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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3063 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 23, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Everyone liked Titanic. It's the definition of a four quadrant movie and it wouldn't have made that much money otherwise.

Girls can enjoy the romantic appeal of Leo in his prime. As well as the obligatory feminist message of resisting stale old sexist norms for a fresh romance and a free life. A fantasy of being able to throw away a highly eligible suitor for true love and adventure and be well off enough to never regret it.

Guys get to enjoy Kate Winslet in her prime and the idea of a cross-class romance earned by the male lead's charms, as well as the spectacular effects, ship stuff and stories of heroism and excitement.

It was also just perfectly executed if not particularly original. The leads were mega hot, the tie in song was a classic from a superstar and Cameron stretched effects and action enough that anyone, male or female, could buy into the stakes.

Quality does count for something.

I would add: the special effects really were spectacular for the time. It's a beautiful film.

Going to the movies as a pure spectacle has declined linearly over time as special effects have improved and gotten cheaper. We're so used to CGI doing truly absurd things that it's tough to go back, especially for young people, to how it felt the first time those kinds of vistas were produced on screen. Today we're kind of jaded by having 70" HD screens to watch endless CGI schlockfests, just 25 years ago the comparison to a ~30" crt set showing infinitely lesser SFX with seeing Titanic on the big screen.

People didn't go see Titanic in theaters because of the love story, they went to see it purely to see it. Avatar is the closest recent comparison, and even that doesn't come close because it happened so much later.

I hated the movie. It denigrates duty and familial responsibility (eg the duty the grandmother owed her family when she just cast a priceless heirloom into the depths). The Jack character wasn’t really masculine (many people have suggested Jack is properly seen as a lesbian relationship) even if he did typical masculine things.

The only cool part was the Titanic imploding.

I actually rather enjoy, or enjoyed that Celine Dion song. Unfortunately, I've been mind-raped by the recorder-parody version of it, so I can't hear the original song in my head anymore without automatically having it go to the recorder-parody version. If only I had perfect pitch (so hot right now), I could mentally recreate the original song and sing/play it on command.

I could be remembering very localized phenomenon, but I recall it being a huge hit before becoming uncool through overplay because it was such a big hit.

The song was insanely popular at the time, but of course, someone who's chosen to write a book about why said popular song is ackshually not cool at all is a far better arbiter of coolness than the general population.

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