Titanic's 100th Anniversary Thread!

[AdrenalinDragon]

100 years ago today the Titanic sank. Let's talk about everything Titanic here!

[geodave]

Kate Winslet was great in The Holiday. And I liked HK better than Titanic.

[BitBuster]

It's funny you brought this up. I was just going to make a thread about how I got drunk off my *** this morning and went out to see Titanic in 3-D. I still think it's a pretty manipulative film, but hey, there are a few decent scenes, and it reminds me of my best friend (it was her favorite movie). So...

[James]

The movie is great. It's a shame people look at the movie and see it for just a love story, when it's so much more:

"The story could not have been written better...The juxtaposition of rich and poor, the gender roles played out unto death (women first), the stoicism and nobility of a bygone age, the magnificence of the great ship matched in scale only by the folly of the men who drove her hell-bent through the darkness. And above all the lesson: that life is uncertain, the future unknowable...the unthinkable possible." -James Cameron

That isn't exactly how I feel about the movie, but it does get the point across that there's a lot more to it. The destruction and tragedy of the film is so powerful (for example, 1:20-1:34 of


). Also, the movie's soundtrack is amazing.

About the actual disaster, it's always fascinated me, although my super-Titanic-freak days ended around 10 years ago. But, this thread has reinforced an idea I had yesterday...(check my youtube channel in a few days)

[BitBuster]

It is more than a love story. Unfortunately, it still doesn't really say much. The first-class passengers are depicted as stuffy bores, while the poor steerage people love life and know how to have a good time...yay! I mean, it touches on some powerful themes, but only at the shallowest level, and they're all cliched anyway. The soundtrack is listenable, but it's no great shakes, imo.

The film is a fine piece of entertainment. I can't say there's a boring moment (ok, the opening sequence goes on a bit too long). But the characters really have no depth, and by the end, Cal just goes so over the top (shades of Avatar!).

[IceyLava108]

Everything that was said above this asterik -- *

[James]

Yeah, apart from the soundtrack, I agree with everything you said. I didn't say it was perfect It does have some incredibly powerful moments that more than make up for its flaws, IMO, and even the clichés and shallow themes spark the imagination. Plus the whole Titanic sinking in general is fascinating to me, so that definitely inflates my opinion of the movie.

Edit - also, it starts with a poker game. That in itself gives an extra star to my rating of the movie.

[IceyLava108]

I've never seen the movie: but I admire the story of the Titanic: how she was built, how she was thought legendary and unsinkable, thus only 20 lifeboards were aboard and ONLY to save passengers from other ships --- but then BOOM! An iceberg makes contact, the ship goes down, and.. sad.

[BitBuster]

even the clichés and shallow themes spark the imagination.

That's true, and it's also the key to Avatar (as far as Avatar can have a "key," that is...)

Plus the whole Titanic sinking in general is fascinating to me, so that definitely inflates my opinion of the movie.

I honestly think that the sinking scenes are, for the most part, incredibly well done. I wonder how it would have turned out if Cameron had gone with the style of A Night To Remember.

Edit - also, it starts with a poker game. That in itself gives an extra star to my rating of the movie.

That's one of my favourite scenes in the film, at least on second (and thereafter) viewings; when you know what's going to happen, it makes Jack's ecstasy over winning the hand tragic rather than euphoric.

I've never seen the movie: but I admire the story of the Titanic: how she was built, how she was thought legendary and unsinkable, thus only 20 lifeboards were aboard and ONLY to save passengers from other ships --- but then BOOM! An iceberg makes contact, the ship goes down, and.. sad.

Even sadder are some of the decisions made by the officers (like Lightoller refusing to let men board the lifeboats).

[IceyLava108]

Also, as I have a fear of heights and great depths, I would rather die on the Titanic than jump in the ocean.