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bjbjLULU MARGARET WARNER: Finally tonight, remembering the Titanic, and exploring why
its story resonates in our modern age. The story of the technological triumph that ended
in tragedy still captivates the public mind 100 years after the Titanic sank. This weekend
will see scores of events marking the centennial anniversary, from the re-release of the late
'90s blockbuster film, now in 3-D. . . KATE WINSLET, actress: I will never let go. MARGARET
WARNER: . . . to commemorative cruises along the ship's original intended course. When
it sets sail from Southampton, England, for New York, on April 10, 1912, the Titanic was
hailed as the largest vessel in the world and touted as unsinkable. But just four days
into its maiden voyage, the luxury cruise ship hit an iceberg and sank, killing more
than 1,500 passengers and crew. With the shipwreck lying on the ocean floor, its tale has spawned
countless books and films. And the wreckage itself attracts underwater tourists and scavengers,
prompting calls for its preservation. STEVE BLASCO, marine geologist, Survey of Canada:
Recovering artifacts, the belongings of people who have died is -- is not to be done. MARGARET
WARNER: Whether or not the wreckage survives another 100 years, fascination with its story
and fate seem sure to endure. And for more on why the fascination endures, we turn to
writer and critic Daniel Mendelsohn. His latest piece in The New Yorker is "Unsinkable: Why
We Can't Let Go of the Titanic." And, Daniel Mendelsohn, welcome. So, what is it about
the Titanic tale and its themes that so grips ours imagination and has for 100 years? DANIEL
MENDELSOHN, writer/critic: Well, I think, mostly, it's that it's a real-life event that
unfolds as if it were basically a work of literature. You know, it s sort of too good
to be true. It has all the themes. It has the structure. You know, there s something
irresistible about it because it's too perfect. MARGARET WARNER: Well, give us an example.
What do you mean? What themes? DANIEL MENDELSOHN: Well, you know, it's about the oldest -- it's
about the oldest theme of all, which is man vs. nature. That's one, right? Hubris, the
subject of so many Greek tragedies. They say they build -- they re going to build the ship
that can't sink. Of course it sinks. It's about class. It's a perfect parable about
class at the end of the 19th century. If you were a man in first class, you had a better
chance of surviving than if you were a small child in third class. It seems to be about
technology and overconfidence in technology, which is something we're very interested in
still, obviously, and the limits of technology. So all of these things seem to be sort of
overdetermined. You know, in one story, you get class, you get overweening arrogance,
you get technological overconfidence. And it all comes together and you put it in the
most beautiful, biggest ship ever built, and it sinks on a piece of ice in the middle of
the ocean. MARGARET WARNER: On its maiden voyage. DANIEL MENDELSOHN: On its maiden voyage.
MARGARET WARNER: You write in this piece. You begin with the fact that your uncle when
you were age 12 enrolled you in a club called Titanic Enthusiasts of America. DANIEL MENDELSOHN:
Right. MARGARET WARNER: And I won't try to speculate on what your age may be, but what.
. . (LAUGHTER) MARGARET WARNER: Have the themes that resonate changed over time, at least
here in the U.S.? DANIEL MENDELSOHN: I don't think so. Well, I mean, it could be. I think,
at the very beginning, there was a tremendous amount of anguish about the class issue. You
know, it was very shocking when this first came out that the scales were tipped so greatly
and so obviously in favor of people who were first-class passengers. And I think, today,
the sort of technological theme predominates. And, also, there's this irresistible idea.
. . MARGARET WARNER: You mean the limits of our technology? DANIEL MENDELSOHN: The limits
of technology. It's like the Challenger disaster. You know, many of the kinds of things that
were said after the Challenger disaster were said after the Titanic sank, how here we thought
we had it all figured out and we were getting so accustomed to these fantastic technological
accomplishments, and it turns out we didn't get it all right. So that's -- as long as
we have technology, that's going to be a theme that interests us. MARGARET WARNER: And then,
of course, as you pointed out, it really taps into classical myth. It is a myth and it taps
into them. DANIEL MENDELSOHN: Yes. Yeah, I think there s an idea that the Titanic itself
is a kind -- in a funny way, you know, a hero of this mythic story. You know, we go to Greek
plays to watch great heroes like Oedipus, you know, who everyone thinks has all the
answers, powerful, strong, accomplished, fall apart. That s why we go to see these dramas.
It is still we why we go to see "Death of a Salesman" or whatever. And the Titanic itself
looks like one of these heroes. It s a wonderful, impregnable, unsinkable. It seems to have
it all. And then we get a certain kind of funny pleasure from watching a drama in which
something beautiful disintegrates. MARGARET WARNER: And we know it's going to happen before
it happens. Well, thank you, Daniel Mendelsohn. DANIEL MENDELSOHN: And we still watch. MARGARET
WARNER: And we still watch. DANIEL MENDELSOHN: Thank you. MARGARET WARNER: Thanks so much.
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