Question: I've seen this movie about 10 times now but I always wondered the next thing. After the Titanic hits the iceberg, they knew the ship would sink. Couldn't they go back to the iceberg and survive there and wait for help? Surely there would be more places, and it would be warmer on the iceberg than in the water?
Tailkinker
20th Feb 2013
Titanic (1997)
18th Mar 2012
Titanic (1997)
Question: How far could the rudder panel on the Titanic actually turn? Could it turn 90 degrees, or 45, or something in the middle? I'm wondering, because this could have made a difference.
Chosen answer: The Titanic's rudder was capable of turning to about sixty degrees off the centreline, reaching that position in about six seconds from straight.
27th Aug 2011
Titanic (1997)
Question: During the lunch scene, Ismay says that Titanic was the largest moving object made by man. Was that true? At least, at the time?
Answer: Yes, it was. At the time, the big cruise lines were all trying to outdo each other with the largest and most opulent cruise ships. The Olympic class ships were the White Star Line's entry in the size race, with Olympic, the first built, taking the title in 1911, before losing it to her sister ship, the Titanic, the following year.
21st May 2011
Titanic (1997)
Question: I heard they did film an alternative ending, but it was only shown once in a preview session in San Bernadino. In it, Jack swam to and climbed on to the iceberg. He found a polar bear, killed it and ate it and wore its fur until the iceberg floated close to shore. He then swam to land and trekked to an inuit village. They nursed him back to health and 5 years after the crash he found his way back to Rose. If this is true, where can i find it?
Answer: Not even slightly true. And utterly ridiculous. The only known alternate ending is simply a longer version of the existing one, where, before Old Rose throws the diamond into the ocean, Brock and some of his crew try to talk her out of it. Rose convinces Brock to let her do it, explaining that real treasure lies in love, family and friends rather than in jewels. She lets him hold the diamond briefly, then takes it from him and throws it overboard.
20th Aug 2010
Titanic (1997)
23rd Oct 2009
Titanic (1997)
Question: When Rose and Ruth are sitting with Ruth's friends, Ruth comments on how Rose chose lavender for the bridesmaid dresses, even though she knows Ruth detests the colour. Why should it bother Ruth that Rose chose lavender, when after all, it's Rose's wedding and not hers?
Answer: Because some people are shallow, vain and self-centered and are bothered about such inconsequential things like how they're going to look on somebody else's wedding day. Ruth is annoyed that, despite the fact that Rose knows that she hates lavender as a colour, she still chose it for her to wear anyway. In her self-centered way, Ruth thinks that Rose should have chosen a colour for the bridesmaids to wear that she would approve of. Some people are just like that. It could also be a small measure of payback for Rose. Since Ruth arranged Rose marriage to Cal, whom she does not love, Rose's gets a small jab back at her mother. Her attitude is: since you are forcing me into this marriage with a man that I don't love, then you will be forced to wear this color that I know you hate.
Answer: She says that Rose did it to spite her mother, knowing that her mother detested the colour. I think Ruth was trying to illustrate how needlessly rebellious, unseemly, immature, difficult and obstructive she thought Rose was being - basically trying to show her up in front of the other high class ladies there.
Answer: During that time period, lavender was the color of half-mourning, to be worn half a year after solid black. It would be the equivalent of your bridesmaid wearing a black armband to a wedding today. Lavender and half-mourning is explored in the first season of Downton Abbey as well.
30th May 2008
Titanic (1997)
Question: Did some otherwise fine young ladies like Rose flip the bird back in 1912?
Chosen answer: No particular reason why they couldn't if they wanted to. The gesture goes back into antiquity - the origins of the gesture are completely unknown, so they would be aware of it. It certainly wouldn't be the done thing for a well-brought-up young lady to do, but that doesn't mean that they couldn't if the situation appeared to warrant it.
Exactly. There have always been people who display behaviors that are not "proper" or standard for the time. Another example is Cal and Rose having sex despite not being married yet. Considering his comments about her being "his wife in practice" and him asking why she didn't come to his room one night.
