History and the Centenary

[rochvelleth]

100 Historical Things, Number 4

Today is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. But why does that resonate? What does it mean to us? And indeed why does it mean what it means to us, if it means anything

Comments

[kegel84]

In Germany the Julian Fellowes drama was aired as a linear story (for the most part), it wasn't cut like the UK version. It was aired in two parts last week.

By the end I was wondering more and more why I'm actually watching it... why am I basically torturing myself with watching a tragedy? (I actually dislike tragedies and usually avoid that kind of movie).

[denorios]

I think part of the reason we're so interested in morbid history, in disasters and tragedies and such like, war and death and disaster, is because it's an opportunity to explore human behaviour in extreme circumstances. Most of us, if we're fortunate, will lead relatively pedestrian, humdrum lives and will never be put in such a circumstance, so I think we're always curious as to how we might behave, what we would do under pressure, when tested. Would we be heroes or would we be cowards? Would we be selfless or selfish? Would our actions lead to our deaths or our survival? Reliving such dramatic events, whether through history or commemoration or even entertainment, gives us an opportunity to explore that, to see the range of human reactions to extraordinary events, and imagine ourselves in their place from the comfort of our own point in history.

[novindalf]

I like what you say about the 'cult of anniversaries'. I myself only get involved in birthdays, wedding anniversaries (not mine, lol =P) and Armistice Day, but as humans we do tend to have a morbid fascination with anniversaries of disasters!

Personally though, mentions of the Titanic brings up a) the film (which I still haven't seen in its entirety, although I've seen bits of it, and I believe I've seen all of the film Brittanic, about its sister ship), b) my history project of Year 9, and c) a moment in an episode of Paddington Bear from when I was little where the mum says to the neighbour (whose rowing boat has just sunk), "That was the name of your boat? The Titanic?"

[jagnikjen]

Fantastic, Dr R!

(You're really getting into this 100 things, aren't you?? At the rate you're going, you'll have us all beat. :))

[roh_wyn]

I'm still disappointed that Fellowes didn't make use of the perfect opportunity for a crossover series by having one of the Titanic passengers be Patrick Crawley. ;)

I'm a bit confused by all the attention the sinking of the Titanic gets, when surely the sinking of the Lusitania was a much more significant historical event.

Thanks for the recap though! :)