When the Wall fell, popular culture rose to a new level of social relevance. Wind of Change? More like a tsunami! The Nineties wash up a tidal wave of catchy tunes and cult movies,
TV series and show stars about the increasingly globalized media landscape. FACES rolls up the decade – and publishes an encyclopaedia on the age of grunge, girl groups, GZSZ and Titanic.
Action! Drama! Heartache! Disaster movie! Leo’s milk face and Kate’s bare breasts! On its epic maiden voyage, the RMS Titanic eclipsed pretty much everything that had found its way into the cinema up to that point.
Their heart will go on! Rose and Jack, arms outstretched and hanging from the bow, sailing across the Atlantic like two seagulls in tandem flight. Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as a dream cast for the dream couple for all eternity. However, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Christian Bale, established high caliber actors were in talks for the 194-minute final version. Yes, at the end of the millennium, filmmaking megalomania is rampant! Director James Cameron and his team put so much effort into the realization that even the shipowners who launched the original mammoth steamer in 1912 would have tapped their foreheads. 20th Century Fox buys 168,000 m2 of Mexican land, two giant pools are blasted out of the ground for a replica. The special effects turn “Jurassic Park” into a children’s zoo, while the water scenes demand full commitment from the cast. After hours in the icy water, Kate Winslet gets a kidney infection.
The shoot takes 160 days instead of the planned 138, and the costs rocket beyond the estimated budget. But when Leo finally drowns blue-lipped, the crowds howl so much that entire multiplexes of movie theaters choke in a sea of tears. The Academy’s madness is worth eleven Oscars, audiences around the world spend almost two billion dollars to see “Titanic” (although probably not all with the same motivation). A record that stood until 2009. Until James Cameron raised the bar himself with “Avatar”.
