This was originally a script for a vlog intended to be posted on the anniversary of the sinking this year but other things came up and it wasn't filmed in time. So. Script!
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With a death toll of
around 1,500 Titanic is not the biggest maritime disaster; it’s not even the
biggest peacetime maritime disaster. That place is taken by a Spanish ferry
that went up in flames in the 80’s killing almost 4,000 passengers. To compare
disasters by body count like this is cold and disregarding the importance of a
single human life but it does make one wonder: Why is Titanic specifically so
prominent in out historic make-up?
Titanic came at a
golden era in Western Civilisation. A time where man was defying nature and
building a bigger and better way for himself, England and America were prime
powers on every market, businessmen were celebrities and, whilst the ‘common
man’ was beginning to make his way in the world, class unfortunately still meant
a lot. It was an in-between time, the gilded past looking towards the shiny new
future. Titanic was a symbol of this age.
“God himself cannot
sink this ship.” They said. It’s the kind of circumstances you might expect to
see in a multi-layered dystopian novel. The arrogance of man and his
possessions, shaking his fist at fate. There is no one specific person to blame
for this disaster, the inquiry transcripts are a fascinating read because it
all comes down to a group of people facing the impossible and asking ‘how could
this happen and could I be responsible for it?”. The inquiries also reveal the
extent of the class bias of the age, the US only interviewing 3 third-class
passengers and the British none at all.
Titanic also
highlighted the failings of the institution. At the time, lifeboat regulations
depended upon the size of the ship, not the number of people on board. And the
regulations had not been adjusted for many years before ships of Titanic’s size
were even imaginable. In fact, Titanic held several more lifeboats then were
regulated at the time, making it ‘safer’ than necessary even though they didn’t
have enough space for even half those on board. The disaster was a wake-up call
that safety regulations had to keep up with the speed of progress, or else
their ‘beautiful, modern world’ would become disastrous.
Titanic is rife with
speculation and conspiracies, although there is little mystery to the story
itself. The collision was a result
of being under-prepared for unfortunate conditions and yet people still look for
more. Why did the owners cancel their journey at the last minute? Where were
the binoculars that the look-outs required? Could it all have been an insurance
scam gone wrong? What about the novel ‘Futility’ written several years
beforehand about a near identical ship called The Titan that also sank on its
maiden voyage? Titanic is surrounded by questions in search of an absolution to
explain away a tragedy that is unfortunately without answer.
As well as being a
story in its own right, the ship contained thousands of smaller stories, many
of them untold and only discernable in bits and pieces. From the millionaire
celebrities to the stowaways, abducted children left orphaned to the
suffragette’s who commanded lifeboats, there is a story for everyone. [The plan
was to make a separate video elaborating on some of these individuals]
So we have symbolism,
conspiracy, celebrity attraction, individual tales of heroics and love and
loss, and the failure of institution in the Golden era of man. All this, in
startling imagery and mind-boggling proportions captured the hearts and minds
of so many even 100 years later. I personally hope it never fades from out
collective memories.
