What Is The American Dream?

As part of my investigation is into how the American dream is shown in my chosen films I felt it was a good thing to do to see what is defined at the American dream.

The American dream is "the belief you... can become exceedingly successful, and all it takes is the right amount of work, ingenuity and determination." - Mark Manson

This relates nicely to Titanic, with the separation in classes and how well of Roses family is. With the idea that Cal looks down in Jack because he does not earn his keep within the world and therefore does not deserve the American dream is highlighted in the above quote.

This also relates to The Social Network, as that film shows a young man working hard and using intelligence to make in the world and he therefore achieves the American dream through becoming a millionaire. The film only slightly touches on the corruption this can cause in a person but it's end loops back round to the fact he is a success.

The idea that American was a land of power 300 years ago allowed for the idea of the American dream. So because of Unlimited Land, Unlimited Cheap Labour, Unlimited Innovation and Geographical Isolation there was no stopping people from dreaming big and believe they could achieve it.

This is nicely highlighted in Apollo 13 simply through NASA. With the constant relation landing on the moon first, the film is s imply representation of Americas super power and how far advanced their country is.

Manson, M. (2016) The American dream is killing us. https://markmanson.net/american-dream (Accessed: 2 November 2016).

The True Fact of Apollo 13

After watching Apollo 13 I am now aware of how much much the film includes. However, I am not certain that all this fact is true or whether the fact has been changed for a better spectator response. Therefore I am looking at the NASA website to obtain the correct fact.

Basic Fact:

Apollo 13 was meant to land on the Fra Mauro area (the moon). An explosion occurred causing the ship to be unable to land and simply orbit the moo back to earth.

Crew:

Commander - James A. Lovell Jr.

Lunar Module Pilot - Fred W. Haise Jr.

Command Module Pilot - John (Jack) L. Swigert Jr.

Launch:

April 11, 1970; 1:13 p.m. CST

The Explosion:

At 55 hours and 58 minutes into the launch oxygen tank 2 blew up causing oxygen tank 1 to fail also. The quote "Houston, we've had a problem here" was said by Swigert at 9:08pm, April 13. The crew were 200,000 miles from earth.

Much more fact can be sifted from the website and i will continue on to compare the fact in the film and the real events. The website is especially useful as it includes real quotes form the people. I'm interested to see if any of them were used in the film (apart from the famous: Houston we have a problem.)

NASA (2009) https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo13.html#.WBnumM_tmko (Accessed: 2 November 2016)

Apollo 13 - Second Key Scene

Descending to earth: 02:02:00 - 02:10:32

Micro Techniques and Relevance:

- Multiple locations are used in this scene to show the magnitude of the event and how much of American pulled together to help out.

- The soundtrack is very patriotic and has an air of success about it yet the well being of the astronauts is still unknown by the spectator until the end of the scene.

- Red light is used to show the heat of the ship as it gets closer to earth, unknown if this is what it will really look like. However, I feel it is artistic license to get a point across.

- Titling is used to show location of where this ship will land: South Pacific. Date is also shown: April 17th, 1970. This may have been done to remind the spectator that it is a real event and even though the un-realness of the events has swept over them they have to reminded.

- A somber camera tracking shot is used when two men are discussing the possibilities that the men may not make it back alive. This shows that there was little faith in success.

Characterization and Relevance:

- We are shown two sides of NASA at Houston, one side is commanded by Gene who is the definition of the American dream and one side that shows the doubt and constant worry for money. By having these two conflicting sides it helps to bring the film to reality.

- The men in the ship show respect for one another and I feel this is to represent the real men and help to define them as characters at this particular moment.

- The families of the men are extremely happy and this shows the relief for the whole of the film simply through the way they act when the men land.

Messages and Values:

- The message of the scene is that persistence is key and the fact that no one gave up in the process let to a success. Later backed up in the film with the quote "NASA's most successful failure".

- The American dream is a message throughout the scene as it shows the safe arrival of the men who are now heroes along with the whole of NASA.

- Another message is family and loss, although there is no loss in the scene a feeling of loss is felt when they are considered to have not made it.

Narrative Devices/Features and Relevance:

- The scene uses suspense as it actually mirrors the time it took for everyone to find out if they had survived. So the four minutes and twenty seconds the people at the time waited so did the audience. This is to help the audience experience and understand the events far better.

- Restricted narration is used as the spectator is not shown the inside of the ship and only the people on earth so once again the audience is made to experience the wait.

- A feeling of sudden relief is created though the narrative of the film as the feeling is felt by all the characters.

