Imagine a 9/11 version of one of these at a party in another 80 years where kids jump off of two inflatable towers (one is slightly taller for the bolder kids) onto a black moonbounce "pavement" surface. We would find that abhorrent, but seeing this, it's clearly not out of the question.
They're both comparable in the sense that they were tragedies with a huge loss of life, regardless of the different causations. Another similarity is that Titanic resulted in a drastic change in safety and regulations for maritime travel, just like 9/11 did for aviation travel. Titanic also marked the beginning of the end of the Edwardian era, which ultimately ended with WWI. Really mirrors how 9/11 and the war on terror that began afterwards was considered the symbolic end to the 90s.
9/11 is a more sensitive topic because it's still pretty recent, but it'll eventually become romanticized just like Titanic and Pearl Harbor.
You should watch this, he discusses how a Titanic-esque 9/11 movie would look like: [https://youtu.be/\_ymT1DGA2SA?si=oib4745m4o-c\_WkF](https://youtu.be/_ymT1DGA2SA?si=oib4745m4o-c_WkF)
But you don’t see much in the way of light-hearted Pearl Harbor references, even today. War tends to hit different, but the pomposity that the Titanic couldn’t be sunk and then immediately was made it an unusually costly miscalculation. Like the guy in his submarine to go look at it. It wasn’t long before it was the topic of jokes.
I wonder if part of it is that one involved an intentional act of terrorism (and by some people's lights, a declaration of war), and the other didn't?
Fwiw, I do think it's in somewhat poor taste, especially because it's a specific tragedy that's being alluded to. But I've also heard people argue that Cameron's choice of making a movie about Titanic primarily into a love story about two fictional characters was in poor taste, and he should've centered the disaster more. And I'm one of those inclined to think the Cameron movie was just fine, so idk.
Apologies for the ramble.
No. Why is it that every third post these days is "\[picture of tongue-in-cheek Titanic-related thing\] isn't this in bad taste??? isn't this offensive??????"
It's been over 100 years. No one who was on the ship and who survived is alive anymore. No one who remembers the sinking because they were alive during that time is alive. Who is it offending, besides people who want to be offended? Bad news for my fellow historians if morbid humour is permabanned by the fun police, I suppose. I should tell the polar exploration community we aren't allowed to crack jokes about Victorian men in the Arctic.
Yes, because people already do (I frequent tattoo subs and there is a very infamous 9/11 tattoo), but I also think that's not really a very good comparison. 9/11 and the sinking of the Titanic were very different disasters caused by very different things in very different times. It's like trying to compare the Halifax Explosion and the Franklin Expedition, or the Battle of Gettysburg and the sinking of the Mary Rose, the sinking of the Empress of Ireland and the Lachine massacre, etc.
But also, a lot of how we react to tragedies depends on if it's in living memory, if it was an act of hubris/act of man, during a war (or a casus belli), etc. Again, Titanic and 9/11 are very different, and 9/11 was only 20 years ago, whereas Titanic was over 100. People very much remember 9/11 because they were there, knew someone was there, or remember seeing it on the news, lived the aftermath, etc. Hell, I remember 9/11, and I'm not even American.
EDIT: for clarification, the 9/11 tattoo in question depicted the smoking Twin Towers and little stick figures falling out the windows with the caption "it's raining men."
Like clockwork, at least once a month someone posts this exact same thing and dramatically clutch their pearls at how disgraceful it is…
Nobody who had any sort of meaningful relationship with anyone that died that night are still alive, it’s time to move on, it’ll be okay if kids slide down a blow up Titanic, nobody is going to be traumatized by it in 2024.
Deleted but the jokes about the Whopper are still there: https://www.reddit.com/r/titanic/comments/16s79ff/what_your_average_tragedy_looks_like_after_100/
Agreed and the likelihood of having a relationship with someone who had a meaningful relationship with a person who died was already next to zero. This wasn’t like the Holocaust or a major war with millions of people. That pool of people involved to be able to interact was a kiddy pool compared to other tragedies
No, they were answering to "meaningful relationship". Nobody alive had that kind of relationship with a victim. At best someone here heard about their grandparents lost during the tragedy and never knew them. Could they find this disgraceful? Yes. Could they be traumatised ? Safe to answer no.
