Titanic
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| (Pinterest) |
Titanic was not a love story, it was a tragedy.
It happened in 1912, even older than World War 2. So many tragedies happened since time immemorial. So why do I find this history... fascinating? Like everyone else, I came to know about Titanic through the movie and when Mr Bean played with his toy boat in the bath. The story of Jack and Rose romanticised the tragedy but I think it's a good way to bring awareness to the history. Although it's one of my favourite movies, the real story behind the ship that sank on its maiden voyage, is the one which held me captive.
There's probably nothing mysterious, what happened has been explained. The Titanic hit an iceberg where the impact caused a gash in the hull and the compartments flooded. There was insufficient lifeboats and many were not loaded to full capacity due to panic and disorder, but even if there was efficient evacuation conducted, the lifeboats were still not enough to save all the passengers. Although this seemed like negligence, but actually The Titanic's prepared supply of lifeboats exceeded the British Board of Trade's requirement. Personally, I blame this on human arrogance. The creators were so confident in their own creation that despite preparing for the worst case scenario, it was done half-heartedly, prepared to save only one third of its passengers. Besides that, there were many miscommunications with other ships nearby. People just simply could not believe that the 'unsinkable' ship was actually sinking on its maiden voyage. No one gets on a luxury ship for the first time and expects to die. Imagine the emblem of the height of modern technology and human intelligence at the time, destroyed just like that, bringing down with it innumerable souls, directly and indirectly. No one expected that. It threw humans into self doubt and crushed the hope of many. It was an unforgettable lesson.
Despite so many researches and reports about what happened, it still gives me the chills. I have a feeling that there are many things that will always remain a mystery and I want to know so much, mostly about the people onboard. Most of all, I want to harrass Rose whether she regretted jumping off from the lifeboat. We all know Jack would have survived if Rose was not so stupidly in love and had not been such a burden. I remember reading a small book about the ship when I was a young child. Compared to the ships we have now, Titanic would be very insignificant, but it was magnificent in 1912 and I wonder how people felt.
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| (The Guardian) |
I remember asking my mum when I was younger why didn't the captain leave? Surely he was the VIP, he could get on the safety boat first. My mum taught me that the captain sinks with his ship, and it has always stuck with me. And somehow, everytime I drive someone around, I keep that in mind. Weird, I know. I've always loved virtues of honour and loyalty, one of the reasons why I love Lord Of The Rings.
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| (Newspaper from 1912) |
Everytime I watch Titanic, I cry and will be left depressed for the whole day. I love romance and an epic story of star-crossed lovers always get the waterworks going. I mourn not only because Rose lost Jack and they lost the life they could have built together, but because behind the tragedy, many lost their lives and even more people lost their loved ones. Approximately 1500 died and many selflessly gave up being saved so that others could live.
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| (Pinterest) Geez, seems so much fun. |
I actually googled why Jack had to die in Titanic. Director James Cameron said it was merely an artistic choice for the narrative harmony. It made sense. Their love story was around 'never letting go', 'you jump, I jump'. It's an epic romance. Think about it, if Jack did not die, was there anything for the audience to cry about? If you didn't know, when Rose threw the necklace, 'heart of the ocean' into the Atlantic, it symbolised her offering her heart to Jack. *Cries
But there's another answer I found which is more meaningful. Jack had to die to pack a punch on the speech he gave before the ship hit the iceberg.
“I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what’s gonna happen or, who I’m gonna meet, where I’m gonna wind up. Just the other night I was sleeping under a bridge and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people. I figure life’s a gift and I don’t intend on wasting it. You don’t know what hand you’re gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you… to make each day count.”
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| (Pinterest) Let's be honest, we all had a crush on Jack. It's always the hair for me. |
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