The Writer's Journey

by Christopher Vogler

  Like many movies, Titanic is "bookended" by an outer tale, set in modern day, that serves several important story functions. First, by using actual documentary footage of the Titanic wreck on the bottom of the sea, it reminds us that this is more than a made-up story — it's a dramatization of a real event. The wreck of the ship and the mournful, homely relics of its human passengers bring out one of the most powerful elements in the production — that this could happen, this did happen, and it happened to people like us.

  Second, by introducing the character of Old Rose, the bookend device connects this story of another time with our own day, and reminds us that the Titanic disaster was not so long ago, within the span of one human life. Old Rose dramatizes the fact that there are many people alive today who remember the Titanic, and a few who actually survived it.

  Third, the framing device creates mystery — who is this elderly woman who claims to be a Titanic survivor, and what happened to the jewel the explorer is so eager to get? Did Rose find love and did her lover survive? These question marks are hooks that engage the audience's attention and create suspense even though we know the general outcome of the Titanic story.

  Titanic begins by introducing us to one HERO of this mini-story, the very contemporary figure of Brock Lovett, the scientist/businessman/explorer who can't quite decide how to present himself to the public. His ORDINARY WORLD is that of a showman trying to raise money for his expensive scientific adventures. His OUTER PROBLEM is trying to find a treasure, a diamond thought to have been lost on the Titanic; his INNER PROBLEM is trying to find an authentic voice and a better system of values.

  The figure of the scientist-explorer is common enough to have become an archetype, expressed as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation, Professor Challenger; Allan Quartermain of King Solomon's Mines; the explorer-showman Carl Denning of King Kong, and the contemporary Indiana Jones. These fictional characters are reflections of real adventuring archaeologists and researchers like Howard Carter, Hein-rich Schlieman, Roy Chapman Andrews, and Jacques Cousteau. Robert Ballard, the scientist-adventurer-businessman who actually found the wreck of the Titanic, is one model for Lovett in the movie, and actually went through his own Hero's Journey in choosing how to regard the ship. At first he came as a kind of scientific conqueror, but gradually was moved deeply by the human tragedy and decided the wreck site was a sacred place that should be left undisturbed as a memorial to those who died on the ship.

  In this plot thread, the young scientist is following a prime directive: find the treasure. But through the magic of the old woman's story, a tale that occupies the body of the film, the explorer is transformed from a money-driven capitalist to a true explorer of the heart, who comes to understand that there are more important treasures in life than jewels and money.

  THE OBJECT OF THE QUEST

  What is the Holy Grail Lovett seeks in his quest? It's a diamond called "The Heart of the Ocean," a name that links the theme of love with the setting of the film. The jewel is a true MacGuffin — something small and concrete to focus the audience's attention and symbolize the hopes and aspirations of the characters. A diamond is a symbol of perfection, of the immortal, eternal power of the gods. Its facets, with their mathematical precision, are physical proof of the grand design, of the creative hand and mind of the gods. Like the gods, certain substances, such as gold, silver, and jewels, seem to be immortal. Where flesh and bone, leaf and tree, even copper and steel, corrode away, jewels remain, untouched, unchanged. They miraculously survive the crushing power of the bottom of the sea in perfect condition. Jewels and precious metals have always been used, along with incense, perfumes, beautiful flowers, and divine music, to connect religious and dramatic presentations to the world of the gods. They are little pieces of heaven, islands of perfection in an imperfect world, "doors of perception" giving a glimpse of Paradise. "The Heart of the Ocean" is a symbol for the idealized notions of love and honor that the movie reveres.

  Lovett ransacks the ship with his remote-controlled robot but doesn't find the bit of heaven he's seeking, at least not in the way he anticipated. Opening the safe he's retrieved, he finds rotted pulp that was once money and a miraculously preserved drawing of a beautiful young woman, wearing nothing but the diamond he is looking for. Lovett makes a CNN broadcast that is a CALL heard by Old Rose and her granddaughter Lizzy Calvert.

