Why is the Titanic so fascinating?

Question

Yes, it was a beatiful ship and yes it sunk on it's maiden voyage.

But why are there so many movies, books, puzzles, games, even a a very expensive watch, (made from the real steel) about the Titanic?

Yes, it was a beautiful ship and yes it sunk on it's maiden voyage.

But why are there so many movies, books, puzzles, games, even a very expensive watch, (made from the real steel) about the Titanic?

Answer 1

tragedy sells

Answer 2

I was obsessed with the Titanic through a good portion of grade school, and actually wrote about it today in my English class (and ended up talking with my professor about why I found it so fascinating).

For me, this is the most terrifying way to die...all alone, even though you're surrounded by people, in the middle of a pitch black ocean with no help in sight, and you either keep treading water or you go under.

For others, it's because it was such a grand and sure-thing gone horribly, horribly wrong...a human disaster on this scale is always going to make history. It symbolized the arrogance of man, and then the worst case scenario happened.

It's interesting because it WAS the largest ship (during that time period), the same way the Empire State building would be studied architecturally, historically, etc if it happened to go up in flames (or something). It's also a historical treasure because we are still able to recover artifacts from the ship at the bottom of the ocean, and it gives us insight into the time period.

Boats sink all the time, but when's the last time the largest ship in the world sank? Or that those deaths could have been prevented, whether by going slower, having enough lifeboats, having stronger steel rivets? (See: Triangle Shirt Factory Fire, another historical tragedy that could have been prevented). When's the last time we sent a boat out, 100% sure that nothing could possibly happen to it? Or that had so many celebrities and "notables" aboard?

To put it in modern day context, imagine the largest airplane in the world (the new Boeing, I guess?), packed to the gills with thousands, with tickets being sold with the message that no matter what, this plane would NEVER crash, and then put a bunch of rich and famous people aboard. Even that doesn't compare to what a big deal the Titanic sinking was at the time (and therefore why that significance has carried over to modern times).

There are TONS of factors that go into making this such an fascination for mankind.

Answer 3

Because at the time that it sunk, it had the 1912 equivalent of Donald Trump, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Richard Branson etc etc, along with Burmese, Bosnian, Sudanese, Ethiopian and Iraqi refugees.
If all these people died in an accident today wouldn't that make it rather memorable?
It was the Titanic's first voyage, she was one of the most luxurious liners of the time and had been advertised as unsinkable, and guess what, she sank!
It became a metaphor for Edwardian excess, and reminded the world that there were greater forces in the world than their own self-confidence.

Answer 4

The ship was meant to be unsinkable ... and then it sunk.

It is a symbol of our hubris, like Icarus flying too close to the sun, a parable of nature being mightier than humanity.

Plus the Nazis did a rip-snorter of a film about it - oddly enough, a lot of the myths about the ship today (such as the third-class passengers being denied assistance to safety) stem from that film! They must have been good at propaganda!

Answer 5

Chivarly was not dead aboard Titanic: Brave were the men--beloved fiancees, husbands/fathers and the selfless singles--who knew a sure icy death awaited them, yet they stood tall as their beloved wives, mothers and children boarded the lifeboats in a hopeful attempt at saving their lives.

Imagine being one of those survivors on the lifeboats, watching your fiancee, husband and other men left onboard Titanic, as the behemoth ship violently sank to its icy depth.

Tragedy of that magnatude NEVER leaves you.

Yes.....some women and children did die from the sinking.

The Captain followed tradition and went down with Titanic.

Titanic, though never found until 70 years later, was always revered as the watery gravesite of these poor souls--something of a hallowed ground, a memorial to their lives and bravery.

And of course, there remains the TRUE mystery of what it took to sink the "unsinkable" Titanic....and there are legendary rumors of treasures still left behind deep within Titanic.

Titanic was the first grand scale travel tragedy of its time....and its haunting iron skeleton--which is with each day, rotting away to a cloudy red murky "dust", captures our hearts and minds.

The lives lost to Titanic were not left so in vain: Worldwide laws enforced to this day make sure ALL cruise ships have enough functional lifeboats and life saving escape procedures--should the unthinkable happen again.

A young boy in New York, toying with his ham radio, caught the wireless Morse distress call from Titanic---along with other Morse code transmissions jamming in. The boy's efforts to notify police were dismissed as a kid's folly......

.....but that boy grew on to chair the Federal Communications Commission---and passed broadcast laws enforcing the regulation of radio and TV frequencies-- regarding radio distress calls.

Answer 6

I have no idea.
There was a tragic loss of life but that doesn't make it unique.
Hopefully, someone will tell you why they find the Titanic fascinating.
I know many people do.

Answer 7

it is fascinating coz it was presented to us that way!
wraped in great words(books), visuals (movies) and all sugar coated!

Answer 8

because backwards, it spells "satan"