Evgueni M.
Member
Very few people talk about it, but I would like to point out that the 1943 Nazi version is actually a major landmark in the evolution of Titanic's portrayal in media and pop culture. It became the "prototype" dramatization all other fictionalized film and television retellings would follow:
* Portraying long debunked myth of J. Bruce Ismay pushing weak willed Captain Smith to sail Titanic at full speed to set a record for fastest crossing.
* A mosaic of soap opera subplots intermixing fictional and historical characters
* A feisty female lead traveling in First Class who’s “not like the other girls.”
* Less than subtle contrast between the smarmy and out-of-touch rich passengers in First Class and whimsical, sait-of-the-earth poor folks in steerage.
* A fictional love story dealing with the topic of infidelity.
* A subplot about a pair of old flames rekindling their affair.
* Some on-the-nose dialogue about contemporary socio-political issues written by someone with major hindsight advantage.
* Completely dissing Second Class in favor of focusing on the dramatic differences between the First and Third Class passengers.
* Removing all blame of the disaster from Captain Smith and portraying him as a kind and gentle grandfatherly figure.
* Complete and utter demonization of J. Bruce Ismay, painting him as the villain solely responsible for the disaster.
One can especially see the influence of the 1943 version on Titanic movies in the 1996 miniseries, the James Cameron epic, and most recently, the 2012 Julian Fellowes hot mess.
* Portraying long debunked myth of J. Bruce Ismay pushing weak willed Captain Smith to sail Titanic at full speed to set a record for fastest crossing.
* A mosaic of soap opera subplots intermixing fictional and historical characters
* A feisty female lead traveling in First Class who’s “not like the other girls.”
* Less than subtle contrast between the smarmy and out-of-touch rich passengers in First Class and whimsical, sait-of-the-earth poor folks in steerage.
* A fictional love story dealing with the topic of infidelity.
* A subplot about a pair of old flames rekindling their affair.
* Some on-the-nose dialogue about contemporary socio-political issues written by someone with major hindsight advantage.
* Completely dissing Second Class in favor of focusing on the dramatic differences between the First and Third Class passengers.
* Removing all blame of the disaster from Captain Smith and portraying him as a kind and gentle grandfatherly figure.
* Complete and utter demonization of J. Bruce Ismay, painting him as the villain solely responsible for the disaster.
One can especially see the influence of the 1943 version on Titanic movies in the 1996 miniseries, the James Cameron epic, and most recently, the 2012 Julian Fellowes hot mess.