  Old Rose's ORDINARY WORLD is that of an elderly but active artist living in Ojai, California. She is a HERO in her own drama, bringing her long life to a climax and conclusion, but she also serves as a MENTOR for Lovett and the audience, guiding us through the special world of the Titanic and teaching a higher system of values. Her OUTER PROBLEM is how to get across the Titanic experience; her INNER PROBLEM is dredging up these strong memories that for a long time have been swimming in her unconscious. She issues her own CALL to Lovett, claiming to be the woman in the drawing he has found, and asserting that she knows something about the diamond. After some REFUSAL to accept her story, he accepts and brings her out to his research vessel, where she begins to tell her story of the Titanic's first and last days at sea.

  MAIN STORY — ORDINARY WORLD

  Now the movie leaves the framing device to fully enter the main story and the world of the Titanic. We see the ship in her new-minted glory for the first time. The bustling dock is the ORDINARY WORLD stage on which the main protagonists or HEROES, young Rose and Jack, are introduced. Rose gets an elaborate ENTRANCE as one of the beautiful possessions in the entourage of Cal Hockley, her fiance and the SHADOW or villain of the piece, a sneering "heavy" straight out of a Victorian melodrama. We also meet the sub-villain, Hockley's henchman Lovejoy, who executes Cal's arrogant wishes.

  Our first sight of Rose is her hand in a delicate white glove, emerging from the motorcar. The hands of the lovers, twining and separating, will become a continuing visual thread. She is elegantly dressed but feels a prisoner, as Old Rose tells us in voice-over. She is a HERO on a journey, but at this moment wears the mask of the VICTIM archetype, a damsel in distress, beautiful but powerless.

  Cal represents the arrogance and bigotry of his class and also the dark, Shadow side of manhood and marriage. He is at one extreme of a POLARITY, representing repression and tyranny, with Jack as his polar opposite representing liberation and love. Although the Titanic is a great feat of the imagination, built by honest laboring men, it has deep, fatal flaws, the fault of arrogant men like Cal. He has bought into and identified with the hubristic aspects of the Titanic, believing fully that it is unsinkable because it was created by men of Cal's exalted class, by "gentlemen." He claims that "not even God himself could sink her." In the world of myth, a statement like that is sure to bring down the wrath of the gods, who listen carefully and punish swiftly.

  Rose's mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, is another SHADOW figure, representing the dark side of femininity, the repressive, smothering potential of motherhood, a witchy, scheming queen like Medea or Clytemnestra.

  Rose has received a dark CALL TO ADVENTURE, being manipulated into marrying a man she doesn't love. As Rose CROSSES THE THRESHOLD of the gangway with her mother and Cal it is a kind of royal procession, but Rose experiences it as a march to slavery, and the Titanic as a slave ship taking her to captivity in America. She doesn't quite REFUSE THE CALL but is certainly a reluctant hero.

  Now we meet the second principal HERO, Jack, who with his ALLY, the young Italian immigrant Fabrizio, is gambling, risking everything on fate or chance. A clock is ticking, setting up a MOTIF of time running out, of the general shortness and preciousness of life. Jack's ORDINARY WORLD is that of drifting and adventure, trusting to luck and his own skills and gifts. The CALL TO ADVENTURE comes, on one level, as he wins the card game and a pair of third-class tickets on the Titanic. He shows no RELUCTANCE or fear at this level — he's not the reluctant kind of hero. However, the IRONY is thick as he declares himself and Fabrizio to be "the luckiest sons-of-bitches alive." If he knew what awaits him, he might have cause to be af
raid.

  Jack is a slightly superhuman figure who doesn't appear to have major flaws, but he will have an INNER PROBLEM, trying to find and win the love of his life. If he has a flaw, it's that he's a little too cocky and arrogant, which later worsens his problems with Cal and Lovejoy. His OUTER PROBLEM or challenge is first to climb into society and then to survive the disaster. He is something of a CATALYST HERO, one who is already fully developed and who doesn't change much, but who spends his energy in helping others to change. He is also a TRICKSTER HERO, using deceit and disguise to penetrate the enemy's defenses. In the end he makes the ultimate heroic SACRIFICE, giving his life to save the woman he loves.

  Together Jack and Rose form a pair of POLAR OPPOSITES, male and female, poor and rich, but also express the great oppositional forces of Flight and Restriction. Jack stands for freedom, no boundaries, not accepting the limits imposed by society, an Icarus daring to fly above his station. At the beginning of the film Rose is aligned, against her will, with the opposite force of Restriction, bound by society's conventions, by the force of her mother's grasping will, by her promise to marry Cal Hockley, the dark prince of society. She is a Persephone being dragged down to the underworld. Cal, like Pluto, the god of the underworld who kidnapped Persephone, obsesses about money and is harsh and judging. Pluto was the god of wealth and one of the official judges of the dead. Persephone's lover in the underworld was Adonis, a phenomenally beautiful youth. Like Adonis, Jack comes to Rose in her dark imprisonment and reminds her of the joys of life.

