RMS Titanic

 

Titanic

Titanic is by far my favorite movie not only because of its accurate remastering of the world’s finest ship but also because of its recount of the world’s most tragic disasters. And who doesn’t love a forbidden love story thrown into the plot, too?! When it comes to the 1997 James Cameron Titanic film not only was it a cultural phenomenon but a dramatic visual of the suffering the crew went through on that horrific night in April. 

As a child I was fascinated by Titanic for many reasons. Its grand scale was nothing that I had ever seen before. The story of this luxury liner, the unsinkable ship, going down April 15 all due to an iceberg seemed impossible yet the lives lost were individual markers for the reality of such a loss. I’d come to find out that more than 1,500 people lost their lives that day. Not only that but it was the disparity in class survival that struck me even more knowing had I been on that ship I would have been at the bottom of the boat. To place myself in the shoes of so many other lower-class passengers was tragic knowing only the wealthy survived. 

While Titanic at its core was a tragedy, the movie allowed me to appreciate it so much more and brought the event to life for me through the museum exhibit. I’ve been to the exhibit in Vegas but it finally made its trip around the seas to good ol’ Texas. Seeing pieces of the ship, fragments of what was, ornate china, items left behind by those that were taken too soon created that tangibility that the film lacked. I will never forget visiting the museum and getting chills when handed a passenger card as I entered. It took the reality of life and placed it in my hands. Would I live? Would I die? That was the question for all of those passengers that day but fortunately my fate was set unlike theirs. These were the questions they had running through their mind as they sat on a sinking ship while I walked through the remnants of what was their lives. The artifacts I passed as I walked the exhibit were direct links to their lives, those that lived and died aboard the Titanic and were a somber reminder of the cost. This tragedy not only affected those on board but everyone. The survivors, their families, the rescue crews, the communities that had to endure- even me, so very distant yet apathetic towards their loss carrying it as my own feeling the need to revisit the exhibit to give their loss a voice. 

My biggest reminder is rooted in what I share with these victims. Humanity behind the tragedy. This was a human error that caused the loss of so many lives. Yet no one was humble enough to admit their role in the fault, but we have the knowledge. We know the outcome if we don’t let pride go and we see what it can cost us. The pain does not subside all these years laters. It is our duty to honor those lost and ensure that they did not lose their lives in vein but rather remind us how to be brave and vulnerable and think of others before ourselves. My love for Titanic started with the film but the real love comes from the humanity I feel giving those who cannot speak a voice and honor their lives with remembrance.