FROM TH E LO W ER
LEFT CORNER
T IT A N IC : A PAR ABLE FOR OUR TIM ES
Victoria Stoppiello
rrom the eye of the July maelstrom, the tourist-
swollen gyre eddying and flowing down Hemlock
Street, I would like to offer a brief commentary on
the state of the village, its pulse and visceral
pressures. John Steinbeck once described his
beloved Monterey waterfront as “A stink, a grating
noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a
dream.” Like a well-trained biologist scrutinizing
pelagic biota under a microscope, Steinbeck viewed
the subtle relationships and intimacies amongst the
inhabitants of Monterey’s Cannery Row. He, like
most residents of small towns, knew his characters
well, their quirks and idiosyncracies, their strengths
of heart, their common bond of shared tribulations
The glue that holds small communities together,
that commonalty of place and local society, is special
and fragile. The acceleration of turbo-charged
modem culture, proliferation of housing and
commercial development, and a soaring tidal wave of
restless population wash over villages like Cannon
Beach and leave a hollowness in their wake. The
changes aren’t coming. They’re here. Like
Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, the Cannon Beach people
seek is largely gone, replaced instead by a nostalgia
and a dream.
Emile Durkheim, if my rudimentary sociology
hasn’t failed me, distinguished between gemeinschaft
and gesellschaft social settings. In small
communities (gemeinschaft ) people know one
another intimately, have virtually daily contact, share
a strong sense of place, recognize common gathering
sites, resist outsiders pressuring for change.
Gemeinschaft towns are like large extended families.
Modem cities typify the gesellschaft:: enormous
populations obliquely thrown together, grope for
meaning and value in the face of sheer numbers.
Characterized by anonymity, loose personal ties, and
transitory living, individuals have little contact with
neighbors, a quickened life tempo and increased
depersonalization. Visit Beaverton, Oregon,
Kirkland, Washington, or San Jose, California, for
examples. I see our town scurrying inexorably
toward the gesellschaft and my heart is saddened.
The Four Horsemen of the late 20th Century have
ridden into our western town and they will bully us
into submission: Overpopulation, Profit,
Callousness, and Greed.
That ineffable quality that draws one to towns like
Cannon Beach is elusive and difficult to assay.
Beyond the clamour and dash of a bustling tourist
season, we are still, at core, a small community,
tightly woven. We have inevitable differences, but
we share strong bonds, deep feelings, and kinship
with a place o f great natural beauty.
I sense, with great wistfulness, changes occurring
in our township that will irrevocably change the
nature of this place, this state of mind, that many of
us have long cherished. Swelling population in
those areas proximal to our coast erodes the
tranquility and pace of a small town like this one.
The people who live in those dis-spirited urban
centers seek connection with towns like ours, and I
can’t blame them. They remind me of cowbirds,
soiling their own nests in other places and then flying
here to occupy ours.
Our city’s comprehensive plan strongly suggests
that Cannon Beach maintain its “village character.”
I ‘m afraid we’re joshing ourselves if we feel that’s
possible under the current circumstances.
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Titanic may have been a British ship
but it's an all-American movie. The artistry o f
the film , like that o f the ship, is magnificent,
bu, far from subtle.
I went to see Titanic because I'd read one
review that said the special effects were
spectacular and it may be the "Gone with the
W ind" o f the late twentieth century. 1 also went
to see Titanic w ith some misgivings because I'd
heard adolescent girls were not only seeing it in
droves, but four or five times. I assumed there
would be something so superficial and sappy that
I'd be irritated, but halfway through the movie, 1
turned to my friend and said "Now I see why
teenage girls like this," and she said, "Yes, a
female hero." One o f the definitions o f "hero" is
a protagonist who rises above circumstances and
limitations to act w ith courage and do the right
thing. In this case, it is courageous just to step
beyond the constraints o f society's expectations
o f what a girl could or should do. She chooses
between love and money, and as Americans, we
all know what her answer should be— whether or
not we choose it ourselves.
Then there's the antagonist, the bad guy,
a superficial character played well. We don't quite
understand why he is the personality he is—lack
o f love in his early life? That peasant Freud, as
described in the film , probably has the answer.
W hy is he so cold, so calculating, so focused on
accumulating even more wealth, so w illin g to do
anything to get it? Perhaps the film makers don't
explain his character because our culture doesn't
really understand this kind o f person either, the
one for whom there is never enough. Yet it's an
ever present dynamic in our lives—front page and
business page news almost constantly.
I've often thought we Americans arc
livin g in the second golden age o f robber barons.
The first included Rockefeller, DuPont, Getty,
Astor, Carnegie and Guggenheim, making riches
from oil wells, railroads, mining and generally
exploiting the untapped natural resources o f a
relatively unspoiled continent—plus dueling with
each other over who w ill monopolize the results.
It appears the same dynamic is underway
now, in the telecommunications, energy,
computer, and international currency markets.
Big fish have swallowed most o f the small ones.
W ith each bite, the assets are controlled by fewer
and fewer, the liabilities go deeper in the culture;
w ith mergers come downsizing, lay-offs, and
fewer benefits fo r workers.
This all plays out in Titanic. The lower
class passengers arc literally locked below decks
as the life boats are launched, sometimes with
only twelve aboard a boat built for 60. Heavy
handed, perhaps, but reminds us that a few people
can monopolize resources that could provide
many people w ith a life.
Like the Greeks with their ancient
tragedies, we all know the story's ending. We're
just curious to see how it w ill be told this time.
Because we know this disaster is true, certain
elements o f the movie have meaning which they
wouldn't in a standard disaster film . Early on, the
cinematography takes us on a tour o f the ship.
We see the salons o f the rich and the steerage o f
the pm r. We descend to the boiler r<x)m where
men work in heat and dark with impressive
machinery, the highest technology o f its time.
But our hindsight tells us it's vulnerable, fated to
fail. Hubris combines with an arrogant belief that
there won't be an accident, so why w orry about
safety precautions or a back-up system. Sound
familiar?
In June, I'll be presenting a technical
paper at the national conference o f the American
Solar Energy Society. Usually about 300
scientists, energy policy experts, and architects
and engineers attend. In preparing my abstract
last November, I used a metaphor to explain how
some o f us are reducing our dependence on the
electrical energy grid. M y metaphor was that we
are on a battleship which shows little sign o f
changing its course. Titanic's flaw was that in
spite o f its speed and strength, it was unable to
turn quickly. I wrote that some o f us are
launching our little boats o f energy independence
in an effort to be safely away when the ship goes
down and the big suck comes. I think my
conference session is going to be a hit. Go see
Titanic. It's a lot o f fun.
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UFFEJC U F T EbSt ZHKUST •»?«
I suppose it is much more comfortable to be mad and
not know it, than it is to be sane and have one’s
doubts.
G.B. Burgin