Ah, the power of the media! Who else can take an incident over 80 years old and make it so everyone is talking about it as if it had happened only yesterday?
People wring their hands and mourn the loss of the movie hero as he drowns in the icy waters of the Atlantic. Hey, I have news for these people: IT WAS ONLY A MOVIE!!! Sure, the real vessel sank, years ago, but there wasn't any DiCaprio on board it at the time. (Note: If I misspelled the hero's name, rest assured I am unconcerned! I do NOT follow these folks so closely as to be sure of name spellings.)
There is a young girl in my town who has been cited by the local paper as having seen the movie eight times so far. I would just like to point out to her that it doesn't matter how often that she sees it; the ship will still sink each and every time.
Naturally, Hollywood, with it's own slant on things, managed to make a movie about an historical event that only grossly retained any degree of authenticity. Yes, there was a ship which was referred to as being unsinkable. Yes, it hit an iceberg on it's maiden voyage and sank with only a fraction of survivors from the large number on the vessel. But Hollywood has people being locked into the ship, crewmen firing pistols at non-first class passengers, and let's not forget the handcuffing scene!
Then, of course, there is always the predictability of the movie. Let's see, hmmm: Beautiful girl engaged to handsome, rich, bad guy. Poor, even more handsome man is also on board. Gee, did anyone who saw the movie think there was any chance that the poor guy and the girl wouldn't end up together? About the only thing that I didn't predict was the death of the good guy. I thought that the bad guy would die and the good guy would assume his identity and fortune and then he & she would live happily ever after. And yes, for all my ranting and raving, my bitter, burning invectives, my vitriolic diatribe, yes, I did see the show. My excuse is simply that I found myself out at dinner with my wife and another couple and they all wanted to see it. I suppose I could have refused but those of you who are married will understand why I didn't.