>
>In total agreement here. Too much egalitarian “presentism” in that area
>of the film, a problem found not just in movies but in Americanist
>scholarship as well.
>
>Timothy L. Francis

I agree with Tim on the broader historical issues. However….it might be
worth pointing out that in 1912 Britain, France and Germany were having
wicked class conflict over the type of gross social distinctions Cameron
tried to depict. (They were – in fact – beginning to die out in this period.
But that was certainly not clear at the time because WWI had much to do with
it.) Making the 1st class types on the Titanic into the bad guys is not
such bad history – and a lot of people alive in 1912 would have been the
first to agree.
Eric Bergerud, 531 Kains Ave, Albany CA 94706, 510-525-0930