In studying for the upcoming midterm, I’ve been making time to go through the prior readings for this class. One of the ones I found most interesting was the reading about James Cameron’s films. One of his films that I absolutely love was Titanic. And it got me thinking about the age old argument of the ending of the film, where Rose tossed this gorgeous necklace into the ocean to sink to the bottom. I’ve heard so many people getting irritated or even angry that she did that instead of leaving the necklace to family. Or even selling it when she first arrived in America to pave her way to a better life. However, to do either of those things would have completely disregarded the entire point of Rose’s transformation.
She went from being an upper class girl from a high born upbringing, to choosing a life of lower class for herself. Cal treated her as an object to possess. She learned more about love in the few days she had with Jack than she had from her mother or her fiancee in her entire life. Which is saying something. She chose to live without the money that this necklace could have given her to not only live as she likely would have with Jack at her side, but proving to herself that she doesn’t need money or status to be truly happy. According to the author of that reading, the necklace is a symbol in and of itself. Of Rose being owned by Cal. The chain of the necklace is fairly short, and on Rose it looks almost like a collar, like he sees her as a possession or pet to be owned. Later, it reflects her love for Jack (her believing him when he says he didn’t steal it), the connection between them because of it (him drawing her wearing it), and then when she doesn’t sell it for money to set herself up in America, she’s freeing herself from being beholden to Cal for any reason.
She lives a life that is completely, unashamedly her own. She keeps her promise to Jack and continues to live for herself. She does everything that she had ever wanted to do for herself, and then she gets married, has children, and raises them with more love than her mother ever showed her. The fact that she waited until she was on death’s door to toss it back into the ocean over Titanic’s final resting place is a testament that she made it without help from anyone, and I honestly find that the perfect ending to the story. How do you guys feel about the ending of Titanic? Do you love it or do you hate it?
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