Revisiting Titanic: The Heart Does Go On

While it didn’t cause nearly as much of an upset as Shakespeare in Love did at the Academy Awards*, the film has a very controversial standing in film lovers everywhere. Setting my personal views aside, I believe it’s important to take a look at both sides of the everlasting fight that seems to be going on over Titanic. Here’s what a few people had to say about it:

  1. The movie is optimistic in a way that fools me every time I watch it. Somehow my mind likes to believe there will be a happy ending.
  2. I think Titanic is an okay story in a beautiful package. It could do to be about an hour shorter. It’s nowhere near as good as its box office.
  3. I think it’s sort of crass to take a sad event and make billions off it, but it’s a beautiful movie anyway.
  4. I’ve never owned a more inconvenient movie to watch on VHS.
  5. Titanic is alright. It holds an important place in the general history of films, but it’s not the best film released that year or anything.
  6. An annoying manipulative film that uses a huge event in history as a way of putting out a boring love story and making it seem interesting.
  7. I think that it’s an okay movie with some beautiful scenes, but very overhyped. When people tell me it’s their favorite movie I get very sad.
  8. This movie was my life when I was 11. Save for historical inaccuracies, it was an epic accomplishment in filmmaking when it was released, and it holds up well 15 years later. And the chemistry between Leo and Kate is something rare and captivating.
  9. I have never wanted anything more than to be drawn like one of Jack’s French girls.
  10. I have nightmares of cruise ships and the ocean all the time. Therefore I hate this movie.

Now that that’s over, I can return to the fact that I shamelessly love Titanic. It’s not my favorite movie by any means, nor is it a masterpiece, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t take me on a journey every single time I watch it. Maybe I’m writing this while lounging around in a Titanic shirt listening to James Horner’s score for the movie. You’ll never know if that’s true, but at least you’ll know that my heart will go on loving this movie. To close this ridiculous excuse for a feature, I’ll quote my friend Mina who sums up her feelings and mind by saying:

Titanic is more than a movie, it’s an unforgettable experience. The technical marvel that it was can be felt in every frame, every sound effect, and every scene. Titanic is a world of its own, it takes you in for three hours and doesn’t let go. It’s a love story, a tragedy, a cinematic triumph, but most of all it is an unforgettable modern epic that captures even those who try to resist. Love it or hate it, Titanic will remain one of the few movies of the past twenty years that will remain engraved in my mind and heart.

*Let’s face it. Shakespeare in Love winning BP is a thousand times worse than Titanic winning it. At least Titanic didn’t give Goop an Oscar.

Juan Barquin

Just yer average twenty-something college student with no time on his hands who ends up watching (and writing) too many movies and shows for his own good.

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