James Cameron’s Titanic is slightly more complicated than most movies when it comes to determining what mode it operates within because there are aspects of the film that fall in multiple places in the spectrum between Realism, Classicism, and Formalism. One of the reasons Titanic is more complex is simply because it is a mix between the true story of the titanic sinking, with a fictional love story embedded within the true tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic. If I had to classify Titanic into one category, it would be Realistic Classicism, however weighted more towards the Classicism side. The realism aspects of the film come in Rose later in life telling her story of the Titanic, as well as the divers looking for the diamond and the real camera shots of the sunken ship.
However, most of the film is closer to a classical structure. To begin with, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet lead a star-studded cast of talented actors to portray the characters on the infamous ship. Furthermore, most of the film takes place back in time before the Titanic sank, and Cameron romanticizes the ship with lavish decorations, and most of all, romanticizes the love story between Jack and Rose. One example is Cameron using lighting that is almost too perfect in the famous “flying” scene on the night before the ship sank, where the sunset is stunning and almost certainly not what the sky looked like the actual night before the Titanic went down. The non-diegetic sound is another aspect that pushes Titanic more towards Classicism. The soundtrack is one of the most famous movie soundtracks of all time, noted for “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion, that greatly amplifies the love story between Jack and Rose. This grand, sweeping soundtrack is a defining characteristic of Classicism. While there are aspects of Realism throughout Titanic, namely the fact that it is to some extent based on a true story, the traditional classicism of blockbuster Hollywood films shines through most of the rest of the film.