Exploring Titanic and its exhibition

In celebrating the new and wonderful Titanic exhibition in London arriving this year, I thought I would look back at 97’s hit Titanic, with James Cameron steering the ship behind the camera into box office success with Dicaprio and Winslet making their blockbuster debuts. Here we go.

Story

With a story as mighty and tragic as Titanic, you have a blockbuster on the table. However, what made Titanic ever more successful was the romance. Out of the thousands on board, if you get the audience to be fully immersed in the lives of two people, you now have a central relationship to focus on when the drama is going down, its that direct focus that allows you right into the emotion.

Without the developmental relationship, the film may have lost the anchor for audiences and the film would have just been mindless chaos in screen, with still elements of tragedy.

For some the romance worked and others have questioned the dialogue at times between the two, more or less, the romance is a lot more convincing than it was in Michael Bay’s tame love triangle in Pearl Harbor, which I believe was the component that threw audiences off the project, despite some thrilling set pieces. The film came only a few years after the fun Armageddon, which also starred Ben Afleck.

Its worth mentioning that there had been a few films of the tragedy before Titanic. The film A Night to Remeber is one of the more famous depictions which achieved critical acclaim by Marc Kermode and others. In terms of documentaries, I recommend the documentary Ghosts of the Abyss (2003), which explores the wreck in more detail.

For 97’s Titanic, Its the love story that decides the fate of the ending which to this day lands itself amongst cinemas most riveting endings, the list will include Nolan’s Inception.

Over 20 years later, and the sign of the ultimate blockbuster movie, audiences and critics are still discussing why Leo didn’t survive. People still care about these characters or are at least invested. No ending in cinematic history will ever be as significant. Other than Christopher Nolan’s Inception.

What I took away was that James Cameron wanted Leo to die because it emphasizes how much these two were in love and the best way to show that theme is to have one of them die.

The romance gave the film a narrative focus and direction that stands out amidst the chaos amongst the thousands on board, that’s true filmmaking at its best.

James Cameron’s Investment

He has famously stated in interviews that he wanted to make Titanic so he could dive to the shipwreck and explore the history and real story as to why and how the ship sunk, exactly. That commitment, true dedication and passion to his work is gives the film a sense of authenticity. As a film director, this is one of the best goals to have when making a film that you have a true love for the source material and you engage with it physically and mentally.

I believe this came through on the screen very effectively. The opening of Titanic, see us explore the wreck of the ship just as you would do if you were to go in real life.

 It takes a lot of bravery and a level of technical understanding of the equipment, for everything to go safely. When they visit the Titanic, it’s very compelling.
Other components that go into making a memorable blockbuster is the reliance on CGI. CGI can look great but there is something very authentic to real practical effects. The attention to detail, when re-creating the ship is impeccable.

Titanic was concerned with really taking the audience on board the ship and you can’t do that with a fake ship. Once the ship hits the iceberg, the use of real sets come into play. A lot of the credit goes to the extras, they did a lot of running and screaming and were very convincing.

One element is for sure, I will be visiting the Titanic Exhibtion sometime next month and perhaps I will give Titanic a watch before hand to really prepare me for the experience.

Titanic Exhibition

The exhibition is available to book now on their website. The experience will include replica rooms, objects, audio recordings and more. For something that happened over a 100 years ago, it still holds a strong place in history as one of the worlds greatest tragedies.

I am going to be first in line when I get the chance. You can book tickets Here.

How about you?

Author Bio

Sam is a content writer. He loves all elements connected with film and writes with passion, always. You can find him on Linkedin, where you will be able to read more articles. When he is not writing, you can find him practicing football