#thomas andrews x rose dewitt bukater | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

alwaysahiccupandastrid · 2 years

Text

Titanic (1997) - Some Things From My Rewatch Today

Not only is it now less than 24 hours before I go to the Titanic Exhibition in London, but today - April 15th 2022 - marks the 110th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. I’ve seen James Cameron’s film multiple times, starting when I was about 8 or 9 years old and my parents let me and my sister watch it (my sister was only about 5 or 6), too many times to count in fact, and I actually rewatched it at the beginning of last month too (after having not seen it for years). It’s an incredible film, obviously, although as a child I always thought the love story was “eww” (because I was a child, and when you’re a child love is indeed “ewww”) and thought the sinking scenes were interesting in a morbid way, although now that I’m older I also love the romance side of it.

Since last month, I’ve been fascinated by the Titanic and have been researching the disaster; just two weeks ago, I read the entirety of a book called “Titanic: Minute by Minute” by Jonathan Mayo, which I highly recommend as it’s a detailed account of the last day of the Titanic and the sinking, plus the aftermath and fates of the survivors. Because of this, when rewatching the film today I noticed more and more how much effort James Cameron put into the film, and while it’s very much a dramatisation, there’s still so many accurate things that I was impressed. So I decided to make some notes, and I’ve done some fact checking as I’ve copied the notes into this post too just to be sure I’ve gotten things correct. Not all of my notes are about any accuracies or inaccuracies of the film, I’ve also taken some notes about the character journeys (especially Rose), and I wanted to share my thoughts just in case anyone might be interested. This is an extremely long post, given that the film is over three hours long, which is why it’s under a read more, but I’ve tried not to ramble too much.

Also, in this post I use the original script of the movie and reference some deleted scenes, so heads up!

So… let’s talk about Titanic (1997).

I used to think that the opening footage of the Titanic and people waving were real but it’s not, James Cameron recreated that moment and filmed it. I think that’s a testament to how well done the footage is that it looks real

Apparently the footage of the Titanic wreck that we see Brock Lovett looking at/filming is in fact footage of when James Cameron went down to the real Titanic wreck, and he found it very poignant

I love that the little camera thing that they send into the wreck is called “Snoop Dog”

Old Rose is seen doing pottery when she hears the report of the safe being found, and I like to think that this in part implies that since meeting Jack, she was inspired to take up artistic hobbies. She already had an interest in art before meeting Jack because she brought paintings by Monet and Picasso onto the ship, but I like to think that since Jack was an artist, it inspired her to do something artistic herself

Also, I read somewhere that Rose’s little dog is actually a reference to the dogs on the Titanic, and how 3 (very small) dogs were on the lifeboats and survived

Rose worked as an actress in the 20s - under the name “Rose Dawson”. Obviously at the end of the film she gives her name as “Rose Dawson” when arriving in America, but at the start of the film we don’t actually know the full story, so when we know that Jack’s last name is Dawson… you know. The fact that Bodine then goes onto say that she got married and changed her name to “Calvert” means that we as an audience already know from the start that she and Jack weren’t married - and also hints already that Jack didn’t survive because otherwise she wouldn’t have gotten married to someone else etc. don’t know if I’m making sense here but it’s almost like a spoiler from the start that Jack is going to die.

Also, small thing that can be gleaned about Rose’s life post-Titanic, her granddaughter is named Lizzie Calvert - which means she’s probably the daughter of Rose’s son since she has the same surname as the man Rose married (or if it’s Rose’s daughter, it could mean that Lizzie’s parents aren’t together/married). I know, it’s a small useless thing and doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, just something I noticed. Bodine also says Rose “punched out a couple of kids” which means she also had more than once child.

Following on from what I said above about Rose and Art, in a deleted scene before the first class dinner, when Jack and Rose are spending the day together, Rose actually discusses her dreams: “There's something in me, Jack. I feel it. I don't know what it is, whether I should be an artist, or, I don't know... a dancer. Like Isadora Duncan.... a wild pagan spirit... (seeing another passenger who has a big wooden movie camera) or a moving picture actress!” And in the script she then proceeds to pose in front of the passenger, with Jack, the passenger and the passenger’s wife joining in her fun

“Like that Russian girl, anaesthesia” - LMFAO. This is obviously a reference to “Anastasia Romanov”, and several women claiming falsely to have been her

“Wasn’t I a dish?” Never fails to make me smile to myself

When Lovett says that the Heart of the Ocean “must have gone down with the ship”, Rose looks to the left which is a sign of lying, which is a fun thing to notice in hindsight given that she knows the necklace isn’t on the shipwreck because she herself has it still but has been hiding it for 84 years

It’s the way she’s just sitting there like 😳😐🫤😑 as Bodine is narrating the reconstruction of the ship sinking (“she’s got her whole ass sticking up in the air!”)

I do love that older Rose has the same spitfire in her as younger her does; “Thank you for that fine forensic analysis, Mr. Bodine. Of course the experience of it was somewhat different”. “do you want to hear it or not, Mr Lovett?”

Obviously Titanic has its “main” characters, but the background characters are recurring and have their own mini-storylines that go on in the literal background and are actual characters too (eg. Cora sees Rose arrive, can be seen dancing with Jack, can be seen in bed waking up when the ship hits the iceberg, and in a deleted scene she and her family’s deaths are seen) (eg. The mother with the two Irish children)

Kate Winslet is so beautiful, oh my god. The shot of her exiting the cab and looking up from under her hat is so iconic and beautiful

“God himself could not sink this ship!” - AND I OOP-

Factually Inccorrect/Impossible: Cal, Rose, and Ruth are stated to be staying in the parlor suite B-52, 54, 56, as that is where Lovejoy says to bring their luggage. In real life, this was occupied by J. Bruce Ismay.

Factually Correct: third class having to have lice inspections (among others) before boarding whilst first class don’t. Third class passengers were obviously the poorer ones, and most of them were apparently immigrants going to America hoping to start a new life

BIG Factual Incorrectness That Wouldn’t Allow The Plot To Happen: Due to concerns about lice and such, Third-Class passengers were also not allowed in the First-Class section and vice-versa, so Jack dining in First Class and Rose partying in Third Class would both have been impossible. This is also one of the actual reasons for the infamous "locked gates" that prevented Third Class passengers from accessing the boats: the strict separation of classes meant that only Third Class had to go through the health inspection in New York. Third Class had their own deck space fore and aft, including both well decks.

Also, James Cameron can be seen in a cameo appearance here as a man having his beard checked by the way

"On the outside, I was everything a well-brought-up girl should be. On the inside, I was screaming." The scene then immediately cuts to a horn blaring loudly which is kind of funny, kind of just really fitting

Jack was so excited, “I’m going home!” 😭

I couldn’t help but laugh at him referring to himself as Fabrizio as “a couple of regular swells” (swells is a slang term for rich upper class men I think)

Factually Incorrect (but I’ll allow it): Tickets for the Titanic were not transferable. The prop tickets used for filming were faithful reproductions, and you can see it says they’re not transferable so really Jack and Fabrizio shouldn't have been able to board with Sven and Olaf's tickets. But then when James Moody allows them to board, he does only glance at the tickets anyway.

It’s so depressing watching this film, seeing 2200+ people all waving goodbye to their loved ones, everyone waving them off, and just knowing what’s about to happen

Factually Inccorrct: When Jack and Fabrizio are looking for their cabin, the Irish mother and Helga's family can be seen in the hallway. The third class cabins in the bow were for single men, while accommodations for single women and women with children were located in the stern. Families that included men were located amidships, separating the two groups. This arrangement dates back to the earliest days of ocean liners, with the theory being that the men travelling with their families would provide some buffer of protection to unaccompanied women.

Factually Correct: First class passengers did indeed have private promenade decks in their accommodations

I have no idea if the Monet and Picasso paintings Rose brought with her are real or if they’re prints, but for her sake I hope they’re just expensive prints because otherwise that means there’s a bunch of Monet and Picasso paintings on the bottom of the Atlantic

There’s a deleted scene with Cal, Rose and Trudy the maid here that on the one hand might have been nice as it shows that Rose is close to Trudy, but on the other Cal is a creep and it’s made obvious a bit too early just how much Rose despises him, to the point where you’d wonder how he didn’t notice it

Factually Correct: The Unsinkable Molly Brown (played in this film by Kathy Bates) was in fact an absolute legend and incredible woman who helped the ship’s evacuation, she (unsuccessfully) encouraged the crew in Lifeboat No. 6 to return to the debris field to look for survivors, and she then proceeded to organize a survivors' committee with other first-class survivors once on the RMS Carpathia which worked to secure basic necessities for the second- and third-class survivors, and even provided informal counseling. So yes, this woman was a real life boss ass lady and I love her, Kathy Bates was the perfect person to play her in this film.

