Leonardo DiCaprio smoking pensively on the Titanic deck is classic Marlboro Man. The swells in first class, trading cigarettes are Dunhill. The rough-and-tumble crowd in steerage rolling their own could be taken as a coded reference to the no-frills, non-additive, no-bull Winston, while Kate Winslet blowing smoke in her mother’s face is very much ‘You’ve come a long way, baby’ – Virginia Slims.” In ‘Titanic,’ smoking is sexy, social, sophisticated, genuine and rebellious, and in the end virtually everyone dies – which is the most perfect touch of all.”
Source: Malcolm Gladwell, “The Talk Of the Town, NEW YORKER. 913198 p31.