Twenty-four years ago this December, the movie Titanic premiered. I remember watching it with Micha in Monterey and I thought it was incredible. I believe I described it as “epic” when talking to others about it.
And maybe that helps answer the question I ask in my title.
Because I just re-watched it for the first time since, and I must say, in many ways, it was a terrible movie. I just couldn’t get past the awful script. The closest I can come to description is to speculate that it was actually written by a group of high-school girls. [I must add here that my brother Dan was not fooled.]
And it had me wondering, “what on earth was I thinking” back in 1998 when I saw it in the theater on Alvarado?
Well, first off, I saw it in a theater. It was grand. It was exciting. Those who know me know I love history, and this movie gave me the sense of it. And I realized today after watching it again why I called it “epic.” Because, on the big screen, the history of it was epic. Cameron did us a favor with his recreation of the ship and its sinking, and I’m convinced that is what impressed me so much about the movie. In the excitement of seeing that, I didn’t even notice the cliched characters and sickeningly shallow and immature dialogue.
That has to be it. To me, the star of the movie was the ship and its sinking – something that really happened. There’s no way that story could’ve captured my fancy – I’d been out of high school over 16 years by the time the movie premiered, and even as a high-schooler I might have found it a bit embarrassing.
But, oh, that ship! I supposed my re-watching of the movie was doomed by its presence on the small screen. Its grandeur was unable to overpower my other senses like it was the first time, and I came away rightly disappointed. To me, the only way to see the movie would be in IMAX or something that could do the Titanic and all it stood for justice. The small screen of Netflix just can’t do that, but if it ever comes out again in theaters, I’ll give them my money just to see something epic again.