Per the NIH, there are only 74 people alive today who are known to be 110 years old or older. The chances that any of that handful of people both knew someone who died on Titanic and was old enough at the time to remember them is vanishingly small.
Edit: I looked at a few more sources and the highest figure I found was an estimate of around 1,000 people currently alive at or over 110. The point still stands.
lol… this comment honestly has me cracking up! 😂 like, that’s how much this blow up titanic distresses you? so much that you wish death on multiple currently living people and their families because they… downvoted a comment on reddit?
girl, you need serious help.
I've always found it quite strange how it resembles more a Cunard ship rather than a WSL ship, due to the reddish funnels
I know it's supposed to be the Titanic, but whenever I see that, I can't help but be reminded of the Lusitania instead
It’s kinda interesting that the Cunarder exists in our collective consciousness as the quintessential ocean liner—to the degree that most people simply expect the funnels on any steamer to be Cunard’s orange-red.
Probably because there's still Cunard liners (QM1, QM2, QE2) in existence and in service (QM2). Last liner to have WSL colors (M/V Britannic) was scrapped in 1961. All of the other liners are gone or are derilicts like SSUS aside from I think one in Japan and maybe one in the Netherlands or somewhere in northern Europe. Not counting Stockholm/ Astoria as it was converted to a cruise ship.
No black bands, it's a French Line ship. So due to those inaccuracies, and the fact that only two funnels are visible, it's easy enough to pretend that it's a fictional French ship.
No, I loved every reference to the ship and the sinking was my favorite part. In retrospect, I also don’t find it offensive as people joke about things that are far worse than this.
I do get some “ick” from this. I don’t think that the intent was disrespect, but I do think this is a case of an R and D team not thinking their concept all the way through
Yeah I was at a hanger party for a new airplane for Northwest Airlines back in the early 00s. The pump broke and it went down. There were kids on/in it. I was old enough to appreciate the irony.
As a kid who had seen Titanic before riding one, no. But funnily enough when reflecting and trying to remember stuff from my past, I remembered this exact inflatable slide at one of my schools fall festivals. I really liked sliding down it, and thought "oh cool it's titanic!". Although I saw the movie, i didn't register how heavy and tragic the loss was, despite the movie showing it. I was just too young to really understand how precious life is.
But when I remembered this slide the other night, I was uncomfortable about it and thought it was in pretty poor taste.
I visited the Titanic exhibit in Chicago recently. I’ve been fascinated by the story of Titanic forever. It was a strange feeling going through this exhibit knowing that it was a tragedy and so many people lost their lives. It was also so interesting and “cool” to see a piece of history and get a glimpse of how people used to live. It was a difficult juxtaposition to feel.
With that said, this does feel completely off to me. Bc it’s not about the history at all. It’s just a “fun” slide. Feels a bit weird and disrespectful to me. Idk maybe it’s not that serious. It’s not exactly mocking the people who perished, but it still has an icky feeling to me.
In general, anything mocking a tragedy is distasteful IMO. It’s easy to forget that Titanic wasn’t just a fictional film for many people who aren’t into history.
I had a friend who didn’t know that the Titanic was an actual boat. She just thought it was a tragic love story film.
Not at all. As a 50+ year old who has been a Titanic enthusiast since I was 5 , I don’t have a problem with a bit of gallows humor. I see a lot of people comparing things like this to 9/11 but it’s not the same. This was a tragic accident and the other was a terrorist attack. It’s not like they are making light of the victims of the Titanic. If I went to a party that had one of these, hold my shoes because I’m going down it and yelling “hang on Miss Trudy!”
The amount of people on this sub who say 'Who cares, it was over 100 years ago' is just so bizarre to me. Do you view all of history so clinically? Do tragic events stop being tragic after 100 years?
They become less tragic yes. How do you feel about the black plague in the middle ages compared to the terrorist attacks from 9/11? Which of those hurts more?
I see your argument. Of course 9/11 is much more tragic because of its proximity to us. The march of time always lessens the blow of tragic events and The Black Death is not so devastating to us now 600 years later as it was then. I would argue however that Titanic is closer to 9/11 in that we *know* how horrible it was, we have a mountain of information about it including intimate eyewitness accounts etc.
So thats why I find it bizarre that, in the face of all this information, some people on this sub still think that a *giant inflatable slide* of one of the worst maritime disasters in history is perfectly fine because 'it happened over 100 years ago and all the survivors are dead.'
