Titanic as a Rite of Passage: Myth in a Modern Movie

James Cameron's movie Titanic has been viewed as unprecedented in its genius, notorious for its sentimentality, or, in the eyes of the Patriarchy (hereafter referred to as the Fearful Boy) as infamous, especially in what it views as license to defy patriarchal law against unapproved sexuality.

For many years, James Cameron has been directing movies that address mythic constructs of the human society. Some have pointed out that his handling of these ideas is clumsy; this may be a reflection of an unconscious, rather than an intellectual spiritual inspiration.

For example, his Terminator II the message is that a father -- a true father, biological or not -- will die for his children, and that a mother will kill for them. Mr. Cameron's women are as powerful as any women of the movies of the '30's and '40s; at one point in this movie the woman becomes the Terminator, and takes over the role of the father, complete with her own mechanical theme musica.

Cameron reflects an old argument that women should not try to fill the fighting role because when they lose their civilized self-control, they become far more dangerous than any male. This is not the first time this argument has been made; witness Rudyard Kipling's poem, The Female of The Species.

Titanic went beyond any of Mr. Cameron's earlier productions in that it addresses the life of the female in a deeply mythic manner. One wonders if the crew were ever aware that the Goddess was speaking directly through them, to produce what is the truest guide to the female's rite of passage that has ever appeared or been allowed to survive in western literature.

Since Joseph Campbell wrote his series on mythology (a useful introductory layman's treatment of myth, albeit from a western or patriarchal viewpoint), most of us are aware of what has been called "The Hero's Journey" or the rite of passage for young males. We assume that young females have the same need of this identical process.