Is 'Titanic' a chick flick?

Is Titanic a chick flick? This very question has gotten me into many debates--and arguments--but the question still isn't settled.

At The A to Z Movie Show, we have a strong opinion on this subject, but many (or most) disagree with us.

DEBATE! (<<that's us with our popcorn)

There are huge elements in the film that make it a chick flick.
Love, romance, guy saves girl...


But there are other parts to Titanic like the historical elements and the factual basis of the story.
The sinking etc.
In other terms, Titanic can be an adventure movie... a thriller... even a horror to an extent... it's a biopic... and also a fictional romance.


So, yes and no.


Depends on the mind-set you have while watching the film.

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I prefer to see it as a comedy about Billy Zane’s character.

Billy Zane is brilliant in that movie.

Yes it’s one of those feel good movies, where the main character (the old lady) eventually gets the guy (Bill Paxton) after a series of comical and bumbling set pieces.

P.s jokes aside, I think titanic is great. Wouldn’t call it a chick flick. Neither do I find the romance cheesy. Effective and emotional storytelling imo.

Not more than Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

No it's not a 'chick flick'. Unless someone's a guy who needs to see boom-boom explosions and big fireballs every other scene.

Titanic wasn't just a ship that sank on it's maiden voyage...It was a human drama of people who showed great courage and fortitude in the face of certain death. In some cases they sacrificed themselves so others might live. And it's a human tale of cowardice and panic. And a tale of human error and arrogance that doomed over 1,500 people to a needless deaths.

I was going to say I think it's a movie for anyone, but I agree with Citizen Rules. Me and my brother watched Titanic and my girlfriend and her friend laughed like it was an odd movie selection for two bros to watch.

Perhaps the Celine Dion song is giving it a chick flick feel to some people?

Yup you called that right, it earned a rep as a chick flick because of the Celine Dion song.

"I believe that the hot dogs go on"

If you want a Titanic film that is more historically accurate, gut wrenchingly gripping, thrilling and emotional (without the chick flick elements that make James Cameron's 1997 Titanic simply a famous setting for a fictional love triangle) watch the single BEST movie that's actually about the ill-fated ship, its passengers and crew: A Night To Remember (1958).

Well maybe if someone like Meat Loaf or Bonnie Tyler did a love song for the movie, then it wouldn't have earned the chick flick reputation.

You forgot to quote your sources

Seriously, what is inaccurate in Titanic (1997) and more accurate in A Night To Remember (1958)?

Not that Titanic is necessarily inaccurate, but A Night To Remember features more real life characters who were on the ship - this is because the movie is much older and there were many more witnesses still alive when the movie was made and they were used as references for both characters, details and the ways people behaved throughout the disaster - the same was not as true in 97 when Cameron made his film. Outside a few historically key characters (such as the ship's officers, Molly Brown, etc.) Cameron's version was largely fiction as far as the main characters in his film.

Split: there is still controversy over whether the ship split in half before or after it sank. In earlier films it is shown to sink in one piece (this could be forgiven if incorrect as the films were made before certain discoveries about the wreck on the ocean floor). However, based on eye-witness testimonies, it's still a controversy as many (including the ship's first officer) stated they saw the ship go down in one piece, while some others say they saw the ship break in half (or "heard" it break or "think they saw" it break) before it sank.

IMO, A Night To Remember utilizes its run time to focus on details surrounding the sinking of the ship. It also follows a variety of characters, some with more screen time than others, but doesn't focus on any one personal story as its primary plot.
Whereas Titanic spends a lot of its time focusing on its fictional lovers' story and their supporting characters. Thus ANTR seems to give a far more detailed and comprehensive telling of the ship's sinking and how it affected a wide group of people aboard as its main plot (with focus on factors that led up to the disaster, ship design, the survival of the lifeboats, etc.) instead of spending as much time on a fictional plot, with the sinking of the ship as the setting as Titanic did.

Ha! I agree it's Celine. I've never seen it because I thought it was a hollywood chick flic and thought it very odd that one of my brothers raved and raved about it when it first came out. Then, Mr D said his then female flatmate would basically play it on a loop and cry so he's never seen the whole movie but every time he walked onto that part of the apartment he was living in the bloody movie was on with a snivelling flatmate howling. He therefore thinks it's a chick flic and I dont like watching movies that make me howl so I never got around to it.

The fact that Cameron decided not to include a lot of the actual names of people who were on board doesn't equate to his movie being inaccurate. The biggest difference between the two movies in accuracy is: that the ship breaks in two in his movie...which is wrongly shown as sinking in whole in A Night to Remember. ( I do think A Night To Remember is a excellent movie BTW)

A Night To Remember is 2h 3min long. Titanic is 3h 14min long, over an hour longer so it can afford to have more of a back story.

Yeah... more time for chick-flick fluff!

Actually, maybe the run time is part of my dissatisfaction with Titanic - you know how I feel about overly long films. ANTR's run time seems perfect to tell the epic story without the audience having to say, "I wish this thing would sink already so I can get to the bathroom!"

"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."
- Alfred Hitchcock

I like that Hitchcock quote! Especially as I get older. Seriously. I was fine with the length of Fellow****p of the Ring but 3 hours these days and on the meds I;m on - stuff that for a joke.

LOL that was a typo!!! Fellowship. I dont know how I did that.

Ha! I can hear those in my head!

(I could see a montage music video of Titanic's action scenes set to "Holding Out for a Hero"!)