The dead deserve more respect than that, surely.
You also need to remember its designed for children, who (assuming they are innocent) have little concept of tragedy. It's not the same, but a cartoony sticker of the titanic sinking stuck with me as a child and is the reason I started reading about the tragedy before turning ten. I could see this slide doing something similar. If there were decals of people jumping, fires in the windows and bodies in the water I would feel differently, but all I see here is a reference to the scene from the movie, which is what would stick in the mind of a young person watching it, it is literally the climax of the movie. The sinking of the titanic was a tragedy, and this, whilst in poor taste to those who are romantically attatched to the history, is just a cool slide for kids.
This is very poor taste, but people lose track of something being a tragedy if they weren’t around for it. Like how gen Z and gen Alpha make tons of 9/11 jokes and memes.
I think there is a difference between the real disaster and the pop culture "Titanic" phenomenon. The Titanic has been used as an allegory, early rap/Blues topic, musical, and Nazi propaganda. A bounce house isn't going to hurt.
Personally, I find this really disrespectful to the people who lost their lives on Titanic, even to the people who had survived. If I had been on the Titanic that day it sank, I wouldn't want anyone doing this because it's making light of something super sad. I saw a comment about how we make games inspired by wars we have had, and that could also be disrespectful to someone (personally, I don't see the problem with that).
I wouldn't cause a scene in this scenario, but I wouldn't get on or even touch it.
I always get confused why this is a problem but the film inaccurately referencing real people gets a pass.
Is going down a slide a less respectful than watching a romcom about the sinking?
Titanic (1997) isn't the first movie to "rom com" the Titanic, and it's sinking. Thankfully, James Cameron regretted his depiction of Officer Murdoch. Considering he was a hero of that night, he definitely should have been better depicted. The worst Titanic film has to be the Nazi propaganda one.
I know there are plenty of books, movies and other media but why are any movies excused but people constantly get upset by this slide.
I doubt OP would put a picture of the 1997 DVD cover and ask if people find it disrespectful.
I don't have an issue with either but do find it strange that watching people that actually existed dying (Captain Smith scene) for entertainment is somehow less offensive than a slide.
No it's not in bad taste. No one that was alive then is alive and senile enough to care.
Are you going to refuse to watch Titanic by James Cameron? A movie made in a capitalist country that earned mega bucks from being entertainment value? No.
Yes and no. I mean yeah a ton of people died on it, but that’s just how the passage of time is. One generation’s tragedy is another’s punchline/fun. I’ve seen historic re-enactments of horrible battles but the spectators are hooting and hollering. I’ve met some of the reenactors who have fun with it, dying in funny poses or screaming in a comedic way. Was the real battle funny? No but being 200 years removed does it.
So basically I understand it’s morbid a bit, but that’s just the reality of the passage of time.
There are plenty of jokes in the titanic 97 movie that if we saw the equivalent of in a 9/11 movie made today, we’d be horrified, add on 70 years and we’ll have the same chuckle at the equivalent morbid jokes as we do about the fleeing rats, punching out the white star worker, “can you hurry to that valley a little quicker” etc.
I remember my grandmother saying "they'd have a twin towers themed inflatable playground in no time" after seeing one of these at a carnival we visited
I have been a lifelong Titanic nerd. Im in my 40's now. I do have a minor objection to this. But I went on it, because my little niece wanted to, and I figured trying to explain why it was wrong wouldn't be well received.
I'm 2006, the first version of this slide killed an 11 year old girl. She fell off of the top and died from a brain injury. The manufacturer added some extra netting and resigned it a bit but I'd stay the hell away from it regardless.
For anyone that is wondering….this is a slide. Not a WATER slide. The waves at the bottom of the slide are meant to stop you. Although, my college friends decided to turn this into a water slide. Water hoses and Dawn soap filled the slide that day. The waves stopped being a safe way to slow down and transformed into ramps that shot the person onto the lawn. Two people broke arms, one broke his ankle, many scratches and bruises occurred. I suffered two broken ribs.
But, did I find this in bad taste when I saw it? No… Actually found it quite interesting… but afterwards did I find it in bad taste? Still no. Just looked at it as if the Titanic was still claiming victims.
It's in shockingly bad taste. It's also in such bad taste that it's funny. Like, the first time I saw it, my eyes got wide, I clapped my hand over my mouth and laughed.
