Interpretations of the Past

As early as 1921, the mysterious curiosity of the Titanic disaster has caught many a filmmakers’ eye.  And every generation of camera enthusiast have depicted that undisputed night in similar ways. However, two infamous movies have caught the eyes of audiences around the world for their ability to interpret that fatal night with a certain accuracy and captivation people are willing to accept.

Both the 1958 classic A Night to Remember and the meticulously crafted James Cameron epic Titanic share a lot in common. The social mannerisms and hierarchy of 1912 are equally challenged and debased in both movies, with the snobbish defiance of first class drastically contrasted to the meek simplicities of those ragged souls down in steerage, as they were known.

There seems to be a universal acknowledgement of the attitudes and characteristics of that elegant and studious time period. But just how accurate was each film in their attempts to retell one of the most notorious disasters in history? How did the cameras work their magic to make sense of the complex night, of which there are many different stories to tell?

James Cameron said he focused on two individuals of different classes to help aid the events of those six days in history. Ray Ward Baker, the director of A Night to Remember, focused on a broader range of individuals. Using only the night of the sinking, everything from the social class system to the events that night were displayed. Arguably it can be said that A Night to Remember is more accurate than Titanic because of how much detail the 1958 classic put into all that happened. But that is the interesting thing about filmmaking. It can perceive many different aspects of life. The style in which it perceives these aspects can captivate the attributes of the inner mind as well as the outside forces that shape society altogether. A Night to Remember and Titanic do both of these things, but in different ways.

The now forlorn bulk three miles below the frigid North Atlantic Ocean retains a ghostly human presence. There is a curious longing for a chance to experience the activities and personalities that overtook the once elegant and refined atmosphere. There, the human attachment of deteriorating grandeur cannot be reached by today’s world. In this depressing need, movies recreate the just barely recognizable decks of the wreck with shrewd human emotion. Through the personal experiences of Jack and Rose in Titanic, the environment of the time period brings the viewer into a more personal relationship with the characters, as their trials and tribulations reflect the prejudice and hardships of the time. By giving viewers an experience with many different characters, A Night to Remember showcases the overall impact of the event. Titanic also provides this, but not with the diversity of the 1958 rendition.

No doubt the camera grounds the impact of these perceptions. A Night to Remember uses wide shots and does not linger too long on individual characters. These are framing techniques that make the viewer feel more like an observer of the event than a participant. The camera is not meant to serve as an emotional tool, but rather an obtrusive eye without opinion or emotion. A Night to Remember does, however, use some subtle zooms and pauses to show the magnitude of a moment, such as the instant third class passengers enter the first class restaurant on their way to find the lifeboats. A brief feeling of envy, of awe, comes over the simplistic passengers and the camera appears to take a moment to share these feelings with a pause, a close-up, and an eyeline match (transitioning a shot of the character with a view of what he is looking at).

Titanic is much more deliberate with its framing. The beauty and magnitude of the ship is presented with wide sweeping shots, accompanied by a lot of post-production music that helps the audience feel part of the action on a far more personal level. The camera focuses primarily on Jack and Rose, and other characters are seen often with the two love birds as the predominant focus of the scene.

With these different filmmaking strategies in mind, the accuracy of the fatal night might be better considered. The 1997 rendition was more finely crafted, which can no doubt be attributed to technological advances and better quality film. In today’s digital world, society is able to see a rendition of that time in high definition. There is no contest. So why not look at the scripts and the filmmakers of the different time periods?

The year 1958 was much closer to 1912 than 1997, and surely there was more influence of the Titanic’s time. Sadly, it is difficult for many in today’s world to understand just what sort of mindset helped produce A Night to Remember.  Does the acting reflect better the attitude of the time? Or does the distance of time help put 1912 into perspective? Titanic appears to reflect in better detail the mannerisms and activities of the Edwardian Era. Perhaps this is because in being further away from the time, modern society wishes to know it better than those who were closer to it. The festering depreciation of a forlorn space lost beneath the waves hinders a need to occupy it.

In the period television show Downton Abbey, the pilot features the sinking of the Titanic from the eyes of English society. The attitudes are much less focused on the lost beauty and splendor, and prioritized on the event and loss of life. Evidently, the mystery and shock of it all contributes, but it puts into perspective the scarcity in life. The news does not pay tribute to the décor of the Costa Concordia, a cruise ship that capsized off the coast of Giglio, Italy in 2011, but rather the shock of the event, the economic impacts, and the lost lives.

Perhaps in several decades when Concordia’s style is long gone, some may marvel at the design and wish to see what life on board was like. They will curiously reflect the interiors to today’s society and desire an experience of the world as it was known in the early years of the 21^st century. The loss of the Titanic is a lesson in safety and pride. It is also a reminder of beauty, and a longing to know how life is lived in that unattainable beauty lost through time and forlorn space. It is lived on through creative minds and an expressive observer with a lens and a visual imagination.