Why is there Titanic so well known compared to other sinking ships?

[Jukra]

I think people can be forgiven for thinking it wasn't a real event. It's impossible to show, or even really speculate, that it gave rise to any butterflies that would be discussed in regards to politics, social issues, etc. IOW it's just a stand-alone issue, interesting only in connection with itself. I can't even really see how you'd justify including it on a school curicculum, to be honest.

And these days, the James Cameron movie is probably referenced more than any scholarly treatment of the event.

When teaching 7th graders (13-14 yo) I actually used clips from 1997 "Titanic" movie as well as the story of the actual trip. The event is known even by junior teens, particularly by teenage girls but boys too, so it was good to display and investigate many things, such as status of world communications ca. 1900, steel, steam power, class divisions, role of men and women, Finnish emigration to the US, history of conspiracy theories, what kind of events are highlighted in popular history, inaccuracies in movies (such as perfect haircut and make-up which girls always point out), history of film (by showing different clips from different movies) etc.

It's also a story pupils from various cognitive levels enjoy, whether for sheer sake of action or more refined nuances of the background.

So, while the event itself is not important enough for school curriculum, it is a magnificent magnifying glass to use with the pupils to take a view on pre-WW I Europe (& America). If I had used less known examples to display the same themes I would have had to spent more time for the examples to actually make sense.

 

[marathag]

Don't forget, there were several silent versions, and even one put out by Nazi Germany in 1943, and some of that footage was reused in the '58 film

 

[David T]

TITANIC STRUCK BY ICY REPRESENTATION OF NATURE'S SUPREMACY STOP INSUFFICIENT LIFEBOATS DUE TO POMPOUS CERTAINTY OF MAN'S INFALLIBILITY STOP MICROCOSM OF LARGER SOCIETY STOP

 

[oshron]

Don't forget, there were several silent versions, and even one put out by Nazi Germany in 1943, and some of that footage was reused in the '58 film

in all fairness, those are alot easier to forget existed. there's tons of media, including really good ones, that hardly anyone today is familiar with. we AH.commers are history buffs and we're hardly representative of the majority.

 

[Khanzeer]

Amazing. You managed to be something of a jerk while dragging current politics into a totally non-political thread.

Do NOT repeat this noteworthy error in judgement.

I apologize for the cheekiness

 

[Khanzeer]

How does it compare with the Hindenburg disaster ? In terms of cultural impact

 

[Mark E.]

How does it compare with the Hindenburg disaster ? In terms of cultural impact

I would say the Hindenburg was more sensational, since it was radio broadcast and filmed. People still traveled by ship (with lifeboats) but you never hear of any lighter than air ships outside of the military and the ceremonial Goodyear blimps (even though helium will not burn).

 

[Zheng He]

Several reasons:

1. It was the ship's maiden voyage
2. She was the largest ship in the world at the time
3. The number of people that died, making it the worst maritime disaster in history up to that time
4. She sank slow enough that there was TONS of drama: the Strausses electing to stay together on the ship knowing they would die, Benjamin Gugenheim and his valet wearing their finest clothes and declaring, "we are dressed in our best and prepared to go down like gentlemen," John Jacob Astor, one of the richest men in the world at the time, dying after placing his pregnant wife in a lifeboat, the band playing until the very end, finishing with Nearer my God to Thee (haunting as hell in my opinion). The list goes on.
5. Believed (at the time) to be the first use in history of the distress signal SOS which had just replaced the previous call, CQD.
6. The fact that the Captain was supposedly on his final voyage before retiring (there are documents both supporting and disproving this)
7. The dramatic rescue by Carpathia, rushing to Titanic's aid and nearly hitting several icebergs herself to try and save lives
8. It was seen as the ultimate expression of how a man was expected to act on the Edwardian era: women and children into the boats, the men stoically staying behind to accept their fate, the crew remaining at their posts until the very end, knowingly sacrificing their lives to keep the pumps running and the power on
9. The fact that the press had billed the ship as "unsinkable," yet she sank on her maiden voyage (note, neither White Star nor Harland & Wolff ever made that claim)

And those are just off the top of my head

I think this post sums it up pretty well, there were so many different facets to the story that there is something that any of us should find compelling.

 

[wcv215]

And those are just off the top of my head

I would add that it led to major changes in boat safety standards in the law worldwide. The Titanic has been well over the legal requirements for safety equipment and it was still so bad.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

I would add that it led to major changes in boat safety standards in the law worldwide. The Titanic has been well over the legal requirements for safety equipment and it was still so bad.

And yet had she been given all the lifeboats her designers wanted her to have almost everyone would have survived. Instead to save money she was given what the law said she had to have and 1500 died, twice the number of survivors.

 

[wcv215]

And yet had she been given all the lifeboats her designers wanted her to have almost everyone would have survived. Instead to save money she was given what the law said she had to have and 1500 died, twice the number of survivors.

