Titanic
The devastating loss of life on the night of April 14, 1912 caused the "unsinkable" Titanic to become both a captivating and historic event, which continues to be depicted through books, movies, and plays developed from descriptions of the survivors. The Titanic disaster, especially these past few years, ceases to remain silent. It has become an influential topic of interest for society, and the media has captured our fascination with this tragedy making it symbol of "the good old days" (Biel 1). The Titanic was "a lost golden age of order, authority, stable social roles, and codes of behavior" (Biel 1). Jim Beckerman reported that there have been seventeen movies, nineteen documentaries, and over a hundred books and songs made about the Titanic. He also quoted a historical consultant who said, "The Titanic is the key part of our popular culture" (1). On April 12, 1912 the luxurious Titanic was ready to provide accommodations for the rich and new beginnings for the poor in America (McMillan and Lehrer 22). Excitement spread all over England about this "unsinkable ship" through posters and newspaper articles. Her voyage embarked from South Hampton, England to New York (McMillan and Lehrer 6).
windows. In addition, over 127 thousand pieces of tableware, including bone china dinner plates and eight hundred crystal cut glass tumblers lined its closets (McMillan and Lehrer 52). Disillusionment on the Titanic was eventually displayed on Broadway. Two men named Peter Stone and Maury Yeston inspired the musical Titanic. It debuted on Broadway in 1997 (Demaline 1). It was a phenomenal success with sold out audiences and five Tony awards including Best Musical. Stone goes on to say that, "Parts of it (the musical) are quite operatic, and parts are quite Broadway...there are scenes that are half-sung and half-spoken." It also had amazing effects such as the ship sinking on stage with a three tiered set tilting upward (Biel 1-2). Demaline goes on to say that Stone wanted to re-create the Titanic as a Broadway musical to depict true events and people. Stone supports this by saying, "I was determined not to invent characters" (1-2). The movie industry has used the enamoring story of the Titanic numerous times over the past fifty years. James Cameron directed the most recent Titanic movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It was the biggest and most expensive movie ever made with a $180 million budget (Beckerman 1). Bill Weigandt wrote that The Titanic movie was brought back to life because of the accuracy in the setting and time period (1). The only twist of history was a romantic love story. But this was acceptable because we came to realize the magnitude of the personal tragedies. We saw this through amazing effects such as the reconstructed ship, which was only one hundred feet shorter than the original, and the underwater footage (Beckerman 1). The Titanic made headlines once again because Cameron brought the Titanic back to life eighty years after the tragic night. McMillan, Beverly, and Stanley Lehrer. Titanic: Fortune and Fate. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. Reporter Adam Geller wrote about two men from New Jersey, Michael Findlay and Robert Bracken whom were able to compile a list of survivors of the Titanic (1). They were determined to find survivors and hear their story (2). They were captivated by this tragedy as Bracken quoted, "If we could only be there to see who got into those lifeboats" (3). Bracken and Findlay traveled to more than two dozen villages in Ireland and they also went to the Manhattan archives. They were able to track down twenty-three survivors one of, which included a woman named Margaret Devaney (2-3).
Some common words found in the essay are:
McMillan Lehrer, , Fredrich Quick, Bill Weigandt, Margaret Devaney, Titanic Broadway, Jim Beckerman, Musical Stone, Night Remember, SS Carpathia, mcmillan lehrer, mar 2000, 1 mar, ss carpathia, titanic movie, survivors titanic, biel 1, story titanic, 1 mar 2000, 1998 1 mar, 1 titanic, titanic disaster,
Approximate Word count = 1673
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
