The тιтanic ending ties up nearly 195 minutes of runtime in a satisfying and emotional finale. тιтanic is a historical romance based on the real-life tragedy of the RMS тιтanic. The movie jumps between the romance of Jack and Rose and the contemporary search for the ship by a research team with the help of an elderly Rose. This is the seventh film by James Cameron and was, at the time, the highest-grossing movie of all time, earning $1.843 billion (via Box Office Mojo). It was only surpᴀssed in 2009 by Cameron’s Avatar, which earned $2.923 billion (Box Office Mojo).
тιтanic was also a critically acclaimed blockbuster. It broke records as one of the movies with the most Oscar nominations. At the 70th Academy Awards, тιтanic was nominated for 14 awards and won 11, including Best Picture and Best Director. It’s an epic tale that examines class, ambition, obsession, and love, all with the backdrop of an extraordinary CGI setpiece of the тιтanic’s sinking. тιтanic’s ending is a thrilling conclusion to Jack and Rose’s love and a meaningful resolution of the movie’s themes, both in the past and present, with the older Rose.
What Happens In тιтanic’s Ending?
Rose Had The Jewel But Gave It Up To The Ocean
The frame narrative of тιтanic is of Rose in the present day. She has been asked by scientists aboard the research vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh to recount her experience on the тιтanic. The ship’s captain, Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton), has been obsessed with finding “the Heart of the Ocean”, an invaluable diamond necklace that was presumably lost in the sinking and once belonged to Rose. тιтanic ends with Rose finishing her story and the crew accepting that the jewel will never be found.
However, Rose still has the Heart of the Ocean. Rose tosses the necklace into the ocean, relinquishing her last hold on that tragic but life-changing voyage, and symbolically gives her heart to Jack. The тιтanic ending shows Rose in bed as the camera pans over pictures of her adventures over the years, revealing that she fulfilled a promise to Jack to lead an extraordinary life. In her dreams, Rose finds herself on the Grand Staircase of the тιтanic, surrounded by everyone who died, including Jack, who turns to face her.
How Did Rose End Up With The Heart Of The Ocean?
She Held Onto It When She Entered The Lifeboat
The Heart of the Ocean is an incredibly expensive large diamond necklace that Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) gives Rose at the start of the voyage. At first, it may seem like a kind gesture, but the more it is shown about Cal, the more apparent it is that the necklace symbolizes his ownership of Rose. When it’s clear Rose chooses Jack over him, Cal is single-minded in pursuing the necklace. It becomes a symbol of his loss of control over his fiancée, and to Rose, it becomes a symbol of her freedom and love for Jack.
During the final moments of the boat’s sinking in тιтanic’s ending, Cal convinces Rose to leave Jack behind and board a lifeboat. He wraps her in his coat, which he places the necklace in. When she leaves the lifeboat for Jack, she takes the coat and necklace with her. Rose holds on to this precious gem because she chooses Jack over Cal, and Cal loses both his fiancée and the necklace because he unappreciated both their worths.
How Did Jack Die?
Jack Sacrificed Himself To Save Rose
Jack and Rose are left in the freezing North Atlantic water at the end of тιтanic. They find a floating door and attempt to climb on together but their combined weight is too heavy for the debris. Jack tells Rose to get on the door while he stays floating in the water. He convinces her he’ll be alright and not to say goodbye because he wants Rose to grow old, have adventures, and have children. Jack dies from hypothermia hanging on the door, and Rose must decide whether to call for help or stay and freeze with Jack.
Jack’s death at the end shows how the tragedy affected many stories, even the storybook ones.
After a moment of hesitation, Rose tearfully pushes Jack off the door and watches him slowly sink down. Jack’s last line in тιтanic shows him continuing to push Rose to not only survive but truly live her life how she wants to, in a way he showed her was possible on this trip. It’s heartbreaking watching him sink below the surface, but it’s necessary for the movie. The тιтanic shows hundreds of people trapped in their flooded cabins and dying in the ocean. Jack’s death at the end shows how the tragedy affected many stories, even the storybook ones.
How Did Rose Survive?
Rose Blows The Whistle, Alerting The Rescue Team
Once Rose decides to keep living and not give up, she is forced to swim across the icy water to grab a whistle. She desperately tries to get the attention of the search party and her whistling eventually does. Rose and the other survivors are brought to the RMS Carpathia, safe at last. At the door, there’s a moment where Rose doesn’t want to leave Jack.
She’d rather freeze to death than let him go. Jack’s words come back to Rose at the end of тιтanic, and she remembers her promise to live a full life, which is what ultimately drags her through the water to call for help.
What Happened To Cal Hockley?
Cal & Rose Separated And He Died By Suicide
Cal is an unpleasant character in тιтanic. He tries to kill Jack and then Rose; he is discriminatory to those he thinks he is better than. He tries to bribe his way onto a lifeboat, and he abducts a child to sneak on when money doesn’t work. The end of тιтanic seems to set up Cal to die, but he survives and even seems mildly ashamed of his actions afterward.
Cal took his own life after the Wall Street Crash.
Rose never sees her ex-fiancé again but learns Cal took his own life after the Wall Street Crash. It’s a banal end for a man who didn’t end up meaning anything close to what Rose thought he would end up being to her.
