Extended Blog (Jacob n8725594)

Titanic (1997) is a Hollywood classic romance film produced by the two major studios, Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount. It is the first film to gross over $1 billion in box office (Ramos, 2011). Its budget costs over $200 million. For cost distribution, as stated by Ramos (2011), Twentieth Century Fox was responsible for providing budget to secure the international distribution rights while Paramount was responsible for production and marketing costs. James Cameron, the director of Titanic, is best known for making expensive and high grossing films, which is further supported by Studlar and Sandler (1999, 132), “his films can be recognized by a certain ideology and its expression is always consistent and not limited to a particular genre”. It indicates that his directing is not limited to the type of film.

500 Days of Summer (2009) is an independent romance-comedy film by Fox Searchlight Pictures, watermark and Dune Entertainment III, starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The budget estimation is around $7,500,000 and it has a box office result of $32,391,374. The film director Webb Marc is best known in his energetic inspirations and visual insightfulness, especially in music videos. He received top honors at the 2006 Music Video Production Association Awards (Sony Pictures, 2010). His visual storytelling extends into film by making 500 Days of Summer.

Both films share certain similarities in their narrative structures and differ in terms of plot structure. These will be discussed in the following.

In Titanic (1997), a non-linear narrative structure called the bookend technique is used. At the beginning of the film, it sets on a treasure-hunting team that is exploring the wreck of Titanic. They are looking for a jewellery called ”the Heart of the ocean” and accidentally find a sketch of a woman, Rose, wearing it. Afterwards, Rose and her granddaughter visit the team on their ship and she retells her experience in Titanic. A plot transition has occurred and it sets back into 1912, which is the boarding day of Titanic. During the storytelling by Rose, it often returns to the present to show the reactions of those listeners on the ship. The bookend technique used in the film shows a non-linear chronological order, which can effectively retell the love story that has happened at a different time on Titanic.

500 Days of Summer (2009) also shares the same narrative structure, with a story based on the male protagonist and his memories of a failed relationship. The narrative flows in different time frames and links them together to explain the protagonists’ current situation. Similar to Titanic, a non-linear chronological order is used as the plot jumps from one sequence to another. However, the transition of time occurs more often than Titanic. In 500 Days of Summer, the film narrative jumps between days of the relation out of chronological order in which the relationship has lasted for 500 days. This kind of narration portrays the various stages of Tom and Summer’s relationship in a haphazard way.

Nevertheless, different plot structures are used in Titanic and 500 Days of Summer to narrate story.

Firstly, parallel story structure is adopted in Titanic. The first story is about Titanic the ship itself. It begins with the public’s confidence in Titanic, which is reinforced by the repetitive use of the word “unsinkable”. However, ironically, the shipwreck disappoints the public. The second story is the romance between the protagonists Jack and Rose.

For instance, in the above picture, after they run out from the boiler room, the focus has shifted from their relationship back to the ship, the moment when Titanic is about to hit the iceberg. This scene shows that both story are ongoing at the same time in a parallel structure. 

Moreover, three act structure can be recognised throughout the entire storyline. In the middle of Act One, Rose shows her unwillingness in fulfilling her mother’s wish of marrying Cal Hockley. While Rose struggles, Jack Dawson appears to stop her from committing suicide. His appearance serves as a facilitator for the plot, and marks the beginning of their romance at the same time. As for Jack Dawson, he is portrayed as a confident person through his reflexive actions and instinctual responses, especially in the scene that he dines with the first class. His confidence is effective in motivating Rose to change her situation along the storyline. Different obstacles of their relationship appear, for example, the wealthy groups always look down on Jack.

The turning point happens in the middle of Act Two, which is the “flying” scene at the railing of Titanic. From that scene onwards, Rose is fully committed to the relationship with Jack. While their relationship is developing, a conflict is building when the captain gives out the order of letting the ship sail at a high speed. For the relationship between Rose and Jack, their love set against the fleeting nature of their romance. At the end of Act Two, their relationship is obstructed when Jack is falsely arrested for stealing the diamond, and the climax happens when Titanic hits the iceberg. Act Three opens with the scene when Rose decides to rescue Jack as Titanic starts to sink. 

Then the third act ends with Rose losing Jack in the freezing ocean, follows by her evasion from Cal. The film concludes with the fulfillment of Jack’s promise. It is shown in Rose’s photos on the desk, which symbolises her new page of life.

Three act structure can also be identified in 500 Days of Summer, however, it is not as obvious as Titanic. The plot of the former movie is constructed through fragments of several sequences.  Each sequence is used to provide information about their relationship and background. It also contains one negative event to explain their conflicts, which works as a transition to another sequence. 

The first sequence happens in Act One at the scene when Tom and Summer sit on a bench and Summer is wearing a wedding ring on day 488. When the film jumps back to day one, it introduces Tom’s personality and his past. He is never happy until he met Summer and this indicates that Summer has played an important role in Tom’s life. At this stage, a montage featuring their romance is presented to the audiences. At the last shot of the montage, Summer proposes to break up with Tom. This foreshadows the ending of the film.

In the second sequence, a simple background of their relationship is given to the audience and at the middle of it, the story on how Tom and Summer get together is told. This sequence paves a way for the climax in the storyline. Then the film steps into act two at the scene that Tom and Summer in a furniture store.

This sequence cuts between the sweet moments of their relationship and ends with a negative moment that Tom complains to Mckenzie about Summer. In this sequence, it focuses on the positive side of their relationship and reaches a climax with a shift of their relationship. Meanwhile, it serves as the starting point of separation between Tom’s expectations and reality.  In the middle of Act Two, the bar incident presents a positive development of their relationship. However, at the end of Act Two, different time framing has occurred to show Tom’s depression and built up a starting point of their break up. 

The turning point in Act Three happens at the scene “Expectation vs. Reality” when Tom realises the engagement of Summer. This scene intensifies the gap between Tom’s desire and reality. It also indicates the current situation of their relationship by contrasting  Summer's response to Tom in reality and Tom's expectation deep inside his heart. For instance, in the expectation side, people recognise him, this indicates that he is important in Summer's life and her social network. However, in the reality side, there is no one to give him an attention.  The difference of their conversation and distance also show the loss connection of their relationship. In the expectation side, they are flirting each other on the balcony, while Tom is drinking alone and look at Summer from a distance in the reality side. Different comparisons in this scene reflect that Tom's heartbreak and also highlights the facts that their relationship has come to the end.

At the end of Act Three, the whole sequence describes Tom’s current situation that he changes his job to architecture and he meets Autumn, who may possibly be his new girlfriend. This scene marks the end  of   the film which is the closure of his relationship with Summer and his decision to move on to his next relationship. 

Jacob KWAN LAM TANG (n8725594)

Reference:

MovieclipsPROMO. 2011. “(500) Days of Summer #4 Movie CLIP- Expectation Versus Reality (2009) HD”. YouTube video, posted November 29. Accessed April 1, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-xJ15AN9ts

Ramos, Juan. 2011. "On James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’. " Amateur Film Studies, August 7. Accessed April 3, 2014. http://amateurfilmstudies.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/on-james-camerons-titanic.html

Studlar, Gaylyn & Sandler, Kelvin S. 1999. Titanic: anatomy of a blockbuster. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Sony Pictures. 2010. "A New Webb For Spider-Man." Sony Pictures, January. Accessed April 5, 2014. http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/press_releases/2010/01_10/01252010_spidersummer.html