Love him or hate him, James Cameron is a filmmaker that is never shy about sharing his opinion. Sometimes, he’s right on with his critiques, and other times (cough*”Wonder Woman“*cough), he’s flat out wrong. But if you’re responsible for the two biggest films of all time, you get a little leeway when it comes to speaking out. There’s one thing James Cameron is done talking about, however. The death of Jack in “Titanic.”
For those that don’t know, and you’re probably few and far between, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jack sacrificed himself at the end of the mega-blockbuster “Titanic.” With only a piece of wreckage big enough for one person, Jack decided that his love Rose should be able to float, while he dies in the freezing waters. It’s touching and sweet, but many fans believe that both could have been fine had they switched places and rotated time in the water and out, or if they both squeezed on the floating piece. James Cameron thinks both those arguments are, frankly, silly.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Cameron says, “Obviously it was an artistic choice, the thing was just big enough to hold her, and not big enough to hold him…I think it’s all kind of silly, really, that we’re having this discussion 20 years later…Had he lived, the ending of the film would have been meaningless…The film is about death and separation; he had to die. So whether it was that, or whether a smoke stack fell on him, he was going down. It’s called art, things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics reasons.”
For his sake, and to squash 20 years of debate, perhaps Jack should have been crushed by a smoke stack. That wouldn’t be too out of character coming from a director who is best know for loud, violent spectacle films.
With this debate being settled, the new debate is clear, “What horrifically over the top way should Jack have died so that fans don’t bother James Cameron about it anymore?”