This has probably been discussed before I joined this website, but since some of you are talking about Cameron “Hollywooding up” "Titanic", I wanted to ask you this question.

What do you all think about the breaking in half scene? I myself think it was a little overdone. At this point in my studies, I find it hard to believe that the ship broke in half like a pencil and crashed down causing a gigantic tidal wave.

I tend to believe that the ship broke apart piece by piece, and gradually the stern settled down to the surface, not plopping down as it was shown on the movie.

It seems to me that if the ship crashed down like that and caused that big of a disturbance in the water, there would be a large amount of testimony stating that the lifeboats were rocked or took water over their sides by a wave.

The only real waves I have read about so far are the wave that rushed up the boat deck when the bridge plunged, and the wave caused by the funnel when it fell and pushed off the collapsible boats.

What do all my Titanic friends think?

I agree, but i think cameron wanted to make it dramatic, and to show off the special effects. I think the real ship didn't cause waves like that, like you said if the ship had caused huge waves, people would have said something. I know the ship had like 66,000 tons water displacement, but the ship had broken up by then and the biggest section(bow) was gone, which left the stern. I have no idea the water displacement for that, but it would be far less than the whole ship. He may have been usinf 66,000 tons when he calculated the wave action caused by the stern. I still find it hard to watch the sinking scene in any movie...just the thought off all those people...

Dramatisation, however, 1997 they still used model's to acheive effect's a lot, and cgi was used to tidy it up, rather than just complete cgi like e.g lord of the ring's, and the break up of there massive model, did actually break apparat like that. Still, ofcourse that was a model, but cameron was tryin to convey the majesty of the ship, and he wanted to get away from the night to remember type sinking. Quotin the man himself

'There's a stateleyness, to the way we preceive, the sinking of the Titanic, it was no stately'.

And with his seperation scene, I think he acheived that.

Cameron may has done the sinking scene more dramatic so people really could understand how terrible that night was..

Im not sure, but judging by how many of the books describe it, and also the passenger accounts, I'd say the breaking up scene was pretty accurate. If you think about it, why would it not be that fast ?? That was a lot of weight, and once the hull lost integrity and started to split...I'm sure the chain reaction would be very fast.

Knowone is questioning the speed mate, it's the idea that the ship stuck out of the water by that much is what is untrue. It's a film though so you can do whatever the hell you like, but in the real world theres no way it could stick out like that. Beside's since many of the eye witness testimoy is so conflicting, you cant trust it, they cant even all agree on if it spilt or not, if the ship went down like the film then knowone could possibly say it was in one piece as it sank now would they?

Everything I've ever read about titanic says that the stern stuck WAY up out of the water....as steep as a 45 degree angle. If you think about it, it makes sense. The front of the ship went under, and so all the pressurized air got forced back.....creating high pressure...and it rose up far out of the water...the pivot point being the mid section of the hull...it would make sense to me.

This is not very scientific atall but if you look at this, the ship is at the 45 degree angel like you say (which it indeed was) yet is set way further into the sea. Now I am fully aware this is a drawing and like I said it is not scientific, I am using it to help illustrate that although it did indeed go to that angel, it was much further set into the sea than the film depicted. Where as the film had well over 250ft of the ship in the air, this one has something like 100-150, which is much more likely.

Attached file:   titanic4.gif (28.05 KB)

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I remember watching the special additon of "Titanic", and on the commentary, Ken Marshall was talking about whether or not the stern stood at a 90 degree angle after the breakup (before the final plunge).

He stated that it could have become vertical, because of the sheer weight of the reciprocating engines, which could have acted as a keel.

I'm still kinda skeptical about that though.

Ema here,

Here are the 2 pictures of Titanic breaking up!

Attached file:   split aerial-crack.jpg (27.30 KB)

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Attached file:   split_aerial-funnels-fall.jpg (33.96 KB)

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