“Based on what I know today, it would have made the board smaller”: For both James Cameron and other moviegoers, the end of Titanic (more specifically the debate over whether Jack could have survived) is a recurring topic of conversation. For years, all sorts of theories have emerged confirming or denying whether DiCaprio’s fate is realistic or not, whether he could have held out until the lifeboat arrived, whether there was more space next to Roseif he really had to die.
In fact, a few months ago the film’s director, James Cameron, announced that he had commissioned a scientific study “to put an end to all this” and drive a stake into his heart once and for all. This study was intended to prove how Leonardo DiCaprio could not have survived to the table scene with Kate Winslet. And they didn’t get it.
Let’s remember the scene: After the sinking of the liner bound for New York, Rose manages to get on a wooden door while Jack dies of hypothermia in the frozen ocean, since supposedly the door could not support the weight of both. All of this adorned with some bars by James Horner that make your hair stand on end.
Specifically, Cameron stated: “We did a thorough forensic analysis with a hypothermia expert who reproduced the table from the film… We used two specialists who had the same body mass as Kate and Leo and we put sensors all over them. We dunked them in ice cold water to see if they could have survived through a variety of methods and the response was that there was no way they both would have. only one could survive“. According to Cameron, Jack had to die. “It’s like Romeo and Juliet. It is a film about love, sacrifice and death. Love is measured by sacrifice.”
The theory has been debated everywhere and on numerous television shows, even being put to the test in an episode of MythBusters, from Discovery Channel, where Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman evaluated different scenarios to draw conclusions about the physics of the case. According to experts, to ensure the survival of both, Rose would have had to tie your life jacket under the door frame to aid its buoyancy, so their combined weight would not have sunk the door into the ocean.
Also the acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson made some comments about it: “Whether I had succeeded or not, I would have tried it more than once. The survival instinct is much stronger than what happens in the movie, especially in that character. He is a survivor…”, he commented.
What James Cameron didn’t tell us
What James Cameron didn’t tell us then, however, is that there actually was a way (or more than one) that Jack could have survived. In that scientific study that he commissioned, which can be seen in the special Titanic: 25 Years Later With James Cameron At National Geographic, three tests were carried out to see if it was feasible for the couple to remain alive until the arrival of the lifeboat.
In the first of them, the most controversial theory was dismantled, which is that, despite having space for both of them on the table, that would cause most of both to be submerged in the icy water, killing them both.
.@GMA FIRST LOOK: @natgeo special “Titanic: 25 Years Later with James Cameron” will settle the debate once and for all: could Jack have survived?@JimCameron@natgeotv pic.twitter.com/OkKCXaEkvF
— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 2, 2023
In the second test, however, things start to get more doubtful. And it is that the ideal would have been that both had their vital organs in the non-submerged part, for example, tucking only the lower part of the legs in the water, which would still allow them to share body heat. “Out of the water, the violent jolts of her body were helping her. Doing a projection, she could have lasted quite a bit. Like hours,” Cameron explained.
Depending on how long it would have taken for rescue to arrive, they might have held out long enough this way. Or not. We cannot know that for sure. However, in the third test is where we find it more logical that the loving couple could have survived. And it is in this that Cameron himself has recognized that the end could have been different.
In it, the specialists added a detail that is not included in the film: Rose gives Jack his life jacket. After seeing the result, Cameron concluded the following: “It is stable. There comes a point where if we projected that, it could have held until the lifeboat arrived. Jack could have lived, but there are many variables. I think her thought process was, ‘I’m not going to do anything to put her in danger,’ and that’s 100% her character.’”
That is, Cameron’s reasoning is still that Jack I would never have put Rose in danger, nor trying to get on the board, nor asking for the vest. Neither of them knew how long it would take for them to come to the rescue either, so that could have resulted in the death of both of them as well.
In conclusion, Jack has one of the most preventable deaths in movie history. Although James Cameron doesn’t like that, he has even stated that, if he went back in time, he would have taken action on it: “According to what I know today, I would have made the board smaller.”
