The Dark Knight - [spoilers ahead, ye be warned]

[innerSpaceman]

Now I'm all mad at Titanic again. I don't know why the lame class-war, star-crossed lovers was the way they chose to go. They could have got just as much tragic love story by fictionalizing any of the dozen or so actual newlywed girls made widows by the sinking. Maybe it's not right to make up a story and attribute it to real people ... but I would have preferred that to the hokem they came up with ... when there were 2000 or so really sad stories to be told.



Oh, is this thread about Batman??

[JWBear]

I never new you were a fellow Titanic enthusiast! Girlfriend, we need to talk!

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Then might I recommend A Night to Remember ... a much more accurate telling of the tale, storywise, from the point of view of the crew involved with, ya know, the mundane ship's business of sinking with 2/3 of the passengers still on board. Not so accurate visually as the Cameron film, as it looks to have been filmed on a ferry boat. But it's based on the Walter Lord novel taken from witness accounts and historical records.

I also heartily recommend A Night to Remember, although it too has it’s inaccuracies.

BTW, Walter Lord’s book was not a novel. It was a work of non-fiction.

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

…Cameron was stupid to drop the subplot of The Californian. Even if some of it is based on worst-case conjecture, the suspense is freaking palpable and the horrific irony unbearable.

Agreed. It’s something that works so well in ANTR.

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

The use of Nearer My God To Thee
- yes, likely not on the playlist. Many witnesses claimed to hear it. Eyewitness testimony is suspect, but it's all we have. So it's the witnesses vs. the playlist. Yeah, an unlikely number ... but a tearjerker included with legitimate dramatic license in every tale of the sinking.

I hate that It’s always shown as being played just because people expect it.

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

3rd class being locked below decks
- played up for dramatic effect, but not done as maliciously as depicted. 3rd class was, however, kept below decks too long by the crew. And when they tried to let women and children up, their response to the general panic was to let no one up. Most 3rd class passengers died. Um, not by choice, I would suspect. Picturing them locked below decks was legit. dramatic license, in my view.

I disagree. The crew wasn’t actively trying to keep the 3rd class passengers below decks. In fact, there were several stewards who organized groups of 3rd class women and children, and led them up to the boat decks. Many more 3rd class passengers made it up on their own. Many surviving from 3rd class testified that their fellow passengers stayed where they were because they simply did not know what to do! If the crew is guilty of anything, it’s the lack of information distribution; but all 3 classes shared the same treatment in that regards.

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

First Officer Murdoch shooting himself
- also a great piece of myth that likely didn't happen. Though, of course, no one can really know. Though it's doubtful, I cannot fault any dramatist for including this bit ... He's the moron responsible for hitting the iceberg, and the drama of his remorseful suicide is almost too good to pass up when some witnesses claimed it happened.

Again, I have to disagree. Murdoch was hardly a moron – he couldn’t have gained the position he did if he was – and it’s not his fault the ship hit the iceberg. It’s no one person’s fault, really. A series of events that, if taken separately, would be unremarkable.

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I deplored the concept of using fictional lovers when there were so many compelling real stories to be told.…

Agreed. Where were the Navratil boys? Archy Butt? Lawrence Beesley? Jack Thayer? Edith Russell? William Stead? If they wanted a strong willed woman making her own way in the Edwardian era, how about Helen Churchill Candee? Tragedy? How about The Allisons? Or the newlyweds, Daniel and Mary Marvin? Or the Goodwin family?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Neeeeeeaaaaaarrrrrr......faaaaaaarrrrr......where EHHHHHHHVER YOU AAAAAARRRREEE

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by JWBear

I never new you were a fellow Titanic enthusiast! Girlfriend, we need to talk!

I had a friend who was a big muckety-muck on the Queen Mary. She was giving us a private tour, and showed us the below-decks ballroom where the annual meeting of the major Titantic enthusiasts club is held. One year, there was a major plumbing leak that flooded the entire ballroom in a foot of water during their meeting! Hahahah, I'm sure they LOVED it.

Originally Posted by JWBear

Again, I have to disagree. Murdoch was hardly a moron – he couldn’t have gained the position he did if he was – and it’s not his fault the ship hit the iceberg.

Well, perhaps the hastily re-jiggered position he assumed for the sailing had something to do with it (most officers were effectively reduced in rank one notch when a new 1st officer was appointed for the maiden voyage at the last minute) ... but all the top officers were trained during the Titanic's shake-down cruise on her insanely wide turning radius. Hard a'starbord and full reverse engines was a combination contrary to a successful turn to avoid the berg. Murdock killed them all with his incompetence, and I love the idea of him shooting himself ... even if he likely suicided by the more practical means of simply drowning.




That never would have happened if Batman had been on the bridge!

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Neeeeeeaaaaaarrrrrr......faaaaaaarrrrr......where EHHHHHHHVER YOU AAAAAARRRREEE

:::SLAP:::::

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

....Hard a'starbord and full reverse engines was a combination contrary to a successful turn to avoid the berg. Murdock killed them all with his incompetence, and I love the idea of him shooting himself ... even if he likely suicided by the more practical means of simply drowning.

Again, I disagree. Many officers at the time said they would have done the same thing.

[mousepod]

Guess this guy didn't make it to Comic-con.

[BarTopDancer]

They washed off his make up!

How come the Gotham jail didn't make the Joker take off his make up?

On a related note, we saw a guy dressed up as the Joker at the Spectrum. He did a fine job of recreating the costume, hair and make up. It was impressive.

[Gemini Cricket]

Seeing that one quick shot of Ledger without the make up in TDK was creepier to me than his regular Joker look. The scar is grooooss.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

Seeing that one quick shot of Ledger without the make up in TDK was creepier to me than his regular Joker look. The scar is grooooss.

I missed that! Where was it?