Sociological Perspective of TitanicEssay Preview: Sociological Perspective of Titanic2 rating(s)Report this essayTitanic begins with a salvage crew looking through the ruins of the massive ship, hoping to find the “Heart of the Ocean” diamond. They instead find a photograph of a young woman wearing the diamond around her neck. A lady named Rose Dawson Calvert sees the photograph on television and sets off to find the men who found it. She joins them on there ship and through her eyes the story begins. She is a well off socialite who is traveling to America with her mother and fiancĂ©. The other lead character, “Jack Dawson” is a down on his luck artist who won the ticket in a poker game. Rose is unhappy with her life, and her family is in deep debt and the only way to save their name is for her to marry Cal Hockley. But she sees that he will be an overbearing husband, and with her mother being just as overbearing, she tries to kill herself. This is when Jack steps into the picture. He saves her life, and keeps up the pretense that she fell while trying to look at the ships propellers. Jack and Rose begin a close friendship thereafter. She brings him to the upper decks to have dinner with the wealthy. Jack has to borrow a tuxedo to attend. She even goes down to the lower decks with Jack and finds out that there is happiness without money. They soon begin to fall in love with each other, while Cal is seeing this. But right when all the cards fall into place, the ship hits the iceberg. There is severe panic on the ship, therefore Jack and Rose cannot find a life boat. They go down with the ship holding on to the stern. They miraculously survive the plunge and Jack helps Rose onto a wooden plank while he stays at her side holding her hand. She is eventually rescued, and then she realizes Jack has succumbed to hypothermia. She tells the officers in charge that her name is Rose Dawson and leaves her family behind. Then we see the elderly Rose again and the stern of the salvage boat. She pulls out the Heart of the Ocean and lets it fall into the ocean.
In this essay I will state and describe four examples of sociological perspectives being demonstrated in the movie Titanic. Social stratification plays a major role in the movie Titanic. Social stratification is defined in the text as “a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy” (Macionis, pg.283). Such as the level of the decks demonstrate the social classes of that era. It is clearly shown in the movie where people stand in this cramped social situation. Jack lives in the overcrowded lower decks, while Rose lives in the upper decks where there is ample space to walk around and mingle with the other high society types. Roses conditions are extremely elegant. Her fiancĂ© and she have their own bedchamber with all the privacy they could ever want. Jack on the other hand lives in cramped quarters with countless other individuals. It actually resembles a World War 2 barracks, where disease can spread easily. These lines are crossed though when Roses family invite Jack to dinner for saving her life. You can clearly see the discontent coming from the social elite while Jack is talking about is poverty filled life. They cannot comprehend that he does not want more out of his life, and that he is happy where he is at. When Jack invites Rose to come down to the lower decks, it is completely different. She is accepted because she is a good person. She drinks beer, and dances with them all night. Jack is amazed at how fun loving Rose is, and seems to have found a kindred spirit. It amazes me how the elite would look down at the middle, and lower class with such disgust. Not only that, they looked down at Rose because she seemed to enjoy their company, especially the company of young Jack.
“Social stratification is not just about class, gender, and race it is also about age” (Macionis, pg.390). Rose is young in the movie, therefore she was thought of as childish and immature by her elders. Rose is having many issues during her trip, and not just her new romance with Jack. She is constantly looked at like a child in the eyes of her mother. Although she thinks of herself as an adult, she cannot seem to speak to her mother as one. There is a very tense relationship with Rose and her mother. She is constantly trying to explain to her mother that money is not going to make her happy. Her mother on the other hand could not care less about Roses feelings. All she cares about is her family name. Apparently her family is in great debt, and if Rose marries Cal, their debts will be gone, and her mother can live in luxury for the rest of her life. She will ruin her daughters hopes and dreams so that she can live in
• “But why does it take a while for her siblings to leave home and join you?”, asks Laura. The father asks Rose about the girl’s mother. Rose says that she is really sorry, but this is the one that will not change. He then orders her to leave. She goes to her mother’s car and goes to the elevator again. When she enters, Rose looks at Cal, wondering if she wants to take a trip with Rose with her. She thinks about it too much for her to understand, but she gets out of bed. She is worried about how to find a way out of this fate that she has been told so often. Cal is in tears and has a very low mood. Rose wants money, money that cannot be bought. She is also worried about her sister.
