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The 1990s in America

Titanic

by Kris Bigalk

Identification Award-winning film

Director James Cameron (1954-    )

Date Released on December 19, 1997

Titanic was the most expensive and most successful film made in the twentieth century. A work of historical fiction, the film harnessed the romance and tragedy of the real Titanic disaster of 1912 and brought it alive for a new generation.

The film Titanic enjoyed intense popularity despite mixed critical reviews. Running three hours and fourteen minutes, the film combines historical events with a fictional love story between the main characters, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose DeWitt Bukater (played as a young woman by Kate Winslet and as an older woman by Gloria Stuart).

James Cameron wins the Oscar for Best Director for the film Titanic on March 23, 1998.

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The original Titanic was a luxury ocean liner sailing from England to New York that struck and iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean and sank on April 14, 1912. Thought to be unsinkable, the ship was not equipped with enough lifeboats, and many passengers, some famous, were lost in the freezing waters. The few survivors were rescued by a passing ship. Subsequently, the exact location of the sunken Titanic could not be found, and the wreck was assumed to be lost.

The discovery of the Titanic in 1985 captured the imagination of director James Cameron. By the early 1990’s, Cameron had visited the site of the wreck in a small three-person submarine and filmed it. He went on to make twelve descents to film the remains of the Titanic, and some of these clips are included in the film, lending authenticity to the project.

Cameron is known for his ability to generate both box-office smashes, such as the Terminator films, and films noted for special effects, such as those in his science-fiction film The Abyss (1989). Titanic is a melding of both box-office appeal and historically accurate special effects. Cameron’s passion and interest in the story of the Titanic, as well as the actual shipwreck, drove him to make this film.

Film Overview and Accolades

The film opens with the elderly Rose on a ship in the present day, telling her granddaughter the story of her journey on the Titanic as they travel to the site of the wreck. Soon the story flashes back to Rose as a young woman of privilege traveling on the Titanic with her mother and fiancé, Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). She meets an artistic, free-spirited young man named Jack Dawson and falls in love with him as they explore the ship. Historical luminaries on board, such as Molly Brown (Kathy Bates) and John Jacob Astor IV (Eric Braeden), make appearances, and the scope of the ship in its re-creation is impressive. Rose survives the shipwreck and in her old age still possesses a necklace she keeps to remind her of Jack. The film ends back in the present day, with Rose watching the footage of the remnants of the Titanic, which the audience also sees.

The film is also enhanced by a moving score, written by James Horner, a theme song by the popular singer Celine Dion, and elegant period costumes designed by Deborah L. Scott. The interiors of the sets were designed by the companies that had originally outfitted the Titanic in 1912. Cameron worked hard to create an authentic feel in all aspects of the film, going so far as to hire an etiquette expert to work with the cast on the manners and culture of 1912 England and North America.

Titanic was nominated for fourteen Academy Awards and won eleven. Winslet was nominated for Best Actress, and Stuart for Best Supporting Actress. Cameron won for Best Director. Other Oscars won by Titanic include Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Song (“My Heart Will Go On,” by Dion), Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Sound. At the Golden Globes, the film won Best Director, Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song (“My Heart Will Go On”).

Special Effects

Technicians re-created an almost life-sized version of the exterior of the Titanic, located in the Pacific Ocean in Baja Mexico. The exterior was actually sunk in the final scenes of the film, destroying the model and allowing only one take of some scenes. Some interior scenes of the sinking ship, mostly those involving actors, were shot in tilting tanks located in sound stages. Cameron and his crew often came up with creative solutions to problems that cropped up during filming and blazed new trails in the areas of filming water-related disaster scenes.

Budget

Titanic was the first film to cost $200 million to make and was the highest-budget film of the twentieth century. It is also the highest-grossing box-office hit of all time in the United States, bringing in over $600 million. The film was costly to make for many reasons, including the cost of expeditions to the real Titanic, the cost of re-creating most parts of the ship, and the cost of constructing tanks and other special-effects materials. The large cast of actors and extras also contributed to the film’s large budget.

Impact

Titanic pushed the limits of filmmaking in many ways. Its budget exceeded any motion picture made before, as did its box-office earnings. Its special effects and dedication to historical accuracy, combined with the sheer spectacle and scope of the film, captivated the imagination of the filmgoing public.

Further Reading

1 

Frakes, Randall. “Titanic”: James Cameron’s Illustrated Screenplay. New York: HarperCollins, 1998. A useful reference that includes the shooting script.

2 

Parisi, Paula. Titanic and the Making of James Cameron: The Inside Story of the Three-Year Adventure That Rewrote Motion Picture History. New York: Orion, 1998. Details the immense filming project with fascinating stories.

3 

Shapiro, Marc. James Cameron: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 2000. A look at the renowned filmmaker by a veteran entertainment journalist.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Bigalk, Kris. "Titanic." The 1990s in America, edited by Milton Berman, Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1990_1565.
APA 7th
Bigalk, K. (2009). Titanic. In M. Berman (Ed.), The 1990s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Bigalk, Kris. "Titanic." Edited by Milton Berman. The 1990s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.