Passions: Was there space for Jack on that raft?

“Romance isn’t about dying for love, but helping one live”By Megha Marwah

“Romance isn’t about dying for love, but helping one live”

Titanic director James Cameron recently announced they had done scientific tests to prove there was only space for one on the (in pic) wooden door/raft

By Megha Marwah  

Megha says, “Even if there wasn’t space on that plank, he could have figured something else out. Could they both swim? he could!”

I first watched Titanic when I was about 10 years old. All I remembered for years was the grandness of the film. It was only when Instagram came around and people started making memes about iconic films that I heard the big debate: why couldn’t Rose just make space for Jack?  

That made sense.  

Think of it. Even if there wasn’t space on that plank, he could have figured something else out. Could they both swim? We know he could! 

He wasn’t trying to survive. He just wanted to be around. Why? Because he loved her.  

The whole last leg of the movie was about people scrambling to survive. He was smart enough to figure it out for Rose. So what made him go into “main pyaar bhari baatein karunga” mode? Rose should also have pushed him to find a way to survive.

They only killed Jack so the film could be a romantic tragedy. But romance isn’t about dying in each other’s arms. It’s about helping each other live.  

That’s why I feel this movie helped set toxic relationship standards. Love can’t be that blind. Or silly!

Today, for me, Titanic isn’t a love story. Just an affair with toxic attachment issues. 

Megha Marwah, 33, is a marketing professional, who won’t be rewatching the film next month . 

“It would be impossible for two people (100kgs) to stay afloat on that plank”

By Shashanka Chitrakar

Shashanka says, “They took two stunt people with the same body mass of Rose and Jack, put sensors, put them in ice water and tested to see if they’d survive.”

Titanic was a bunch of firsts for me. I was eight and I watched my first sex scene! When Jack died, it was the first time I teared up at a movie. It was also possibly the first love story I understood. I loved how innocent, organic and fulfilling it seemed.

In the years since, I’ve heard people say that both of them could have fit on the plank. But, if you remember, it could barely carry Rose without capsizing. Scientifically speaking, it would have impossible for two people, weighing at least a 100 kgs together, to stay afloat on it.  

So, I’m glad James Cameron, who directed Titanic in 1997, recently ended this 25-year-old argument via a scientific study. They took two stunt people with the same body mass of Kate Winslet (Rose) and Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack), put sensors on them, placed them in ice water and tested a variety of methods to see if they’d survive. The result? Only one could have survived.  

Anyway, the movie wouldn’t have been a hit if Jack had survived. History remembers people who have given up their lives. It was an iconic love story then and remains so even today. Why else would we line up on Valentine’s Day to watch it 25 years later?  

Shashanka Chitrakar, 32, is a professional photographer, who plans to watch Titanic soon.   

From HT Brunch, January 21, 2023

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