Discuss the ways in which Cameron has used binary opposites to create meaning in Titanic.
In this extract from Titanic, the director James Cameron presents the primary protagonists of Jack and Rose as binary opposites. The extract can be broken down into five sections, the opening shots of the Titanic ship, Rose’s arrival, Rose boarding the ship, Jack’s introduction, and Jack’s race to get on board.
In these establishing, introductory shots Cameron has still used binary opposites to convey his ideas, despite the lack of the film’s primary characters. The very first thing you see is the shipwrecked titanic laying at the bottom of the ocean, rotting and covered in seaweed. This picture then transforms into the spotless, shining, clearly new, and covered in myriads of people ship at the dock. This stark contrast in just the beginning shot shows the audience that the rest of opening and even the rest of the film is going to be filled with symbolic binary opposites.
Meaning is also conveyed through Rose’s arrival. Through the crowd on deck we see two cars; the camera zooms into the cars and makes it apparent that the cars are covered in gold, which denotes wealth. This juxtaposes Jack as he has no transport; he travels on foot as we see later on in the opening. The car is clearly a very old one, which helps the audience see that the film is set in the past. The car door is opened and out steps the female protagonist ‘Rose’. The first you see of Rose is her hand, which you see from above. This could connote that Rose feels looked down on and is unhappy. Similarly when Rose turns to face the ship the light shines on her face, this could suggest to the audience the impressiveness of the Titanic, however it quickly becomes apparent by her lack of facial expression that the ship does not impress her at all. This contrasts Jack, as he laughs, jokes, and cheers, showing lots of facial expression at his delight of boarding the ship.
Moreover the use of colours on Rose reinforces to the audience her limitless wealth. Rose is wearing a large vibrant purple hat that symbolizes wealth and royalty. She also wears white gloves; this is to avoid direct physical contact with the lower class people helping her out of the car etc. The binary opposite to this is the less wealthy people (including Jack) as they do not wear colourful clothes, as they cannot afford them. They wear dull colours, which shows the contrast and divide between rich and poor passengers. This idea is again reinforced whenever Rose is on screen asthere is always a lot of light, and bright colours everywhere, not just on clothing. But of course in opposition whenever Jack is on screen the colours are very monotonous, dull, and dark.
When Rose and her family board the ship they are assorted on, helped even. When Jack tries to get on the boat, however, he has to overcome obstacles, like jumping a small gap, and answering questions before he could get on. Rose’s family also skip all of the queues, do not carry their own luggage and they do not get checked for lice, all because they are rich enough to having things done for them, and to bribe others into hushing things up for them. This is how their luggage got on board, as they certainly wouldn’t have carried it themselves. They also walk up to the top of the boat to get on, this is symbolic as it signifies how much more important they are, as they can now physically and metaphorically look down upon the poorer people. In addition to this, the top half of the boat is also coloured white, connoting cleanliness, purity, and another distinct divide between the different classes, as the bottom half of the boat is black. This is where the poorer people get on and where their rooms are. The boats white to black exterior could connote danger, and a foreshadowing for the disaster that is to come.
Jack’s introduction is very different from Rose’s. The first you see of him is through a dirty murky window, which symbolises the divide between him and the outside rich people’s world. The picture inside is of a group of young men who are smoking and gambling on their game of cards. This kind of activity is more associated with the lower classes of people, and immediately tells the audience that these people are much poorer than Rose and her family. The battered cards in their hands denote that they are used a lot, while they also connote that Jacks life is all down to chance, just like betting on a card game.
Furthermore in the centre of the table, there are the coins and possessions that the men are betting on. There are no notes on the table; these men don’t have that kind of money. The presence of items that are not money on table, signify that these men have run out of money, they have put all that they can on the table. This is a stark binary opposite to Rose, and her depth of wealth, as it is vast and is concealed behind her extravagant clothing and indifferent facial expressions.
When Jack and his friend win their tickets to board the Titanic, they have a mad rush to get on before it departs. This in itself is different to Rose’s experience of boarding the ship as she leisurely strolls aboard, he has to run as fast as he can to get around people who don’t move for him.
The editing techniques are even different for the two boarding the ship. Rose has very slow paced editing, there is a lot of time between changing shots, as she has a lot of long sweeping camera movements. Jack, on the other hand, has very fast paced editing, sharp quick jump cuts between angles. This further opposition communicates with the audience how different Jack and Rose are, and not just because of their class.
To conclude, Cameron has used multiple different signifiers to connote binary opposition between Jack and Rose and their separate classes throughout the opening of Titanic.
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