Final Essay: Titanic (1997) and Metropolis comparison essay

Both Titanic (1997) directed by James Cameron and Metropolis by Fritz Lang were set in a society where a vast gap separates the upper class from the lower class. In many ways, Titanic is a reflection of Metropolis, and Metropolis of Titanic. Both movies explores the issue of class struggle with Jack entering the world of the upper class society while Freder discovers the hidden underworld of his utopia. Although quite subtly, both these movies have many Marxist elements to them. While Metropolis ends with a change in terms of the class struggle faced by the lower class workers, the change in societal order in Titanic was only temporal. Water, which is used excessively in both movies, a universal symbol, represents many things including purity, renewal and also equality.  Both movies have many similar representations of the class struggle and Marxist theory, however differ in terms of their protagonists (Jack and Freder, Rose and Maria) and their representation of water.

The class struggle,  In both Titanic and Metropolis, the subject of class struggle is explored in many ways. The class struggle is very much a power struggle, with the strong dominating the weak. In the case of Titanic, Cal is the representation of the dominant upper class male, with abundant wealth and power at his disposal. On the other hand, Joh Frederson in Metropolis is very much like the state, as Karl Marx puts it, in his supremacy as the creator of Metropolis, subduing the weak. As the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker, it is the epitome of capitalistic ideals. The two different views Titanic and Metropolis contrast the power struggle in society; the first being an upper class view, where Freder ventures into the dark abyss of the workers living underneath the city; another by Jack, a lowly nobody, breaking through into the posh upper class society of the rich. By comparing these two films, we are able to juxtapose the difference in they way both movies portray the upper class and lower class, and even more than that, the similarities between them.

As we take a deeper look into Titanic, we see how differently people are treated simply because of their class status. In the scene where Rose tries to commit suicide, after being saved by Jack, instead of being congratulated a hero, he was instead arrested under the accusation of trying to outrage her modesty, and all this simply because he was from a lower class. As the incident was cleared up, we then see Cal offering Jack a $20 as a reward for saving Rose, his so-called "fiance". This shows Cal's clear disdain of Jack because of his class status, and even so, he only did it to seem grateful, under the prodding of the master of arms. In contrast, in Metropolis, in the scene where Freder met Maria for the first time by accident, we see how Maria and the children were hushed and ushered back out of the utopia by the four gleaming ushers, clearly not wanting Freder to see or know about the hidden underworld beneath the utopia of Metropolis. At the time, the dirty rags the children were wearing clearly has a double meaning. It is not just physically dirty, but in a way, the ushers didn't want these "dirty" people from the underworld, coming up and spoiling the perfect and gay illusion of utopia Metropolis that the upper class had. This clearly reflects how the dominant class in society exercise their power in trampling over the weak.

The way the different classes of society are separated in both movies are also interestingly similar. In Titanic, the upper class mainly occupied the upper decks, while the lower class lived below, in the bowels of the ship. This is a direct metaphor for the different classes in which people belonged, with those of upper standing occupying the higher decks, as with many other things in life as well. This is especially evident in the moral dilemma the audience was presented with as Titanic went down, that how could one's life be valued higher than another's, where the rich had the priority to all the life boats. Everyone should be given an equal chance for their own survival. Besides the physical separation, there is also a mental wall that sets the upper class apart from the lower class. An interesting character to note here is Molly, whose husband had made an overnight fortune, and landed themselves on Titanic. The mental barrier is clearly seen here, as Mrs. Ruby called her, "new money", meaning someone who only had become rich recently. The class separation is portrayed in the behavior, tone and norms Molly had, from her rougher language, texas accent and mannerism, earning her the cold shoulders of the other upper class women. This is especially intriguing as outwardly, she seems to be a normal upper class woman, but insides she's still the same rough and tumble person inside. What we see and what we know contradict each other, just as how many people are not who they seem to be.

Feminist roles in society also adds another dimension to this analysis of class struggle. As feminism and power go hand in hand, we can see how feminist roles in Titanic and Metropolis links the class struggle, or otherwise the power struggle in society. The most important women in each of these movies are Rose and Maria. Rose is a classic representation of what an upper class woman should be, gentle, well brought up. The "upper class" society expects a young woman like her to be demurred, submissive, and not to mingle with men, especially those with a lower social status. However, she doesn't conform to those expectations, instead she runs around Titanic with Jack, romancing him and even posing naked for him. What more, all that while, she's actually engaged and set to be married soon. Her actions do not reflect her status as an upper class woman, instead resembling more of a (excuse the language) whore, which she actually was called a few times. The archetype of a young woman is representative of patriarchal power, because that in having a powerful patriarch, would it be possible for a undefiled, pure virgin woman like Rose to come forth. However, by associating herself with a lower classed male, in a way, she is actually surrendering the patriarchal dominant power which the upper class has over the lower class. In Metropolis, Maria is a similarly curious character, a compassionate young woman bringing hope to a hopeless world. Maria stands out like a sore thumb among the plainly dressed workers of Metropolis' underground world. It is also highly unusual for a girl to be alone like that in a lower class society, which is today's equivalent of a young white girl to live alone in Harlem. Maria acts as a beacon of light in the darkness, and even her name, Maria, is derived from Mary, which was the name of the mother of Jesus. In a way, Maria preempted the "savior", as how a mother always comes before her child, or in the words of the movie, the "heart" between the brain and the hands, who was Freder. Here however, the patriarchal power here comes in terms of God, the father. This is evident with the countless references Maria made to the bible, telling her sheep to be patient in waiting for their savior. And in the same way Jesus came and saved men from their sins, Freder would then come down from above (the upper class) and finally free them from the oppression of the state.