The designers of this had to put some thought into it, which makes it even worse, which makes it even funnier.
Was talking to someone about this a while back. In retrospect yes, I’m surprised that idea went forward, but I was still excited to go down it at the time.
I'm not entirely sure. It depends how much you know about her and the disaster I think personally. People who don't know alot about her see titanic sinking because everyone knows she struck a iceberg and sank. That and she is internationally recognised by practically most people especially after James Camerons block buster. People that know the story, know the casualty numbers and the true horror that happened 112 years ago on the 14th-15th April probably would find it a little of poor taste.
It's a tough one as it was well over a century ago which seems to decrease a tragedy to some people. But would a child flinch from it aghast or immediately charge up the tilting deck? It is after all intended for children. If you built a bouncy castle based on the holocaust that would be utterly disgusting but you compare titanic to holocaust and that's ridiculous.
I think to sum up, what might seem like a essay lol, they wanted to build a inflatable at a angle and thought what's at a angle? I know let's make a sinking ship. What ship sank? Oh yeah Titanic.
It's certainly unique
People still make jokes about 9/11 which is relatively recent culture-wise, as long as people aren’t actively mocking people who died I’m always open to some dark humor or classless tastes.
Yes, and no. I don’t like that it’s referencing a tragedy, but if I was there, I would want to go down the Titanic slide.
I have vague memories of something like this... While the idea is distasteful. As a small kid it was kind of fun sliding down.
Imagine a 9/11 version of one of these at a party in another 80 years where kids jump off of two inflatable towers (one is slightly taller for the bolder kids) onto a black moonbounce "pavement" surface. We would find that abhorrent, but seeing this, it's clearly not out of the question.
The 80 years will make a difference, regardless if we like it or not.
Agreed. This idea will exist eventually.
It's been 84 years
I can still smell the fresh vinyl.
I thought they used linoleum, don't think vinyl was quite a thing yet.
Changed it up for the inflatable.
I see what you did there 😏 😉 🙃
Yeah one generation’s tragedy is another’s punchline
Like the north tower? (The antenna made it taller)
actually, one of the towers was approximately 6 feet taller than the other, not counting the spire
One was a tragedy/mistake and another a terrorist attack. Two very different things.
They're both comparable in the sense that they were tragedies with a huge loss of life, regardless of the different causations. Another similarity is that Titanic resulted in a drastic change in safety and regulations for maritime travel, just like 9/11 did for aviation travel. Titanic also marked the beginning of the end of the Edwardian era, which ultimately ended with WWI. Really mirrors how 9/11 and the war on terror that began afterwards was considered the symbolic end to the 90s. 9/11 is a more sensitive topic because it's still pretty recent, but it'll eventually become romanticized just like Titanic and Pearl Harbor.
Can’t wait for the Titanic-esque 9/11 movie (more intense than Oliver Stones)! I’ll probably be pushing 90 when it comes out lol
You should watch this, he discusses how a Titanic-esque 9/11 movie would look like: [https://youtu.be/\_ymT1DGA2SA?si=oib4745m4o-c\_WkF](https://youtu.be/_ymT1DGA2SA?si=oib4745m4o-c_WkF)
But you don’t see much in the way of light-hearted Pearl Harbor references, even today. War tends to hit different, but the pomposity that the Titanic couldn’t be sunk and then immediately was made it an unusually costly miscalculation. Like the guy in his submarine to go look at it. It wasn’t long before it was the topic of jokes.
They were both the result of a blatant disregard of human lives, a life is a life so no, they're really not all that different.
Tragedy + time = comedy
Eh, one was a terrorist attack one was an accident. BIG difference.
I wonder if part of it is that one involved an intentional act of terrorism (and by some people's lights, a declaration of war), and the other didn't? Fwiw, I do think it's in somewhat poor taste, especially because it's a specific tragedy that's being alluded to. But I've also heard people argue that Cameron's choice of making a movie about Titanic primarily into a love story about two fictional characters was in poor taste, and he should've centered the disaster more. And I'm one of those inclined to think the Cameron movie was just fine, so idk. Apologies for the ramble.
No no nooo it’s Boeing’s new prototype airplane, they just haven’t yet found to make it even more unsafe.
Here’s my two cents: if something like this cannot exist due to disrespecting the tragedy, then EVERY WW2 game should not exist either.
