The debate about Jack’s death has lasted for 25 years, causing director James Cameron to explain many times. In 2019, he told The Toronto Sun that Jack’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) departure was an “artistic choice”, not related to physical factors. “He was forced to die. Just like Romeo and Juliet. This is a movie about love, sacrifice and death. Love is measured by sacrifice,” Cameron said.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the film’s release, he agreed to participate in an experiment about Jack’s chances of survival. With the help of a laboratory specializing in the effects of cold on the human body, the crew created a replica of the board in the movie, hiring two male stuntmen of the same age, height and weight. female lead. They dressed like Jack and Rose, repeating every line in the scene.
In the first test, Jack and Rose will both be submerged by water if they climb on the board together. With the second option, both hold their hands on the board, keeping their upper body above the water. James Cameron commented that this method was not feasible because they were exhausted after the shipwreck and could not stay afloat for long. As a last resort, Rose gave Jack a life jacket and she climbed onto the board, helping the young man have a few more hours to survive.
“His condition is fine, he can wait until the lifeboat arrives. Jack can live. But there will be many other possibilities,” Cameron said. According to him, Jack may not have accepted Rose’s offer to give up his life jacket because he thought: “I won’t do anything that puts her in danger.” After admitting Jack was likely to survive, he said: “I should have made the board smaller.”
In the Happy Sad Confused podcast late last year, MC Josh Horowitz mentioned to the female lead – actress Kate Winslet that Jack could survive if he climbed up the door with Rose. The star affirmed that with her experience filming and playing sports such as windsurfing and scuba diving, she knows the rules of water better than the majority of the audience. “If you put two adults on a board, it will immediately lose its balance. Honestly, I really don’t believe they would both survive on that door. He could fit but the door couldn’t float,” Kate Winslet said.
The actress said that after the movie came out, she received many malicious comments that she was so fat that she couldn’t sit with Jack on the plank. She said if she could go back in time, she would tell those who mocked her: “I’m a young woman. My body is changing. I know it. I’m extremely insecure. I’m very scared. Don’t make this more difficult. It’s pointless to comment on a woman’s body and appearance.”
On the social network Quora, the topic “What would have happened if Jack had not died later in the Titanic disaster” attracted thousands of comments. Many viewers imagined that the couple might break up because Rose was facing pressure from her family, class difference with her lover, especially when Jack was penniless. Another audience proposed the idea that Rose did not throw the precious necklace into the sea, the two sold the jewelry and lived happily together. Most agree that if Jack did not die, the work would lose some of its meaning.