No class struggle analysis would be complete without Marx, and in both Titanic and Metropolis, we see many elements of Marxist theory. In accordance to Marx that human societies divide, we see the division of societies here in both Titanic and Metropolis, in which case are the upper class and lower class societies. Marx states that there is only one driving force in this world, which is materialism, and that nothing else mattered. In a way this is true as both Titanic the ship and Metropolis the city are the epitome of materialistic idealism, two great monuments testifying to the economic power of man. Titanic was the biggest ship ever built for its time, and was touted "unsinkable", Metropolis on the other hand, was a utopia, and idealistic city of the future, created single handedly by a man- Joh Frederson. Marx's critique of capitalism also rings true in that capitalism has to do with exploitation, as seen in Metropolis, where the underground workers are ceaselessly exploited, to create this utopia, but only for the rich. Marx states that in a capitalism society, the value of labor of both the workers in Metropolis and the lower class people in Titanic are distorted, for instance, the reward Cal offered Jack for saving Rose. Furthermore, another example of alienation of labor according to Marxist theory is in the throngs of purposeless workers seen in the bowels on Metropolis. As Marx said, the workers are alienated from the products of their labor, producing things which do not benefit them, and therefore get discouraged easily, as what they do does not affect them in any way. The only way for this to change is for the working class to rise up agaisnt the "state", as we saw how the workers in Metropolis revolted and destroyed the heart machine.


Semiotics of water Water is a defining element in both Titanic and Metropolis, as both films climaxes with an overflowing of water. To gain a deeper understanding of what the water means in these two movies, we first have to understand the semiotics and signifiers of water. Water is a universal symbol, recognizable by everyone in the world. In my cultures and religions, water represents life, as without water we cannot survive. In man religions, water also represents cleansing, physical and spiritual cleansing on sins. From baptism to washing before prayers to Hindu devotees taking baths in river, water is a symbol for cleansing and healing. Furthermore, water also represents purity and closure, giving things a sense of finality.

Water in both these movies serve to bring change and new life. In Titanic, in the scene where the bow of the ship had already went under, the strings quartet continued to play, which then faded to silence, it was as if the water had taken over the sound. All we hear when the ship goes down is silence, before the frantic screaming begins. In a way, this water which brings silence, also brings equality. Before this water, everyone is equal. All the class struggles are swept aside, just as how a flood sweeps aside everything in its way. This water that washes over the ship, albeit deadly, brings peace along with it as well, purifying, cleansing and making new. In the same way new life is birthed out of death, this water has seemed to bring a new life to all those who survived it. The usage of water in Metropolis is slightly different than Titanic. In a way, the water is a personification of the workers rebellion, sweeping across the city. As the heart machine is destroyed, we see the water gushing into the underground city. However, as this water is pouring in, a sense of relief or awakening seems to wash over the crowd of workers, that they were misguided by the "witch". The water here also served to unite the people, in the scene where all the children gathered around a faltering Maria in the middle of the underground city. In addition, this flood or water seemed to have matured Freder, where we can see a different Freder emerging from the water, as if he were baptized, who then went on and defeated Rotwang.

In Titanic and Metropolis, we see both Jack and Freder, along with Rose and Maria, transcend the class barrier which the societies they lived in has set up around them. In a parallel comparison, we see Jack and Maria ventured upward, while Freder and Rose went down into the bowels of his city. These two people each acted as the heart, the mediator, the man middle man between the class struggle. And in the end, just as Marx said, that all previous exploitation institutions must go; the workers rose up, like a flood, and swept over the city. Like in titanic, as the ship was being swallowed by the sea, whatever wealth and status symbols that previously had separated the classes were wiped clean, everyone was equal before the water, however temporal.

In a way, Titanic and Metropolis are about the clashing of ideals. It personifies the difference between idealized capitalism against Marxist communism. Just as how Titanic and Metropolis are capitalist monuments, our world today is filled with many other monuments which show off the "patriarchal power" of the ruling class, of a country, such our very own Petronas Towers. However, at the same time, hidden beneath the surface are the working class people, dominated and exploited. I particularly like how Titanic ends, that in the end, everyone was left in the water regardless of class, equal, wiped clean.


References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism