A few months ago, I was casually wasting my life away on Twitter and TikTok when I saw one of those viral tweets that circulate a few times a year asking what topic you could give a 30-minute presentation on with no preparation.
Without thinking, I hit Quote Tweet and wrote “Titanic”, as I do anytime there’s a “what’s something that lives in your mind rent-free”-style viral tweet. Titanic has been living rent-free in my head for so long now that at this point, it could honestly take me to court and claim squatter’s rights.
After posting about it for the millionth time, I began to wonder: Just how often do I actually think about it?
Happy to see Titanic trending today because honestly, my little brain box is broken and that old-ass sunken ship is the screensaver I cannot change. With no exaggeration I think about Titanic (1997) or THE Titanic (1912) probably like every other day? At LEAST three times a week.
— stephanie marie (@stefinitely85) March 29, 2021
I decided that for 31 days, between April 8 and May 9, I would make a note every time I thought about Titanic.
Some quick stats: Over 31 days, I thought about Titanic 28 times. The most times it came up in one day was three, and there were 13 days where I didn’t think about it at all. What struck me the most was how often I was prompted to think about it because the content popping up on my feeds was referencing it directly.
Sure, there were times when I found myself thinking about it because I saw a nice bathroom tile and thought, “I wish James Cameron had found a way to include the ship’s Turkish baths in the film”, which I will concede is something only I would be prompted by, but 16 of the 28 times I thought about it were from direct references to the film, and not a single one of them (surprisingly!) was about whether Jack could have fit on the door.
Some of the other prompts that can only be described as “a reach” were:
- When I watched George Clooney fall in some ice water in The Midnight Sky and thought about when Jack tells Rose that ice water feels “like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body”.
- When I watched four episodes of 90 Day Fiancé back-to-back and thought “I could’ve watched Titanic twice” because the episodes are long and also I sometimes measure time in relation to Titanic’s 194-minute runtime.
- The four separate times that random background music reminded me of the score. James Horner’s impact!
Now, I’m not saying everyone’s homepages and For You Pages look like mine — my feeds are heavily influenced by my own interests which makes all of this completely biased and subjective, but still! Seeing 16 random references to Titanic in a month has led me to the only natural conclusion to be drawn: I think we all think about Titanic all the time.
Let’s examine.
On April 8, I overheard someone on TV saying: “You know Titanic? How the band played until the end?” and I thought “I absolutely do know!”
Later that day, I saw this viral Tweet:
My grandmother barely survived the titanic sinking in 1912 pic.twitter.com/RZ1WuP9lRY
— Smitty (@millenial__gay) April 7, 2021
The very next day, Jersey Shore alum Snooki was explaining the thought process behind some of her most iconic looks and Tweeted this, which I relate to on a spiritual level because that’s exactly what I’d do if someone invited me on a yacht.
I was invited on a yacht as a “celebrity guest” and wanted to pretend i was the captain of Titanic https://t.co/kotUt1nnCa
— Nicole Polizzi (@snooki) April 7, 2021
On April 25, my friends and I were watching Trixie and Katya recap the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race on The Pit Stop, during which Katya compared the budget of the queens’ finale looks to Titanic and Trixie referenced Rose.
The next day, I was listening to the Little Gold Men podcast, in which co-host Richard Lawson mentioned Titanic. In May, Who? Weekly podcast co-host Bobby Finger was describing the hat that actress Shailene Woodley wore to the Kentucky Derby, and said that it reminded him of “Rose Dewitt-Bukator’s if she bought it at a thrift shop”.
On April 30, this rap popped up on my TikTok:
@mrgrandeofficial when you watch too much TikTok and start glitching 😓 #fyp #viral #genz
On May 3, this popped up on my Twitter:
Britney Spears modeling prom dresses in 1998. And yes that is a recreation of the Titanic necklace! Aww, you shouldn't have! #BritneySpears pic.twitter.com/W7cdLCL5lO
— BritneyScans (@BritneyScans) May 2, 2021
Finally, on May 9, the very last day, I went to the cinema to see Fatale and saw that Titanic is screening on June 20. Within two hours, I’d locked in five friends to join me and purchased tickets, because if I have one rule to live by it’s that if I see that Titanic is showing at the cinema, I have to go.
It’s just a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen, you know? Thank you for attending my TED Talk.
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