Titanic 1997 - History And Fiction

Almost twenty years ago, in the late 90s, James Cameron had Titanic on the big screen; it is considered to be one of the most famous movies of all times. What’s interesting about the film is that it portrays historical events that occurred in the early twentieth century: the sinking of the biggest ship of its time- RMS Titanic. It proved to be a thrilling and astonishing movie, but did all of the depicted events really happen back then on 14th and 15th of April 1912?

1. Experts keep records of the actual existence of several people who were on Titanic on its first, and unfortunately last cruise across the Atlantic ocean. These have been portrayed in the movie by various actors:

• Captain Edward John Smith, born in England 1850, January 27th , died on Titanic - played by Bernard Hill

  

  

   

• Margaret “Molly” Brown, born in Missouri on July 18, 1867 - played by Kathy Bates. Margaret Brown died of brain tumor in 1932

  

  

   

• John Jacob Astor, born in New York on July 13, 1864, died with Titanic’s sinking - played by Eric Braeden

  

  

   

• Thomas Andrews, born in Ireland on February 7, 1873, perished in Titanic disaster - played by Victor Garber

  

  

   

• Bruce Ismay, born in England on December 12, 1862, died in 1937 of cerebral thrombosis - played by Jonathan Hyde

  

  

   

The number of perished passengers and crew in the fatal freezing night of April 14, reached more than 1500. Ironically, when asked to summarize his 40-year-experience at sea, Captain E.J. Smith, Captain of the RMS Titanic, speaks of his voyages as accident-free and even qualifies them as ”uneventful”.

2. The lead characters of Titanic 1997 were Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose Bukater (Kate Winslet), who unfold breathtaking romantic feelings of love for each other- such a strong affection and love, that was enhanced by the dramatic, earth-shaking events of the disaster. Was there on board such a couple, engulfed by their intense and immediate love? The answer is, no. The love story in the movie is, unfortunately- as some may say, fictional. Logically enough, the people related to them are also fictional. Rose’s fiancé “Cal” (Billy Zane), her mother-played by Frances Fisher, Spicer Lovejoy, who was Cal’s valet were not based on any real people. Even though Jack’s third-class friends Fabrizio (Danny Nucci) and Tommy (Jason Barry) were a part of the fiction in the real story, some third-class passengers were modeled after people, who were actually on board of the unfortunate Titanic.

3. Interestingly, the ship’s list of crew members reveals the name J. Dawson, which actually stands for Jason Dawson. He was born in Dublin and was onboard of Titanic as a recruit who evened piles of coal for the ship’s furnace. Inspired by the Titanic screenplay, and probably fooled by the name initials, romantic fans of the 1997 movie covered Dawson’s grave with photos of Leonardo DiCaprio, cinema tickets and others, in order to commemorate his personality.

4. One of the reasons why Titanic could not evade the iceberg, was that she was sailing at full speed. According to the movie, it was Bruce Ismay, the managing director of the White Star Line, who urged captain Edward J. Smith to go faster. When Mr. Ismay was inquired by the U.S Senate about the Titanic disaster, he denied having had such pressures on the Captain. The surviving ship officers did not support accusations of the like, either. Since Ismay abandoned ship and was accused of “fleeing for his life”, he was crucified by the newspapers and easily became a blameful target. According to the doubtful, however, the inquiry had been forged for the surviving officers’ testimonials were given in order to protect the interests of White Star Line Company.

5. At the end of Titanic 1997, people have the view of an old couple, who hold each other in bed, waiting for the water to burst into their cabin. Were there passengers, who willingly went down with the ship? Isador and Ida Straus, who were first class passengers, were offered to leave the ship with life boat № 8. They both refused. Instead, they preferred to sit on deck chairs and face eternity together.

6. No matter how unfair it may look, third-class passengers on Titanic were isolated by the others by means of gates, so that uncleanliness, infections and diseases could be stopped from spreading among the others. The film implies that the stewards refused to open those gates, because the third class passengers would deprive the first class ones from a seat in the life boats. Actually, it was poor communication on the lower decks and the inability of some passengers to speak English that led to the chaos down there. The statistics show that only 25 % of the third class passengers made it on that disastrous night.