Parents often look down at the whorl on the top of their children’s heads and wonder what, exactly, is going on inside. An industry of books, video games, films, merchandise and museums offers some insight: They’re probably thinking about the Titanic.

Last fall, Osiris, age 5, told his mother, Tara Smyth, that he wanted to eat the Titanic for dinner. So she prepared a platter of baked potatoes — each with four hot-dog funnels, or smokestacks — sitting on a sea of baked beans. (He found it delicious.) Since first hearing the story of the Titanic, Ozzy, as he’s known, has amassed a raft of factoids, a Titanic snow globe from the Titanic Belfast museum and many ship models at his home in Hastings, England.

About 5,500 miles away in Los Angeles, Mia and Laila, 15-year-old twins, devote hours every week to playing Escape Titanic on Roblox. They have been doing this for the last several years. Sometimes, they go down with the ship on purpose — “life is boring,” explained Mia, “and the appeal is that it’s kind of dramatic.”

Ozzy, 5, with a model of the Titanic that he was excited to find at a family friend’s house.Credit…Tara Smyth

Matheson and his sister, Evangeline, with the bath toy he and his father designed.Credit…Christopher Multop

The twins Mia and Laila, 15, play Escape Titanic on Roblox. Sometimes, they go down with the ship on purpose — “life is boring,” explained Mia, standing, “and the appeal is that it’s kind of dramatic.”Credit…Angie Grace

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