Part II_The Hyperreality of Titanic (cont'd)

This proposition has significant implications. One of which is the obsession with nostalgia, which is in tune with the “proliferation of myths of origin and signs of reality; of second-hand truth, objectivity and authenticity”, “an escalation of the true, of the lived experience” and “a panic-stricken production of the real and the referential, above and parallel to the panic of material production.” All of which become “a strategy of the real, neo-real and hyperreal” [1], as Baudrillard puts it. Perhaps it is a well-fitted description of the making of James Cameron’s Titanic, which as a cinematic form, suits “the very definition of the hyperreal.”[2]

In many ways, the film seems to be an ideal example of the realization of the four phrases of the image, which is the prerequisite for becoming the ultimate simulacrum of hyperreality. According to Baudrillard, the first phrase of the image is a “reflection of a basic reality”[3]. For the sake of this discussion, let us suppose there is a basic reality of an ocean liner called Titanic, which actually sank on her maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. In order to “reflect” this reality, a near full-size exterior ship set modeling on the real thing was built for shooting and it is re-created “with unprecedented accuracy and detail” with the help of the “original designs”[4] from the company which built the real thing. “Creating exact replicas of the furniture and countless other items unique to the ship”[5] is part of this project of “reflecting” the reality of Titanic. Not to mention the restoration of 1912 evening gowns for the production and numerous other attempts in re-creating the reality of that period. Footage of the present-day wreckage is added to heighten the sense of reality, making the film almost pass for a docu(mentary)-drama. If that is not enough, the whole film set is literally “sunk” in a hydraulic tank for re-creating the actual sinking of the ship…All these can be seen as examples of clinging to the reality principle by being as “realistic” as possible. A kind of “realism” is key to uphold a version of reality, a past-ness which is on the one hand unreachable but on the other hand, retrievable.


[1] J. Baudrillard, ‘The Evil Demon of Images and the Precession of Simulacra’ in Postmodernism: A Reader, Thomas Docherty (ed) London, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993, pp. 197.
[2] Ibid. pp. 196. The subsequent quote of the other three phrases of the image comes from the same page.
[3] Ibid.
[4] James Cameron’s Titanic, New York, Boxtree, 1998, pp. 16.
[5] Ibid. pp. 34.