Does anyone know if there is going to be a novelization of the movie? I'd love to have the book.

-- Lianne (liannegraham@one.net.au), March 18, 1998

Answers

Response to Novel?

In the Titanic Book Cameron admitted his intention was to write the novel too. He ran out of time. I heard that there would be an annotated screenplay published with pictures and stuff. Wouldn't that be keen!

I would love to have a novel with all of the extras scenes in it and stuff.

-- crystal smithwick (Crystal@9v.com), March 19, 1998.

From what I heard, there are negotiations to release a novelization of the movie. Judged by how popular this movie has become, a novelization is inevitable.

-- Jim Islam (najmi@udel.edu), March 19, 1998.

I don't know if there will be a novelization of 'Titanic', but if there is I don't expect it will be very interesting. The movie is not something that I think will translate well into the print medium.

One thing that has struck me about 'Titanic', which few people have commented much on, is how cinematic the film is, that is, how well it uses the specific medium of film to tell a story. Much has been made (too much, I think) by certain critics about how some of Cameron's dialogue writing sometimes leaves a bit to be desired, but this is more than compensated by his extraordinary ability to tell so much of a story with careful selection of images, visual sequences, and other non-written means.

Don't get me wrong; I think good writing is very important to movies, and have often criticized other movies for having poor writing. But a film is more than just writing. A novel or a play without great writing cannot be a great work of art. There is nothing else for those mediums to fall back on; the writing is ***the*** thing there. For movies, however, there is more involved. A film can be great art, even if its dialogue writing is only "sufficient" or "decent", ***if*** there is superb use of other elements, eg., basic story line, cinematography, music, art direction, etc. This is where I think 'Titanic' succeeds, and succeeds in a big way.

To concretize this, and bring it all back to the issue of a novelization of the movie, imagine trying to capture in prose what I think is the most beautiful scene in the entire movie: the scene with Jack and Rose on the bow of the ship, now often called the "I'm flying" scene. How could anyone, even a skilled novelist, capture all the visual and emotional power of that moment in print form? A good writer might well write something moving and beautiful, but it would not be the same scene. As it stands, it is one of the greatest moments of pure cinematic art that I have ever seen. And there are many others almost as good in the rest of the movie. In print form, I think my reaction to these scenes would be mostly ho-hum.

Novels and films are two related but distict art forms, and the greatest examples of each rarely translate well into the other's medium.

-- Thomas Shoebotham (cathytom@ix.netcom.com), March 19, 1998.

It has been my experince that if you have a good writer then almost always the book is better than the movie. You get to see what the characters are thinking and you know why they do certain things. Even knowing this it would be very difficult to read a novelization of this movie simply because a writer may have a differing view on how Rose or Jack thought or felt at certain times. That and the writer would almost certainly have to put in scence that were cut from the movie and I'm not sure I would like that. Some things are better left the way they are. Then again if/when the book ever does come out, I'll probably be one to get it:) LOL

-- Miranda Swearingen (Kylen1@hotmail.com), March 31, 1998.