This late in the game, criticisim is irrelevant, complaints superfluous. Just for the hell of it though, I have a few thoughts for the sake of discussion: 1. Would the story have worked as well, or better, if Jack had been a wealthy 1st class boy meeting Rose, a poor Irish immigrant in 3rd class? (Obviously, the characters would have to have different motivations) 2. Instead of Rose and Jack hiding in the fan room and then climbing down into the boiler room and going into the hold where the car was, have had them elude Lovejoy, then "discover" the swimming pool (Titanic had a pool!) wherin they could have skinny dipped and made love. The irony here being that unbeknown to them, in a few hours they would be swimming again, this time for their lives--

-- D. Selznick (foo@bar.com), March 20, 1998

Answers

I don't think a public pool would be a very good place for that... and in reference to the first part- no way! these love stories are always some beatiful, rich girl falling inlove with some poor (still beautiful) boy.. kind of annoying...

-- Cara (sammons@mint.net), March 20, 1998.

If I may continue...The Reason for posing the second question is driven by what I think is a major historical contrivance in the movie, namely, how could Jack and Rose have gotten from the boiler room into the hold? There would have been only a watertight door which I'd bet would have been CLOSED anyway, to keep stokers out of the hold. In any case, access to either the boiler rooms or holds would be severely limited if not impossible for passengers to accomplish.

-- D. Selznick (foo@bar.com), March 20, 1998.

You've brought up some interesting points. In response to number 1. In my opinion the story would not have been as powerful. If the roles were reversed there would be less at stake. The only thing a first class man would be in danger of losing if he began a romance with a third class woman would be the respect of his peers. His money, and the security that comes along with it would remain. Part of the reason the love story between Rose and Jack is so powerful is because she is willing to walk away from everything--her family, money, security, place in society,--even her name, for true love. Although the story has been criticized by some for being too stereotypical (poor little rich girl meets starving artist...) I disagree. The characters and story Cameron created is stunningly romantic and I don't think it would work any other way. Although I wouldn't trade the Renault scene for anything, I think the pool idea would have added an interesting element of symbolism and I wonder if Cameron toyed with that idea at all.

-- Kate (katejd@yahoo.com), March 20, 1998.

Re: Access to the Boiler Rooms:

What's even more amazing--Jack and Rose ran through the Boiler Rooms without getting a speck of coal dust on them!

When Senator William Alden Smith made an inspection of Olympic's boiler rooms (as part of the US Senate investigation of the Titanic accident), the chief engineer handed Smith and his aides each a damp white towel, to clean the coal dust off their faces and hands. And this occurred while the ship was in port in New York, when only a few boilers would have been lit (if any) for electrical power.

Imagine running through there with the ship at sea, with stokers shoveling coal into the boilers as fast as possible (especially in a white dress, like Rose was wearing).

Cheers!

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), March 20, 1998.

Wow, I didn't think anybody would really be interested! Upon sober reflection I guess I agree that rich boy-poor girl would not have created such an intense love-romance story. However-I think the pool idea would have been swell-another possible glimpse of the lovely Kate au naturel--aaahhhh! In all seriousness-this is a great movie, I loved it and I hope it remains a classic experience for years to come.

-- D. Selznick (foo@bar.com), March 20, 1998.

You really shouldn't mess with the Disney formula, you risk losing the teenage girls! If you combine the grosses of "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin", which have similarly believable love stories (except with happy endings), they just about equal that of "Titanic". Why mess with success? Watch for a future Disney cartoon with a sad-ending love story as a result of the success of "Titanic" (maybe with an anthropomorphic brandy snifter or a wise-cracking rat).

-- DTD Dalton (DDalton2@prodigy.net), March 21, 1998.

Re: The Disney-ized animated version of Titanic:

As the passengers are boarding at Southampton, I can just hear the animated Capt. Smith and Bruce Ismay singing "Be Our Guest."

And the stokers marching down the E-Deck alleyway singing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go..."

And Francis Browne snapping his pictures on the Boat Deck singing, "Some day my prints will come..."

(Someone stop me before a producer reads this stuff and gets ideas.)

Cheers!

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), March 22, 1998.

Kip- HEEHEEHEE!!!!!

-- Laura (lrc@usit.net), March 22, 1998.

Kip :I appreciate your irreverant humor. Fighting that suction as the stern goes down could be a drag. Why not have the animated Jack and Rose just go with it and reprise that "Little Mermaid" hit song, "Under the Sea"?

-- Dan Dalton (DDalton2@prodigy.net), March 22, 1998.

Good one, Dan! We'll add that to the script!

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), March 23, 1998.

well if jack and rose swiched....... 1.a)the drawing: now where would a rich white boy learn to draw naked chicks like that! b)where would the heart of the ocean come in?I mean why would some boy have a necklace like that lieing around? c) would he be ingaed? and like all those factors of the ingament would have to be changed.d) at the promise part: would it be rose making him promise to survive?

-- Bergandy Young (ilt29@hotmail.com), April 13, 1998.

In my own point of view, i beleive it all goes back on how the script writer views his/her ideal picture of love. If we take the story as the way we see it , we can ask questions that are sometimes vague enough for people to understand. If Jack was a Fisrt class boy, the story would have a twist, Jack may be a diiferent person and there is apossibility that he would not fall in love with rose. One change in any part of the story means changing the the entire concept of the movie. If we had the love seen taken in the swimming pool, i think it would'nt be romantic! Why? Gosh! who would like to go skinny dippin in a tertribly cold weather, take note their in the middle of the sea, the temperatures cold and besides the pool is a public place would it be romantic if you 're bein watched?

Things happen for certain reasons, it may sound ilogical but it is life's way of showing people that some good things never last. it's always good to show people how much we love them, who knows this day maybe their last or maybe ours........

-- Angellus (mystery_shawn@37.com), October 03, 2003.