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Can we discuss the film Titanic?

156 replies

KindergartenKop · 22/10/2018 20:01

I've just found it on an obscure movie channel. Do you like it? As a teenager I loved it but recently it occurred to me that it's a bit weird to set an entirely fictional and unlikely romance against the backdrop of a real and horrific accident. You'd not find anyone making a 9/11 romance, so why is it ok to do this? Maybe this should be in aibu?!

OP posts:
Neighneigh · 22/10/2018 21:19

Speaking of bad taste, I was made to go and see Celine Dion live in Las Vegas (never go to Vegas with your in-laws)... She warbled out 'my heart will go on', and the bloody stage starts rising up and there's a load of actors rolling off it!

Btw the film is pretty historically inaccurate, in terms of who did what, when. There used to be a tiny little museum at the Titanic Historical Society in Massachusetts, not sure if it's still there, but it was all pre-film hype and very good

MissionItsPossible · 22/10/2018 21:19

I thought she died at the end, hence why she’s back on the boat being greeted by all the people who died when it sunk...

Yes, that’s how it ended

LetsGoFlyAKiteee · 22/10/2018 21:19

Syfy did Titanic 2..thats bizzare

Yeah I thought she died cause the whole dying old in bed speech bit.Guess how you see it.

rosieposey · 22/10/2018 21:23

Yep I thought she'd sorted her unfinished business by dropping the heart of the ocean into the sea and then died.

The romantic in me thinks she went to see jack and the others before going on to heaven to join her husband. He was her fist love and that was a massive part of her life so that's the bit we see perhaps before she goes into the light?

Not that I'm over invested in the story, oh no Grin.

rosieposey · 22/10/2018 21:24

Ffs first love not fist love Hmminterpret that as you will.

MissionItsPossible · 22/10/2018 21:25

@Djnoun

She doesn't die at the end. She's asleep and dreaming. Hence the song lyrics, every night in my dreams I see you, I feel you

Yes she does. The song would have came much after the song choice was made, which I read was a very, very last minute inclusion to the film. It clearly alludes to Jack’s speech earlier in the film

MissionItsPossible · 22/10/2018 21:25

Whoops, I meant the song would have came much after the script was wrote!

Sarahlou63 · 22/10/2018 21:26

There was a film about Titanic in the 50's (60's?) called A Night to Remember with Kenneth Moore.

Also 9/11 - Flight 93 (?).

HappyPunky · 22/10/2018 21:27

There was a romance based on 9/11. It has the bloke from twilight in it.

I like to think the romance draws people in to finding out about a historical event that they wouldn't otherwise. I remember in 2012 seeing tweets from people who thought the whole thing was fictional though HmmConfused

Killerqueen2244 · 22/10/2018 21:29

Oh I love Titanic, the story not so much but the attention to detail is meticulous. The costumes were so beautiful, the actors so very similar to the real life people on the ship and the stage sets furnished by the original companies....I watch it for that really!

Mari50 · 22/10/2018 21:34

My dd is currently doing the titanic as a project at school. I’ve seen the movie a lot recently- repeatedly explaining its entertainment not a documentary!
I liked the film but there are loads of bits that are just plain stupid. However I’m constantly being told that my inability to suspend logical thinking when I’m watching movies is incredibly annoying.

Mari50 · 22/10/2018 21:34

Funnily enough my next door neighbour was watching it about 15 mins ago- sadly my walls are that thin!

BackforGood · 22/10/2018 21:37

recently it occurred to me that it's a bit weird to set an entirely fictional and unlikely romance against the backdrop of a real and horrific accident.

and yet we have Romeo and Juliet - held up as the greatest love story, set around suicide........ Les Miserables - romance from revolution.... must be several hundred thousand war films made into romances, from Pearl Harbour to Brief Encounter.

Whether you still like Titanic or not, I don't think a horrific tale has ever been something to prevent a romance being presented at the same time.

mikado1 · 22/10/2018 21:41

My dad would not match it, he didn't want to see 'a ship go down', which I understand now more than I did then. I've read the DK kids' Titanic book recently and a lot of it is historically correct, and the thing I took most from it was the god people who did the toughest things at the time...so sad.

I think the romance is simply to set it in a situation anyone can understand and because, there were so many different stories on the ship and many, myself included, like to imagine the different possibilities. I think absolutely there will be a romance type story set with 9/11 as the setting. Right or wrong, a famous real life event draw people in.

treaclesoda · 22/10/2018 21:42

I think it's hard to compare the sinking of the Titanic with 9/11 because of the leaps in technology. We've all seen the world trade center collapse on TV and many of us are old enough to have seen it 'live' as it happened. And technology has leapt so much since 2001 that, rather horrifyingly, if that had happened in the past couple of years we'd probably also have footage from inside the buildings because people would have recorded it on their phones. Titanic might only have been 90 years earlier but once something is outside of living memory, people's entire perception of it changes I think. Although maybe that will change in future with the sheer volume of recorded footage of modern events?

Anyway, I also liked the Titanic film when I was younger and now look at it with older wiser eyes and see that it's a bit naff. But I do think some of it is moving, as people face the inevitability of the sinking and the fact that they won't be rescued.

BollocksToBrexit · 22/10/2018 21:43

We went to a massive Titanic exhibition and it was fascinating. I learnt that there really was a 'love story' that involved a blue stoned necklace, which was the inspiration for the film. Except I think the bloke was married and he gave the OW the necklace on board the ship.

I also learnt that the vast majority of deaths were actually crew. It was very moving to see all the names on a memorial wall.

eddiemairswife · 22/10/2018 21:45

I thought it was awful; far too long and I didn't care about any of the characters. 'A Night to Remember' was far more moving and better acted.

CaptSkippy · 22/10/2018 21:49

The pilot of Downton Abbey pissed me off way more with their attitude towards the Titanic disaster. It was basically like: "Ow well, we lost another heir. How inconvenient."

Seriously? People were in uproar, especially wealthy families. The White Star LIne went bankrupt shortly after it. Nobody even contacted them about a law suit?

MollyHuaCha · 22/10/2018 21:53

Yes, 'A Night to Remember' was a superior fun.

It was a better tribute to those who died and did not aim to make stars of the actors.

MollyHuaCha · 22/10/2018 21:53

*Film not fun...

BigBumandMumTum · 22/10/2018 22:08

I watched it and hated it

AGHHHH · 22/10/2018 22:08

I love it. Such an epic film.

SecretWitch · 22/10/2018 22:14

@Toddlerteaplease, I knew I couldn’t be the only contemplating Rose’s after life!

Northumberlandlass · 22/10/2018 22:15

CaptSkippy is correct at the time the Titanic was built there was no requirement to have enough lifeboats for all passengers. Following the tragedy a number of ‘regulations’ were brought in, including SOLAS ‘Safety of Life at Sea’ which includes a section on lifeboats

Fluffyears · 22/10/2018 22:16

Watching the original cine film at the start my blood ran cold, it was original footage and most of those people were about to die who were waving happily from the decks.

She dies at the end as Jack had said ‘you’ll die an old lady warm in your bed!’ She had put the heart of the ocean to rest.