Think back to Leonardo DiCaprio shouting his “King of The World” line in the movie Titanic. Go on, you don’t have to feel bad, you were younger then, it’s okay. Understanding the themes and symbols behind James Cameron’s representation of a cruise ship experience is important in unpacking the growing success of cruise lines today and in the future.

Titanic was released in 1997 and went on to gross $1.8 billion worldwide. That same year, the cruise ship industry made $60 billion, 7 percent than in 1996, a trend that had been consistent for the previous twenty years. While it is absurd to attribute the success of cruise lines to the success of a movie, it is important to see how the two trends coincide, using common symbols to rake in massive amounts of profits.

To the popular culture of 1912, the year of the first and fateful voyage of the ship, to the modern audience viewing Cameron’s film, the Titanic represents many important American cultural trends and ideals. Through characters like DiCaprio’s Jack, an understanding is created that aboard a ship like the Titanic, freedom is attainable for all people, rich or poor. Although the Titanic was severely segregated according to economic status, it can still be see as an experience that could be shared by all people, regardless of class and that love and adventure could be found on the open sea for anyone that was willing to take a chance. Through the elegance of the actual ship, to the decadence and splendor that was expressed through the film, the Titanic has also represents magnificence, excess and luxury for almost a century.

Using the example of our cultural understandings of the Titanic as a reference, we can see that the modern cruise ship industry is trying to sell this same image, but in a much more up to date and culturally relevant way. These companies, namely Princess, Carnival, Celebrity and Disney, are all competing to bring these Titanic elements to the modern cruise ship—to create ultimate luxury and opulence while promising freedom, adventure and maybe even romance, aboard these “fun ships.” Cruise lines advertise amusement and entertainment in the form of gambling, drinking and dancing and even more importantly, they advertise the adventure of experiencing new and different cultures in their natural habitat through on shore excursions at various ports of call. All in all, cruises look to inspire the name warm and tingling feelings in the general public as James Cameron was able to insight through Jack and Rose’s first kiss on the bow of the Titanic. Back.