A Titanic Sized Blog

I was able to step back into my teenage shoes on Tuesday when I went to see Titanic 3D with Christers. I had no intention on seeing it, but I saw the trailer when I was at a theatre to see Hunger Games, and I knew at that point I had to find someone to go with.

I had never seen it in theatres. It came out when I was 11 and my mom wouldn’t let me see it because she had heard the language was rougher and the obvious reason, topless Kate Winslet. She used the excuse that I wasn’t 13, so couldn’t see a PG-13 movie. I had seen plenty before that, but she put her foot down on this topic. I claimed I had seen stuff like that before, and she said “Oh, not like this you haven’t.”

Therefore, I had no idea who Leonardo Dicaprio was, or why everyone was going nuts about him. I knew girls that had pictures of him from Tiger Beat, or Pop, or whatever those magazines were called, tucked into the front of their folders. I had to listen endlessly at recess to girls trying to outsing each other with “My Heart Will Go On.” I knew that whatever this movie was about, it was epic and I was missing it.

As time passed, I cared less. I had sworn up and down that when I turned 13, I would see it. But that came and went, and it wasn’t until I was about 14 or 15 that I watched it on TV. My older sister had taped it because we were doing a family thing. I watched it one night after school and had my first real “tears during a movie moment.” Not just tears, but serious sobbing. It sort of kickstarted the rest of my life in that way (meaning, I cry at everything now)! Suddenly I knew why everyone had loved it, I began a love affair with Leo, and I watched it over and over.

Time passed again, that all faded, and I joke about how cheesy it is. I mean really, it’s easy to poke fun at the one-liners. As the 100 year anniversary of the sinking approached, I noticed more articles about it popping up on the internet. National Geographic did this big thing about it, and I read it thoroughly. I started imagining what it would have been like if my family and I had been there, and what I would have done in that situation. It’s a pretty horrific thought. Especially because I was the kid who dropped to their knees in the fetal position when chased by older siblings. I would rather get the teasing over with than try and “survive.”

So watching it again at 25 gave me some fresh perspective. Yes, the dialogue is not award winning (oh wait, I think it is), there were some eye rolls, but it’s still a pretty good movie. I didn’t cry once, and actually liked the second half of the movie better than the first. Probably because I have been reading so much about how it actually sank. And may I just add that no matter how much you make fun of it, Celine Dion singing “My Heart Will Go On” is still haunting and as lovely as ever. I will defend it until I’m in my grave. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, why don’t people love her? But that’s for another blog.