Titanic

Warning: lame puns may appear, like icebergs, without warning.

So, as movies everyone should see go, Titanic is a pretty big one. (See what I did there? It’s funny because… No, I should not start that so soon.) It was only the highest-grossing film ever for a while. It only won eleven Academy Awards. It only turned out to be the most emotion-inducing movie I’ve ever seen. It was only something my friends—especially the ones who saw it in theaters at age 4 or 5—gave me tons of grief for never having seen. As it turns out, all that grief was entirely justified.

Alright, things I knew before watching it (because it’s Titanic—you can’t just miss all knowledge of it): 1)Titanic actually was a ship. I figured that was a historical fact that I ought to know regardless of my movie knowledge, but apparently people exist who thought the movie was totally fictional. 2) It sinks. Again, a historical fact, but I’m pointing it out because even though you know that’s going to happen, it’s not a movie-ruining spoiler. There’s so much more to the movie. It’s about everything that happens before, during, and after that. And I knew before watching it that there had to be a good story around the sinking, because why would you make a movie where that’s the only point if any relatively intelligent audience is going to see it coming? 3) I knew that story involved some kind of romance. 4) There was some debate as to the size of a door, and whether or not a person named Rose could have made room for a person named Jack (and these people probably had the aforementioned romance). Honestly, I don’t remember whether that was enough prior knowledge to tell me who survived and who died. Either way, those details became apparent before the surviving and dying actually occurred.

Things I didn’t know and was surprised by: 1) the events aboard the Titanic are framed by present-day Rose and the exploration of the wreck. I had figured everything took place in 1912. 2) There was Cal, who’s an asshole. Why had I never considered someone to complicate Rose and Jack’s budding (Get it? Budding? Because… Rose?) relationship? Great job, Billy Zane, it’s been a while since I hated a fictional character so much. 3) It’s debatable whether Rose died or was dreaming at the end. What is this, Inception? (I’ve seen that one!) Funny you should ask, because Leonardo DiCaprio died in the ocean in Titanic and woke up on a beach in Inception. But I’m sure you’ve heard that one before.

Anyway, speaking of Leo. I really didn’t get what was so special about him, or see how attractive he was, until I saw Titanic. As far as I can remember, I’d only previously seen him in Inception. (Side note: quite looking forward to him in The Great Gatsby.) And sure, that was great, but it’s one movie. But now I’ve seen a totally different character from him, and I understand the attraction of twenty-two-year-old Leo. Beautiful.

Actually, the whole movie was beautiful. I should tell you that I hardly ever cry while watching movies. Maybe a few tears once or twice, if a movie really gives me a reason to. I legitimately cried—silent, uncontrollable sobbing—five or six times. Because, wow, what a story. This is how I want my love stories. Give me a reason to care. Give it to me with the background of the most impressive ship ever sinking, and guarantee tragedy by making sure not everyone can survive.

And you know, the fact that it’s set on the sinking Titanic really does matter. Any other doomed method of transportation wouldn’t offer the same possibilities. It takes time for a ship that size to sink. You know it’s happening, you have time to contemplate your own death, and you have time to fight for your survival. That’s another thing—you really did have to fight for your survival. If you weren’t a woman or child, if you weren’t first class—tough luck.  And on that note, would the difference between classes have been so obvious on any other method of transportation? And would we care so much about the objects recovered from anything else? Those objects were people’s lives—everything they needed for a voyage across the ocean, everything they needed to start a new life, even. That possibility of new life was magical—and tragic, because we knew not everyone would get it.

Now, combine a great love story with all that. We’ve got upper-class Rose, being forced to marry for money and her family’s name. And we’ve got Jack, an artist content to drift around the world. They shouldn’t have fallen in love. They shouldn’t have even met. But they did, and it was beautiful. So of course, people tried to stop it. Namely, Cal and Rose’s mother. I know, I know, Titanic is not the first of that kind of story. But look at the title: Titanic. That’s what really adds to it. That setting multiplies every normal emotion by a ridiculous amount.

The actual historical elements added emotion, too. The band determined to play on? The captain resigning himself to his fate and locking himself away? The elderly couple dying together in the not quite historically accurate location of their bed? Yeah. Tear jerkers, all of them.

So, I loved it. I want to see it again in the near future. Honestly, I don’t usually watch a movie and then keep thinking about how much I want to watch it again. Not that good movies aren’t worth rewatching, but it’s not usually something I want to do so soon. But Titanic just keeps floating in the back of my mind, nagging me to watch it again. Will I ever get enough of it? It’s too early to say. But I can say that it’s brilliant, and I absolutely loved it.