It’s fun watching this film as a LOTR fan because I can’t stop thinking about how Captain Edward Smith is also King Theoden of Rohan (Bernard Hill is the actor of course)

Factually Correct: In the film, the front three funnels can be seen giving off smoke - the back fourth one does not. The back funnel was there for aesthetic purposes.

I’m just going to say it now and get it out of the way, Leonardo DiCaprio is hot in this film. Like he is so attractive it hurts.

The Titanic’s journey started in Southampton, went to Cherbourg in France, then went to Queenstown (which has since been renamed Cobh and is in County Cork) in Ireland, and was finally supposed to go to New York in the USA. Obviously it didn’t make it to New York but that’s where it was supposed to go.

Factually Correct: Bruce Ismay, who was the White Star Line managing Director, and Thomas Andrews, who in the film they say built the Titanic, can be seen dining with the first class passengers, which is true. Captain Edwards is also seen dining with them, which again is true.

Factually Incorrect: Thomas Andrews is described as the designer of the ship, and depicted as blaming himself for its faults. In reality, Andrews was the shipwright - the actual designer was a man named Alexander Carlisle.

When Rose lights a cigarette and her mother says “you know I don’t like that, Rose”, Rose just blows smoke at her mother. Cal then takes the cigarette from her and stubs it out, saying “she knows” - first of all, Rose is definitely a spitfire. Secondly, the fact she can’t even have a smoke without being told off by her mother and fiancé is just one of many things that shows how trapped she is.

Following on from my above point, Cal then orders for her: “We'll both have the lamb. Rare, with a little mint sauce”, then once the waiter has moved away: “You like lamb, don’t you, sweet pea?” And she pulls a face at him. Woman can’t even order her own damn food for goodness sake! Molly even comments “you going to cut her meat for her too, Cal?” (I love Molly, she’s always in Rose and Jack’s corner and I love that)

After Bruce Ismay explains why the ship is called “Titanic” (“I wanted to convey sheer size. And size means stability, luxury... and safety”), Rose says “Do you know of Dr. Freud? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you, Mr. Ismay.” And Molly is just grinning and nodding her head. I think you can also see Thomas Andrews trying not to laugh.

Also, Bruce Ismay has not in fact of heard of Freud it seems, as evidenced by him asking if that’s a passenger on the ship, which makes it even funnier

Molly asking “she’s a pistol, Cal, you sure you can handle her?” Is met by Cal responding “Well, I may have to start minding what she reads from now on”, looking rather tense even as he feigns unconcern, which is just… Urgh.

Factually Correct: There were indeed dogs and kennels on the ship, mostly owned by first class passengers. A crew member can be seen walking a group of dogs on the third class deck, which prompts Tommy (the Irish guy) to comment, “That's typical. First class dogs come down here to take a shite” and Jack jokes “That's so we know where we rank in the scheme of things”

Every time a character says the ship is unsinkable, “solid as a rock”, strong etc, I have to try not to go “oh noooo” because it’s very much feeling like they’re jinxing it 😭 betting Tommy Ryan wasn’t so keen to claim the ship was Irish when it was sinking-

The moment where Jack sees Rose for the first time is very sweet and beautiful, but I also just love the line, “forget it boyo, You'd as like have angels fly out o' yer arse as get next to the likes o' her” (because Irish, that’s why) and Fabrizio waving his hand in front of Jack’s face without getting any response

During this moment, Cal comes outside, and he and Rose have this interaction; you can’t hear what he’s saying but he’s talking to her and grabs her by the arm, and she pulls a face before walking away from him and he’s just looking around like “… 😶” I love that you can see the fire/defiance Rose has before meeting Jack that shows that they haven’t broken her yet

There’s a deleted scene that occurs between Rose being seen having dinner in her red dress (hair is up, perfectly composed, make up, staring straight ahead) and then the scene of her running towards the back of the ship with her hair down, make up ruined, her in tears; that deleted scene shows Rose going back to her room, taking her hair out, ripping her necklace off and being physically unable to get out of her dress, her calling for Trudy (her maid) to help her, and her realizing that she (a young woman) can’t even do something as simple as undress herself without any help, which leads to her being distraught. I know Fox made Cameron cut some scenes out because it’s a long film as it is, but that scene should have stayed in I think because it shows how she got herself into such a distraught state, and the anger/furiousness/self hatred she feels leading up to the moment where she’s ready to just throw herself into the ocean

Factually Correct: To my knowledge, the costumes are period accurate but I’m really just especially impressed by how accurate the White Star Line uniforms worn by the crew supposedly are, plus the props such as the silverware/plates are also the same as it would have been on the Titanic. I don’t know if that’s true or not but I’ve heard people say that, and I’ve also seen people saying that all of the rooms - the accommodations, dining rooms etc - are perfectly matched to the rooms of the Titanic.

I can’t get over Jack just throwing his cigarette in the ocean 😂

“I know what ice fishing is!” “Sorry. You just seen like, you know, kind of an indoor girl” - LMFAO

There’s some clever foreshadowing/exposition in this scene where Jack is telling Rose about how cold the water is, which is obviously important later when the ship is sinking and people are in the water: “freezing, maybe a couple of degrees over” “a thousand knives all over your body” “you can’t breathe, you can’t think… least not about anything but the pain”. While obviously some people did drown when the ship sank, a lot of them froze to death in the water because it was so cold - this moment very early on drives home for the audience just how dangerously cold it is

As a child, I thought Rose genuinely didn’t know what the propellers were/the name for them, but now I’m starting to think she in fact DOES know, she’s just playing the part of the “silly simple woman” - which makes sense because she obviously didn’t want Cal or the other men to know that she was going to jump off of the ship, as evidenced by her pleading look to Jack to not tell them the truth. Rose is also very smart, so I doubt she doesn’t know what propellers are/that that’s what they’re called, and it would fit perfectly into her having to play the part of a dutiful daughter/wife in the class that she’s in.

“A twenty should do it” - BITCH?!? I love that he’s not only putting a going rate on saving his fiancée, but it’s only a twenty??? Man is loaded and he offering only a twenty??? He’s not even trying to pretend she means more to him than just an arranged marriage

Just before Cal gives her the necklace, he says “I know you've been melancholy, and I don't pretent to know why” - to be fair, at least he’s honest. It’s clear he doesn’t actually know her that well though, nor does he care to. She’s basically a possession to him.

He claims the necklace is a “reminder of my feelings for you”, but that’s not true at all. He makes no attempt to hide how expensive it is, that it comes from royalty, and we know from older!Rose speaking earlier that it was “a dreadfully heavy thing” - that, plus the way it sits made me think of a collar than anything else. There’s a deleted scene that happens right after this (it fades from this scene to older!Rose talking) where old!Rose even says, “Of course his gift was only to reflect light back onto himself, to illuminate the greatness that was Caledon Hockley. It was a cold stone... a heart of ice. After all these years, feel it closing around my throat like a dog collar. I can still feel its weight. If you could have felt it, not just seen it...”

A nice indication of the difference in wealth and class between Rose and Jack is that Rose has a lot of different outfits whilst Jack has very few: he’s seen wearing the same shirt as the night before when he and Rose are talking/him showing her his sketches, he then borrows a fancy suit from Molly for dinner in first class, and I’m pretty sure he’s still wearing the same shirt (the one from the suit) the next day/through the sinking of the ship. Everything he owns was on him the day he won the tickets for the Titanic, he’s a drifter and pretty much penniless. I don’t know, I just thought it was a nice indicative thing

It’s also interesting that Rose’s engagement ring is implied to be heavy, just like the Heart of the Ocean necklace: “god, look at that thing! You’d have gone straight to the bottom!”. Her wearing that heavy ring is another reminder of how constricting/uncomfortable she is in this engagement/her upcoming marriage.

Jack and Rose’s banter is really cute and I love it. I love that their relationship is shown developing even over such a short time and that they’re able to have fun with each other and banter

I do love that when Rose snatches his sketchbook away, Jack is so not bothered by it. He just lets her. He’s not once afraid that she’ll not return it, he’s not afraid she’ll ruin his work, he’s more than happy to let her look but he’s also not cocky or bragging about how good he is as an artist

Also I laughed at her closing the front cover of the sketchbook over when a man walked past so that he wouldn’t see the drawings of naked women 😂

Jack mentions a one-legged prostitute and there actually is a drawing of a one legged prostitute in his sketchbook, if you pause the film at the exact right frame before he turns the page over

There’s a drawing of a woman at a bar that Jack tells Rose about, a lady called “Madame Bijoux”, and this is actually based on a famous photograph from 1933 called “Bijou” which was taken by Brassaï.

