Titanic (1997), why was it a cult phenomenon? (essay sample)

gamer2 · Post by **gamer2** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:48 am

Ok, we all have seen the 1997 version of Titanic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, a Romeo and Juliet type love story set against the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912 which is the worst peace-time sea disaster in written modern history. All written by James Cameron.

I don't understand how this film became a pop culture phenomenon. James Cameron has made better films a la Aliens. Sure its heart wrenching I'm even guilty of shedding a tear during it, but it does throw in a good laugh as it shifts from genre to genre; love story, action, and tragedy, each a mood for the three acts. The film became a ship for Celine Deon for her song "My Heart Will go on" to reach the top of the charts, heck I'm even guity of owning the Titanic Soundtrack along with the two taped VHS, the single tape release, the laserdisc release, the bargin bin release and the new extended cut DVD set with the 30 second bunny theater scene from www.angryalien.com.

Why do I bring this up 10 years after the fact. Well its still the top grossing films of all time even after a decade. Its the fact that it shoved itself into pop culture to deep that not even the ship itself could live up to it.

Even after 10 years people are still referencing it, it has become the Mario Brothers of movies. Anyone who has seen the film will recognize any reference to the film in anything much like anyone who has played Super Mario Bros will recognize the theme. For example, the anime "Magical Shopping Arcade: Abenobashi" in Episode 12 they have a reference to the climatic final moments of the sinking.

I remember the show "All That" which was on Nickelodeon had a segment based solely on the film including a part with Amanda Bines destroying a cut out of Kate Winslet for kissing Leonardo DiCaprio. Speaking of Leonardo, I remember showing one of my room mates the movie Critters 3 which if you know was Leonardo's first movie. I showed them it and I had to say he was on Titanic.

I think now that I look back, it may have been the great choice of actors, creative story telling and really good marketing by both Fox and Paramount that drove it to its high pop culture status that it has today and people will not let it out of their hearts not for a second because the film has that impact on you. Some would wish for a star crossed love depicted in film between Jack and Rose but would come short, thats why they turn back to the movie because their love is ideal.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what do you guys think? That was a sample of my final essay in Composition II. The assignment was to write about something in your child hood. I cut out a lot of things from this version involving description of scenes and things of that nature.

Maybe you guys can help answer my question too, why was it a cult phenomenon?

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:25 am

"....why was it a cult phenomenon?" - No idea, that's my reply. It was fine, but not that great.

Post by **Black Six** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:15 am

gamer2 wrote:Ok, we all have seen the 1997 version of Titanic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, a Romeo and Juliet type love story set against the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912 which is the worst peace-time sea disaster in written modern history. All written by James Cameron.

What do you mean we've all seen it? I never saw the movie and have no intention of doing so.

cowsgoquack101 · Post by **cowsgoquack101** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:50 pm

It's like the highest grossing film of all time, I really don't think that it's a cult phenomenon. That's like saying that the Pirates of the Carribean movies are a cult phenomenon.

nightwheel · Post by **nightwheel** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:09 pm

cowsgoquack101 wrote:It's like the highest grossing film of all time, I really don't think that it's a cult phenomenon. That's like saying that the Pirates of the Carribean movies are a cult phenomenon.

Um, It has it's own MMORPG. And Titanic don't.

Negative_Creep · Post by **Negative_Creep** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:21 pm

You ask me... Titanic sucked.

Post by **Black Six** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:28 pm

nightwheel wrote:
cowsgoquack101 wrote:It's like the highest grossing film of all time, I really don't think that it's a cult phenomenon. That's like saying that the Pirates of the Carribean movies are a cult phenomenon.
Um, It has it's own MMORPG. And Titanic don't.

What he's saying is that the term 'cult' implies it wasn't a widespread hit. Firefly was a cult phenomenon, it had a fairly small but very vocal following of fans that got the series to move onto the silver screen. Titanic was something that affected everyone and was part of everyday life for a while (who remember the Selene Dion song playing constantly on the radio?) and wasn't really a cult thing.

jones · Post by **jones** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:45 pm

I think he actually means to say "cultural" phenomenon which would imply more of a widespread event as opposed to "cult" which has taken on the meaning of something embraced by a small (but vocal) subset of the population.

Something like Titanic is what I would call a cultural phenomenon. On the other end of the spectrum in the cult phenomenon is a film like Army of Darkness.

As far as why it became what it did and endures to this day is a trickier question to answer. Despite the fact that in the past ten years there has become a bit of a backlash against the movie, I think it's success speaks for itself.

It is interesting though that right up until it's release nobody really thought they had anything special on their hands box office-wise. Barelay anybody in Hollywood thought it had a snowball's chance in hell of breaking even, let alone becoming the highest grossing film of all time. During production Fox started getting cold feet due to the ballooning budget and struck a deal with Paramount to help shoulder the burden of the costs, as the production went into the, then unheard of, $200 million range.