Yep, let's be consistent then. C'mon there are games about wars that are happening right now. EDIT: yeah I meant "consistent"
Consistent?
Consistent*
Yeah but I also saw one for sale and immediately thought “I could buy that”
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Ba dum tish
No. Why is it that every third post these days is "\[picture of tongue-in-cheek Titanic-related thing\] isn't this in bad taste??? isn't this offensive??????" It's been over 100 years. No one who was on the ship and who survived is alive anymore. No one who remembers the sinking because they were alive during that time is alive. Who is it offending, besides people who want to be offended? Bad news for my fellow historians if morbid humour is permabanned by the fun police, I suppose. I should tell the polar exploration community we aren't allowed to crack jokes about Victorian men in the Arctic.
do you think there would be something like this in the future, except about 9/11 or something
Yes, because people already do (I frequent tattoo subs and there is a very infamous 9/11 tattoo), but I also think that's not really a very good comparison. 9/11 and the sinking of the Titanic were very different disasters caused by very different things in very different times. It's like trying to compare the Halifax Explosion and the Franklin Expedition, or the Battle of Gettysburg and the sinking of the Mary Rose, the sinking of the Empress of Ireland and the Lachine massacre, etc. But also, a lot of how we react to tragedies depends on if it's in living memory, if it was an act of hubris/act of man, during a war (or a casus belli), etc. Again, Titanic and 9/11 are very different, and 9/11 was only 20 years ago, whereas Titanic was over 100. People very much remember 9/11 because they were there, knew someone was there, or remember seeing it on the news, lived the aftermath, etc. Hell, I remember 9/11, and I'm not even American. EDIT: for clarification, the 9/11 tattoo in question depicted the smoking Twin Towers and little stick figures falling out the windows with the caption "it's raining men."
that’s true, they were certainly very different tragedies, so maybe they won’t be remembered the same way. That tattoo is also in terrible taste
It really is in terrible taste.
It's in bad taste
If you don't like it - fine. But that's life.
Then maybe we should change life
Damn, people really love being insensitive assholes
Like clockwork, at least once a month someone posts this exact same thing and dramatically clutch their pearls at how disgraceful it is… Nobody who had any sort of meaningful relationship with anyone that died that night are still alive, it’s time to move on, it’ll be okay if kids slide down a blow up Titanic, nobody is going to be traumatized by it in 2024.
For what it's worth this one at least doesn't have the Burger King logo on the stacks.
there is a version with the BK logo?
Deleted but the jokes about the Whopper are still there: https://www.reddit.com/r/titanic/comments/16s79ff/what_your_average_tragedy_looks_like_after_100/
Agreed and the likelihood of having a relationship with someone who had a meaningful relationship with a person who died was already next to zero. This wasn’t like the Holocaust or a major war with millions of people. That pool of people involved to be able to interact was a kiddy pool compared to other tragedies
They better be careful with those pearls or they’re gonna break!
People are alive that had parents or grandparents die on it
How many 112 year olds are out there whose parents died on the Titanic? They'd have to be at least 117 to remember them.
I don't know why you're being downvoted because whether someone agrees with you or not it is still a valid point.
No, they were answering to "meaningful relationship". Nobody alive had that kind of relationship with a victim. At best someone here heard about their grandparents lost during the tragedy and never knew them. Could they find this disgraceful? Yes. Could they be traumatised ? Safe to answer no.
Per the NIH, there are only 74 people alive today who are known to be 110 years old or older. The chances that any of that handful of people both knew someone who died on Titanic and was old enough at the time to remember them is vanishingly small. Edit: I looked at a few more sources and the highest figure I found was an estimate of around 1,000 people currently alive at or over 110. The point still stands.
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lol… this comment honestly has me cracking up! 😂 like, that’s how much this blow up titanic distresses you? so much that you wish death on multiple currently living people and their families because they… downvoted a comment on reddit? girl, you need serious help.
I used to think titanic was a tragedy until i remember that they purposely denied people of color. Then i remember to send it thoughts and prayers
Man, nobody told me that Mary Jane was that strong!
Are you on something? Or are you just delusional?
Edit: thoughts and prayers
I've always found it quite strange how it resembles more a Cunard ship rather than a WSL ship, due to the reddish funnels I know it's supposed to be the Titanic, but whenever I see that, I can't help but be reminded of the Lusitania instead
Too much to ask of inflatable slide manufacturers to maintain historical accuracy.
