Sounds Like Titanic

by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman

The impact on the audience is a sort of emotional hostage-taking: YOU WILL FEEL SOMETHING VERY POWERFUL RIGHT NOW, the eagle sings in the voice of a pennywhistle. YOU WILL SWELL WITH VAGUE BUT IMPORTANT-FEELING EMOTIONS FOR NO DISCERNABLE REASON. Then, the violins return for a few sighing measures, as if to say, let’s be reasonable. Can’t we just have a nice, calm, sensible song? NO, the pennywhistle-voiced eagle responds. I DEMAND ALL OF YOUR EMOTIONS. GIMMEE! GIMMEE! So the violins go along with it, climbing higher and higher into their nose-picking regions. The high-definition nature footage sweeps the audience over the Maine coast, over bucolic dunes and quaint lighthouses until—lo, the Atlantic! Spread out like time immortal! You, the audience member, are flying! You are the eagle!