Just after Captain Smith announces he is going to retire for the night we cut to a scene of him stirring his lemon tea - just that it doesn't appear that he is stirring it, the tea is still when we cut to it, slice of lemon floating on top, he pushes the lemon under.

My question is: this is a strange scene to put in for it to have been purely incidental, after all there must have been thousands of cups of tea (lemon/ sans lemon) served aboard the Titanic, what was so special about Captain Smith's cup of tea?

So far, the only *sensible* suggestions which I have been able to come up with are that: the lemon symbolises the iceberg, Captain Smith in sinking it, is *subconsciously* showing his arrogance that icebergs are nothing to worry about. Alternatively, that the lemon was the Titanic and that it was a rather sneaky premonition albeit on a very small scale of what was about to happen.

Then again, the final option is that Captain Smith just wanted to flavour his tea? (If so, how did the scene survive the cut?)

(I shall leave it to your better judgment as to whether my suggestions are indeed sensible!)

-- Simon (ia501060@ntu.ac.uk), February 18, 1998

Answers

Simon- This movie is so laced with symbolism, whether Mr Cameron meant it to or not! Your iceburg/lemon slice comparison is both witty and brilliant. I do remember Captain Smith playing with the lemon in his tea, but I don't notice the symbolism until someone points it out-that's why I love this website!

-- Laura (lrc@usit.net), February 18, 1998.

Congrats on this discovery. I agree with what you both said. Laced with symbolism is right. I assume you both have read through this entire site? Much symbolism discussion. See "themes/motifs" especially.

-- Bob Gregorio (rgregori@pacbell.net), February 18, 1998.

Simon: I noticed the obvious emphasis of the lemon in the teacup, as well. Initially, during the film, I thought it symbolized how easily the lemon slice could disappear into an incredibly shallow teacup and never be seen, just as a great iceberg could be enveloped in the night and never been seen . . . until it was too late. But your interpretation of arrogance suppression/lemon is excellent, as well!

-- Rose (rosemarie17@hotmail.com), February 18, 1998.

Simon, I noticed this too, but it never occurred to me this way. I simply thought he was arrogant and confident that the ship wouldn't sink. I have no idea how you people come up with these great comments. (Maybe you should help JC write his script for his next film!)

-- Rose (rose364@earthlink.net), February 18, 1998.

If JC is as true as his word, when he said that he tried to keep Titanic historically acurate, maybe he had Cpt Smith drinking lemon tea, because he was known to drink lemon tea.

-- Peter Edmead (peter.edmead@employment.gov.au), February 18, 1998.

Captain Smith was filmed several times with a cup of tea. I felt that the tea symbolized their journey on board. At first the tea inside the cup was still. Then the captain appeared with the tea and restlessly stirred it. Finally, the captain appeared with the cup and his hands shook violently. On my third viewing of the titianic, I thought the tea was symbolic to the events that were taken place. As the Captain he had an idea of the future of the voyage

-- Melissa (vamps@sprynet.com), February 18, 1998.

Simon:I definitely noticed the Captain's tea.How the hell could I miss it?They showed the tea for like 10 minutes...OK,I exaggerate but they focused on it for quite enough time for you to realize that maybe there's something SYMBOLIC going on.However,I'm not gonna take a guess at what was going on in James Cameron's head because the man is to complex for me and I'll only be making a fool out of myself.(THE MAN IS A GENIUS!!!).

-- Ana (sirabion@bruin.edu), February 18, 1998.

Simon, I noticed that scene too. I had taken it just to be Cameron's way of demonstrating Smith's casual indifference to, or blithe ignorance of, Murdoch's concern about the difficulty in spotting the icebergs. Smith seemed to me to be lost in other thoughts rather than pensive about Murdoch's concern. I like your idea of subconscious or passive arrogance though - it makes better sense. Most of Cameron's intended symbolism seemed to me to be much more obvious, such as the cut from the rats scurrying ahead of the third-class passengers to a low, close-up shot of Ismay's furry (ratlike) slippers or the juxtaposition of the third class party to the first class lounge . I wonder if the lemon/iceberg connection was intended or just coincidence?

-- Dan Dalton (DDa2309070@aol.com), February 19, 1998.