10 Questions About Titanic You’re Embarrassed To Ask (But May Be Wondering)

Summary

James Cameron and his crew captured footage of the real Titanic wreckage, which was incorporated into the movie. Cameron’s desire to visit the shipwreck inspired the film.
Gloria Stuart, a relatively unknown actress, portrayed the elderly Rose in Titanic. She is most well-known for her movies in the 1930s.
The grave of a “J. Dawson” in a cemetery in Halifax, Canada has created theories that Jack’s body was recovered. However, it is likely just a coincidence.

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Decades after its monumental success, many are still curious about James Cameron’s Titanic but may be embarrassed to ask some questions if the answer seems like they should be obvious. Titanic is a cinematic landmark that was nominated for a record-breaking 14 Oscars and won 11, including the 1998 Best Picture award. The historical fiction epic depicts the romance between first-class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and third-class artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), on the doomed maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.

The movie’s historical basis prompts questions not only about production but also about the real story behind Titanic. Even after the movie’s 25th anniversary, not all viewers are clear on which parts of the movie actually happened, and some mysteries about the original characters still remain. The most common questions about the cinematic masterpiece Titanic should have seemingly all been answered by now, but there is always more to learn.

Answer: Yes.

James Cameron and his crew undertook many dives to capture footage of the real Titanic wreckage, which was incorporated into the movie. These shots are used when the fictional crew who are trying to salvage treasure from the sunken ship, and Rose herself, visit the site. Cameron, who has been fascinated by the deep ocean since a young age, has said that wanting to visit the Titanic site is what inspired the movie: “I made ‘Titanic’ because I wanted to dive into the shipwreck, not because I particularly wanted to make the movie” (via CNN).

9 Who Plays Old Rose?

Answer: Gloria Stuart.

When viewers try to remember who played an elderly Rose in Titanic, they might search their minds for a famous name, when the answer is a relatively unknown actress. Gloria Stuart is most well-known for movies made in the 1930s, including The Invisible Man (1933) and Roman Scandals (1933). She left acting to raise a family and came back to it in the 80s. She won a Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars for playing Rose. Born in 1910, Gloria Stuart passed away on September 26, 2010.

8 Was Jack Ever Found?

Answer: Probably not.

Jack Dawson talking to Rose as the sun sets in the distance in Titanic

Theories have arisen of Jack’s body being recovered because there is a real grave for a “J. Dawson” at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Canada. This cemetery is famously the resting place of more than 100 victims of the Titanic. The grave bearing the same name as DiCarpio’s famous character has imbued the site with a kind of mysticism. However, the name is likely a coincidence. Smithsonian Magazine answered the question of what happened to Jack’s body by reporting an experiment of how a pig’s body was dropped to the bottom of the ocean and devoured by smaller carnivores in similar conditions.

7 What Happened To Rose’s Mother?

Answer: Unconfirmed, but likely never saw Rose again.

Rose and her mother, Ruth (Frances Fisher), have a difficult relationship, with Ruth pressuring Rose to marry the abusive Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) in order to maintain their social status. Rose’s father is dead and the family’s money has run out, and Ruth is horrified by the idea of having to work for a living. Before Ruth boards a lifeboat, she and Rose have a final confrontation. Rose calls her mother out on her selfish concerns about the lifeboats being too crowded when half the people on board are going to die. Rose then says “Goodbye, Mother,” with an air of finality, and leaves as her mother disembarks the ship.

In the aftermath, Rose adopts a new identity and probably chooses not to contact her mother; their farewell had an air of finality, and Rose wants to start a new life. Ruth likely believed that Rose died in the sinking. What happened to Rose’s mother next is unconfirmed, whether she was forced to live a less decadent life or found another way to maintain her wealth.

6 Why Didn’t Rose Run Away Before?

Answer: She needed Jack to convince her she could.

Rose is depicted as completely miserable in her upper-class life and is dreading her marriage to Cal. She is so desperate to escape that she nearly throws herself off the boat early in the movie, but is stopped by Jack. After surviving the movie’s events, she severs any contact with her old life and goes on to be an actress, have many adventures, and start her own family.

Related: Titanic’s 10 Best Quotes

Discussing her attempted suicide with Jack, he poses the question: “What could’ve happened to this girl to make her think she had no way out?” Rose may not have yet believed she could survive on her own and thought that running away was not an option. She originally plans to leave the Titanic with Jack, but after his death, makes her way on her own. She tells her granddaughter and the others years later that Jack saved her “in every way a person can be saved.” She was referring not only to Jack saving her from drowning but from her misery.

5 Who Is Kathy Bates’ Character?

Answer: Margaret Brown, known as the “Unsinkable Molly Brown.”

Kathy Bates plays Margaret Brown, an American socialite and philanthropist who spent time on board the Titanic. The movie is inaccurate in having Rose state that the first-class milieu called her “Molly,” as she was called “Maggie” by her friends during her lifetime, only being called “Molly” after her death. However, she did try to convince the people in her lifeboat to go back for survivors, as is shown in the movie.

4 Did Rose Die At The End?

Answer: Not completely clear.

Many still ask what happens to Rose at the end of Titanic. After throwing the invaluable “Heart of the Ocean” diamond necklace into the sea above the Titanic’s wreckage, she goes to bed. In a vision of some kind, a young Rose arrives at the Titanic’s grand staircase where Jack and the other victims are waiting for her. This scene could have been a dream or an afterlife for Rose, but it has never been confirmed which it is.

3 Were Third Class Passengers Really Locked Downstairs?

Answer: No, but they faced other obstacles.

While the depiction of third-class Titanic passengers being locked downstairs when the Titanic began to sink is a myth, other factors were responsible for the majority of deaths being among third-class. Rosie Waites reported (via BBC) that there were already locked gates in place before the collision with the iceberg, which were intended to keep third-class and first-class separate due to immigration laws at the time. There were also no lifeboats on the third-class deck, which meant passengers had to navigate a maze of corridors to get to the first- and second-class parts of the boat.

2 Why Didn’t Jack Get On The Door?

Answer: Anyone’s guess.

One of the biggest debates surrounding Titanic is whether Jack could also have fit on the door that Rose used as a life raft, so he would’ve been saved from freezing to death in the water. MythBusters famously produced an episode in 2012 and concluded that Jack and Rose could have both survived, but only if they’d tied Rose’s life vest to the underside of the board to increase its buoyancy. However, Cameron himself addressed Titanic’s ending and said this was not possible, because Jack and Rose did not have the clarity of mind to accomplish this (via TIME).

1 What Is The Lesson Of Titanic?

Answer: Be prepared for anything and live your best life.

Since the disaster of the Titanic, ocean liners have implemented strict rules about the number of lifeboats and vests and the necessity of clear evacuation procedures. However, these standards were in place long before Cameron got to work, and his movie wasn’t going to teach any new lessons about aquatic safety. Titanic is ultimately meant to convey the tragedy of the event, while including an original story about Rose taking control of her own life, inspired by her brief romance with Jack. It is far more than a “real-life event movie,” which is why it is not too focused on accuracy.

Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, BBC, TIME

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