I was twelve years old when Titanic first sailed to the imagination of millions worldwide.
Piracy was not as high-def as it is today, so the three tapes containing the film failed on our 5th watch; the VHS player got so hot and bothered it ate the film – and we weren’t even in the Rose’s-hands-in-the-car-window-scene yet.
What made Titanic one of the greatest films of all time? Read on.
Universal theme
A poor but handsome man wishing for his aristocratic damsel in distress to love him back without a single trust fund in his name is just so relatable!
In the end, while it’s sad Jack didn’t make it, watching Rose’s be free from the shackles of her mother’s financial and social responsibility is a nonetheless rewarding experience.
Technological milestone
I watched the documentary of the film’s creation and my imagination soared to the stratosphere; my appreciation tripled.
Cinematography was superb, special effects were unnoticeable and the whole ship breaking scene was realistically executed I still want to send helicopters to the movie, to save the screaming crowd.
Historical, religious and artistic inflections
The thought of discovering Titanic as an accidental motive brought this appeal that is irresistible.
When Titanic was sinking, all facets of religion were shown.
The message was universal: when human technology fails, we call upon our Gods, repenting for being such arrogant rats going as far as claiming, “God himself couldn’t sink this ship.”
If it wasn’t for the painting of the nude woman discovered in the shipwreck, the whole Titanic sinking wouldn’t be as dramatic as it is.
While the canvass of the nude Rose was entirely fiction, its inclusion in Titanic has highlighted Arts’ effortless integration to every imaginable story or plot.
Titanic, simply, is artsy.
Original sound track
She hates it.
I haven’t paid any attention to the song’s lyrics until my mom dedicated the song to my deceased brother in the summer of 1998.
It takes great courage to sing that song especially with lyrics like this:
Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you
That is how I know you go on. Far across the distance
And spaces between us. You have come to show you go on
Yet again Titanic perfecting the universal approach, even with its sound track.
Back in 2009, I was hanging out in a bar in SuperFerry (abound Iloilo from a vacation in Manila) when someone from the audience requested for My Heart Will Go On to be sung by the band.
The singer, apparently embarrassed, said the management does not allow that particular song to be played in any of its ships in the fear of meeting the famous ship’s demise. Hilarious.
When the track was done (and Cameron’s mood was amiable), the song got its go signal.
It went on to win a Grammy award, a Billboard Hot 100 #1 spot, and was voted as the most popular movie song of all time.
The GIFs:
When the Titanic splits into two:
When I realized mom had left food for the movie:
When Jack and Rose met again in Rose’s dream:
Everyone when Rose poses for the drawing:
What I’ve wanted to know since 1997:
The film’s visionary/creator/producer/writer, James Cameron, originally pitched it as Romeo and Juliet in Titanic when he showed it to 20th Century Fox executives.
“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.”I have yet to find a person who genuinely disliked Titanic after watching it.
- James Cameron