Factually Incorrect: Bruce Ismay is portrayed as encouraging Captain Smith to push the ship to full speed so that they get to New York a day early. In reality, Ismay and the rest of the White Star executives knew they could never compete with Cunard's faster ships, and they wanted to focus on luxury and comfort. He also asks him why the last “four” boilers aren’t lit, however, at the British inquiry, Leading Fireman Frederick Barrett testified that the day before the disaster, eight of the boilers were unlit.

Factually… Not Sure: It’s mentioned that this is Captain Smith’s last voyage before retiring, and this is supposedly true, this was supposed to be his last voyage before retirement (although other sources have suggested he was going to continue being captain on Titanic until White Star Line Company “completed a larger and finer steamer”)

I love how Rose sees Jack spitting, goes “that’s disgusting”, and then proceeds to do it herself 😂

Molly gesturing to Jack to quickly wipe the spit of his chin is a nice touch, she’s shown to help him out quite a bit like giving him a suit etc

Factually Correct: They did indeed announce mealtimes with a bugle playing “The Roast Beef of Old England”, the bugler was actually called Percy Fletcher and he died during the sinking; if his body was recovered, it was never identified

So fun fact: the staircase of the real Titanic is, obviously, at the bottom of the Atlantic, but there are two other staircases that are similar - one is in the Vatican, and the other is actually in Loftus Hall in Ireland, and I’ve seen it firsthand because I went on a tour there as a teenager during one of my visits to Ireland (I have Irish grandparents too). According to one of the tour guides there (and this could be false), James Cameron asked the lady who owns Loftus Hall if he could buy the staircase to use in this film, offering her a lot of money, but she said no. Loftus Hall is also incredibly haunted so I recommend checking it out if you’re ever in that part of Ireland!

I like the small detail of Jack watching the first class passengers while he’s waiting for Rose and then imitating them to practice before dinner

Interesting to note that Cal and Ruth go to the dinner together, talking, leaving Rose to follow; this definitely adds into the idea of the engagement between Cal and Rose being more like a business transaction between two parties, with Rose having zero choice in the matter

By the way, there are a LOT of historical figures/real life people in the first class dinner scene: John Jacob Astor and his pregnant wife (the wife survived, he did not, and their son was named after him), Colonel Gracie, the Duff-Gordons (including Lady Duff-Gordon, the lingerie/fashion designer, Benjamin Guggenheim and his mistress (his wife and children are at home) etc.

Molly was 100% giving Ruth a Death Stare in the dinner scene when Ruth was trying to embarrass Jack/put him down in front of the others and I’m living for it

Jack just throwing a lighter at Cal when he sees Cal pulling out a cigarette is kind of funny, won’t lie

Factually Correct: During this scene, Molly Brown tells a story about her husband accidentally burning $300,000 that she had hidden in the stove. Apparently this was a real incident that happened?!?

Something I didn’t notice before is that as the men are leaving for cigars and brandy, Jack can be seen handing a pencil back to Molly, who discreetly puts it in her bag - that’s how Jack wrote the note he gives to Rose telling her to meet him by the clock, because Molly gave him the pencil. This woman is 100% rallying behind the two of them and I love it

Factually Correct: The third class party scene (the real party) has Irish music, a lot of Irish people, what looks like Guiness and is just in general very Irish. This is accurate because yes, there were a lot of Irish people making up the third class passengers, and as someone with Irish roots, let me tell you right now that you know it’s a real party when the Irish get involved - lots of drinking, dancing, etc. It’s also accurate that third class had their own dining areas and areas to spend time doing things like dancing and playing cards

Okay but Jack dancing with Cora and “you’re still my best girl, Cora” is still adorable to this day

The smash cut contrast as it cuts from the roaring Irish party to the stiff first class in their smoking room is beautiful. The contrast is so striking because it goes from dancing/laughing/cheering/music to near silence.

Molly really wasn’t kidding when she said Rose was a pistol, she straight up glugged a pint of beer before taking the cigarette straight out of someone’s mouth and smoking it

As a child, I used to be so perplexed by everyone being like “WOAH JESUS CHRIST” when Rose went en pointe because at the time I thought she was just on her tiptoes and I was like “pfft I can do that”. Now, however, as an adult who has done ballet and loves watching ballet, seeing her go en pointe while NOT wearing pointe shoes makes me equally very uncomfortable and also impressed. The Irish woman in the back going “Jesus, Mary and Joseph” when Rose did that is a MOOD

So there’s that deleted scene i mentioned that takes place after the Irish party but before the next scene where they’re looking at the stars, singing the “Come Josephine” song and as they’re looking at the stars, they see a shooting star and he tells her, “My father used to say that whenever you saw one, it was a soul going to heaven��… which, you know… bear that in mind for later on…

“I had hoped you’d come to me last night” “my wife in practice if not yet by law” - EXCUSE ME WHAT (will refer back to this later)

Cal really flew off the handle just because Rose said “I'm not some foreman in your mills than you can command! I am your fiancee--“ 😬

Originally it was supposed to be Rose helping her mother put the corset on but it was switched around to Ruth tightening Rose’s corset, which honestly fits so much better. This scene is symbolic of how Rose is trapped in this life in first class, trapped in the engagement with Cal, of how uptight and suffocating it all is - despite being rich and having everything someone might ask for, she’s far from happy. This, coupled with her earlier desire to kill herself to escape, just goes to show how it’ll end up killing her one day because eventually it is going to get to the point where she’ll end her life just to escape. The fact that it’s her mother tightening the corset is especially important because it’s her mother who’s forcing her into a marriage she doesn’t want, her mother who is restraining her

Gotta love the irony of Ruth calling Rose selfish just because she doesn’t want to be forced into a loveless and probably abusive marriage when in fact it’s arguably Ruth being selfish because she’d rather marry her only child off to someone they don’t love than be poor or, as she puts it, work as a seamstress 🤦 I understand it’s a hopeless situation but still, it’s super shitty

“Of course it’s unfair, we’re women. Our choices are never easy” - Ruth is right here though. It’s 1912 and women were definitely not viewed the same as men

Factually Sort-Of Correct: the Sunday church/hymn service did in fact happen on Sunday 14th April 1912, and one of the songs they sang was in fact “Eternal Father” — a hymn about sailors suffering while at sea. The line the audience hears as the scene cuts is “Oh hear us when we cry to Thee, for those in peril on the sea”, which is a nice bit of foreshadowing in the film but also horrible irony in real life. However, the version being sung in the film wasn’t around until the 40s and also they’ve moved the verses around out of order, presumably so they could have that “those in peril on the sea” line there. Also, “Eternal Father, Strong to Save" was not used in the Sunday service for first class, but in a second class prayer service later in the day.

I do love how when Jack greets Thomas Andrews on the staircase, Andrews greets him back in a friendly way

Factually Correct: Captain Smith did in fact get multiple telegrams from other nearby ships warning the Titanic of icebergs, but these warnings were ignored. The people in the telegram room also only gave the captain messages that were seen as urgent, so the captain didn’t receive all of them. The people in the telegram room were also under a lot of duress trying to send out messages from passengers to their loved ones, so they got more and more annoyed by the warnings from other ships warning them of ice - they thought the messages were a nuisance and even at one point sent a message back to one ship to “shut up”.

Factually Correct: Despite the warnings, Captain Smith did in fact order the last boilers to be lit and for the ship to progress at 22 knots (full speed).

More foreshadowing/exposition, although this is a bit more obvious, in the scene where Andrews is talking about the lifeboats; he says that there’s not enough lifeboats on the ship, not even by half. Cal remarks that the lifeboats are a waste of space as it is because it’s “an unsinkable ship” Obviously this foreshadows how there wasn’t enough lifeboats for all the passengers, which led to the later panic less than 24 hours later when the ship was going down

Factually Correct: Andrews says that he requested to add more lifeboats but was overruled because it would make the deck look “too cluttered”. Obviously it’s true the ship didn’t have enough lifeboats, and the WSL company only put just enough lifeboats according to the regulations. Also, in the “unlikely” event of the ship sinking, it was thought that the lifeboats would be sent out, take the passengers to a nearby ship, then they’d return to get more passengers. Of course, the Titanic sank in under three hours and the nearest ship didn’t arrive for four hours.