  Rose's INNER PROBLEM will be to break away from her ORDINARY WORLD, to re-align herself with the freedom and ability to fly that Jack embodies. Her OUTER PROBLEM will be sheer survival so she can implement what she's learned in a long, happy life.

  Titanic elaborately explores the function of MENTOR, with a number of characters wearing the mask at different times. In addition to Old Rose, Molly Brown does the MENTOR job, guiding Jack through the SPECIAL WORLD of First Class and, like a fairy godmother, providing him with a proper costume so he can pass as a gentleman.

  Captain Smith is supposed to be a MENTOR for the entire voyage, a leader and the king of this little world. But he is a fatally flawed king, arrogant and complacent, overconfident on the triumphal final voyage of his career.

  Jack wears the mask of MENTOR for Rose, teaching her how to enjoy life and be free. He fulfills the fantasy of many a young woman by freely offering the gift of commitment. From nothing but a glance he decides he can't abandon her, for "I'm involved now." Later, when the ship goes down, he gives her the vital knowledge of how to survive by staying out of the water as long as possible and swimming away from the suction of the sinking ship.

  Another MENTOR to Rose is Thomas Andrews, the architect of the ship. She wins his respect by her intelligent questions about the Titanic, and he rewards her by telling her how she can find Jack when he is trapped below decks. In this he is a Daedalus to Rose's Ariadne. Daedalus was the architect of the deadly Labyrinth, and gave its secrets to the young princess Ariadne so she could rescue her love, Theseus, who ventured into the Labyrinth to battle a monster that represented the dark side of her family.

  CROSSING THE THRESHOLD in Titanic is celebrated with an elaborate sequence depicting the ship "stretching her legs." This movement climaxes with Jack and Fabrizio on the bow of the ship, and Jack exulting, "I'm king of the world.'" Jack and Rose have other Thresholds to cross — each entering the other's world and both entering a Special World of love and danger.

  TESTS, ALLIES, and ENEMIES play out in conflicts between Jack and Rose and the forces of Restriction. Jack and Rose connect and become ALLIES when she tries to kill herself by jumping off the ship. He RESCUES her and wins an invitation to dine with Rose and Cal in First Class. He enters that SPECIAL WORLD with the help of MENTOR Molly Brown, and is TESTED severely at the dinner by the taunting of his ENEMIES, Cal and Rose's mother. He passes these tests and stands up to their ridicule, delivering his credo, an expression of the movie's theme: Life's a gift, learn to take it as it comes, make each day count. He wins Rose's greater respect and guarantees further clashes with Cal.

  Rose's TEST comes a little later when Jack, promising to show her a "real party," guides her into the SPECIAL WORLD of Third Class. In a sequence of wild music, dancing, and drinking, Rose is initiated into the world of Dionysus, the god of intoxication, passion, and ecstasy. It's a test of her society girl standards — will she be offended by the earthy, brawling orgy? She passes the test by outdoing the immigrants with her drinking, smoking, and dancing.

  The stage of APPROACH is expressed in the lovers' tentative romantic dance with each other, including the lyrical moment when Jack positions Rose at the bow of the ship, making her its figurehead, teaching her how to fly, how to balance between life and death. If he is king of the world, now she is queen.

  Rose makes a deeper APPROACH when she asks Jack to draw her picture, trustingly exposing her naked self to him. This is a TEST for Jack which he passes by acting like a gentleman and a professional artist, enjoying the erotic moment but not taking advantage of her vulnerability.

  THRESHOLD GUARDIANS abound as the lovers draw near to the Inmost Cave and the beginning of an elaborate, multi-leveled ORDEAL. Dozens of White Star Line stewards stand guard at doors, elevators, and gates, and a squadron of them, like a pack of hunting dogs, is sent by Cal to seek out the lovers. Jack and Rose, fleeing from Restriction, find themselves deep in the hold where they face an ORDEAL on the level of intimacy. They climb into the Inmost Cave of the luxury motorcar and join as lovers. In the "little death" of orgasm Rose's hand streaks the window glass, looking like the hand of a drowning victim, drowning in love. By crossing this great threshold, they have died to the old life and are reborn in the new.

