It’s the popping that sends shivers down your spine in Netflix’s new documentary about the doomed Titan submarine. Pop… pop, pop. This is the sound of the vessel’s hull disintegrating, individual strands of carbon fibre snapping apart as the unbearable weight of the Atlantic Ocean heaves in on all sides. As Titan: The OceanGate Disaster shows, these audible omens of catastrophe were repeatedly and unforgivably ignored, until finally the submersible imploded on 18 June 2023, killing all five passengers on board.
When news first broke that the tourist expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic had gone missing off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, the story quickly spiralled into a round-the-clock media frenzy. One channel (NewsNation) even had a ticking countdown to the moment the vessel would run out of oxygen. Over the four days the submersible was missing, the tragedy transformed into a spectacle, with endless memes, conspiracy theories, and glib commentary overshadowing the real human cost.
