Titanic is a monumental romantic drama set around the titular ship’s historic sinking in 1912. To build the drama around the film, it focuses on Rose and Jack’s doomed love affair leading up to the fateful accident with the iceberg. While James Cameron’s film has a fairly straightforward narrative, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any room for some outrageous and thought-provoking theories.
One theory brought up in a 22 Words article revolves around the idea that Jack Dawson is actually a time traveler sent to the past to save Rose. And although the idea seems highly unlikely right out of the gate, there are many inconsistencies in the film surrounding Jack’s dialogue and style that help add fuel to the fire.
Why Titanic’s Jack Dawson Could Be a Time Traveler
The first reason why Jack could have traveled through time is that he has to gamble to get a ticket onto the ship, not having any currency from the era to get a ticket. Jack also mentions fishing on Lake Wissota, an artificial lake created in 1917, and tells Rose that he will take her on the rollercoaster at the Santa Monica pier, which didn’t open until 1916. So, already, Jack displays signs that his memories are from an imminent future rather than the past.
Jack’s hairstyle, cigarettes and backpack were all also invented in the ’30s and early ’40s, making nearly every aspect of his character representative of a man out of time. The theory goes on to explain that Jack’s reason for traveling into the past was to find Rose before she committed suicide so that she could live past the Titanic. This allows him to spend more time with Rose to try and keep her from ever wanting to contemplate a similar fate ever again.
Titanic’s Time Travel Theory Gives James Cameron’s Films More Depth
Another aspect that takes the theory to new heights is the idea that Rose’s life has much larger implications that tie directly to one of Cameron’s other films, The Terminator. The theory interestingly posits that Rose is the grandmother of Sarah Connor, the mother to humanity’s savior, John Connor. Therefore, not only does saving Rose ensure the fate of the timeline and no alterations to it, but it also means that Rose can live on to have a child that eventually sires Sarah Connor.
While the theory takes small ideas and greatly hyperbolizes them, it does add to the grandiose ideas that often come from Cameron’s films. It’s never confirmed in Titanic that Jack Dawson is from a different time, and it likely never will be. Still, the idea adds a unique sci-fi twist to Titanic that injects excitement into the story while not outwardly affecting the overall impact of the now-classic film.
