Fun in the Third Class

http://www.titanicmovie.com/present/mi_clips_third_m.html



I clip above is a scene from the movie Titanic which is the only movie that has great romantic scenes ans the worst ending, but it never fails to make me sigh when i see the scene where Jack steals Rose away from her mother's uptight, aristocratic social scene to the third class level of the ship where the party is simple and dancing is fun. This romantic scene represents the experienced over the inexperienced and my favorite, the restricted over the free spirit. It is a great feeling when a person knows your limitations and goes out of their way to help you overcome them which is exactly what Jack does. This scene has many political connotation but the most prevalent ideology represented is that happiness is not accompanied by wealth and neither is love. This is definitely the first time Rose genuinely smiles. The class distinction in shown in this scene is clearly has an intertextuality related to centuries of forbidden mixing of different economic classes and they have been conveyed in classic literature such as The Wuthering Heights and the musical The West Side Story.

In addition to the political representation, the above scene is romantic simply because of the setting. Two strangers falling in love on a ship between two continents and two different kinds of life styles seems so unrealistic and the odd of it happening is astronomical but still as a female, I hope for it. "When the ship docks, I am getting off with you" says Rose in the movie but it beneath the surface, I feel as though it is a statement against aristocratic lifestyle and it is a claim that freedom and simplicity are a much better choice that wealth. Why else would someone from a respected family choose to go to the third class section to have fun? Why else can a free spirited stranger see Rose's unhappiness better than her own mother?