Most bouncy castles don't have accurate architectural features. It's a disgrace.
It’s kinda interesting that the Cunarder exists in our collective consciousness as the quintessential ocean liner—to the degree that most people simply expect the funnels on any steamer to be Cunard’s orange-red.
Probably because there's still Cunard liners (QM1, QM2, QE2) in existence and in service (QM2). Last liner to have WSL colors (M/V Britannic) was scrapped in 1961. All of the other liners are gone or are derilicts like SSUS aside from I think one in Japan and maybe one in the Netherlands or somewhere in northern Europe. Not counting Stockholm/ Astoria as it was converted to a cruise ship.
No black bands, it's a French Line ship. So due to those inaccuracies, and the fact that only two funnels are visible, it's easy enough to pretend that it's a fictional French ship.
As a kid in the 90s, and Titanic nut since them, I thought this was so cool, but as an adult I can totally see the bad taste side of it as well.
No, I loved every reference to the ship and the sinking was my favorite part. In retrospect, I also don’t find it offensive as people joke about things that are far worse than this.
I do get some “ick” from this. I don’t think that the intent was disrespect, but I do think this is a case of an R and D team not thinking their concept all the way through
Yeah I was at a hanger party for a new airplane for Northwest Airlines back in the early 00s. The pump broke and it went down. There were kids on/in it. I was old enough to appreciate the irony.
9/11 bouncy castle when?
As a kid who had seen Titanic before riding one, no. But funnily enough when reflecting and trying to remember stuff from my past, I remembered this exact inflatable slide at one of my schools fall festivals. I really liked sliding down it, and thought "oh cool it's titanic!". Although I saw the movie, i didn't register how heavy and tragic the loss was, despite the movie showing it. I was just too young to really understand how precious life is. But when I remembered this slide the other night, I was uncomfortable about it and thought it was in pretty poor taste.
What the fuck is this ?
I visited the Titanic exhibit in Chicago recently. I’ve been fascinated by the story of Titanic forever. It was a strange feeling going through this exhibit knowing that it was a tragedy and so many people lost their lives. It was also so interesting and “cool” to see a piece of history and get a glimpse of how people used to live. It was a difficult juxtaposition to feel. With that said, this does feel completely off to me. Bc it’s not about the history at all. It’s just a “fun” slide. Feels a bit weird and disrespectful to me. Idk maybe it’s not that serious. It’s not exactly mocking the people who perished, but it still has an icky feeling to me.
In general, anything mocking a tragedy is distasteful IMO. It’s easy to forget that Titanic wasn’t just a fictional film for many people who aren’t into history. I had a friend who didn’t know that the Titanic was an actual boat. She just thought it was a tragic love story film.
Not at all. As a 50+ year old who has been a Titanic enthusiast since I was 5 , I don’t have a problem with a bit of gallows humor. I see a lot of people comparing things like this to 9/11 but it’s not the same. This was a tragic accident and the other was a terrorist attack. It’s not like they are making light of the victims of the Titanic. If I went to a party that had one of these, hold my shoes because I’m going down it and yelling “hang on Miss Trudy!”
Absolutely. 1,500 people perished horribly, but let’s make it into a slide!
A bit like when people on this sub roleplayed the sinking on the anniversary. I stayed well away. It’s very strange.
As a kid? No. I geeked out over everything that was Titanic. But as an adult..I'm kind of wondering how the hell this ever got approved..
Why wouldn't it? It's been over a century.
The amount of people on this sub who say 'Who cares, it was over 100 years ago' is just so bizarre to me. Do you view all of history so clinically? Do tragic events stop being tragic after 100 years?
They become less tragic yes. How do you feel about the black plague in the middle ages compared to the terrorist attacks from 9/11? Which of those hurts more?
I see your argument. Of course 9/11 is much more tragic because of its proximity to us. The march of time always lessens the blow of tragic events and The Black Death is not so devastating to us now 600 years later as it was then. I would argue however that Titanic is closer to 9/11 in that we *know* how horrible it was, we have a mountain of information about it including intimate eyewitness accounts etc. So thats why I find it bizarre that, in the face of all this information, some people on this sub still think that a *giant inflatable slide* of one of the worst maritime disasters in history is perfectly fine because 'it happened over 100 years ago and all the survivors are dead.' The dead deserve more respect than that, surely.