It is hard to say what made Titanic such a hit. I think it is one of those unexplainable things in a lot of ways. Perhaps it was just the right movie at the right time. It had a lot of great things going for it though. It had a great director and the backstory of the well known tragedy of the Titanic's maiden voyage. In and amongst that it mixed in footage from the submerged Titanic in present day with a story of forbidden love and a fair amount of action to boot.

In essence it had something for everybody. There was the love story for the ladies and there was the action to keep the guys (who were drug to the theater by their wives/girlfriends) entertained. There was also, of course, James Cameron's impeccable attention to detail and the brilliant special effects. He made you believe that Titanic was on it's maiden voyage again and there wasn't a moment in the entire film that felt false.

The humanity of the film is felt in every frame. We see this world come alive largely through the performances of Leonardo Dicaprio and the then unknown Kate Winslet. They actually made me feel like I was watching two people fall in love, which is a pretty rare thing in the movies. Even smaller parts in the film like Victor Garber as the ship's designer ring true and add to the agonizing reality the film puts the viewer through.

I remember when I saw this film in the theater over a decade ago now. I wanted to see Jackie Brown, but it wasn't showing anywhere so a friend and I decided to check out Titanic to pass the time. This was in the first week of it's release so there wasn't much buzz about the film yet. About an hour and a half in I knew I was watching a truly great film when the iceberg showed up and I thought to myself: "Oh crap! That's right. The ship sinks..."

Somehow the filmmakers had made me forget that obvious reality during the movie's first half. Thus showing that, unlike the designers of the Titanic, James Cameron's reach did not exceed his grasp in the making of this phenomenal film.

PS - If you look back at box office records the truly amazing thing about Titanic's run is it's longevity. I can't remember exactly how long it was #1 for, but it was something like 3 to 3.5 months in a row. It didn't make $100 million in it's opening weekend, but it did pull down $20 to $35 million every week for months on end. That is unheard of these days as now we are treated to the opening weekend blitzes followed by quick exits from the theater a month or two later. Typically the biggest of movies only manages to stay #1 for a couple of weeks or maybe three at best. Nothing even remotely close to Titanic. I think it will be a long time before we see a movie like Titanic again (if ever) in terms of box office success.

nightwheel · Post by **nightwheel** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:14 pm

The pitcular Titanic movie this topic is based off. Is airing on TNT right now

lifeisbetterwithketchup · Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:23 pm

nightwheel wrote:The pitcular Titanic movie this topic is based off. Is airing on TNT right now

Well copulate a doodle doo.

I've never seen it, and I don't plan to. We still have a VHS tape of it, still shrink-wrapped. I think my parents got it as a gift or something. From what I've heard about what the movie is, I would not like it one single bit. (Also, I suffer from the "I don't like it because it's popular" syndrome here a bit I guess.

)

ChrisS · Post by **ChrisS** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:25 pm

I thought Titanic was done really well, but I'm also a huge ocean liner/ship enthusiast so it had more for me in terms of the ship itself.

Plus, Cameron rocks.............. and Aliens > Alien.

Post by **Gamelver** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:49 pm

To all those who haven't seen it and don't want to.....I have three words for you:

Kate....Winslet's....boobs.

(and for the 1.5 females here: Leonardo DiCaprio

) Also, I rather enjoyed the movie...

Just go watch it already

.

wallydawg · Post by **wallydawg** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:10 am

Never got around to seeing it, not much of a movie guy really. My sister. though, saw it in theaters enough times to cover me and whoever else didn't in this thread along with a third world country

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:27 am

Does anybody else remember the part where the guy trys to abandon ship and jumps off the balcony, but hits the propeller on his way down? Oh yes you do!

Now THAT is money.

Anyway though I rather enjoyed the movie. It had a good mix of everything. I'm not ashamed to admit that I like a good love-story every once in awhile. I mean not that super mushy crap like The Notebook or A Walk to Remember, but every once in a while a good one will come along. Mind you, most of the time they're romantic comedies, (50 First Dates).

And about your essay. It's decent, but you've got quite a few grammar errors in there. If you havn't handed it in yet, I'd give it a comb-over and fix those bad-boys (mostly comma-splices and missing punctuation)

gamer2 · Post by **gamer2** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 5:43 am

khaag wrote:Does anybody else remember the part where the guy trys to abandon ship and jumps off the balcony, but hits the propeller on his way down? Oh yes you do! Now THAT is money.

Anyway though I rather enjoyed the movie. It had a good mix of everything. I'm not ashamed to admit that I like a good love-story every once in awhile. I mean not that super mushy crap like The Notebook or A Walk to Remember, but every once in a while a good one will come along. Mind you, most of the time they're romantic comedies, (50 First Dates).

And about your essay. It's decent, but you've got quite a few grammar errors in there. If you havn't handed it in yet, I'd give it a comb-over and fix those bad-boys (mostly comma-splices and missing punctuation)

Like I said, I gave you the Short-SHORT version (do you? Do you? good you're married KISS HER!).

benheck.com Forums

Titanic (1997), why was it a cult phenomenon? (essay sample)

Titanic (1997), why was it a cult phenomenon? (essay sample)

Re: Titanic (1997), why was it a cult phenomenon? (essay sam