Staff Picks: Titanic

The fourth installment of a series showcasing our staff’s favorite movies and why they love them

Courtesy+of+Karl+Buetel%2FWikimedia

Courtesy of Karl Buetel/Wikimedia

In James Cameron’s 1997 film, “Titanic,” new generations are able to experience a breath-taking love story that ends with a treasure chest filled with memories worth more than any diamond, even the Heart of The Ocean.

In this film, Cameron introduced the plot of a handsome young man; Jack – someone whose life motto is all or nothing – who, even without a dime in his pocket, managed to jump aboard the most monumental and striking ship that had ever been created at the time. The Titanic was claimed to be unsinkable with the size of it being beyond anything that anyone had ever seen.

The female protagonist – Rose, is a gorgeous and young read-headed woman who held a prestigious place in upper-class society. She was destined to marry a sophisticated businessman and carry on the legacy of her last name, which was all she had left as her deceased father had gone bankrupt before his passing. This meant that Rose would marry out of convenience and not because – love. Rose jumped aboard with her mother and her fiance to experience the sensation revolving around the ship.

During the ride on the ship, Jack meets Rose as she attempts to take her own miserable life by jumping off of the ship into cold iced water. Jack managed to gracefully seduce Rose to stay on the ship while calling her bluff for not having the true courage to jump off the ship into cold water. After that encounter, it became impossible for Rose and Jack to stay away from one another – they both experienced each other’s social circles and quickly realized that although they were the complete opposite. Yet, despite of not fitting into each other’s worlds, they belonged together.

Jack was rejected by the upper-class and Rose was warmly welcomed into the bottom class. Rose’s mother and her fiance did everything they could to separate the two, but Jack and Rose continued to sneak away together. They shared unforgettable moments and experiences with one another until the ship hit an iceberg – that is where everything started going downward for the two, and for everyone else on the ship as well.

After tragedy struck and the unsinkable ship sank, Rose remained floating on a piece of wooden board that had come from inside of the ship. Sadly, Jack froze to death while letting her be the one to take a safe place on the wooden board.

Rose was one of the few people that survived the cold waters, and years later as an old woman, she told the true story of the Titanic. She shared this story with oceanographer Robert Ballard, who found the Titanic at the bottom of the sea a century later. She shared all of her memories in the ship right before she passed away, including those with Jack – the love of her life.

At the end of the film, the story shows Rose walked to the edge of the ship, where she stayed and told her story to Ballard, and she stared into the sea as she tossed away a piece of jewelry that told a big part of her story. It was the necklace that was given to her by her fiance on the ship – it was called The Heart of the Ocean, she tossed it into the sea where it belonged, near the rest of her memories.

The next morning, Rose passed away in her bed, peacefully.

This story is perfect in my opinion because it depicts a story for true love, one that was real and organic; one that was not by force but by choice. “Titanic” is my favorite movie because it brings hope in a future, even when the ending is not the one imagined; by treasuring the precious memories that help relive the moments that form destinies, and the people who mark the heart forever.