Actually, in Edwardian times, it was considered acceptable for upper class engaged couples to be sexually intimate before being married.
12th Oct 2007
Titanic (1997)
Question: Is there ANY chance of them making a film based on the trailer Titanic Two the Surface? It seems like a really good idea for a sequel.
Answer: None whatsoever. While the trailer's a clever example of an editing job, the actual concept is absurd to a truly spectacular degree, and would undoubtedly be seen as a completely shameless cash-in on the original, to the extent where even studio executives might well balk at the idea.
4th Sep 2006
Titanic (1997)
Question: What is so interesting about the number of times that Jack and Rose's names were said in the movie? Is there some meaning behind the numbers?
Answer: There's absolutely nothing interesting about it. Probably the only reason that this information appears anywhere is that they do say the names rather a lot - somebody, for reasons unknown, decided to count them.
15th Nov 2005
Titanic (1997)
Question: Was Rose a real passenger on the ship. I know that there was a crew member called Joseph Dawson but was Rose a real person. If so, how did the real life Rose react to herself on screen?
Answer: Both Rose and Jack are entirely fictitious - the similarity of names with the crew member is purely coincidental. Many of the bodies that were recovered were buried in a cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia that is called the Titanic Graveyard. One of the headstones reads 'J Dawson'. When James Cameron learned about this victim having a similar name to one of the main characters, he said it was a purely a coincidence.
21st Jun 2004
Titanic (1997)
Question: How much did a typical 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class ticket on the Titanic cost?
Answer: The first class tickets ranged enormously in price, from $150 (about $1700 today) for a simple berth, up to $4350 ($50,000) for one of the two Parlour suites. Second class tickets were $60 (around $700) and third class passengers paid between $15 and $40 ($170 - £460).
17th May 2004
Titanic (1997)
Question: When Jack and Rose make love in the car, why doesn't she get pregnant? There's no apparent sign that Jack had condoms and I doubt he could afford them.
Answer: Women don't automatically become pregnant every time they have sex - the conception time window is actually relatively small, which is why some couples try for years before successfully conceiving.
In addition to your answer, I want to point out that condoms are not the only way to prevent pregnancy. The person who asked the question seems to think that Rose should have got pregnant without condoms. Withdrawal has long been a popular method (it's mentioned in Bible - Genesis 38:9), although it's not totally reliable.
Answer: Even if she had been ovulating and the egg had been fertilised, the stress of that night - which would have taken weeks for her body to recover from, would likely have temporarily disrupted her reproductive functioning, making it impossible for the fertilised egg to establish itself. That being said, there was a real-life, starstruck, unmarried couple on Titanic (though they were engaged to be married upon docking, with no rival suitors or pushy families). The man died and the woman survived. She gave birth exactly nine months after the sinking, meaning they possibly made secret, out-of-wedlock love on the ship.
21st Apr 2004
Titanic (1997)
Question: Did the real Titanic have a passenger named J. Dawson on board?
Answer: Not a passenger, no. There was, however, a 23-year-old Irish crewmember named Joseph Dawson who died in the tragedy. His body was recovered and is buried in Nova Scotia. According to James Cameron, he was not aware of this until after the script was finished.
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Chosen answer: Trying to turn the Titanic and return to the iceberg would just have put additional strain on the ship's structure, likely hastening its sinking. So the only available option, short of swimming, which is obviously insane, would be to use the ship's lifeboats to ferry passengers over to the iceberg, which, given the lack of capacity, would have taken multiple trips and a considerable amount of time. Once they reached the iceberg, there would be no way to tie the boats securely to the iceberg to allow the passengers to cross over safely; icebergs usually have pretty sheer sides anyway, making boarding impossible without specialist equipment that they didn't have. Even assuming, for the sake of argument, that somehow this could be done, the passengers are now sitting on a large block of ice in the middle of the night, in, for the most part, inadequate clothing. Hypothermia would rapidly set in, leading to death within at most a couple of hours, before any help reached the scene.
Tailkinker ★