Why people are flocking to experience the Titanic disaster

Immersive shows recreating the ocean liner’s fateful voyage are attracting audiences globally. But are they valuable historical experiences, or cynically turning tragedy into entertainment?

The grand interior rooms of the Titanic are slowly filling up with water. Videos projected on to the floor, ceiling and walls of a warehouse in south London show fixtures and fittings disappearing beneath the waves. This is one of the centrepieces of The Legend of the Titanic: The Immersive Exhibition, which has been designed to make ticketholders feel as if they are aboard the fated ocean liner, using a mix of video projections and virtual reality (VR) sections, where visitors put on a headset. 

In the exhibition’s gift shop, there are souvenir whistles to attract attention, and postcards of the ship sinking surrounded by icebergs. Couples queue to pose against a green screen so they can recreate the famous Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet pose from the 1997 James Cameron film at the bow of the ship. Others play “avoid the iceberg” computer games on a computer in which you have to steer the ship between icy obstacles, or drink prosecco in the bar. The multiple VR segments, which allow you to stride along the deck in the sunshine and wander through the boat’s opulent interiors, as well as venture in a submersible to the wreck, are genuinely transportative. But the aforementioned part of the experience in which you are surrounded by 360-degree video projections of the ship filling up with water, feels distasteful, and more voyeuristic than educational or emotional. 

FKP Scorpio Entertainment

The exhibition has a pretty positive 4.2 score on TripAdvisor, with ticketholders complimenting the VR technology, information boards and storylines. Visitor Julie Akhtar from Virginia Water in Surrey, England, says she felt transported “from the moment we walked through the doors” and the VR element made her “feel part” of life aboard the ship. Her only criticism was that the tickets were expensive and “the opportunity to have a photo posing as Kate Winslet and Leonard DiCaprio for me was a little commercial”. Sarah Mattock from Brighton, was equally impressed. “It was a good effort,” she says. “I went in knowing it’s a little crass, but have always been intrigued by Titanic since I was young.”