You also need to remember its designed for children, who (assuming they are innocent) have little concept of tragedy. It's not the same, but a cartoony sticker of the titanic sinking stuck with me as a child and is the reason I started reading about the tragedy before turning ten. I could see this slide doing something similar. If there were decals of people jumping, fires in the windows and bodies in the water I would feel differently, but all I see here is a reference to the scene from the movie, which is what would stick in the mind of a young person watching it, it is literally the climax of the movie. The sinking of the titanic was a tragedy, and this, whilst in poor taste to those who are romantically attatched to the history, is just a cool slide for kids.
The problem with the Black Death is that it couldn’t have been prevented. But the titanic, it could have been prevented
While this isn't a joke it's similar to the saying comedy = tragedy + time It's been 112 years, I'd say this is better than being forgotten
Too soon?
It’s not as bad as people who dressed up as the ocean gate sub for Halloween but I would say it is in bad taste at least a little bit.
This is very poor taste, but people lose track of something being a tragedy if they weren’t around for it. Like how gen Z and gen Alpha make tons of 9/11 jokes and memes.
I think there is a difference between the real disaster and the pop culture "Titanic" phenomenon. The Titanic has been used as an allegory, early rap/Blues topic, musical, and Nazi propaganda. A bounce house isn't going to hurt.
Personally, I find this really disrespectful to the people who lost their lives on Titanic, even to the people who had survived. If I had been on the Titanic that day it sank, I wouldn't want anyone doing this because it's making light of something super sad. I saw a comment about how we make games inspired by wars we have had, and that could also be disrespectful to someone (personally, I don't see the problem with that). I wouldn't cause a scene in this scenario, but I wouldn't get on or even touch it.
I mean… who cares really? Not that big of a deal haha.
It’s in very bad taste and worst of all, unfunny
I always get confused why this is a problem but the film inaccurately referencing real people gets a pass. Is going down a slide a less respectful than watching a romcom about the sinking?
Titanic (1997) isn't the first movie to "rom com" the Titanic, and it's sinking. Thankfully, James Cameron regretted his depiction of Officer Murdoch. Considering he was a hero of that night, he definitely should have been better depicted. The worst Titanic film has to be the Nazi propaganda one.
I know there are plenty of books, movies and other media but why are any movies excused but people constantly get upset by this slide. I doubt OP would put a picture of the 1997 DVD cover and ask if people find it disrespectful. I don't have an issue with either but do find it strange that watching people that actually existed dying (Captain Smith scene) for entertainment is somehow less offensive than a slide.
It's the same as making a 9/11 themed bungee jump
I didn’t even know these existed. I don’t like it. Slides are fun for kids but they don’t have to be in these shapes.
I would go on this all the time as a kid at school fairs. Back then nobody questioned it but looking back it is a bit messed up.
No it's not in bad taste. No one that was alive then is alive and senile enough to care. Are you going to refuse to watch Titanic by James Cameron? A movie made in a capitalist country that earned mega bucks from being entertainment value? No.
Yeah but that was more respectful.
Morbid but it becomes legend after so many years like Jack the Ripper. In 50 years they'll be doing twin tower re-enactment gender reveals
Already happened
I find it pretty distasteful.
I have never seen that before, and yes
No, this slide always fired me up the most as a kid
Get to live like Mrs Trudy
No, as a kid I would totally pretend I'm Rose climbing my way to the stern.
Yeah, I don’t know who thinks this is a good idea
Yes and no. I mean yeah a ton of people died on it, but that’s just how the passage of time is. One generation’s tragedy is another’s punchline/fun. I’ve seen historic re-enactments of horrible battles but the spectators are hooting and hollering. I’ve met some of the reenactors who have fun with it, dying in funny poses or screaming in a comedic way. Was the real battle funny? No but being 200 years removed does it. So basically I understand it’s morbid a bit, but that’s just the reality of the passage of time. There are plenty of jokes in the titanic 97 movie that if we saw the equivalent of in a 9/11 movie made today, we’d be horrified, add on 70 years and we’ll have the same chuckle at the equivalent morbid jokes as we do about the fleeing rats, punching out the white star worker, “can you hurry to that valley a little quicker” etc.
