Remember our Titanic post a little while back about James Cameron responded to claims that, scientifically speaking, Jack and Rose could have both fit on the piece of ship wreckage? Well, Mythbusters decided to test it out, and it turns out that there could have been a happy ending for Jack and Rose after all!
After the spring release of the film in 3D, Cameron explains that he had been getting tons of emails from fans protesting that they both could have survived. Rattled by the suggestion that his film was inaccurate, Cameron sought help from the experts, calling in Mythbusters hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to debunk the fans’ claim. Adam and Jamie decided to split the experiment into three separate parts:
First, the hosts built the scene in miniature, making quarter-sized models of Rose, Jack and the raft. They filled a bathtub of salt-water to mimic the ocean and tested how much weight the board could support. The Rose model was able to lie on the board with no problems, but when the Mythbusters tried to put Jack on the board, the weight was too heavy. Second, they tested how long Jack could have stayed alive in the cold water by placing a life-size dummy in a tub of 29 degree water and monitoring its temperature.
Finally, Adam and Jamie floated on a board themselves (with Adam playing Jack and Jamie as Rose, of course). Noting that Rose was wearing a life jacket in the film, they took a life jacket and tried retying it around the board to increase buoyancy. After doing this, they found that they were both able to float on the board for the 63 minutes that it took to be rescued.
They determined that the film’s ending was accurate in terms of hypothermia, but if the characters had made the life jacket adjustment to the bottom of the board, they would have both been able to fit on the board and be rescued. “We’ve got to say, this is plausible,” Savage said. “Jack and Rose could have survived.”
“Maybe we screwed up and the board should have been a tiny bit smaller, but the dude’s going down,” Cameron conceded after the experiment. “I think you guys are missing the point,” he added. “The script says Jack died. He has to die.” [via NY Daily News]
What do you think about this experiment? Are you surprised by the results?
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guest
No, they both would have died by being in that water within 20 minutes. Not to mention they were struggling for an hour wading in water, escaping crazy exes, etc previous to going down with the ship. I guess tying Rose’s life jacket to the board can work but who can critically think in negative degree temperature water?
guest
@nepenthium@xanga - Yes. Just like Jack said in the movie, water that cold just feels like a thousand knives stabbing you all over. I can’t imagine being calm enough to think clearly and tire my life jacket to the door in that situation.
guest
I’m personally just enjoying Cameron’s defence..the script says he dies so he has to die…he’s the director so it sounds perfectly fair to me.
tulip / 9 posts
I watched that episode and noticed something about when Adam and Jamie (Jack and Rose) went to tie the life-preserver to the wreckage.
1)
It looked like they had a knife to help cut the straps so they could be tied together.
2)
The straps on a life-preserver like that would not have been long enough to reach around the piece of wreckage.
3)
When in water at that temperature one starts to loose feeling and mobility in their extremities after about 2 or 3 minutes.
So if you were to really try that solution it would have been extremely difficult especially without a knife or something to cut the straps. Look at photos of the life-preserver that was used at that time and you will see what I am talking about.
guest
I just find it funny that people actually wrote to JC what they think as if it mattered.
guest
It’s just a movie, who cares? People would’ve been crying cop-out if they’d both lived.
guest
People, people… Look between the lines. The real story goes is that… Jack just didn’t want to pay for child support. He was just in it for the booty. He paid off the ship captain saying, “Look buddy. Just between guys, I just tapped this really hot chick, but I’m not really trying to keep her around. So before we get any closer to shore let me give you everything that I’ve got. I won all this money in a poker game so you just take it and do what you need to do to make this all happen. Thanks man.” I’m just saying. Chick flick? I think not. More like silver lining back then for guys to get out of sticking around with their baby mamas. Think about it LOL
guest
Yea… last time I checked, the movie was Fiction… meaning, uh, not-true.
How much money did Transformers make? And that plot premise is… aliens that take on the form of motor vehicles while using the Earth as a proxy base in their struggles for all-powerful artifacts from outer space?
Reality. Not necessary in films.
One of the most common things I hear from beginning writers, when someone critiques their work, is “But it’s so REALISTIC!” How many times do you walk into a movie theatre and ask for a ticket to the “most realistic” film? Again, fiction, meaning… not-real. That is, believe it or not, the good part.