Factually Correct: In the script, after the Smith ice warning moment, Officers Lightoller and Murdoch have a conversation about binoculars being missing - this is true. The lookouts were missing a pair of binoculars, which contributed to them not seeing the iceberg until it was too late

Jack and Rose’s conversation happens in an on deck gym and, yes, this was thing on the actual ship

I love that he calls her a brat before launching into telling her how much he likes her

One of my favourite moments is Rose saying “it’s not up to you to save me, Jack” and Jack saying “You’re right. Only you can do that”. Because it’s true; even though Rose says that Jack saved her in every way a person can be saved, she’s the one who made the decisions in the end - she was just inspired by him

In the background of the next scene in the dining area, you can hear Ruth discussing the wedding plans, and says that Rose chose “lavender” - I can’t remember where I heard this but apparently lavender is a colour of mourning, which is indicative of how Rose views her upcoming marriage to Cal as being akin to death almost, maybe even worse than death. Lavender is also, interestingly, similar to the colour of Rose’s dress from after the drawing scene, through the entire sinking, and up until the very end (I think it’s more lilac than lavender but whatever)

The important moment in this scene is of course Rose seeing the mother and daughter on the next table; the mother making the daughter sit up straight, making the little girl fold the napkin perfectly into her lap… it’s indicative of a never ending cycle of little girls being born, forced and trapped into this life where they have to be prim and proper, no control over their own lives, only to be married off and have their own daughters who will be forced into exactly the same thing. It’s absolutely heartbreaking, and this is what makes Rose change her mind ultimately; maybe I’m just overthinking but I do wonder if she’s thinking to herself that she doesn’t want any daughter of hers to be forced into that life like she was.

Jack sings the “Come Josephine” song to Rose during the flying scene, which is actually a callback to a deleted scene that would have occurred earlier in the film and shown the two of them singing it. In that scene, he also tells her a story about how shooting stars are people going to heaven, which is interesting later on… The song is also heard later on when Rose is on the makeshift raft and she’s singing it to herself

As Jack and Rose kiss, there’s a fade from the past to the present - the ship fades into the ghostly wreck at the bottom of the ocean, and there’s a moment where it looks like they’re kissing on a ghost ship, this ghostly couple caught in time

Jack in suspenders though 😭 I love men in suspenders

It’s around this point that Rose stops wearing the engagement ring which is a nice detail

The drawing is actually really important because it’s Rose taking charge and commissioning Jack to draw the portrait, her deciding how she’s going to appear (“I want you to draw me like one of your French girls, wearing this… wearing only this” “I don’t want another portrait of me looking like a porcelain doll”). It’s her taking charge of her own body and her sexuality, and that’s beautiful to me. And it’s also very important that Jack is a professional and a gentleman because he gets on with the drawing despite clearly being a little flustered by the sight of this woman he’s in love with naked, and he doesn’t take advantage of her while she’s in that vulnerable state of being fully nude. The fact that she’s comfortable enough and trusting him like this, and the way he doesn’t take advantage, is so beautifully done.

Also, I’m sure we all know this by now but the drawing of Rose was actually done by James Cameron

I also just love that this was one of the first scenes they shot and that Kate Winslet flashed Leonardo DiCaprio before filming in order to (sorry to use this phrase given the circumstances) break the ice so they’d be more comfortable with each other

Also, she was wearing the robe when she came out and he was clearly getting ready to draw while she was preparing herself, but I do wonder if he helped her loosen her corset because this is happening on the same day as the scene where her mother is shown tightening her corset, and we know from an earlier scene she couldn’t get out of it by herself

“Over on the bed- the couch!” - the funniest part about this line is that it wasn’t scripted, Leo genuinely flubbed that line 😭😂

Factually Correct: The captain and one of the officers (I think) have a conversation where it’s mentioned, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a flat sea” and “makes it harder to see the bergs” - this is one of the reasons the Titanic lookouts didn’t see the boat until it was too late. If there had been waves, the waves would have lapped up against the side of the iceberg - but there weren’t any. The water was remarkably flat and calm.

Before this, in a lot of scenes Rose’s hair is up or half up; from this point onwards, her hair is seen to be down, which could be symbolising how she’s more free and more herself with Jack

Rose flipping the bird at Lovejoy will ALWAYS remain iconic to me 😂

The dress that Rose wears now - her “sinking dress” - is a lot looser and lighter than her previous outfits, and I’m presuming she’s not wearing the corset anymore, which again is indicative of how free she is now that she’s chosen Jack

The two lookouts, Fleet and Lee, have a conversation where Fleet claims he can “smell ice when it’s near”, which is tragically ironic for obvious reasons 😂 I’m not sure if this was a real conversation that was had but…

Rose leaving the drawing in the safe and writing “now you can keep us both locked in your safe” is so savage, oh my lord

Not Lovejoy perving on the drawing when Cal wasn’t looking 😭

I still find it so funny that of all the goddamn cabins and rooms on the ship, Rose and Jack decided to consummate their relationship in a car

Okay so speaking of the love scene, it’s a sweet little scene and it’s not distasteful. However…

I’ve seen some interesting debate over, strange as it sounds, the previous sexual experiences of Jack and Rose. I’ll talk about Rose in a second, but for Jack you’d think he’d have a lot of experience in that area because he’s well-travelled, seems more knowledgeable about that kind of topic, has drawings of naked women drawn from life, and he’s from a class that’s typically not as uptight about sex or relationships. Having said that, he makes it very clear here that - with at least the one legged prostitute - his love affair was just with her hands. Other than that, there’s no indication that he’s actually done anything with these women beyond using them as models for his sketches.

Moving onto Rose, the expectation would be of course that’s she’s totally inexperienced, expected to wait until marriage etc. but some people have pointed out that Cal makes a couple of remarks that could be indicating that he’s had his way with her (because to me it’s quite clear that Rose isn’t into him at all). For example, saying he was hoping she’d come to him the night before and the whole “wife in practice thing” - it wouldn’t be completely uncommon for couples who are engaged to have sex, especially if the engagement is a contracted agreement. There’s also a deleted scene where he makes a remark about how he’ll “still be the first between the sheets” that makes Rose and Trudy very uncomfortable. However, like I said, the fact that she’s not into him at all in addition to what I’ve mentioned above could instead mean that he’s trying to get her to sleep with him but she’s holding off.

^ Following on from the two above points (and this is my final point on it, I promise), it’s interesting that the expectation for these kinds of scenes is for the woman to be a shaking panting mess, but in the scene post-climax of their love making in the car, Jack is the one trembling and Rose is the one kissing his forehead/holding him. Now maybe it’s just “it was really good” or whatever (you know, the whole “it’s better with feelings/love” thing) but… yeah. It’s interesting that it kind of subverts the usual way it goes here. Again, it’s unimportant in the grand scheme of things, I just think it’s interesting that there’s discussions about this.

Lots of eye witnesses said it was absolutely freezing on deck the night the Titanic sank, so it’s so funny to me that Rose is out on deck just before the collision in a short sleeved dress without a coat or anything

I am so sorry, but Fleet yelling “BUGGER ME” and “PICK UP YOU BASTARDS” ALWAYS sets me off

The scene with the crew trying to get the boat to turn around is so well done - you can really feel the desperation and also the sheer panic as they try to slow Titanic down and avoid a collision, which is accurate to what they must have been feeling at the time

No matter how many times I watch this movie, and also knowing the history, I still end up saying to myself “oh no please don’t hit, don’t hit, turn, turn, oh no it’s gonna hit, it’s going to hit!”, which is a testament to how well done it is I suppose

The noise that the ship makes as it scrapes along the bottom of the iceberg haunts my nightmares. Just the sound of the scraping metal sets me on edge to think about

Apparently, had the ship not attempted to turn and had in fact just hit the ice berg straight on, there’s a good chance it wouldn’t have sank; however, because Titanic scraped the side of the iceberg, it flooded more compartments than simply hitting head on would have done (approximately a 250ft section of the hull was damaged)

Factually Incorrect: About two minutes pass in the film between Frederick Fleet sighting the iceberg and the collision. In reality, the elapsed time was roughly forty seconds. In addition, Titanic scraped the iceberg for only seven seconds, whereas the collision lasts about a minute. Similarly Thomas Andrews is shown feeling the vibration of the iceberg collision while in his cabin and realizing that something is wrong. Reportedly, he didn't notice anything was wrong until Captain Smith sent for him. Andrews's cabin was on A Deck, where the impact was barely felt.

Factually Correct: On the bridge, they could hear the iceberg grinding along the side of the ship; in boiler room 6, fireman Frederick Barrett saw seawater explode through a split that opened up two feet above the floor. There was indeed a shudder as the ship hit the iceberg; many passengers and crew throughout the ship either felt or heard the impact. It’s also true that they hurriedly shut the firefight doors to the boiler rooms in an effort to contain any flooding, and anyone who didn’t manage to escape the rooms would have probably drowned while trapped inside there. There was also ice that fell onto the deck. It’s also accurate that some of the third class woke up to water in their rooms

Factually Incorrect: After the collision, Captain Smith orders full stop. In reality, he ordered half ahead while the damage inspection was carried out, then ordered full stop.

Factually Correct: At this point, the staff and crew were telling passengers “it’s under control”, “no emergency” and to go back to bed.

