Titanic：My Influence Will Go On and On

  It was 1998, 14 years ago, when China started to accelerate her pace on economic development and opening-up to the world. At this year, the movie Titanic was premiered in mainland China, which attracted millions of Chinese audiences to the cinemas. People crowded before the ticket booth or sat in the cinema shedding tears. Titanic was tremendously successful not only because its 1.8 billion box office but also because the effect left on many nations. Today, Titanic in 3D is back on the screen. Let us reflect its significant influences on Chinese people in 1998.

  Firstly, Titanic somehow reflected the alteration in China government’s attitude towards western culture. From then on, China government became more open-minded and held more appreciation towards western movies. At that time, China has just started to import western movies and the quantity was strictly restricted under ten per year, in order to eliminate the “contamination” from western world. Fortunately, Titanic survived from the rigorous examination owing to the strong recommendation from China’s former Chairman, Jiang Zemin. During a conference, Mr. Jiang mentioned that Titanic vividly depicted the correlation between love and death, relationship between the rich and the poor and people’s reaction when confronting disasters. He also suggested officials to see this movie to get a deep insight of capitalism. This remark became a convincing advertisement, therefore, Titanic got the chance to present in rural areas and even the sentences like “have you seen Titanic” became the most popular greeting. This phenomenon exemplifies the huge change happened on both Chinese people and the government. China was entering an era full of freedom and innovation.

  In addition, Titanic changed Chinese’s attitude towards love. Since then, the ideal love is no more like the one between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai who must live and die together. The most touching scene in the movie is Jack holding Rose’s hand saying “Rose, you must promise that you’ll survive, that you won’t give up. No matter what happens. No matter how hopeless. Promise now. Rose, you never go off that, promise!” Afterwards, Rose loosens his hands and swims towards the life boat. This scene made many Chinese youth reconsider what is love. Love is no more the one between Romeo and Juliet; Love is the best wish to others to survive, to live a better life and to be happy forever; love is more about communication, understanding and respect rather than simply being together. The promise “I will live a better life for you” remains in every Chinese youth’s heart. Hereafter, people had more freedom in love and marriage.

  Another scene where everyone on the ship obeys the order to save women and children first and no one violates it left a big influence on Chinese. Similar to western culture, Chinese culture also emphasizes on etiquette and courtesy, however, today’s Chinese has forgotten most of the basic good manners. Once there was a big fire in a primary school in Xinjiang province. The teachers’ commend that “officials go first and students wait”, which caused several students’ death from burn, shamed all nation. It was time for Chinese to contemplate their values and behavior. Although today we become affluent, we can never lose our consciousness.

  Fourteen years has passed. Today China is still undergoing significant changes, while Titanic stays classic. As for me, the most precious memory in childhood also related to Titanic. When my parents took me to the cinema to see it, I was five. Although I cannot remember the plot clearly, I can recall the warming feeling sitting beside my parents and the astonishment by Titanic’s sinking. Maybe like the lyrics from My Heart Will Go On, Titanic’s influence will go on and on. Hopefully, China can be a unsinkable ship.