I didn’t say it was given enough. I said it was more than required. And then the requirements changed.

 

[Histor32]

The boat sank, it was big news, then some guy in serbia gets himself shot and by the time that mess was over titanic was more or less forgotten and only came back to "public" attention in 1985 when the wreckage was explored by that theussau (sp?) guy

Actually.. No.. It never left

Walter lord, Molly brown and others kept it very much alive.

Titanic was just the perfect disaster that keeps surfacing. It was in between the old and new eras.. People built the boat up.. Olympic had a good service record, there was the immigrant movement.

Tie that with maiden voyage and rich people..

I'm 47 and I was a titanic buff by age 5.. Hell I remember the movie raise the titanic. And eas like that would be sooo cool.. The movie sucked.. But that seen of her surfacing.. Was just beautiful...

She just never faded from memory

 

[Histor32]

in all fairness, those are alot easier to forget existed. there's tons of media, including really good ones, that hardly anyone today is familiar with. we AH.commers are history buffs and we're hardly representative of the majority.

Cough.. Dude look up titanic on imdb.. There lots of movies.. Back in the day there were lots of made for TV movies.. Lots of books.. Magazines.. It just haplened to be the disaster that everyone latched on to.. It could have been the Mary Celeste Or the Andrea doria Or britanic or a number of ships. Titanic hit during a lull and towards an age of innocence and man feeling too confident in himself

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

Titanic hit during a lull and towards an age of innocence and man feeling too confident in himself

That it is also seen as foreshadowing the much greater disaster that began 2 years later also keeps the story going. It's symbolic of the whole Edwardian world heading confidently into the future blind to its coming doom.

 

[Zheng He]

Actually.. No.. It never left

Walter lord, Molly brown and others kept it very much alive.

Titanic was just the perfect disaster that keeps surfacing. It was in between the old and new eras.. People built the boat up.. Olympic had a good service record, there was the immigrant movement.

Tie that with maiden voyage and rich people..

I'm 47 and I was a titanic buff by age 5.. Hell I remember the movie raise the titanic. And eas like that would be sooo cool.. The movie sucked.. But that seen of her surfacing.. Was just beautiful...

She just never faded from memory

Agreed, I’m 49 and I got interested around age six or seven. Loved the movie Raise the Titanic when it was new although in part because it was in the early days of HBO in my house and at that time any movie on TV uncut was cool.

 

[oshron]

Cough.. Dude look up titanic on imdb.. There lots of movies.. Back in the day there were lots of made for TV movies.. Lots of books.. Magazines.. It just haplened to be the disaster that everyone latched on to.. It could have been the Mary Celeste Or the Andrea doria Or britanic or a number of ships. Titanic hit during a lull and towards an age of innocence and man feeling too confident in himself

i know--i actually looked up alot of Titanic movies that i hadn't known about before for one of my own projects --i'm just saying that most people probably aren't aware of most of those in the same way that they probably aren't aware of lots of movies, plays, and books from earlier time periods

 

[Jukra]

Besides, I think as "Titanic" of 1997 becomes aged there will be a new production, probably TV-series by major streaming service, made about the event, it's simply inevitable. A TV-series would be able to capture the drama from numerous angles, whether technical speculation, romantic drama or class differences.

 

[marathag]

As I usually bring up in these Titanic threads,

The Steamship General Slocum, on fire off Long Island in 1904
Over a thousand Men, Women and Children burned or drowned, mostly from faulty or missing safety equipment
But they were mostly German Immigrants, so didn't rate like Rich people did as a PR tragedy

 

[Jukra]

As I usually bring up in these Titanic threads,

The Steamship General Slocum, on fire off Long Island in 1904
Over a thousand Men, Women and Children burned or drowned, mostly from faulty or missing safety equipment
But they were mostly German Immigrants, so didn't rate like Rich people did as a PR tragedy

Or Dona Paz, in the Philippines in 1987. When it happens in the Third World, it's a non-event for the Western Media, and even less for the popular culture. Won't be seeing Jack and Rose. 4341 dead, 26 survivors.

 

[UCB79]

Finally, there is the element of sheer luck(all of it bad).If THE TITANTIC had seen the iceburg 15 sec-
onds earlier she probably would have avoided it. If she'd seen it 15 seconds LATER she would have
rammed it head-on. People would have been killed & the bow section heavily damaged- but THE TIT-
ANIC almost certainly would have stayed afloat. I think @ the worst she would have sunk even more
slowly than she in fact did, giving time for still more ships (even THE CALIFORNIAN)to come to her aid
(whereas IOTL only the hero ship CARPATHIA was able to do so). More people thus would have been
saved. If she had hit the ice any other way. If those watertight bulkheads had only been ONE lousy deck
higher. If she had heeded any of the SIX messages she had earlier received warning of ice. And finally,
if her lookouts had had binoculars(which of course instead were locked away).