S.O.S. Titanic (US, 1979)


Figure 1.--Here is a color grab from the 1979 'Titanic' made for TV 1979 film 'SOS Titanic'. The boy along with other children is making his way towards the life boats.

"S.O.S. Titanic" is a 1979 American made for television movie about the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic. The script was written by James Costigan and the film was directed by William Hale. The "SOS Titanic" originally appeared in two nughtly segments on ABC television (1979). This is one of several films about the Titanic disaster. It is a good example of how modern Hollywood presents historical events in a left-wing manner designed to depict America and Britain in a negative way. In this case the target is more Britain than America. It presents the Titanic tragedy from the perspective of three groups of passengers based on the accomodation classes ( First, Second, and Third Class). Individual characters based on real passengers are depicted as well as fictional characters. In Third Class steerage are Irish immigrants, picked up when Tinantic stopped at Queentown. And at the end there is an extended section on responsibility in which the producers are able to condemn the company involved. Now we have no problem with presenting this information. It was part of history. My problem is that the film makers are essentially preaching at the viewer and pretending that they have the moral high ground. There are several mproblemss with this. The producers are applying modern standards and conventions on the an earlier period. There are of course all kinds of problems with this approach to history as any highschool student with a decentb hisdtory teacher could explain. We have advanced in many ways, but society at the time could find some severe problems with the 1970s. Also where is the discussion as to how the capitalistic shipping companies were providing poor people the economic mobility they needed to build a new more prosperous life in America. That was capitalism at work and of course we don't want to say anything nice about capitalism. And of course the Soviet Union and Eastern European Communists at the time were opperating a massive Iron Curtain to deny workers just such mobility. Or where is the much more interesting point about the enfatuation of the period with technology. It of course is not addressed because it does not have a class angle to exploit.







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Created: 1:57 AM 12/3/2010
Last updated: 1:57 AM 12/3/2010