Dreams Don't Sink: The Enduring Lessons of Love from Titanic
Narrative
What comes to mind when we think about relationships? Certainly, our dating history, marriages, and even those school-era crushes. An unrequited love compels us to reflect on the past and what we could have done differently to finally win them over. Conversely, there are situations where this reflection swiftly leads us the other way, making us deeply grateful for overcoming that painful phase, knowing something much better awaits us in the future.
A love we know is real, however, is the most gratifying feeling we can experience. Knowing a person makes us feel so good that we are willing to change habits to improve the relationship, and even transform ourselves into a better person, is an undeniably proud human feat. Moreover, sharing and building stories with someone we find along life's journey makes us want to live every second we have left in this world together, intensely.
For many, this isn't always what happens. Unpredicted events happen. Directions and life goals shift. Passions are contained and can diminish over the years, indicating that, perhaps, that particular form of love wasn't meant to last eternally between those two people. But this is not a sign of romantic failure, nor a reason to think the time spent together wasn't worthwhile. It was certainly a form of learning, regardless of when we truly awaken to and absorb it. Through Jack, Rose, and the Titanic, I learned a great deal about the many layers of love.
I didn't watch the film until I was 17. I had caught glimpses of it as a child, during the endless marathons my younger cousin would have, watching and re-watching the movie on a loop. It was only a few years after I started to appreciate cinema that I decided to give it a proper chance.
The film’s ability to immerse us fully in the story being told is striking. We already know the fate of the infamous ship, seeing it on the ocean floor in the very first minutes. But the magic of love and human connection, built over four days aboard an iron behemoth, with all its physical and social strata, makes us join the characters on this voyage. And, just as James Cameron intended, we become intimately acquainted with Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater.
Rose begins as the typical rich family ingenue whose life is set: she is to marry the millionaire Cal in the US and further enrich her family. However, as the film progresses, we get to know her better. We see her passion for the arts, her care for others, and her hunger to experience everything a girl in her position was never allowed to. Furthermore, it is clear from the start that Cal is not the person Rose wants to share the rest of her life with. We also discover her family’s true financial predicament, and that her mother would do anything to maintain their social status, even if it cost her daughter's happiness.
On the other side of the ship, we meet Jack, a homeless street artist who goes wherever the wind takes him, dealing with one problem at a time and adapting to every place he lands. Winning last-minute tickets onto the ship, Jack marvels at what he is about to experience, even though he is housed in third-class cabins for the journey. Right away, we sympathize with Jack's motivations and root for his success.
When the paths of these two characters cross, the story truly begins. It is with them that we explore the ship from end to end, becoming familiar with our environment, while simultaneously learning more about their lives, desires, and ambitions. Like Jack and Rose, we fall in love with where we are; the unique experiences of being on a ship on the high seas with countless cultures on board, and the company of one another make us want to freeze time and, just like my cousin with the film, live those days aboard on an eternal loop.
The first hour of the film is everything we most desire in a relationship: finding a reason to live happily and someone to share our present and future with. Despite the difficulties they face in being together, the social, familial, and financial differences do not prevent love from happening, and Jack and Rose know that all they want is to be side-by-side. The couple shares their dreams and encourages one another to follow them. We clearly see the willingness in both their eyes to give up their current lives to live together.
Jack wants to create his artwork with the woman he loves in mind, always inspiring him to be better every day. Rose wants to savor the pleasures of life: to learn to ride horses, to follow the artistic path of the one who inspired her to take the first step and assume risks, and to become an actress, or a dancer, or a sculptor, or everything that art can provide. What was a temporary passion becomes an infinite love.
It is with the Titanic's collision with the iceberg that things change. Like every relationship, there are moments of turbulence. Things outside of control define the couple's path. We know the fate of the characters presented in the film, especially the farewell between Jack and Rose. Some say that was the end of everything. But that wasn't only the end; it was the beginning of something. The beginning of a life transformed by the experience on that ship. Jack did not leave his dreams or his love behind that night. Instead, he remained in something that is constantly within Rose, warming and illuminating her throughout her long life journey. It was thanks to Jack's love during those four days aboard the Titanic that we see all of Rose's achievements over the next 84 years. The courage she had to abandon everything and follow what they once planned to do together was what kept her motivated to, eventually, learn to ride a horse, to act, to dance, to sculpt, and to be happy again.
Just like the iceberg that separated them, love has much to offer that we don't see on the surface. The apparent part is a small fraction of the whole, and only those who live love can feel what lies beneath. The best cinematic relationship, after all, is not the one that conquers time, but the one that transforms it. Like Jack and Rose, there are loves that live forever. Not because they endure, but because they make us continue to believe.
P.S.: This is an article I wrote for a Monthly Challenge at Peliplat Brazil. If you can take a look at my work and my brazilian colleagues, we would be very grateful! You can access it in the link below:
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