I have mocked the entire Titanic oeuvre over the years. National Geographic, whose obsession with the boat has driven me to distraction, I have re-titled National Titanic. Comes now the New York Times, bless their hearts. The Times entertainment writers, this one in a section titled "Style", are the most unbuttoned, humorous appendage of the Gray Lady. This article, by Callie Holtermann, is on the myriad memes "inspired" by the move Titanic:
The Unsinkable Memes of ‘Titanic’
How a movie released before the iMac became a mainstay of internet culture.
“Titanic,” James Cameron’s three-and-a-quarter-hour drama on the icy seas, was released 25 years ago, grossing (approximately) a gazillion dollars...
...“Titanic” has been most vividly immortalized online, in the screenshots, GIFs and covers of a certain power ballad that fans are still finding ways to make fresh a quarter-century after the movie’s release. This way, they never have to let go.
The Memes: A Reaction for Every Disaster
As the R.M.S. Titanic sinks into the Atlantic near the movie’s conclusion, its musicians play on. “Gentlemen, it has been a privilege playing with you tonight,” one says, in a line that has become one of Twitter’s favorite Mad Libs whenever things go wrong.
“It has been a pleasure tweeting with you all during a genuine zombie apocalypse,” Kyle Alex Brett wrote along with the clip from the movie on March 11, 2020 — the day the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Others have invoked the scene to refer to tanking cryptocurrency prices or a particularly bad Yankees game.
Versions of “I want you to draw me like one of your French girls,” Rose’s instruction to Jack after seeing his sketchbook, now serve as captions for images of cats and George Costanza reclining. That scene’s nudity...made the scene, and the line, particularly memorable.
“It was the first boob I ever saw on the big screen,” said Matt Mulholland, 34, a musician and producer in Wellington, New Zealand. “That really sticks with you.”
The Song: It Goes On, and On
Mr. Mulholland went on to create what might as well be the internet’s “Titanic” soundtrack...
“Part of the reason Celine Dion is so great is her massive dynamic range and emotional integrity within what she’s singing,” he said. “I really loved the idea of taking something incredible, and beautiful, and emotional, and just ruining it.” The video has 36 million views on YouTube.
“My Heart Will Go On” has also been covered by Ariana Grande and James Corden on “The Late Late Show” and subjected to a club remix in “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.”
Its plaintive tin whistle solo is now being recirculated on TikTok as a soundtrack for people pretending to take the advice of their trolls. “On my way back to the NFL bc user48760009 said get off TikTok and back on the field,” the twice-retired tight end Rob Gronkowski wrote in a TikTok video this month.
Callie Holtermann, you ROCK!
😁