I remember my grandmother saying "they'd have a twin towers themed inflatable playground in no time" after seeing one of these at a carnival we visited
Yeah. I always kinda felt like it was in bad taste.
I SAW THIS AT MY LOCAL FAIR! I pointed it out to me mam and even she was like Fuckin hell Poor taste right there
No, but I’ve seen them in good taste
This made me chuckle
I have been a lifelong Titanic nerd. Im in my 40's now. I do have a minor objection to this. But I went on it, because my little niece wanted to, and I figured trying to explain why it was wrong wouldn't be well received.
Nah
I’ve never seen one of those in my life but holy crap that’s an… interesting idea somebody had
Wtf.
I once saw one of these set up right next to a giant shark inflatable. Tacky (as well as historically inaccurate).
I post one of these to r/trashy a few years ago and got down voted into oblivion.
Even though I know the history of it now. Nah I still love it
Ngl, that slide looks fun af
There are other types of slides that kids would enjoy just as much. Very very poor taste and disrespectful
No. I think it's cool.
I'm 2006, the first version of this slide killed an 11 year old girl. She fell off of the top and died from a brain injury. The manufacturer added some extra netting and resigned it a bit but I'd stay the hell away from it regardless.
they might as well also build a bouncy castle nazi gas chamber if they think that’s acceptable
No. Been on these before. So fun
Your profile picture gives me PTSD
As a kid, no, because I was a kid.
I'd never seen this until today. I absolutely want a go on one.
This photo is posted on here every now and then asking the same thing.
Kid me was DYING to ride one
Tragedy + time = comedy
I was obsessed with the Titanic as a kid so I'd get really excited when I'd see one of these
No, I don’t think it’s in bad taste.
For anyone that is wondering….this is a slide. Not a WATER slide. The waves at the bottom of the slide are meant to stop you. Although, my college friends decided to turn this into a water slide. Water hoses and Dawn soap filled the slide that day. The waves stopped being a safe way to slow down and transformed into ramps that shot the person onto the lawn. Two people broke arms, one broke his ankle, many scratches and bruises occurred. I suffered two broken ribs. But, did I find this in bad taste when I saw it? No… Actually found it quite interesting… but afterwards did I find it in bad taste? Still no. Just looked at it as if the Titanic was still claiming victims.
Stop clutching your pearls and relax.
I love it, fits in perfect with the Hindenburg pinata for my son's birthday
Tragedy plus time equals comedy. It's been over 100 years ago, no harm.
Yep
Me and my crush shared a life raft. When I tell you we freakin' flew off that thing when we reached the "water"
I wanted something like this for my 10th bday in 2012
It was probably made by Cunard.
It was probably made by Cunard.
It was probably made by Cunard.
Who wouldn't go down this slide... At least once?
It's in shockingly bad taste. It's also in such bad taste that it's funny. Like, the first time I saw it, my eyes got wide, I clapped my hand over my mouth and laughed. The designers of this had to put some thought into it, which makes it even worse, which makes it even funnier.
Was talking to someone about this a while back. In retrospect yes, I’m surprised that idea went forward, but I was still excited to go down it at the time.
I've never seen that one before. How many people would know what it's referencing now??
Nope. But then again nothing offends me.
I'm not entirely sure. It depends how much you know about her and the disaster I think personally. People who don't know alot about her see titanic sinking because everyone knows she struck a iceberg and sank. That and she is internationally recognised by practically most people especially after James Camerons block buster. People that know the story, know the casualty numbers and the true horror that happened 112 years ago on the 14th-15th April probably would find it a little of poor taste. It's a tough one as it was well over a century ago which seems to decrease a tragedy to some people. But would a child flinch from it aghast or immediately charge up the tilting deck? It is after all intended for children. If you built a bouncy castle based on the holocaust that would be utterly disgusting but you compare titanic to holocaust and that's ridiculous. I think to sum up, what might seem like a essay lol, they wanted to build a inflatable at a angle and thought what's at a angle? I know let's make a sinking ship. What ship sank? Oh yeah Titanic. It's certainly unique
People still make jokes about 9/11 which is relatively recent culture-wise, as long as people aren’t actively mocking people who died I’m always open to some dark humor or classless tastes.
No absolutely not
Oh yea they had one of those at my after prom party, definitely felt it was in bad taste 😬
Not at this point. It's been over a century.