Entre a Rosa e o Titã: quatro dimensões da liminaridade em Titanic (1997), de James Cameron

Abstract

This dissertation works with the concept of liminality identified in James Cameron's film Titanic (1997). The first film to make more than a billion dollars, returned once again to the big screen in February 2023, making it necessary to investigate the reasons why a ship from the beginning of the 20th century would remain relevant to the film industry. Having in mind aspects of what we will call the liminal, emphasis was placed on the character Rose because of her value to the narrative, her direct relationship with the ship and her memories, a resource used to recount the events she experienced. In order to understand how liminality – a concept developed by Victor Turner (1974, 1977) based on Arnold Van Gennep (2012) – is present in the filmic universe of Titanic (1997), this concept was divided into four dimensions that would guide the construction of the chapters: social (HOBSBAWM, 2015; LORD, 2012), individual (BENJAMIN, 2009, 2012a, 2012b, 2020; TURNER, 1974, 1977), spatial (AUGÉ, 2012; FREUD, 2019) and temporal (NORA, 1993; POLLAK, 1988, 1992; TURGEON, 2007). Our hypothesis is that the relations of liminality present in the film would occur through the privileged relationship between the character Rose and the Titanic. The film shows us the protagonist and the ocean liner intimately connected, and Rose, in recounting her experience, moves from a dimension of living the liminal to becoming the liminal itself, the link between the present and the past that doesn't allow it to be forgotten. Rose's trajectory expresses changes in experiences that are no longer liminal, collective and significant, but liminoids, individual and empty.