The death of Jack's character and Rose's memories continue to be debated decades after the film's release.
The end of Titanic has given rise since its premiere on December 19, 1997 in the United States, on January 8, 1998 in Spain, to all kinds of crazy theories, since Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) is Sarah's grandmother Connor, yes the Sarah Connor of Terminator, and that Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is John Connor (yes, the John Connor of Terminator 2) and that he traveled back in time to save her and thus ensure that she had offspring, until, in In reality, everything that happens comes out of the head of Dominick Cobb, another dream induced and orchestrated by the protagonist of Inception (also played by DiCaprio) and that Titanic is a sequel to Christopher Nolan's film.
Obviously, considering that Jack could have been saved, which was a more than feasible possibility from the point of view of Physics and Medicine, that he would have survived, and also considering that everything is an invention of Rose, an old woman, in some cases senile and in other cases giving a tortuous retelling of the story and what really happened.
And the ending is easy to explain. Titanic is a film about death and separation. Leonardo DiCaprio's character Jack dies because he had to die for the movie to have any real meaning. His death is for artistic reasons, not physical reasons. Jack is also a metaphor: in the story that Rose tells the treasure hunter it must be clear that a human life is always more important than any material treasure, that life, than love, are, in fact, the greatest treasure. . And that's why he also throws the jewel overboard, the jewel that appears in his pocket, the jewel that he keeps for so many years. What else does the jewel matter? Beyond that the jewel is the metaphor of memory. And you know: is a memory something you lose or something you keep?
If Jack had survived, the film simply wouldn't have made sense. The memory of him survives. End of story. But, of course, that doesn't stop the most restless viewers from wondering: Did Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) die unnecessarily or could he and Rose (Kate Winslet) have survived? Could he have climbed onto the wooden board without problems? Could they have stayed afloat? And there are all kinds of theories that must be refuted and explained. Come on, let's go with all the theories about the ending of the movie.
The Discovery program Mythbusters managed in 2012, taking advantage of the re-release of the film in 3D, to sow reasonable doubt about the ending of the film. He posited that it was plausible that Rose and Jack had stayed afloat on the wooden door and survived hypothermia long enough to be rescued. The program introduced a condition for her survival: it would only have been possible if they had tied Rose's life jacket under the wooden plank to improve her buoyancy. Otherwise, the weight of the two bodies would have collapsed the board and both would have died.
The theory of his salvation has a lot of fine print. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, who rescues Rose in the film, began, according to James Cameron, the search for him "about 20 minutes after the ship sank and continued for about 45 minutes." Since Rose is one of the last people to be rescued in the film, the officer hears her whistle just as he is about to give up. In total, a whopping (I couldn't help it) 63 minutes passed. The program attempted to test whether it was possible to survive at sub-zero temperatures during this time. They basically measured how long it would take for hypothermia to become fatal under those conditions. The conclusion was: 51 minutes. In that scenario, there was no doubt about Jack's death. They also tested to see if it was possible that Rose could have survived after getting on the wooden board in those same conditions. And the conclusion was that yes, she could survive. Technically it was viable: her body temperature was compatible with life. However...
Could the board have held up Jack and Rose for 63 minutes? The show showed that it would have been possible as long as they had tied Rose's life jacket under the board, raising it high enough that they could place 80 percent of their bodies above the water while resting on the board without needing to hold on. They did it 63 minutes. "We believe Jack's death was unnecessary," the presenters concluded.
Basically this justification is absurd: first because on page 147 of James Cameron's original script, Jack had to die, and second because in order for them to have managed to improve the buoyancy conditions of the wood with the vest, they should have first had the idea.