I do have to laugh at the master at arms looking at Jack’s drawings and going “I think they’re quite good, sir” and Cal snatching them off of him 😂

Leo DiCaprio’s “THIS IS HORSE SHIT” has lived in my mind rent-free for 16 years now and it’s staying in mind for life I’m sure

The ship is literally sinking and they’re like “now is the perfect time to arrest someone!” 🤡

Factually Incorrect: Andrews says that five of her compartments have been breached but it was, according to Mayo’s book, six. However, in fairness, the damage in Boiler Room 5 was quickly contained, and it was the damage to Boiler Room 6 that doomed the ship. But otherwise, yes, it’s correct that the Titanic was designed so that she’d stay afloat with four compartments flooded - too many compartments were flooded by the ship scraping the side.

“She can’t sink-” “She’s made of iron, sir, I assure you she can!” should not be as funny as it is to me. It’s just the way he’s like “she’s made of iron dude??? Wtf you think is gonna happen???” (And yep, iron does indeed sink - I know this because, if nothing else, when you donate blood in the UK, they do a test where they prick your finger and put a drop of your blood into a solution, and if it sinks then it’s good because it means the iron in your blood is at an acceptable level - if the blood floats, you’re in trouble because that means you don’t have enough iron)

Cal really smacked the shit out of Rose, and I would not be surprised if that wasn’t even the first time he’d hit her. He gives off that vibe of being an absolute scumbag (kudos to Billy Zane though, he played the character well since I fucking hated him)

Factually Correct: Once they knew the ship was sinking, the crew told passengers to dress warmly because it was cold outside, even just standing on the deck

The difference between them waking up/talking to the first class passengers and the third class passengers is so messed up: for first class they’re knocking on doors, “please put your life jacket on”, “dress warm”… and then for third class they’re just barging in and shouting “GET UP! LIFE JACKETS ON!”

Factually Correct: The Titanic sending out “CQD” messages via telegram. CQD is a distress call mean “COME QUICK DANGER”

Factually Correct: The noises from the funnel were extremely loud - much louder in real life than in the film, but obviously the film needs you to be able to hear dialogue so… yeah. Still very loud.

Another Factually Correct thing (sorry, we’re getting more of these now): In the film, Andrews comes out on deck and sees that it’s basically empty, so he asks “where are all the passengers?”, and a crew member replies that they’re all inside because it’s “too cold”. This is true, the passengers didn’t think it was serious and some were even saying things along the lines of “why would we leave this majestic ship to sit on a small little lifeboat in the cold for no reason”. A lot of them stayed indoors because they didn’t think it was serious. This is also shown again with Ruth telling one of the staff to turn the heater on in their rooms and “I’d like a cup of tea when I return” - because the ship was supposedly unsinkable, they didn’t take it seriously until later

Let me say it again: the ship is literally sinking and they’re like “hey, I know a good idea! Let me handcuff this man to a pipe!” 🤡

As I mentioned earlier, the nearest responding ship was the RMS Carpathia, a cargo ship, and they were four hours away - from the time it hit the iceberg to the time it disappeared, Titanic sank in two hours and forty minutes.

Factually Correct: Captain Smith tells the officers to load the lifeboats “women and children first” - this was taken in two different ways by the officers. Officer Lightoller interpreted this order as “women and children only” and so was loading lifeboats half full and denying any men around the chance to get on. Meanwhile, Officer Murdoch was loading the women and children nearby first, and then if there were no more nearby, he was loading men.

Factually Correct: Yes, the band were on deck playing music to try and keep the passengers calm. And it’s also true that the ship was starting to tilt as the front sank

Factually Incorrect: Third-Class passengers were not deliberately locked below decks by the crew during the sinking. Some stewards did make it difficult for passengers to leave steerage, since they didn't understand their orders, but at no point in the voyage were the doors locked. Stewards did block a number of stairways and doors, but this was intended to allow them to shepherd the Third Class passengers to the boat deck without them getting lost. This is apparently referenced in the scene where Jack and the others break down the locked gate, as the steward tells them to head for the main stairwell and they'll be able to find their way up from there. Overall, there was a serious lack of communications among the stewards overseeing Third Class that prevented many passengers from getting to the lifeboats.

Big Fact/Explanation here!: Let’s be honest here. One of the reasons so many people died comes down to the fact that the majority of the crew were NOT trained on how to evacuate passengers in an event like this, and this includes on how to load the lifeboats. That’s why lifeboats were lowered whilst barely full, and lowered at a terribly disorganised and inconsistent rate

Between Ruth asking “are the lifeboats seated according to class?” and Cal remarking it’s “not the better half” that will die, I would have cheered for both of them drowning

It’s only recently I’ve understood what exactly Cal meant when he said “I wish I’d kept that drawing, it’ll be worth more by morning” (artists’ work is worth much more when they’re dead), and I just want to say he is a DICK. An absolute fucking DICK.

“Where are you going? To him? Is that it? To be a whore to that gutter rat?” “I’d rather be his whore than your wife” - SHOTS FIRED BY ROSE DEWITT BUKATER/DAWSON

Also the fact that she makes him let go of her by doing a gloriously beautiful spit into his face is a nice callback to the fact Jack was teaching her how to properly spit

Thomas Andrews was being a real cool dude by telling Rose where to find Jack

Jack and Rose reuniting is sweet but also I was just sitting there like “the ship is literally sinking, can we do this romantic shit in a minute AFTER you’re not in a rapidly flooding room?!?”

Jack, literally chained to a pipe, watching Rose leave as the room rapidly floods: “… I’ll just wait here!” 😭😂

The fact that Jack was trusting Rose to use an axe to cut his handcuffs off… the fact he’s an artist and if she missed, he’d lose his hands - his literal livelihood could have been gone just like that 😭 thankfully she didn’t miss but still, he’s got more faith in her than I would

Apparently Kate actually did hit Leo with the fake axe though 😭

Jack going “oh SHIT, this is cold, OH SHIT” was literally just Leonardo DiCaprio reacting to the water I’m sure 😭😭😭

Factually Correct: The crew really did have to push and threaten the passengers back because they were swarming the lifeboats and literally trying to jump into them. During the actual sinking, there’s an account of one man landing on a woman as he jumped into the boat and nearly crushing her. The crew were also basically throwing women and children onto the boats to forcefully separate them from their husbands/fathers. It’s also real that the crew were setting off the distress rockets in the hope of signalling for help.

Factually Correct but also maybe a Little Incorrect(?): It’s true that Bruce Ismay got onto a lifeboat and survived, and afterwards he was publicly blasted and shamed for saving his own skin. However, he testified that he was encouraged by the officer loading the boats to get on, which isn’t shown here.

Even though this is a dramatisation, it’s so sad to know that families really were separated, boys as young as 12 weren’t allowed on because of the “women and children” rule (because teenage boys were being classed as “men” during the sinking), and a lot of the men saying goodbye to their wives and kids were never seen again

Factually Correct: Just a quick note to say that Guggenheim is shown dressed in his best and saying he’s going to go down with the ship as a gentleman. This did in fact happen.

It’s the way that Jack was thinking about how he was going to die with the other men on the ship, he knew Cal wasn’t going to offer him help getting a place on a lifeboat, but he was just glad that Rose was safe 😭

That moment where Rose is looking up at Jack from the lifeboat and the rocket goes off behind him is literally CINEMATIC CINEMA 👌🏻 it’s an incredibly beautiful shot, Jack with the rocket light behind him, I cannot get over how beautiful it looks, and the fact it was an accidental shot??? 😭👌🏻

Okay but the scene where Rose jumps out of the lifeboat back onto the ship, and then her and Jack run to meet each other by the staircase is one of my favourite scenes 😭❤️ literally crying every time I see it

Jack doesn’t often show fear or terror in the film, even when it’s obvious he’s scared, and that’s because he’s most likely attempting to hold it together for Rose - but when she jumps off the lifeboat and he’s running looking for her, it’s one of those moments where you can see the terror and worry on his face

It’s so sweet how he’s going “you’re so stupid, Rose!” in a hoarse voice whilst also kissing her and holding her, like it’s obvious he’s shocked and doesn’t actually think she’s stupid, not in the way Cal does, but more like “why would you do that??? I love you but why????”