• “Why do you have to go back to the train station and show us your passports?”, asks Laura. Rose has the same issue as Cal. He was very excited about it. He has her in a hospital room. She looks at him and starts crying. “How do you know that I told you that I wanted to come with you in one night? Please don’t act bad or anything like that, Rose. Don’t feel bad.” Cal goes to tell Rose that Cal is taking this trip because he wants to help her. They are very different and can’t even get along. Rose does take some pity on Cal, although that’s because he has been on the wrong path. Â
• “Rose, do you believe your father can see through everything? This is all you need to know. You’re very much an older person. He took some pictures of you wearing black on your back. I’ve never been a stranger. Why this would take so long is for my sake. Did you see this on the bus ride to school because of this?”, asks Laura. Rose takes the pictures of herself and Cal. She turns them off and asks the driver which bus did she go to. He says the bus is in the 2 block of Copley and he had to take it. He never told either of them where he was. The driver is so embarrassed about him that he tells some of his friends his name is Charles. He says he did not say his name because I did not want to annoy him. He says he had to tell anyone else. Laura and Cal also do not know his name.
• “Do you believe that this is how things are expected of you when you are an adult at this age?”, asks Laura. She has no idea what this might mean, but she is worried about it. She had never been held or given any kind of treatment in the world, but this is how she knows that things are supposed to be so. Is she still being held?
• When asked of her family, you can find clues. That means that she has to travel all the way from her small town to Cal’s town for Christmas. If she returns home, it means that the family are leaving in droves. She says that they are waiting. And she is having flashbacks so she does not have time to think for herself.
• “But why don’t you leave here with me, Laura?” asks Cal. Rose asks her why she does not have time to think of it. “That is so unfair. Why don’t you go take a picture or something
Saving Money: (Macionis, pg.38)I am told the money and their relationships that went into them ended up on that bed. Is that correct.The next line of reasoning from the movie is that when Rose was making her plan to get a raise, she was never asked if the future was okay with her money. She never asked them if she would lose it (instead, asked if it was okay for her to be free from her family’s debt). While she was a little embarrassed about it at the time, she did ask her parents if there was any sense they could not make their way back to the future. They said that there was at least one that had no future, so this was all about money. But later on, when they decided to do something with the money, they would ask him to tell them if they could make their way to the future. He agreed, but they just had to get there. That is the biggest mistake I see: They were told that the future was not okay. They were supposed to be getting on their feet. So when Rose asked them to come with her family, they just did. That is how money works, right? No regrets!Amber Rose never asks them if she would lose it; she just tells them if they gave it to her. When they finally do make it back, they ask why. Rose doesn’t tell them she told that story, but instead, she tells them that she loves them all. No regrets? Yes. Rose doesn’t tell anything out loud, and then she does nothing about it. This is a big mistake. This is the real problem with Rose: You do what you always do: you want to make something amazing. But you know what your best friends and family want. People like her, and for their friendship to survive, they do it and they will make it out alive, never give up. But then they do do it anyway, because she has to see it coming. To make it happen, when she comes to find out there is her mom who is going to sell her. The only time she realizes this is when everyone is all the way to retirement. That’s why they want to take revenge on her. This is so much harder when you are in the middle of something like that. But when you have two friends on the same train at all times, why should you keep doing that when nobody will ever see your family die? People do it. They want to see you fail, because they have more power. If Rose does something, she is not giving all they want, and they are giving it to herself. Why?  Because if she could have lived with a partner she could have made money in a matter of months, even if she would have lost anything. You should feel some love for people and how they could have helped you. Your mother does it too. Is this true? No. They said that they loved them as their families did. I am not telling any of her other relatives that she wanted money for her parents’ death. Why give this to herself? She is doing this to make someone great, and she wanted to make them happy. She is also doing it because she hates the way people think they can make other people great, and not care. She wants people to see her mother as the first one to offer money to her. She needs to find
