Lights Out

I wish everyone would stop saying "it's only a movie"-- movies pack quite a wallop and for better or worse certain images stay with us a long time after the credits have stopped rolling or the awards have been handed out. Cameron's negative images of Titanic's officers, especially Captain Smith and Lightoller still persist. Cameron chose to do quite a number on the British in general--greedy, publicity - crazed Bruce Ismay goading a reluctant Captain Smith into setting a record crossing for Titanic's Maiden Voyage. How about Hitchens completely jumping off the deep end as he shrieks at Molly Brown to "shut that hole in her face.' Some of this still makes me shudder.
 
Sharon, why does it bother you that people say "it is only a movie"...it is only a movie...a fictional love story using a non-fictional event as the setting...but still a movie. What happened to the ship in 1912 and the people on board was indeed horrific and it will always remain one of histories most tragic events...just 9-11 or Katrina will.

Regarding Murdoch "killing two people in cold blood" as Sharon puts it, I don't agree. The crowd got out of hand and the gun went off. I don't think Murdoch wanted or intended to use the gun to harm anyone. When it did go off, to me, I saw nothing but pain on his face. I think remorse got the best of him.

Oh, and thank you Inger, for sharing what you learned about Murdoch from his family.
 
G'day Deborah!

There were other members of the Murdoch family who chose not to see the movie (his nephew told me he had no intention of viewing it) - I can understand why. There were also family members descended from or otherwise related to other officers who were troubled by the movie or found depictions of their relatives objectionable - members of the Lightoller, Moody and Boxhall families spring to mind. On the other hand, while he didn't agree that the depiction of his father was quite the man he knew, Lowe's son thought Ioan Gruffud did an admirable job in the role.

I've never used the phrase 'only a movie', but I agree with Deborah we don't need to lose perspective over this. In other threads, I have argued strongly for what I believe are the movie's strengths and weaknesses (and have discussed at great length the depiction of the deck officers). I don't feel I have to like - or agree with - every aspect of the flick to still enjoy the parts that I felt worked. At the same time, nothing will ever make me pleased with, for example, how Moody was depicted, and I've made that point.

If we were to ask 50 Titanic researchers to make their own movies, I think it's safe to say we'd wind up with 50 very different interpretations, and people would be disputing some of the elements in these interpretations just as strenuously!
 
>>I wish everyone would stop saying "it's only a movie"-- <<

Why? That's exactly what it is.

I don't have a problem discussing it's positives and negetives on occasion...just about every flick has them...but it hardly qualifies as one of The Great Issues Of The Day. Love it or hate it as you wish, but don't lose sleep over it.
 
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