I’m sorry, I laughed out loud at Cal slipping on the debris from where one of his bullets hit the pillar at the bottom of the stairs

This film really shows how fast the water was rising up. I don’t even have anything else to say about that, it’s very fast

“I put the diamond in the coat… I PUT THE COAT ON HER!” - the way I laugh thinking about this line is literally unholy, oh my god 😂 it’s just the way he starts off with a pleasant and calm voice, only to start yelling on the verge of a breakdown

Fun fact, there was a deleted scene here where Cal sent Lovejoy after them, and he and Jack had a fight in one of the dining rooms, and it shows how Lovejoy ended up so bloodied and beaten up before we see him later just as the ship splits in half. That scene also showed how quickly the water was rising because at the start there’s not that much, but by the end it’s around their knees I think

Factually… Controversial?: Ah yes. The Murdoch controversy. For those unaware, James Cameron caused a bit of a controversy by showing First Officer Murdoch shooting and killing passengers trying to get on the lifeboats before shooting himself in the head out of guilt; Murdoch’s nephew was furious and accused Cameron/20th Century Fox of tarnishing his uncle’s legacy. According to Mayo’s book, there are witness accounts claiming an officer (who is not named) accidentally shot and killed people trying to swarm the lifeboats, and they then turned the gun on himself. James Cameron has since said in the film commentary and also interviews that it wasn’t his intention at all, saying his depiction of Murdoch is that of an "honorable man," not of a man "gone bad" or of a "cowardly murderer." He added, "I'm not sure you'd find that same sense of responsibility and total devotion to duty today. This guy had half of his lifeboats launched before his counterpart on the port side had even launched one. That says something about character and heroism." He has also said that he probably shouldn’t have shown this as a specific officer as there’s no confirmation as to which officer did this. Fox vice-president Scott Neeson also went to Dalbeattie, Scotland, where Murdoch lived, to deliver a personal apology, and also presented a £5000 donation to Dalbeattie High School to boost the school's William Murdoch Memorial Prize.

Coming off my last point, I used to think Murdoch was bad as a child but now while watching the film all I felt was pity because it’s obvious that the officers were all under a lot of pressure - the ship was literally going down fast, and the passengers were pushing and trampling each other in order to survive. In the film, it’s shown to be an accident too, that he didn’t actually want to shoot. I understand why his family would have been furious about it, but I don’t think the intention was to portray him as a bad man.

The scene with the band playing “Nearer My God To Thee” is so heartbreaking - beautiful but heartbreaking - from the beginning of the song to when Wallace Hartley (the violinist leading the band) says “Gentlemen, it’s been a privilege playing with you tonight”. There’s the elderly couple in bed (which I talk about more down below because they’re in fact a real couple who were on the Titanic), the mother putting her children to sleep knowing that all three of them are going to die, the people screaming and scrambling to survive…

Factually Correct: The band did in fact play music on deck, and survivors reported hearing them play “Nearer My God To Thee”.

Factually Correct: During this scene, an elderly couple is shown spooning in bed as water rushes in around them, and it’s clear they die together. This couple is actually Isidor and Ida Straus; Isidor was the former owner of R.H. Macy and Company, and Ida was his wife. In a deleted scene from the film, Ida is offered a place in a lifeboat, but refuses, saying that she will honor her wedding pledge by staying with Isidor. This in fact happened in real life: when offered a place on the lifeboat, she refused to get on without her husband. Although the officer in charge of the lifeboat was willing to allow Isidor to board with his wife and their maid, he refused to go while there were women and children still remaining on the ship. He again urged his wife to board, but she refused, saying, "We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go." Her words were witnessed by those already in Lifeboat No. 8 as well as many others who were on the boat deck at the time. However, the last time they were seen, they were actually in deck chairs

Factually Ambiguous: In the film, just after the scene “Nearer My God To Thee” moment, Captain Smith is seen retreating into the wheelhouse on the bridge as the ship sinks, dying when the windows implode from the water whilst he clings to the ship's wheel. However, there are conflicting accounts as to whether he died in this manner or if he in fact later froze to death in the water near the capsized collapsible lifeboat "B". The captain going down the ship is also a maritime tradition I believe, so it works better cinematically and shows him as a better person, I suppose, than him freezing to death whilst swimming for help.

In the background of some shots, you can see the crew and passengers throwing things like chairs overboard - this really happened, and it was so that those in the water had things to grab onto

The moment where the glass dome of the Grand Staircase implodes is not only so gut-wrenchingly upsetting to watch, it’s actually brilliantly and cinematically well-done/shown in the film. There’s something about the way it shatters and water pours in, people swept away by it, that’s so chilling.

Factually Correct: John Jacob Astor IV is last seen as the Grand Staircase glass dome implodes and water surges in. He did in fact die and his body was recovered; his body was identified by the initials sewn on the label of his jacket. It’s thought, however, that he was killed by the first funnel collapsing and not on the staircase

It’s so depressing watching people jumping off the boat and into the water because the fact is that between the water being freezing and some of the heights of the jumps, most of them probably died instantly. There’s no telling if people knew that then, but if they did then it’s sad that for them they viewed it as a preferable death to the horror of being on the sinking ship as it groaned and buckled like it did

The sinking in general is well done in the film, it’s genuinely terrifying and horrific: people jumping off the boat, people trampling each other, desperation to survive, people drowning and freezing to death, the actual noises coming from the ship as it implodes/breaks/floods…

To lighten the mood, I nearly died laughing at the random dude slowly walking as he says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...” and Jack behind him just going, “You wanna walk a little faster through that valley there?!?”

Factually Correct: Okay, we NEED to talk about the chef who is seen to be one of the last people off the ship, sipping from a flask up until the very end, and in a deleted scene getting absolutely pissed as a skunk, because this man is an actual LEGEND. His name was Chief Baker Charles Joughin, and he did in fact survive the Titanic sinking; he testified that he rode the ship down LIKE AN ELEVATOR and then stepped into the water without even getting his hair wet before paddling and treading water for about two hours until his upper half was pulled up onto collapsible lifeboat B, his legs and feet still in the water, and he stayed there until being rescued by the RMS Carpathia. He also admitted to hardly feeling the cold, and this is most likely thanks to alcohol - he was so full of alcohol that they think it stopped him from feeling the cold when in the water. Literally the only ill effect he suffered was swollen feet. I cannot get over this man, he’s an absolute legend.

Factually Correct: A priest is seen giving a sermon just before the ship splits. This is Father Byles, a second class passenger, who was a Catholic priest from England, and he really did pray and console the passengers in those final moments

The mother telling her child that it’ll “all be over soon” is genuinely one of the most upsetting things I’ve ever seen or heard. Like it’s so upsetting and makes me cry 😭

“Jack, this is where we first me” - I’m so sorry but my sister was in the room during this line and I just said to her “yep, and this is where we’re gonna fucking die, Rose!” 😭

Also Jack’s expression is also sort of “WTF Rose”, which makes sense because Kate Winslet ad-libbed that line apparently and Leo was like “da fuck???”

But being serious, when Rose said that, Jack kissed the top of her head and rested his chin on her head, and you can see the fear on his face 😭 he lets his fear show when she’s not looking, and his fear is mostly for her and what might happen to her

It’s also cinematically symbolic and interesting that the stern - the final part to go down - is not only where Jack and Rose first met, it’s also where Rose was about to end her life before meeting Jack, and now it’s where the two of them are there trying to stay alive. Just… very interesting I think.

The people falling off of the stern while it was vertical would have DEFINITELY been killed the second they hit the water, let’s be honest. There was also a guy who hit the propellers when he fell down, and there’s literally zero chance he survived.

Factually Correct: A moment of respect for the engineers in the engine rooms who stayed there and worked their asses off until the very last second to keep the engines running so that the ship could have lights on and the distress calls could be sent out. They would have been killed when the ship split in two.

Factual Nit Pick Here: When the lights on the Titanic went out, it was quite literally pitch black. The people on the ship didn’t know what was happening anymore, they couldn’t even see the water rushing towards them, and those in the lifeboats couldn’t see anything at all. In the film, it’s not exactly pitch black. Obviously, because this is a movie, we the audience need to be able to see what’s happening, but I want to be clear that in real life it was so dark that once the lights on the ship went out, no one could see a single thing. Also, later on, Fifth Officer Lowe and Lifeboat 14 are shown with flashlights - they did not have flashlights. Apparently, Cameron knew this, but kept it in order to provide lighting.

^ Because of this above point, this is where witness/survivor accounts start to differ a little because no one could actually really see anything

The ship splitting down the middle is another thing that haunted me as a kid and still haunts me even now. The sound it makes as it splits is literally awful, and for a ship of that size and strength to split like that, it would have taken a LOT of pressure/water. Anyone near the middle of the ship would have most likely died immediately.

Factual… IDK???: There’s differing accounts of how exactly the ship split and sank, and there’s different theories. Because of how dark it was, and also because it’s thought that some more of the ship broke hitting the bottom of the Atlantic, it’s basically impossible to say exactly how the split and final plunge happened. Maybe I’m just not doing enough research but I do know there’s various theories about it, and it’s hard to pin the exact right one because of how dark it was

The people who were in the water towards the back of the ship would have absolutely been killed when the ship split in two and the stern crashed back down, let that sink in for a second… that’s a horrible way to go

Just hearing the people screaming and crying as they go down is so terrifying???

See, I can’t even bring myself to be mad about the man who nearly drowned Rose by trying to use her to stay afloat because these people would have been desperate, and desperate/scared people do things they wouldn’t usually.