Apollo 13 - First Key Scene

Oxygen is running out: 00:58:36 - 01:04:59

Micro Techniques and Relevance:

- The sound creates much of the suspense of the scene as when a problem is presented a crescendo occurs causing the audience to really know something is wrong. This tells the audience that what happened is really serious.

- The location of the scene is as realistic as possible to the real thing and therefore the cramped nature of all the shots is meant to mirror the real thing. Also this has the effect of making the scene more frantic for the viewer to watch.

- The lighting is also very authentic using visual sources such as panels that would be very much like a real capsule.

- As well as this by having limited lighting it enhances the warning lights in the shots.

- Having the voice over of the mission control gives a sense of the voice of God which could be a good representation of how the men saw Houston.

- Hand held camera also helps the enhance the frantic nature of the ship and the steady camera on 'earth' helps to show the feelings in the ship.

- Authentic sound makes the film seem very true to real events.

- When at Lovell's home there is no soundtrack and the only sense of fear is through the acting of his wife. This shows that the events took a while to sink in.

Characterization and Relevance:

- In this scene Gene is given a very authoritative role and this helps to show that NASA had everything under control.

- Having Lovell, the captain on equal terms with his crew mates in this shot could be a way to show the audience that the real crew took no hierarchy in being the leader of the group but instead decided to work equally as a team. 

- With all the men on 'earth' being very similar and hard to distinguishes this could be an effect to show the audience just how many people were involved and one man just blurs into another.

- Only men are shown in this shot which could be a nod towards the time that women were considered to just e the 'characters' who just sat at home crying for their husband.

- Every single character in the scene are real people and no fictional characters are added to create more drama or thrill. This may be down to the fact that Ron Howard felt the events were so dramatic themselves they didn't' need more added.

- Having all real people in the shot is a good way to link the film to the American dream as everyone involved is therefore represented as a successful American.

- Mrs Lovell is a strong character and this is relevant because it shows the audience that it was not only NASA who had to be strong but the whole of America (American dream).

Message and Values:

- The main message in this scene is to show that the idea of achievement is far fetched.

- Another message is that the world is only interested in an event if it is new or a disaster however this is touched on more later in the film.

- The American dream is also a value in this film as it it what holds all the characters together through the resilience they show and their connection with one another.

- The last message I could see in this scene is that the event was scary and that it was very close to having fatal consequences.

Narrative Devices/Features and Relevance:

- There is no obvious restricted narration. However, through the scientific and technical dialogue used by the characters, the audience doesn't 100% know what is going on. This could be a devise used to show how it really felt during the event.

- Suspense is also used throughout this scene with the cutting between Apollo 13 and Houston as this stops the action form one scene to the next and delays answers. This helps to make the events seem more serious and scary.

- The narrative is completely driven by true fact and events making this scene more real for the spectator.

Sources Table

Consumers Demand Ficiton Instead of Fact

Titanic aims to let you relive the experience of the actual event through "cinematic story-telling". This tells me that the film had to create spectator response and a reaction. This therefore leads James Cameron to use cinematic convections such as dramatic irony, suspense, empathy and characterisation. Each of these example can be seen in the film.

Dramatic irony when Mr Lovejoy places The Heart of the Sea in Jacks pocket and only the audience are aware of that and as a result Jack is taken from Rose.Suspense is created through the different stories on the ship whilst it is sinking. Having Jack and Rose fight to stay together, the 3rd class struggle to get to the life boats and Huckly try his hardest to find Rose and then a boat. Empathy is simply created when a montage of different peoples stories are shown as the ship sinks, for example the old couple who stay in bed together and the mother who tells a bedtime story to her children. Characterisation is maintained though the whole film especially through Roses character as she develops through the disaster. First a damsel in distress then a final girl.

Each of these techniques lead to the film creating "true lies" this is due to James Cameron wanting to us as a modern audience to relate to the story "more than mere fact or documents ever could." This shows that Titanic is good representation into the fact that  fact in fiction needs to be modified due to consumer demand.

Lubin, D.M. (1999) ‘Titanic’. London: British Film Institute

Titanic: Real Events vs Ficiton Events

Real Events:

2,227 souls on board

1,178 life boat spaces

1,517 people dies

The band kept on playing until the ship sank

Fictional Events:

1,500 people went into the sea

700 people made it into the life boats

The band kept on playing until the ship sank

6 people saved from water

1 boat came back

"The loss was due to a collision with the iceberg, brought about by excessive speed with which it was being navigated." - Judgement of the Official British Inquiry into the Titanic's sinking, 1912

Grant, R.G., Kay, A. and Kerrigan, M. (2011) History of Britain & Ireland: The definitive visual guide. New York: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley).