Iconic song from ‘Titanic’ provokes fear for sophomore

“Titanic,” the 1997 epic romance-disaster film adored by millions of people worldwide, brings to mind the romantic image of a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet “flying” from the bow at sunset and thousands of people fleeing for their lives in the midst of a sinking wreckage. That is not the case for for sophomore Tiffany Pi.

When Pi thinks about “Titanic,” she is immediately reminded of its classic and dramatic theme song “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion, and listening to any snippet of the song gives her the “chills.”

Pi recalls that when she was 5, her brother, 2015 alumnus Josh Pi, and his friends were watching the movie in her family room. Once the song started playing, Pi’s vision somehow grew blurry, and she could only sense long, black shadowy human figures standing in front of her. She immediately ran to her room, shut her eyes and covered herself with blankets as she trembled with fear.

“From that moment on, I couldn’t listen to it ever again,” Pi said.

From this experience, Pi always thought the song caused pain and suffering. Although the song conveys a message about the everlasting love between Jack and Rose, Pi hates how it brings her back to the day she saw black figures, which she believes were ghosts. According to Pi, even the mere mention of the song title can cause her nausea.

“It hurts me physically and it feels like there’s something crawling on my back,” Pi said. “Sometimes I get so scared I can’t move from the fear.”

Friends have told her how unreasonable her fear is, and sometimes even make fun of her for it, blasting the song from their phones or teasing her. Even though the fear is “very real” to Pi, her friends feel that her fear is unrealistic or fake.

Pi knows this fear is irrational, but she cannot help but shake at the beginning melodies of the song. Even though she has tried to fight this fear many times by forcing herself to listen to “My Heart Will Go On,” her attempts have yet to be successful. To this day, Pi has still not gotten over her fear, and she hopes to never hear the song again.

“I know I will not get over my fear,” said Pi. “I just hope people start to understand it.”