Movie+Vs.+Real+Life

Have you ever wondered how much of a "true story" is actually true? [|Chasing the Frog], a website that compares movies to their real life stories, provides surprising information about the James Cameron movie versus the Titanic's actual maiden voyage. By: Lindy Hale
 * Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater were not actually real people. In fact, the only non-fictional assets of either of the characters is that Rose is modeled after American Artist Beatrice Wood, who had absolutely no connection to the Titanic. If Jack and Rose were fictional, then so were their family and friends. Among the other "made up" characters of the movie were Rose's fiancé Caledon 'Cal' Hockley (Billy Zane), her mother Ruth (Frances Fisher), Cal's valet Spicer Lovejoy (David Warner), and the third class passengers, who include Jack's friends Fabrizio (Danny Nucci) and Tommy (Jason Barry). However, some of the third class passengers were based on real people.


 * It was actually Director James Cameron's hand in the shots of Jack sketching Rose wearing her necklace. James Cameron also sketched all of the pictures in Jack's sketchbook.


 * Most of the movie shots of the Titanic's wreckage were real! Cameron hired Russian vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh and its two submersibles to do all the filming, and spent nearly 15 hours submerged 12,500 feet below the water with each shoot. The catch: each camera only held 500 feet of film, or about 12 minutes of footage. That's a lot of time spent beneath the water! [[image:jack_and_rose.jpg width="177" height="238" align="right"]]


 * Pieces of the iceberg really did fall aboard the Titanic's promenade deck. Survivors of the Titanic report seeing a few pieces inside of ice to a couple tons of ice.


 * The band/orchestra aboard the Titanic actually did continue to play while the ship was sinking. Survivors recall hearing such songs as "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "In the Shadows" during the commotion. While it unknown what the last song played before the ship finally sank was, each member of the eight-person-band died in the wreckage.


 * One of the giant smoke stacks actually did fall down and crash into the water. It is believed that millionaire passenger John Jacob Astor was actually killed by this incident. In the movie we see the stack crash onto fictional character, Fabrizio.


 * The Titanic's lights continued to burn until the ship went under water. The ship also broke into two pieces as depicted in the movie.


 * Only two boats went back to pick up survivors from the Atlantic Ocean; between the two boats only 11 people were found and rescued--five of the 11 perished on the lifeboats. In the movie, it is Officer Harold Lowe who picks up Rose from the sea. In all, 711 passengers were rescued by the Carpathia.

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Titanic Survivors Interviewed          INTERACT  Prejudice ﻿On the Titanic, passengers were segregated by socioeconomic status. First class citizens were on the upper deck, the nicest part of the ship. Second class citizens were put on the second deck, and Third class citizens, the poorest on the ship, were put int he lowest part of the ship; some even say that there were cages keeping the third class below the upper deck, preventing them from mingling with the first and second class. When the ship sank many of the third class citizens drowned because they were the last to be called for lifeboats.

Most people will be judged in their lifetime, yet some will never experience what it is like to be judged by the color of their skin or their socioeconomic status. The following activity is to teach students how it feels to experience prejudice first hand.

In class, separate students into three equal groups-- group one will play the role of first class citizens, group two will be second class citizens and group three will be third class citizens. Treat the "first class" as if they are first class passengers on the Titanic. Examples could include bringing special treats for them, letting them get into the lunch line first, or giving them no homework passes. For the second class, bring a snack in but make sure that it is not as good as the first classes, let them line up second for lunch, but do not give them homework passes. Treat the third class poorly. Do not give them snacks, and give them extra homework. Switch the class of each group everyday until each group has the opportunity to experience first, second, and third class.

This may be a frustrating activity for the students, but it will teach them important lessons. Assign journal assignments to the students each night about their feelings about the day. At the end of the whole activity give the students an opportunity to discuss their thoughts and feelings as a class. This will allow the students to bond over a mutually experienced activity.


 * Potential journaling questions: **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">What frustrations did you experience today?
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">What was the most important lesson that you learned today?
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Have you ever experienced prejudices before? If so, explain.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Did you learn anything about your classmates throughout this experience?

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Want More Information? Read On!

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