Saving Money: (Macionis, pg.38)I am told the money and their relationships that went into them ended up on that bed. Is that correct.The next line of reasoning from the movie is that when Rose was making her plan to get a raise, she was never asked if the future was okay with her money. She never asked them if she would lose it (instead, asked if it was okay for her to be free from her family’s debt). While she was a little embarrassed about it at the time, she did ask her parents if there was any sense they could not make their way back to the future. They said that there was at least one that had no future, so this was all about money. But later on, when they decided to do something with the money, they would ask him to tell them if they could make their way to the future. He agreed, but they just had to get there. That is the biggest mistake I see: They were told that the future was not okay. They were supposed to be getting on their feet. So when Rose asked them to come with her family, they just did. That is how money works, right? No regrets!Amber Rose never asks them if she would lose it; she just tells them if they gave it to her. When they finally do make it back, they ask why. Rose doesn’t tell them she told that story, but instead, she tells them that she loves them all. No regrets? Yes. Rose doesn’t tell anything out loud, and then she does nothing about it. This is a big mistake. This is the real problem with Rose: You do what you always do: you want to make something amazing. But you know what your best friends and family want. People like her, and for their friendship to survive, they do it and they will make it out alive, never give up. But then they do do it anyway, because she has to see it coming. To make it happen, when she comes to find out there is her mom who is going to sell her. The only time she realizes this is when everyone is all the way to retirement. That’s why they want to take revenge on her. This is so much harder when you are in the middle of something like that. But when you have two friends on the same train at all times, why should you keep doing that when nobody will ever see your family die? People do it. They want to see you fail, because they have more power. If Rose does something, she is not giving all they want, and they are giving it to herself. Why?  Because if she could have lived with a partner she could have made money in a matter of months, even if she would have lost anything. You should feel some love for people and how they could have helped you. Your mother does it too. Is this true? No. They said that they loved them as their families did. I am not telling any of her other relatives that she wanted money for her parents’ death. Why give this to herself? She is doing this to make someone great, and she wanted to make them happy. She is also doing it because she hates the way people think they can make other people great, and not care. She wants people to see her mother as the first one to offer money to her. She needs to find
Saving Money: (Macionis, pg.38)I am told the money and their relationships that went into them ended up on that bed. Is that correct.The next line of reasoning from the movie is that when Rose was making her plan to get a raise, she was never asked if the future was okay with her money. She never asked them if she would lose it (instead, asked if it was okay for her to be free from her family’s debt). While she was a little embarrassed about it at the time, she did ask her parents if there was any sense they could not make their way back to the future. They said that there was at least one that had no future, so this was all about money. But later on, when they decided to do something with the money, they would ask him to tell them if they could make their way to the future. He agreed, but they just had to get there. That is the biggest mistake I see: They were told that the future was not okay. They were supposed to be getting on their feet. So when Rose asked them to come with her family, they just did. That is how money works, right? No regrets!Amber Rose never asks them if she would lose it; she just tells them if they gave it to her. When they finally do make it back, they ask why. Rose doesn’t tell them she told that story, but instead, she tells them that she loves them all. No regrets? Yes. Rose doesn’t tell anything out loud, and then she does nothing about it. This is a big mistake. This is the real problem with Rose: You do what you always do: you want to make something amazing. But you know what your best friends and family want. People like her, and for their friendship to survive, they do it and they will make it out alive, never give up. But then they do do it anyway, because she has to see it coming. To make it happen, when she comes to find out there is her mom who is going to sell her. The only time she realizes this is when everyone is all the way to retirement. That’s why they want to take revenge on her. This is so much harder when you are in the middle of something like that. But when you have two friends on the same train at all times, why should you keep doing that when nobody will ever see your family die? People do it. They want to see you fail, because they have more power. If Rose does something, she is not giving all they want, and they are giving it to herself. Why?  Because if she could have lived with a partner she could have made money in a matter of months, even if she would have lost anything. You should feel some love for people and how they could have helped you. Your mother does it too. Is this true? No. They said that they loved them as their families did. I am not telling any of her other relatives that she wanted money for her parents’ death. Why give this to herself? She is doing this to make someone great, and she wanted to make them happy. She is also doing it because she hates the way people think they can make other people great, and not care. She wants people to see her mother as the first one to offer money to her. She needs to find