Good morning,
Below is an opinion from a non-museum person on another list about an
exhibit she saw in the past compared to a movie on the same subject she
saw recently. I was originally going to forward just the museum part,
but she suggested that I send the whole thing, then added her impression
of another exhibit. I think it may be of value to y'all to get a little
unsolicited input every now and then. Enjoy.

From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: CHAT: Titanic & happy endings

Several years ago there was a Titanic exhibit at the South Street Seaport in
NYC. It was pretty dark inside, with lighted displays, and there was I think
ragtime music playing--possibly not what the band actually played when the ship
was sinking but evocative of the time.

There was one exhibit case that included a little tiny replica of every single
person on the ship--passengers and crew--that somehow showed whether they had
been saved or lost. Possibly the lost ones were grayish and the saved ones
white. It was obvious that many of the crew and many of the passsengers below
first class had been saved, contrary to what is conveyed by the film.

There was one poignant corner of a display that showed a young man nonchalantly
waving goodbye to his young wife (probably) as she was being lowered down in a
rowboat. There was more heartbreak in this little scene than in all the
histrionics of Leonardo and Kate.

I could not tear myself away from this exhibit. To me, it was a thousand times
more moving than the film--perhaps because it required participation as you
sorted everything out and read the explanations and went from one complex
exhibit case to the next, possibly just the darkness, and the music, and the
feeling with which it had been created.

We had a complimentary viewing of the movie before it came out (Simon & Schuster
is part of Viacom, which owns Paramount, which has a percentage of the film),
and I came into work the next day and said to all those who had missed it, "Sell
your stock! It's a bomb!" So much for my powers of prognostication, but I was
happy to see that my favorite movie critic Armand White agreed with me.

The detail I especially hated in the film for some reason, although there were
many parts I hated, was when the dishes fall off the shelves TWICE. This would
have been clever and authentic if they showed it once. As it was, it was like
the retelling of a joke you've heard before, not to mention the fact that it
only could have happened once--at the moment when the ship reached that angle.

Also, I don't believe the ice came right up next to the railing in the actual
disaster. Didn't the damage occur below the waterline, when the iceberg appeared
to be far away?

The documentary footage was what made the greatest impression on me. One of the
opening scenes, documentary footage of the crowds waving from the dock, gave me
goosebumps--soon to disappear for the next three hours.

I love the idea of doing a version where the ship doesn't sink! How about a
comedy? Steve Martin, Nathan Lane, Martin Short? Who for the female lead?

Toni            [log in to unmask]

From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re[2]: CHAT: Titanic & happy endings

By the way, I was at the National Gallery (Monet, Manet exhibit, Calder exhibit)
and the Hirschhorn this past weekend. At the latter, there was a striking work
of art called Video Flag. It was a huge, American-flag-like work made up of many
constantly changing video screens. Couldn't tear myself away from this either. I
have always been an animation freak and a neon-sign freak, so this hit me where
I live. Or have I seen the future?

Toni