By Preeti Kumari
Heard about the remake of titanic? Oh no, it’s not a remake of the movie, but the ship. An exact (not exact exact) replica of the ship, Titanic- a dream voyage, is being built. The rebuilding of the ship is taking place using modern safety and design techniques, keeping in mind the change of time. But is the social change also given consideration?
Technological Improvement
Modern day techniques like diesel-electric propulsion have replaced the steam engines for sailing. Further, the high-tech navigational equipment has also been brought into practice. Also, the number of life-supporting boats has been increased to match the number of passengers i.e. around 2500. (Now that’s a positive change- at least, they are not claiming of building an unsinkable ship).
Things…not so changed
- Mirroring the plan of original titanic there will be three classes of passengers- 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The people are provided with the facilities in terms of food and staterooms in accordance with the money they will be paying. The option of various classes seems fine, but what pricks me is the idea of having separate dining rooms and gathering halls for these classes. Over 100 years i.e. more than a century and we are still stuck with class differences. Why is the segregation of class being followed over the social gatherings and such get-together avenues?
Dining saloon for Ist class passengers
Communal dining rooms for 3rd class passengers
- The differences stretch over gender too. There is a smoking room for ‘1st class men’. It is totally understandable that it was built at that time to provide for a separate space for the gentlemen’s clubs of London, but we don’t live in that era anymore. I mean we live in the 21st century where even women smoke. Won’t they need a smoking room? I am in no way promoting the smoking habits of women or men for that matter, but long gone are the days when men and women used to mingle in different rooms. Nowadays men and women even have same parlors or salons and you are building separate rooms for activities like this (that too “men only”).
Smoking room for 1st class male passengers
Rebuilding means evolving and not replicating
People associate the rebuilding of a ship and its success with the number of people coming in for the ride, number of tickets sold and eradicating the superstitious views (associated with the sailing of the ship from Jiangsu, China to Dubai) without getting drowned. But won’t it be a failure even if it fails to portray the evolution of our society?
For example, the movie “The Omen (2006)” was criticized heavily due to its inability to bring anything new to its story. The only change that came across from the movie was better visuals (due to technological advancement) as compared to the older edition. But this added more fuel to the fire by highlighting the errors in the previous version.
It is good to try to recreate the magic that Titanic created over 100 years ago but rebuilding the ship is not just about recreating the grandeur. It is also about recreating the true reflection of the society that Titanic posed for. Titanic even after so many years posts the picture of the society that prevailed 100 years ago. So shouldn’t Titanic 2 pose the picture of present day society? Shouldn’t it be an example to cite for the generations to come to say- see that’s how we recreate the history? Recreating history doesn’t only means reinstalling the historical facts, it also means showcasing the journey mankind has traversed.