  The death-bringing ORDEAL for the Titanic comes moments later when the ship hits the iceberg, the mute, inexorable force of Nemesis, that spirit sent by the gods to punish prideful mortals. The death of the ship and of hundreds of passengers occupies the next major movement of the drama.

  Jack and Rose harvest some REWARD from their death-and-rebirth experience. They are bonded, supporting each other in the struggle to survive. This is tested when Rose is given a chance to escape in a lifeboat. Sensing that Cal will abandon Jack to die, Rose fights her way back onto the ship to share her fate with Jack's.

  THE ROAD BACK is the battle for survival, which includes a classic CHASE as Cal, impatient for the ship to do its work, tries to hasten Jack and Rose's death with bullets. The other characters face life-and-death tests, some choosing to die with honor, others to live at all costs, and some, like Lovejoy, dying despite their most ignoble efforts to survive. Act Two concludes with Jack and Rose balancing on the stern rail and riding the ship as it plunges toward the bottom.

  RESURRECTION commences as Jack and Rose fight to preserve the warmth of life in the frozen sea. Finding that the bit of floating wreckage they cling to will support only one person's weight, Jack puts Rose's life ahead of his in a classic HERO'S SACRIFICE. He has already lived a full life and has experienced perfect happiness with her. She is relatively new to freedom and life, and he charges her to live richly and fully enough for both of them. He lets go of life, confident of being RESURRECTED in her heart, in her memories.

  Rose herself goes to the edge of death, but is RESURRECTED as the lone lifeboat searches for survivors in the sea of dead faces. In a final TEST of all she has learned from Jack, she summons the strength to swim to get a whistle from a dead officer's lips, calling for rescue. With that Old Rose concludes her story, returning us to the framing device in modern day and counting the toll of the Titanic's dead.

  The robot sub leaves the wreck in peace and silence. On the research ship, Lovett tosses away the cigar he had saved to celebrate finding the diamond, a little SACRIFICE of an old personality trait. He admits to Rose's granddaughter that he spent three years thinking of the Titanic but never really got its message. He has been TRANSFORMED by the ORDEAL
, and his REWARDS are his insight and the sympathy of Rose's granddaughter. Is there a glimmer of romance, a chance to fully live out the truncated love of Jack and Rose in another generation? He has not found the physical treasure he came seeking, but has he, like Jack, found a greater treasure in the new world of emotion?

  Old Rose goes to the railing of the research ship, echoing her flying scene at the bow with Jack. She even climbs up on the railing as she did so long ago. In a final moment of SUSPENSE we don t know her intention — will she jump, joining Jack in the sea at last, like a belated Juliet joining her Romeo in death? But instead she pulls out the diamond and in a quick flash we see young Rose finding it in her pocket beneath the Statue of Liberty, an ELIXIR rewarded for survival. With a little cry of final dramatic CLIMAX, Old Rose releases it into the water where, like Jack, it spirals down into mystery, a last SACRIFICE that says her experience and memories are more important than any physical possession. This is the ELIXIR, the healing message the movie means to send the audience home with.

  Dissolve now to Old Rose falling asleep, surrounded by photos of her long, full life. Here, after FINAL ORDEAL, is FINAL REWARD, fulfillment of Jacks prophecies — Rose is an adventuress, a pilot, an actress, riding horses by a California pier, having babies, living a life for both of them, part of the ELIXIR she brought back. The dark wounds of her family history have been healed.

  Rose dreams, and in that SPECIAL WORLD the Titanic and its passengers live again, RESURRECTED by the power of the unconscious. Through Rose s eyes, we pass the THRESHOLD GUARDIANS of the White Star Line one last time, entering the heaven of First Class where all the good folk live eternally. (The villains are conspicuously absent, no doubt bobbing in a frigid, wet hell.) Jack stands at his old place by the clock, a supernatural being conquering time. He extends his hand, they touch again, they kiss, and the ship's company applaud this final SACRED MARRIAGE. Camera up to the ceiling dome, the vault of heaven, and its white purity fills the screen. Rose has her ELIXIR.