paris : R. Laffont, 1959. Mougel, F.‐C. Histoire du Royaume‐Uni au XXe siècle. Paris : Presse Universitaire de France, 1996. Grove, Noel. Atlas of World History. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1997. Pastoureau, M. and Simonet, D. Le petit livre des couleurs. Edition Points, 2005. Recordings & Movies Titanic (coffret Deluxe). Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Kate Winslet. 1997. Titanic : Témoignages des survivants= Survivors in their own voice : 1915‐1999. Recording. Vincennes: Frémeaux et Associés, 2000. Websites Holland, Evangeline. “The Edwardian Era”. Edwardian Promenade. November 5th, 2010. <http://edwardianpromenade.com/the‐edwardian‐era/>. (Website written by an “enthusiast” of the Edwardian Era, Evangeline Holland.) Independence Hall Association, Philadelphia. “The Gilded Age”. U.S. History. November 2nd, 2010. <http://www.ushistory.org/us/36.asp> (Website devoted to the American History.) Mintz, S. “Learn about the Gilded Age”. Digital History. November 2nd, 2010 <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/gilded_age/index.cfm> (Website about American History. Information about the Gilded Age was found there.) Twentieth Century Fox. “Sketches”. Titanic. October 29th, 2010. <http://www.titanicmovie.com/present/index.html> (Website devoted to the movie Titanic. Sketches from the appendix were found there.) Weston Thomas, Pauline. “The mood of Edwardian Society”. Fashion‐Era. November 2nd, 2010. <http://www.fashion‐era.com/the_mood_of_edwardian_society.htm> (Website devoted to fashion throughout the 20th century, but also to feminism.) [No reference]. “Titanic”. The Internet Movie Script Database. October 25th, 2010. <http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Titanic.html> (Website with movie scripts. It was used to verify the quotes.) ‐ 33 ‐ Tifaine Hostettler, 3m5 Gymnase Auguste Piccard _________________________________________________________________________ Acknowledgements Particular thanks to: Mr Cruchaud for his precious help and for his motivation in my work Mrs Evangeline Holland, from the website Edwardian Promenade, for her perfect answers to the questions I asked her when I was desperate My family for its support, and my friend Anaïs for her advices Appendix ‐ 34 ‐