I’m Not Even Going To Bother Fact Checking This One, Just Let Me Rant: I have NO idea what the official scientist conclusion on the infamous “Could Rose and Jack have both fit on the door?” debate is, but could they not have at least taken turns??? 😭🤦 I’m sorry, I know that these two characters weren’t real but for goodness sake?!?

^ Look, I know that Jack is absolutely the type who’d have said no to taking turns because his goal wasn’t saving himself, it was making sure Rose survived, but I’m just MAD about it

Factually Correct: Molly Brown, as mentioned above, did in fact try to convince Officer Hitchens in Lifeboat 6 to go back for survivors but was overruled and told to shut up. Only two of the twenty lifeboats went searching for survivors, and they waited too long before doing it

One thing I only noticed today was Ruth covering her ears to stop herself from hearing the screams… Jesus Christ.

Here’s the thing I want to make clear here: most of the people in the water were wearing life belts. They were not drowning. The reason these people died is just because of the cold - it is so cold that they died in minutes. One survivor said that the worst thing wasn’t even hearing people screaming - it was when people stopped screaming and it turned quiet. Another survivor lived close to a baseball arena and said that it was difficult for them because the screams of fans reminded them of the screams of the dying people in the water after the sinking.

“I don't know about you, but I intend to write a strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about all this” - even when he’s literally dying, Jack is still managing to make jokes 😭

Jack really foreshadows the ending by telling Rose, “You're going to get out of this... you're going to go on and you're going to make babies and watch them grow and you're going to die an old lady, warm in your bed. Not here. Not this night. Do you understand me?”

“Winning that ticket was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me to you. And I'm thankful, Rose. I'm thankful.” - If you hear me sobbing, no you don’t 😭

Shoutout to Fifth Officer Lowe for being the only officer on a lifeboat (Lifeboat 14) to go back for survivors, he’s the real MVP here even if he did wait too long

There’s a shot of a woman and baby dead in the ocean and I feel sick every time I see that shot or think about it. Don’t get me wrong, seeing the entire literal SEA of dead bodies in the ocean is really upsetting but the baby especially just hits really hard

While Rose is lying on her back, singing the Josephine song, she’s looking at the stars and there’s a shot of a shooting star; I already mentioned the deleted scene previously where Jack tells her that shooting stars are people going to heaven, and I wonder if this is the moment Jack died

When I was younger, I was always baffled that Rose loved Jack as much as she did only to let go of him and not die with him (because younger me was like “love is dying together” because I’m dumb), but now that I’m older I see this as Rose living for Jack; she promised him she would do all of these things, he made her promise that she’d die as an old lady, and that’s why she keeps going - because she’s doing it for him.

I still cringe at the sound of her forcing Jack’s hands off her own - obviously his hands are frozen as well as the fact dead bodies do get stiff anyway, but it’s so grim to think about

Let’s talk numbers here, using older!Rose’s narration/dialogue: “Fifteen hundred (1500) people went into the sea when Titanic sank from under us. There were twenty boats floating nearby and only one came back. One. Six were saved from the water, myself included. Six out of fifteen hundred.” If you want to do the maths, that’s 0.4% of people who went into the water who survived. That’s absolutely disturbing to think about.

Factually Incorrect: While what Rose says is heartbreaking, it’s false. She says only one lifeboat came back, whereas in reality, two lifeboats returned. The first was lifeboat 4, who rescued 8 crew members from the water, 2 of them died inside the lifeboat. Much later, lifeboat 14 returned, having wasted a lot of time transferring passengers into other lifeboats in order to make room. They rescued 3 or 4 passengers, one of whom died in the lifeboat. She also said that there were only six people out of fifteen hundred left on board who were rescued from the water when it was actually about forty. This can be justified by her only knowing of six.

Factual Check: There were 2222 people on Titanic, including the crew; it’s estimated that 1517 of those people died, leaving about 705 people alive. 68% of people on the ship died, leaving 32% who survived; most of the deaths were third-class passengers, especially third class men. It’s thought that at least 53.4% of the people on the ship could have survived, had the lifeboats been loaded properly (these numbers are approximate, I apologise for any incorrect information)

In the scene showing the various lifeboats waiting to be rescued as morning dawns, you can see someone passing Cal a flask that he drinks out. Just a neat detail, I think.

Seeing the survivors trying to track down their loved ones, hoping that they made it off the boat, is… very saddening and depressing. Not knowing whether your loved ones are alive or dead in a situation like this must be one of the worst feelings, I imagine.

Here’s the thing: it’s not like Ruth or Cal didn’t know that Jack’s surname was Dawson, which is obviously the surname Rose gave when arriving in America. This means Ruth and Cal never actually bothered to look under the surname “Dawson” to see if Jack himself was still alive, because otherwise they’d have see Rose’s name under “Dawson” and probably put two and two together - which seems strange to me because you’d think they’d know “hey, maybe she’s with him” or something. If nothing else, it shows how little they thought of Jack that they didn’t even bother to see if he’d survived

I’m sorry, you just gotta love how old!Rose threw a necklace worth billions of dollars into the middle of the fucking sea 😂 and the noise she makes throwing it in, like a small little “uhh!” It makes sense though - it’s like it belongs at the bottom of the ocean with the ship, and her throwing it - this “heavy thing” - into the ocean is also symbolic of how it must feel to finally talk about what happened, to talk about Jack, after keeping it to herself for 84 years.

Originally the scene was different because Brock Lovett, Lizzy, Bodine etc. were all there (it’s a deleted scene, easily found on YouTube like the rest of them), where they try to stop her, Lovett gets to hold the diamond, and Rose tells him, “You look for treasures in the wrong place, Mr. Lovett. Only life is priceless, and making each day count” before she throws it in, Brock goes through about ten different emotions before smiling and accepting it… but I like the actual scene better. It just feels more right for the film and less cheesey I think.

Everyone and their mother knows this, but I love seeing Rose’s pictures showing her doing everything she and Jack said they were going to do 😭❤️

There’s some debate about whether or not Rose is merely sleeping and dreaming, or if she’s in fact dead - even the script is ambiguous about it: “We PAN OFF the last picture to Rose herself, warm in her bunk. A profile shot. She is very still. She could be sleeping, or maybe something else.” It’s open to personal interpretation, but I personally do think that Rose died just because of the whole “you’re going to die an old, old lady, warm in her bed”, which is literally what the script says is happening here, and it makes it all the more poignant that she’s finally told the story of what happened on Titanic, she’s finally spoken about it and about Jack after 84 years, and now it’s her time to move on.

I love the way it shifts from the ship remains to how it used to look in 1912, to how big and beautiful and wondrous it was.

Literally all of the people who died are there as she goes up the stairs: Cora and her family, Fabrizio and the girl he was dancing with, Tommy Ryan, the crew/staff, Thomas Andrews… again, I think it’s another sign she died in her sleep and this is her joining all of them.

The clock on the stairs is at 2:20 - the time the Titanic took her final plunge and sank.

I only recently became aware of this, but as Jack and Rose kiss and the camera pans up, you can see Captain Smith in the background and he’s the very last person to start clapping, which I suppose goes back to the whole tradition of the captain being the last one to leave the ship or whatever? Idk, I just thought it was interesting!

And yep, that’s me crying over the end scene yet again!

And… here we are. I don’t have a lot else to add other than I do love this movie, and even if it’s not 100% accurate to the Titanic ship or the sinking, it’s still a brilliant film!

#titanic #rose dewitt bukater #jack dawson #rms titanic #history #thomas andrews #movies #megan watches movies #leonardo dicaprio #kate winslet #jack x rose #rose x jack

232 notes · View notes

80s4life · 3 years

Text

If We Go Down, We Go Down Together

Word Count: 1,762

Status: Suggested!

Ask: hello !! idk if u still do these but could we get a Mr. Andrews x reader fic ? 👁👁 i’ve been obsessed with titanic since forever and i’ve always been in love with Mr. Andrews. could it also be about him being protective over the reader ?? tysm and i love ur work btw. so talented omg

@: a wonderful anon that will forever be mysterious!

A/N: I absolutely love Mr. Andrews! He was such a sweetheart and an honorable man, even in the time of death, knowing his creation was destroyed. And thank you so much for all the compliments, ya’ll are too kind to me!

Side-Note: I’m so sorry for this! I realized afterwards that you probably wanted a heartwarming imagine, and I completely screwed with it! Mr. Andrews isn’t completely overprotective in this, kind of softly claiming you as his? Hope you enjoy anyway?

Fandom: Titanic 1997

Relationship: Mr. Thomas Andrews x Reader

Summary: It was the ship of dreams; the unsinkable, grand ship that would take people all the way to America, the country of opportunities. Personally, it was the ship of endless possibilities, falling even harder for a man you’d want to spend the rest of your life with. But, will fate allow that? Will you be able to have your happily ever after?

