Thursday, April 12, 2012

Titanic, my current obsession

The first time I saw Titanic is was 8 years old. I went with my parents and sister to the dollar movie theater in North Richland Hills to go see it. I remember thinking it was going to be scary because I thought all PG-13 movies were scary since I was not aloud to watch them. My dad told me that it "wasn't scary the boat just sinks," which did not calm my fears. (He still thinks that is hilarious any time I bring it up.) But I went to see it and like every other girl who went to see it I fell in love with it.

I hadn't seen the movie in years when Ericka was home from CMU and I somehow convinced her to watch it with me. I fell in love with the movie again but for different reasons this time. I understood the movie in a different way. Yes, it is about two people from different worlds who fall in love across class lines and in spite of her family's approval. But there is more to the story.

See there is this rich girl named Rose and her life looks perfect. She got the rich fiance and all the money in the world but she is really miserable. She is being controlled by her mother and fiance and she hates her life. She even tries to attempts suicide.

Then there is this guy Jack who, from the outside, might seem like his life sucks. He's poor, he sleeps under bridges or where ever he can find, and probably does not get 3 meals a day. But he is actually the happy one. He loves his life and how he doesn't know where he is going next.

So they meet cause she is hanging off the back of the boat thinking about jumping over board. He comes up and convinces her to come back over and live. First time Jack saves Rose's life. Then he joins her and her jerky fiance and mother for dinner with a bunch of other super wealthy people and some how he wins over the entire table (except Rose's mother and fiance over course). After dinner he takes her to a party with the 3rd class passengers and she has an amazing time. She goes back and her fiance flips (literally the table) and scares her into going back into her sheltered manipulated life.

But then she realizes that that is not the life she truly wants and she goes to find Jack and be with him. Second time Jack saves her life, this time from a horrible controlled unhappy life. So she asks him to draw her only wearing a necklace which most people would think it is just an excuse to take her clothes off but it's really not. (maybe it is but I totally get why it's in the movie.) You see in the scene where Jack and Rose are walking around the boat and she grabs his drawing book to look at the pictures she says "You have a gift Jack. You see people." So she gets Jack to draw her all naked because he sees her as a person not as a trophy to obtain or a person to command. It is the first time in her life someone has looked at her and not seen a privileged girl or a person to manipulate. Jack sees Rose as someone who is crying for a way out. It is an honest portrait of her. The only one she had had someone draw.

So now they are in love and running from the crazy cop that Cal (her fiance) has sent to find her. They make love and all the jazz and she decides to get off the boat with Jack when the boat docks. Unfortunately as every one knows that never happens. The boat hits the iceberg and starts sinking. A lot of stuff happens and this is the part of the movie I fast forward through but anyway they stay on the boat till it sinks then find a piece of wood and she is the only one that can get on it cause when he tries to get on it the plank starts to sink. So he totally knows he's going to die but he loves her more than he loves himself and he wants her to live. Third time Jack saves her.

So Jack makes Rose promise to live her life and do amazing things and live to be really old. She says "I promise," and they don't talk anymore. Then a life boat comes back and she tries to wake him up but she can't cause he's dead. She thinks about staying there to die so she can be with Jack but she remembers her promise so she let's go of his hand and gets rescued. Yay she lives! To 100 years old and dies and goes to heaven to be with Jack at the end of the movie. Awe how sweet!

So this is why I like the movie. Jack gives Rose hope. He shows her that life is worth living and to never give up. If it had not been for Jack, Rose probably would have died. She would be dead on the inside because she had nothing worth living for marrying Cal.

I love this movie because it shows hope and how sometimes the most random people can come into your life and rock it around and make it better.

You might say it's cheesy and what not. Every one knows the boat sinks but that isn't the point of the story. It's about finding hope in the darkest moments of your life. I can see that now 15 years later and I am grateful to see it and to know it. It gives me hope in my own life.

Now if you will excuse me I'm going to go watch Titanic cause I want to.