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Even well over 100 years after her fatal collision with an iceberg, the myth of the supposedly unsinkable Titanic is still very much alive. A new mini-series has just started on the BBC, recreating the accident minute by minute.
It has been proven that “Avatar” director James Cameron is one of the great Titanic experts, and not just because he turned the disaster into a gigantic Oscar success. In a longer interview, Cameron heard from “Hollywood Reporter” The question was raised as to how it would have been possible to survive the sinking of the ship as 2nd class passengers on the Titanic.
The 71-year-old answered precisely: “You would have had to travel alone!”
And why? Because a man traveling with his family would probably prioritize their survival over his own, Cameron said – and therefore probably would have died. Meanwhile, those who were part of the third class were below deck and were as good as lost. First class travelers, accommodated at the top, had the best chance of securing a place in the far too few lifeboats. Famously, some of the boats did not fill because second officer Charles Lightoller misinterpreted the captain’s instruction, “Women and children first,” as “Women and children only.”
Hardly anyone believed that the Titanic would sink
But James Cameron also used the practical question to philosophize about it: “One question I like to play with my Titanic experts is: How could you save everyone, given what we know now and if you had the captain’s ear? The other is: What if you were a time traveler, went back to witness the sinking, and the little time travel thing you come back with fails, and you think, ‘Oh f–k, I really am.’ on the ship, I have to get out of there.’”
There are almost certain answers to this that will increase the chances of survival. Assuming one couldn’t get a place on a lifeboat through normal means, Cameron said the best course of action would have been to stand alongside the Titanic and wait for a lifeboat to be launched at the start of the evacuation. Then you could have jumped into the water and quickly swim to one of the boats. This would almost guarantee that you would have been brought in.
Every minute mattered
But: “Most people wouldn’t have had the courage to jump into the water. They just didn’t want to fully believe that the ship would really sink.”
Cameron continued: “But if you were convinced that the ship was going to sink completely, then jumping towards one of the lifeboats would have been a good way to survive. Would they let you drown if the Titanic was still there and everyone was watching? No, they would pull you on board and the officers would say, ‘Shit, there’s nothing I can do about that.'”
However, the time factor would have played an important role, because as soon as the boats had rowed away, you as a passenger would have had no chance and, like many others, you would have frozen to death in the ice-cold Atlantic water.
Could Jack Dawson have survived?
The famous question remains whether Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) really should have drowned in his film version of the Titanic disaster? James Cameron gave a scientifically based answer to this some time ago.
In his new film “Avatar: Fire And Ash”, the director asks himself other questions that point more to man’s warlike nature and his urge to exploit nature for his own purposes. It’s not just the critics who have noticed that after three films in the 3D epic, signs of fatigue are starting to appear.