erastes

I wish I knew more about the building blocks of writing and story-telling. I mean, I (seemingly) can tell a story that people want to read and to know what happens next, but when it comes to seeing what is wrong with other things that I know something is wrong about, I don’t have the technical know-how as to cut it open and point “ah – ha!” at the culprit.

so when I was watching – against my better judgment, but I like to give new shows at least the benefit of the doubt – part two of Titanic last night, I knew that something was off, but heavens alone if I can pinpoint what it is.

But hell, you didn’t think that it was going to put me off trying did you? Any excuse for airy verbiage.

First off it was dull. That was my first impression and not one that went away from watching the second episode. Personally—and this isn’t a reflection on the piece—I think the subject has been done to death and Cameron’s Four or Five hour epic--which I’ve never managed to get as far as the boat actually sinking, because I simply pass into catatonic shock at around 3 hours—should have been the last word on the subject. The story is a human interest one, and what everyone seems to do is to portray a smattering of real and made-up people, get us involved in their stories, have them interweave both in class and romance and hope that we are interested enough to care who lives and who dies. Trouble is, one KNOWS – with the real life people—who lives and who dies, it takes a couple of clicks these days to find the lists of the dead and the survivors, and the made up people will have to be pretty charismatic to make me want to care that much, specially after hours of Winslet clinging to a rail (yes, yes, I never got that far, but I’ve seen the clips)

I can’t really highlight why I found it dull, either. It just wasn’t gluing (glueing with no e- really?) me to the screen. Perhaps there were too many people—I’ve read that over the four weeks of the series 89 characters are to take part in it. I do think that’s too many. I can’t actually recall anyone’s names, and I couldn’t care less why they were going to America (because I know what’s going to happen). The only thing that stuck with me was a second-class chambermaid (no idea of her name) who got chatting to an Italian first class waiter. Also nameless.

Oh, and Toby Jones is in there somewhere.

I don’t know if it was deliberate, and Julian Fellows (who wrote this and the spectacularly successful Downton Abbey) decided that he was going to go for more unknown actors, but there is a stellar lack of star talent. Yes, there’s a few well-known names such as Celia Imrie (Acorn Antiques) James Wilby (Maurice) and Geraldine Somerville (Cracker) and of course the wonderful Toby Jones but despite solid performances from all there’s no galaxy of stars. Possibly because of the cost of the production but perhaps bigger stars realised that the script wasn’t quite up to snuff.

The device of having the same timeline – just about – for each episode, just shown from another perspective doesn’t work for me either. The first week surprised me because within 40 minutes of the show the crash had happened and people were in lifeboats before the 3rd commercial break and I thought “What are they going to do for the next three weeks then?” Then this week’s episode began and we are back before the launch meeting new people, some from 3rd class and some from first and second and all we had to do was go through it all again.

I know it’s difficult to find a new take on the disaster, which makes me feel that they shouldn’t have bothered. Specially as it’s all done to “commemorate the centenary” – and as people are profiteering from it, always strikes me as a bit—or more than a bit—icky. I just don’t think that this approach is very successful, or in the slightest bit gripping.

And nothing seems to actually have happened. (other than an iceberg) I can’t remember much about anything that’s gone on except a ton of class griping, and some people went to church at some point.

Perhaps it will get better, but I won’t be bothering with it from next week – I never managed to get to the end of part two.