Saturday, April 14, 2012
By Moira Macdonald
The Seattle Times
SEATTLE
We all know how it ended.
No one alive has first-hand memories of the sinking of the Titanic, which will have its 100th anniversary Sunday. The last survivor, Millvina Dean, died in 2009 — and she was an infant at the time of the voyage. But all of us have an image of it; perhaps from James Cameron’s 1997 movie “Titanic,” perhaps from earlier movies like 1953’s “A Night to Remember,” perhaps from reading one of the multitudes of books published about the disaster, perhaps simply from recognizing the tragedy that set the events of “Downton Abbey” in motion. (The wildly popular British miniseries kicked off its first season with news of the sinking of the Titanic — and thereby the death of the estate’s heir.)
We’ve heard the stories of heroism and cowardice; of unpreparedness and panic; of not enough lifeboats; of a moonless night and calm, icy waters. And we may know the chilling numbers: approximately 2,200 people on board (estimates of passengers and crew vary), bound from Southampton to New York, of whom more than 1,500 died.
The story has always held fascination for many — and now, with the anniversary looming like an iceberg, interest is stirred up even further. Titanic is, it seems, everywhere.
Julian Fellowes, creator of “Downton Abbey,” has scripted a “Titanic” miniseries, airing on ABC this weekend and telling the story of the disaster from the perspective of a number of different characters.
Perhaps what’s driven so many to write about the Titanic and imagine that night is its most poignant legacy: its status as the “Ship of Dreams.” It was the biggest, fastest, most beautiful ship ever built, and those who entered it were dazzled by its splendor. Some of the passengers were Gilded Age millionaires, with their own dreams in hand; some were immigrants, thrilled by the idea of America and the changed fortunes its shores might bring. We all know that dreams sometimes shatter; Titanic is, perhaps, one of history’s most devastating examples.
The film and TV versions of the Titanic story that work best are those that make those dreams real for us, if only for a moment, so we can remember those people not just as numbers and statistics.
In that sense, Fellowes’ “Titanic” miniseries is disappointing; his characters, unlike those of “Downton Abbey,” aren’t given a chance to appeal to us. They seem bound by their classes and by the series’ confusing, time-shifting structure; by the time they’re frantically rushing to the lifeboats, we still barely know them.
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