Today I watched an older video of “Tasting History with Max Miller” on YouTube, and was oddly amused by the idea of chartreuse jelly with peaches being the last thing many 1st class passengers ate on April the 14th, 1912.
That prompted me to research more about the Titanic. One thing led to another and I’m looking up photos of the wreck of the Titanic, as you do. I typed “Titanic today”, because I heard the wreck is literally vanishing.
And then…movie showtimes appear in my Google search. Multiple theaters, multiple showings.
Being a little confused, I looked deeper into this, and as it so happens:
We are now at the 25th anniversary of the film “Titanic”.
Why are we still captivated by the Titanic and it’s maiden voyage, which happened 110 years ago?
Why am I still thinking about the Titanic movie? That was apparently 25 years ago! But it feels like 84 some days.
Was I the perfect age at 11/12 for the 1997 movie to capture my imagination? I guess so. I was the perfect preteen age for the Titanic film, as well as The Spice Girls and later as a teenager, the Lord of the Rings. The stars aligned for me.
You think people are nuts about it now? People were Titanic-Crazy in 1997/98! The local library hosted a Titanic movie night (“A Night to Remember”, an old black and white film), and I also attended a Titanic themed tea party. I read the CD insert of the Titanic soundtrack while listening to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”. My mom sewed a beautiful costume for my sister who dressed as Rose for Halloween, complete with the Heart of the Ocean “diamond” necklace.
Old tech alert: I remember when the 1st vhs ended and it was time to take the 2nd half of the movie out and pop it in the vcr.
“Well, I believe you may get your headlines, Mr. Ismay,” - Captain John Smith. Then…black screen.
Technically it’s a disaster movie, but it had the love story and that did it for many people.
If I’m honest, the love story wasn’t my favorite but the sinking in almost real time was thrilling. I also loved and still love the costumes and the set decorations and the music.
I think seeing a young girl finding joy in life and deciding that she’s never going to be small and meek ever again, was my favorite thing.
Rose got to do everything she and Jack talked about (including, I imagine, throwing up on the Coney Island roller coaster). If she hadn’t met Jack, she’d be long dead inside, if not actually passed on. Her life force was in danger of being snuffed out at 17. She was literally suicidal. I think they could have had this storyline without the whirlwind romance but, at the end of the day that’s what sells.
I vividly remember my theater experience watching it. I was not allowed to watch 2 scenes:
1. When Jack draws Rose like one or his French girls. (So, I peeked through my fingers anyway. And seeing the gorgeous Kate Winslet posing nude on a couch awakened something in me…yeah I’m Bi. My friends swooned over Jack; I had complicated feelings about Rose, and didn’t understand them yet.).
2. And toward the end when we see frozen dead, wide eyed people being pulled from the dark water. I actually listened to my mom and didn’t look; many years later I looked and I’m still sorry.
I also remember looking around me during Jack’s death/“I’ll never let go!” scene, and seeing in every direction in the movie theater, crying women and girls. Tears streaming down faces, heaving sobs, ugly crying. Faces lit up by the blue light the screen was giving off; the scene was a blue dimly lit one.
I never cried at that scene. But I always cry or tear up at these scenes:
1. The father telling his children they’ll be separated only for a little while, as they cry for him from the lifeboat.
2. The scene when the 3rd class mother tucks her children into bed, telling them a bedtime story. The lifeboats were gone, and the ship was sinking fast, and she knew they would die.
I’m not sure how, as a parent, you don’t feel something during these scenes.
I’m not going to go to the theater to experience 4k Titanic. But it’s fun to revisit this movie.
23 notes
·
View notes
I made a jello mold!!
It was super cheap to make and came out super tasty! I've always wanted to make one since I was little having watched the rugrat's episode where the Carmichael's move to the neighborhood and seeing all the fun looking jello molds all the neightbors had given them always got me so curious about them!
Finally did it!! Child me would be so excited!!
2 notes
·
View notes