Rose Never Forgot About Jack
Rose Kept Her Promise To Jack
It may seem like Rose ended up forgetting about Jack. She has a family with a different man, has lived a fulfilled life, and seems content. When Rose sees the news report of the тιтanic discovery, it almost appears like it’s the first time she’s thought about that experience in years. But that doesn’t mean she has forgotten Jack.
The life she’s lived and the experiences she’s allowed herself to have been all because of Jack and what he made her promise before he died at the end of тιтanic. Rose kept the Heart of the Ocean all those years as part of her pledge to him.
тιтanic’s Alternate Ending
Brock Tries To Stop Rose From Throwing Away The Necklace
тιтanic’s ending originally had a very different context and slightly altered how the movie could be understood. This scene was first introduced to fans on the 10-year anniversary special edition DVD. When an elderly Rose goes to the boat’s edge to toss the Heart of the Ocean into the waves, the alternate ending begins. Brock and Rose’s granddaughter Lizzy Calvert (Suzy Amis) sees Old Rose and rush over to stop her from tossing away the diamond.
Brock begs Rose not to throw it over, but Rose reminds him that she could have sold the necklace, but then she would, in a way, be accepting ᴀssistance from Cal. She tells Brock, “Only life is precious,” and allows him to hold the necklace in his hand before tossing it over, and the treasure hunter laughs.
While the alternate ending would have been a way to tie up Brock’s story more тιԍнтly, it also would have shifted the focus of the end of тιтanic to Brock rather than Rose. The alternate makes the story more about Brock coming to terms with his obsession with finding the necklace and discovering something more important. That’s a fine lesson from тιтanic, but the main focus and themes of the end need to be on Rose and how her experience changed her.
The Real Meaning Of тιтanic’s Ending
Rose Lived Her Life To The Fullest Thanks To Jack
тιтanic is a true blockbuster epic. There aren’t small lessons or mysteries to be unraveled. The тιтanic ending is a sweeping finale of the journey the characters, primarily Rose, have been on. Rose attempts to end her life on the тιтanic because she feels so trapped by her impending marriage, familial duties, and life in general. Jack talks her out of jumping and shows Rose that there is more to life than conforming to what is expected. Instead of doing what she thinks she ought to do, Rose does what she wants to do.
For her courage to survive at the end of тιтanic, Rose earns a fulfilling life filled with everything she promised Jack. The sinking of the тιтanic was a monumental tragedy, but Rose’s life afterward shows that there can be hope even after an event like that. Rose throwing away the Heart of the Ocean is not her giving up Jack; it’s Rose acknowledging she accomplished what she and he had dreamed of and recognizing she did it for them both.
How The тιтanic Ending Was Received
Many Fans Feel The Best Ending Was Rose Dying
The тιтanic ending has some viewers questioning the movie’s final sH๏τs. One theory is that Rose died in the end, and she reunited with the pᴀssengers, including Jack, who died when the ship sank. In a Reddit thread, HistoryFreak30 wrote, “I think Rose have died in the ending and she met all the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ pᴀssengers in heaven… the scene was just for pᴀssengers who died on that night which made me think it was really heaven. I know James Cameron said it’s up to us audiences to conclude but I think most of us will agree Rose died from her sleep.”
This led to many people who feel this was the best possible explanation for the тιтanic ending. AubergineQueenB wrote, “She shared her story so she could go be at the resting site of the тιтanic again, and maybe subconsciously lay herself at peace there with Jack.” Unique-kitten agreed, writing, “I also think it’s really fitting that she died in the same spot the тιтanic sank. She died very close to where Jack died 84 years ago, which is a touching end to her life and character.“
When reviewing the film, critic Roger Ebert admitted that epic films often have problems with their endings. He said the тιтanic ending bucked that trend and worked. “I found myself convinced by both the story and the saga. The setup of the love story is fairly routine, but the payoff–how everyone behaves as the ship is sinking–is wonderfully written, as pᴀssengers are forced to make impossible choices. Even the villain, played by Zane, reveals a human element at a crucial moment (despite everything, damn it all, he does love the girl).“
There’s Still A Debate On Jack’s Death
Fans Think Jack & Rose Could Have Alternated On The Raft
Fans still claim that Jack could have and maybe should have lived at the end of тιтanic. Of course, this would have ruined Rose’s story, and the film would have had a very different meaning. With that said, the entire idea is that people feel Jack and Rose could have switched on and off the raft so they both could have lived. This was even mentioned in other movies and TV shows as a joke, including some with characters debating why Jack couldn’t have lived if he wanted to.
However, no less than James Cameron said that Rose and Jack wouldn’t have survived in the freezing water together. Cameron even brought in some scientists to explain this. “We have done a scientific study to put this whole thing to rest and drive a stake through its heart once and for all,” Cameron said (via The Today Show).
“We took two stunt people who were the same body mᴀss of Kate and Leo and we put sensors all over them and inside them and we put them in ice water and we tested to see whether they could have survived through a variety of methods and the answer was, there was no way they both could have survived. Only one could survive.”
Cameron also said it is silly to have this discussion because “The film is about death and separation; he had to die” (via Vanity Fair). “It’s called art; things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics reasons. Had he lived, the end of the film would have been meaningless.” While this may never silence doubters, Cameron seems to be satisfied with the explanation, and since he is the man who directed тιтanic, this holds more weight than most fan theories.