Warnings: angsty, fluff-ish, impending doom, surprise ending (it’s not gonna be what you think...I think?), fight to live, depression, multiple deaths, threats, sexist remarks (only one- it’s the 1900s)

Masterlist Titanic Masterlist

Taglist: @snapessecretdiary @tangledcopperstrands

{gif is not mine, credits go to @badge1995}

Rocking on your chair in the drawing room, you look up and around you fearfully. It had been smooth sailing so far. Blood running cold, the thought scares you upright, quickly gathering up your recent sketches, putting them in a folder and grabbing your knit sweater, just catching the start of people filing into the hall. This is absurd.

Ignoring the confused murmurs and initial shock of what was still unknown, you book it to staff quarters, making your way up to the wheelhouse. Once there, you are met with serious faces of distraught, hopelessness, and some of determination.

Walking passed them with a kind, sympathetic demeanor, you lightly squeeze the shoulder of the young wheel boy. He wasn’t much older than 20, still embracing younger puppy-like features. Just to the right, you briskly open the double doors, being met with the familiar founders and shareholders that each took their part in making this extraordinary franchise.

Mr. Ismay, frustrated, addresses Captain Smith just as they make their way into the room you’d just entered, “This is most unfortunate, Captain.”

As more of the main staff file in, Mr. Andrews uncoils the blueprint of the Titanic, uncertainty laced in his voice as he recalls, “Water fourteen feet above the keel in ten minutes...in the forepeak, all three holds and boiler room six.”

“Can we get underway, dammit?” Ismay asks, annoyance caught between the gaps of his question.

“That’s five compartments. She can float with four compartments breached, but not five. Not five. As she goes down, the water will spill... over the tops of bulkheads at E deck, one to the next, back and back. There’s no stopping it.”

“The pumps,” Captain Smith tries.

“The pumps buy you time, but only minutes,” Mr. Andrews looks around the room, his eyes catching yours adoringly. His eyes water at the sight of you, his next sentence coming as a painful stab to the heart, “As of now, no matter what we do...Titanic will flounder.”

A wave of sadness overcomes the room, even as Mr. Ismay continues his onslaught in futile interrogation. You were hopeless. How were you supposed to rise up from this?

“Captain Smith...” you start, afraid to continue, “She...She hit, Sir?” You catch sight of your fiance, sadness laced in between the creases of his brows and forehead. You walk up to him, grabbing his hand tightly within your own, interlocking the fingers.

“I-I-I’m afraid so, young Y/N,” he says bewildered and ashamed, realizing now that many of these passengers are going to die, and, unlike him, they can range far younger than even you.

“We are back at full speed, Sir,” announces an attentive Officer Murdoch, “As well as a signal. There is one of the twin ships about four hours away.”

“We don’t have four hours,” Thomas pipes up, dropping his head in the crook of your collar bone, settling there for a moment as he tries to gather himself. “Two at most,” he assumes, voice muffled as his emotions overcome him.

Captain Smith tries to ignore the reminder, motioning for the staff to follow him, getting to work in emergency mode.

Trying your best to ease Thomas’ tension, you know he’s about to break any moment, trying to prevent it by petting his head and hugging him. “Don’t be discouraged Love, we can still save people,” you whisper, still hopeful.

“But not all, Y/N. Not all,” he whimpers, nuzzling his head further into your neck.

Taking his face in your hands, you adjust his gaze to match yours, “You can never save everyone, but at least you can save some. That’s the difference that makes the biggest effect. You believe me, don’t you Thomas?”

“Of course I do,” he smiles sadly, fiddling with one of your hands.

“Then let’s go make it.”

It takes a moment for your words to resonate with him, but when it does, he instantly changes perspective, determination flashing in his eyes as he meets your gaze again. “It’s now or never.”

You smile, “Quite a hit or miss.”

He giggles, pausing for a moment before pecking your lips, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you return the gesture, detaching your hand from his as you both take your leave to opposite sides of the ship, going to help as best you can.

Reaching the left side of the ship, you are met with many fearful expressions, anxious looks, and distraught. Swarms of passengers butt and shove around, unsure of what their fates have in their favor. Saying your “excuse me’s” and “may I get through’s,” you reach the sturdy fencing, instantly getting ahold of the ropes to help lower people and boats.

“Women and children! Only women and children at this time!” yells Officer Lowe.

Hesitation halts you for a moment, looking over to Lowe, “We can’t section the people! It’ll cause further alarm! We won’t be able to stop them once they get antsy Harold!”

“It was Captain’s orders, we’ll be punished if we disobey,” he looks over helplessly, offering a hand to an older woman boarding the longboat.

Looking at him, you can see his own apprehension, “Harold, we need to do this right.”

Properly facing you, he sighs and nods dutifully. Together, you load as many people that could fit then load them swiftly and systematically. However, the more people you helped escape, the more that came flooding in. The people were hysterical, more so as the ship began to shake and quiver.

Startled, you try to find the source, noticing the ship starting to lift. “Shit!” yells a passenger, holding on to the nearest pole. More slurs and screams were met with his, the ship starting to lift up higher and higher to the point that you begged for the strongest upper-body strength available.

Just as the ship stands straight up, the front of the Titanic snaps off, sending the back crashing back into the ocean properly. The passengers that hadn’t fallen swarm the boats again, this time threatening to throw staff workers over.

Stumbling back, you catch yourself from slipping, trying to reason with the people, too caught up in your own fear. But the passengers keep pushing, Officer Murdoch pulling a gun as he reaches your side.

“Stand back! Stand back I tell you, or I’ll shoot!” Murdoch yells, the people only taking few steps away.

“No...” you look at him, “No...This isn’t right. No, your scaring them. Stop!” you warn, tears forming in your eyes.

Officer Murdoch ignores you, unfortunately, uncertainty fueling his actions. Rather, he shoves you into the crowd, “If you cannot work with us, you minus well join them. We wouldn’t have been in this mess if you’d done your job successfully; better yet, if you’d done your designated job: stayed home and done the wifely duties!”

Stopping all movement, shock courses through your veins as you stare at the man. He’s just scared, you try to reason, but the pain is still there. Shaking your head, you rush through the crowd, letting some of the tears fall as you enter the interior of the ship once more, making your way down the grand staircase.

Too caught up in a swarm of emotions, you bump into a young auburn-haired girl, apologizing briefly before continuing. You are halted within the first few steps however, the girl holding your elbow hostage, “I know you,” she starts.

“I would assume so,” you sniffle.

“You’re Mr. Andrews’ fiance; you helped build this ship, correct?”

“Yes Ma’am,” you flinch.

“Then please, for the love of humanity, you must know what’s happening?”

Staring at her guiltily, you consider not answering.

“Please,” she begs, “Mr. Andrews had told me about the boats, I just need you to confirm my suspicions.

“The Titanic hit, Miss. We are trying our best to alleviate the issue, but-” you inhale sharply, tear welling up in your eyes again. “-But she will sink. And if you truly know the problem with the boats, you do know there’s not enough for everyone?”

Her eyes widen, then her body goes slack, standing openly with her arms at her sides. Nodding weakly, her blue orbs encompass yours, pulling you in for a hug in thanks.

Returning the compassion, you pull away quickly, “You said you’ve talked to Mr. Andrews?”

“Yes, I just saw him in the other room- The First Class Smoking Room,” she recalls as quickly as possible, “I’m sure that’s where you’d been looking for?”

“Yes, thank you so much. Please, get to safety. I truly mean it,” you beg, already speeding off into the direction of your beloved, the ship already beginning to sink lopsidedly.

“Thomas!” you yell, running through room after room, just barely missing his silent, remorseful form draped in front of a mantle. “Thomas!” you cry, tears finally cascading freely.

“Y/N!” he gasps, pulling your body into his instantly. “I couldn’t save them, Love, I can’t.”

“I know Sweetheart, I know,” you sob, pressing his head as tightly to your body as possible.

Slowly, your bodies droop to the floor, still holding each other close as the Titanic creaks and moans. “We tried, My Love. We truly did,” Thomas tries, stroking your hair as you lay your heads in the crooks of each other’s necks.

“I love you, Thomas,” you choke, water crashing through the doors on the opposite side of the room. “I want you to know that there’s no place I’d rather be than right here with you.”

“I love you, too Y/N. Don’t you cry, there’s a special place for us up above, My Love. We are soulmates.”

The water starts to climb towards your feet, enabling more helpless whimpers and tears. Thomas caresses your face, “Don’t pay it any mind. We will be together very soon.”

Sharing a passionate kiss, you wrap your arms around Thomas tightly, as does he, latching onto your back and hips. Together, you close your eyes just as you feel the first splashes of freezing water on your shins; the rest of the world disappearing in a painful darkness as the rest of the Titanic is fully submerged by the Atlantic Ocean. April 15th, 1912, 2:20 a.m.

358 notes · View notes