Titanic is a tale of epic romance. A high society woman falls in love with a working class man she meets aboard a ship, only to have him sacrifice himself for her when the boat smashes into an iceberg and sinks. Or so we thought. BuzzFeed recently uncovered a Titanic fan theory that hypothesizes Jack Dawson wasn't real. Yes, you read that right, and yes, it changes everything. Let's take a minute to process this.
According to a video posted by Alltime Movies, Jack was just a figment of Rose's imagination. She invents him as a way to cope with her impending marriage to Cal, an affluent snob who's basically the equivalent of a 20th century fuccboi.
As the evidence explains, the first time Rose meets Jack is when she's contemplating suicide. She's standing at the bow of the ship about to jump when he arrives and talks her out of it, but according to the theory, this may actually just be Rose's subconscious trying to save her from her own undoing. The theory also points to the fact that, some 80 years later, treasure hunter Brock Lovett tells Rose there's no record of Jack being on the boat. Rose then responds by saying, "No, there wouldn't be, would there ... He exists now only in my memory."
And then, of course, there's the contentious raft scene, in which Rose stayed dry on a floating door while Jack froze to death in the ocean. Fans have long argued (and proved) that there was plenty of room to let him up, but if Jack didn't exist, he wouldn't have been physically there in the first place.
It's an intriguing thought, though at least some of its support can be easily debunked. Remember that Jack won his Titanic ticket in a card game, so he was never officially on the manifesto.
Nonetheless, it's fun to ponder. If Jack wasn't real, the film wouldn't be a romance, but a testament to what people do to survive in the face of hardship. And in Rose's case, it worked: She manages to get out from under Cal's thumb and lead an otherwise happy, independent life. It's not a bulletproof theory, but hey, any reason to rewatch Titanic is a good one.
