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The onscreen shipwreck promises both visual magnificence and emotional grandeur.
It is, in a way, the perfect cinematic gambit.
It is also an effective yet simple visual metaphor.
Each generation has brought its own perspective to the cinematic shipwreck.
There are the tragically beautiful shipwrecks, the empowering we will survive shipwrecks, the doomed-lovers shipwrecks.
There are even a few darkly comic shipwrecks.
Is it merely a symptom of cinematic trends that shipwrecks are becoming more satirically shocking?
The ship goes down slowly after tilting dramatically to its side.
We see the chaos onboard people slide violently into the water, fights break out, children cry.
But whatA Night to Rememberreally gives us is shipwreck meets Golden Age Hollywood.
The ship goes down to an overpowering score of urgent violins and horns.
The chaos onboard is interspersed with stagy close-up reactions from people aboard the lifeboats.
Swiss Family Robinson(1960)
InSwiss Family Robinson, the shipwreck gets the Disney treatment.
As a family film, this shipwreck is fairly tame.
The boat runs aground, so drowning seems very unlikely.
Basically, the family members all get a bit wet.
Its family-friendly, swashbuckling fun.
Its the wholesome outcome one would expect from a Disney shipwreck.
Packed full of action and stars, the film was a crowd-pleaser and has since become a cult classic.
In this 70s star vehicle, the shipwreck is a rig for creating a satisfying high drama.
Its the kind of shipwreck that is greeted with that deep, awestruck murmur of My God!
that has become synonymous with cult action films.
And it pulls it off perfectly.
The Blue Lagoon(1980)
Is there anything romantic about being lost at sea?
This is the questionThe Blue Lagoonsought to answer.
Spoiler: The film provides a resounding yes.
The film takes us back to a shipwreck in the 1800s whose only survivors are two young cousins.
As they grow up on a remote tropical island, things eventually get romantic.
Its essentially a case of shipwreck as erotic plot equipment.
The island proves to be a lush, tropical idyll that rarely poses any real threat to the castaways.
Titanic(1997)
Titanicis arguably the apex of the shipwreck-film genre.
James Camerons 1997 epic brought the movie shipwreck into the modern-blockbuster age.
Gone were the quaint little leaks, the slightly dampened clothes, and the melodramatic reaction shots.
It was also the first shipwreck film to really put a spotlight on the whole above-and-below-deck thing.
Suddenly, the shipwreck became the perfect playground for uncovering the irrationality and cruelty of class as a concept.
The thrills, action, and special effects were all kicked up a notch for the 21st century.
For weeks, he fights and negotiates for survival with his new companions.
The Wolf of Wall Street(2013)
Enter the comedic shipwreck.
The furiously paced story follows Jordan Belfort, a drug-addicted broker turned party boy living for the highs.
We can fucking handle chop right, right?
Margot Robbie is panicking.
Jonah Hill is freaking out.
Leonardo DiCaprio is still destroying his vocal cords as he screams out, Im a master diver!
It all ends with Leo maniacally demanding that Jonah get the ludes because he will not die sober.
And the result is wildly hilarious.
This is a big-budget, mystical sort of shipwreck.
Here, we have ordinary people pitted against the vast and mysterious ocean and its monsters.
This is Hollywood giving us a good old-fashioned shipwreck in the most cinematic way possible.
Does it feel a little dated?
Perhaps, but its hard to look away all the same.
Adrift(2018)
Can a shipwreck provide the setting for an epic love story?
They are left adrift on the ocean with no radio and multiple injuries.
InAdrift, the power of love is pitted against the power of the elements.
Adriftmarks a new throw in of shipwreck romance.
In turn, the films depiction of love is far more subtle and nuanced.
A storm hits during dinner.
As the guests slurp down caviar-laced oysters and endless flutes of Champagne, the storm becomes increasingly threatening.
The room rocks sickeningly from side to side.
Glasses topple off the tables.
Below deck, a cleaning trolley slams into a wall.
Thats when the sea sickness kicks in.
What follows is the stuff of nightmares.
One by one, the seafood- and Champagne-filled guests projectile vomit across the dining room.
They stumble back to their rooms.
The lights flicker off.
Meanwhile, the captain and the rich Russian drunkenly debate Marxist politics and capitalism over the intercom system.
Its hellish, revolting, and riotously, shockingly gross.
Incidentally, the ship doesnt even go down until the following morning after the storm has abated.
All things considered, perhaps its fitting that this years shipwreck movie is more unmoored than ever.
