The Titanic: the cursed ship that continues to claim lives and generate content for cinema

After the disappearance of a submersible tourist boat in the Atlantic, the curse of the Titanic has struck again. Five people on board the boat were “swallowed by the sea”.

Ever since the Titanic fatally slipped beneath the frigid waves of the Atlantic in April 1912, the stricken ship has been the subject of fascination for millions. And the cinema has been a means to recreate that sad episode.

The tragedy, in which more than 1,500 people lost their lives when it collided with an iceberg, occurred despite the Titanic being said to be “unsinkable” when it was launched.

The cinema registers more than 30 films about the tragedy, including “Saved from the Titanic”, which was shot in less than two weeks and was released 29 days after the shipwreck in 1912, and the most popular: “Titanic”, by James Cameron, of 1997.

Late in the afternoon of April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, killing 1,517 of the 2,223 passengers and crew members on board.

To make sense of this tragic and seemingly random disaster, over the past century people have recounted stories of ominous signs of bad luck that had supposedly been ignored beforehand, or concocted elaborate conspiracy theories to explain the “real” reason why. that sank

However, while the manner in which the catastrophe occurred seemed unlikely at the time, the ship appears to have been cursed almost from the moment it set sail from Southampton.

One of the most interesting and movie-related conspiracy theories is actually about the movie “Titanic” (1997) -and it’s a fan theory- but, still.

A theory is circulating on the Internet that Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Titanic and his character in “The Great Gatsby” are the same person.

“The movie is obviously an alternate timeline in which he survives the sinking of the ship and builds a life in America in an attempt to reunite with Rose,” writes Chris Lough on Tor.com, a science fiction and fantasy website.

“He survives building himself as a party-loving showman in the Jazz Age hoping Rose will show up one day, but ends up finding love with another woman, Daisy.”

Since these are fictional characters in the movies, it’s not something we can prove or disprove. We’ll let you decide if Jack really is the Great Gatsby.

James Cameron, director of the Hollywood blockbuster “Titanic” (1997), starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, has been one of the explorers of the company promoting trips to the remains of the Titanic at the bottom of the sea.

From what happened with the Titan submersible, modern Hollywood will make some story about this tragedy and turn it into entertainment, but it turns out that it has always been that way.

The first movie about the Titanic was made in 1912, a month after it sank. And not only that, but it was starring a survivor of the Titanic.

Dorothy Gibson was already a popular actress when she boarded the ill-fated ship. The 22-year-old girl had a contract with the American subsidiary of the French film company Éclair, so after the disaster, she soon took advantage of her resources to co-write a film that would be a star vehicle for her and, capitalizing on public interest in the tragedy, a marketing sensation for Éclair.

The night the Titanic sank, Gibson was playing a late-night game of bridge with a group of New York bankers.

Gibson was returning to his room around 11:40 a.m., he later told reporters, when he heard a “prolonged, disgusting crack.”

The woman decided to investigate and noticed that the deck seemed tilted, so she ran to find her mother.

Back on deck, he realized that lifeboat 7 was practically empty.

Gibson invited her deckmates to join her and her mother on the boat, which ended up being the first lifeboat launched from the ship.

They arrived safely ashore with a story to tell. And days later a movie to star in.

Gibson told Moving Picture News of the sinking a few weeks later, describing the event as a nightmare.

“I will never forget the terrible cry made by the people who threw themselves into the sea and others who feared for their loved ones,” he said then.

“Saved from the Titanic” finished shooting in a week. Like most movies of this era, it was only ten minutes long.

It was released a month after the sinking of the ship, which makes it the film that has told the fastest national tragedy in the history of cinema.

The plot is a romantic story in which Gibson plays a young student engaged to a sailor named Jack, who returns to America via the Titanic after studying abroad. I think we’ve heard about this already.

The relationship comes with the “Titanic” by James Cameron, who was crowned in the cinema by immersing himself in a story that gave him 11 Oscar Award statuettes.

Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kate Winslet (playing Rose DeWitt) were left in the memory of several generations for this tape.

Dawson meant being the spokesperson for one of the most remembered scenes in history and that is applicable to all moments of romance, glory, happiness or even bragging: “It’s always good to feel like the king of the world.”

Of course, the most emblematic, unforgettable scene is that of Jack and Rose at the bow of the ship with open arms.

“I’m flying Jack”, exclaimed the protagonist of the mythical scene, parodied and remembered throughout all these years.

In the 50s of the 20th century, two of the most remembered by several generations were filmed: “The sinking of the Titanic” and “The last night of the Titanic”.

“The Sinking of the Titanic” is a 1953 American film directed by Jean Negulesco, starring Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner, Audrey Dalton and Thelma Ritter.

From 1958, it is “The Last Night of the Titanic”, based on the book “A Night to Remember”, by Walter Lord, which recounts the final night in which the Titanic sinks.

This film was directed by Roy Ward Baker and was the winner of a Golden Globe in the category of best foreign film.

In 1979, “SOS Titanic” was released, a story told from the perspective of three groups of passengers in first, second and third class.

Traveling back to the present, and the Titanic, the aforementioned ship’s curse has caused five new deaths, wealthy tourists, including British billionaire Hamish Harding.

The remains of the submersible were found by a remotely controlled vehicle (ROV) operated by the Canadian ship Horizon Arctic and later experts determined that “they are consistent with a catastrophic implosion”, that is, a rupture and sinking caused by the greater pressure of the submersible. abroad.

James Cameron, director of the movie “Titanic” and a seasoned explorer of the deep sea, said many warnings about the safety of the tourist submersible that imploded near the famous ship, killing five people, were ignored.

Cameron said the small vessel had caused widespread concern in the ocean exploration community, noting similarities between the tragedy and the 1912 sinking of the massive ship that killed some 1,500 people.

“I am struck by the similarity between the disaster of the Titanic, whose captain was warned several times about the ice in front of the ship, and yet he sped at full speed towards an ice field on a moonless night, and consequently many people died” Cameron said in an interview with the American ABC News.