The 1997 Titanic  film sparked some controversy among viewers.  Viewers mourned the loss of Jack and argued both characters should have survived. 

In the film after the R.M.S. Titanic sank, the main characters, Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, both find themselves among the hundreds of other passengers freezing in the water on the morning of April 15, 1912. 

After reuniting with each other, both Jack and Rose swam off to find something to float on while waiting for a lifeboat to rescue them. The couple ends up finding a floating door frame. Jack takes it upon himself to put Rose on the door and moves off to the side to hold her hand. 

Some people like to make the argument that both Jack and Rose could have fit on the door frame and both survived, which is just simply not true. 

Yes, the area of the door frame may have fit the two lovers; the issue was that after Jack put Rose on the door frame, he did try to get on it himself, but it flipped due to the unbalanced weight on each side. People will then try to make the argument that if Jack would have taken off Rose’s life vest and put it under the other side of the doorframe, then it could have held them both. 

Physically speaking, yes, the frame could have held both of them if the plan was executed correctly. However, in an interview with the director of the film, James Cameron, Cameron stated that Jack had to die.

“Had he lived, the ending of the film would have been meaningless,” Cameron said. “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.”

In the movie, Jack’s entire spiel was living everyday like it was his last and being content with the cards he was dealt in life. If Jack didn’t die at the end of that film, it would have made one of Jack’s most famous quotes completely unmeaningful. 

“I figure life’s a gift, and I don’t intend on wasting it,” Dawson said.