History Film / Titanic1997

* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: Jack convinces Rose not to jump off the titular ship into the icy waters below.

''Titanic'' tells the story, in {{Flashback}}, of the two fictional StarCrossedLovers Jack Dawson and Rose [=DeWitt=] Bukater. Unfortunately, they both happen to be aboard the [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic ill-fated titular ocean liner]], which, [[ForegoneConclusion as we all know]], struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in [[TheEdwardianEra 1912]]. There's also a LoveTriangle involving Rose's evil DisposableFiance, Caledon "Cal" Hockley, who decides the best solution is to literally MurderTheHypotenuse, JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope in the process. This more-or-less leads to the film's BittersweetEnding.

* DoubleStandard: A historically-accurate one--if you were on the ''Titanic'', you had a Y chromosome, and you weren't a big-shot, [[MenAreTheExpendableGender you were more likely to be summarily left behind to go down with the ship]], even if there was room for you in the lifeboats (not that things were all that much better for big-shots with Y chromosomes, mind you; only a third of the men in first-class survived; the number of surviving third-class women was much larger). Precedent for this practice had been globally set by the disaster of HMS ''Birkenhead'' in 1852, 60 years before the ''Titanic'''s maiden voyage, although the latter would become the most famous example.
** HMS ''Birkenhead'' was a British warship transporting a battalion of infantry with the officers' wives and children to India when she struck a rock in shark-infested waters off South Africa. Prior to this event, a sinking ship was every man for himself. But as ''Birkenhead'' foundered with sharks visibly circling, her captain and the infantry battalion's commander quickly conferred, recognized the shortage of lifeboats, and agreed that the women and children must take priority. Each officer addressed their men, who maintained good order and discipline in the face of certain death. ''Birkenhead'' went down with horrifying loss of life, but every woman and child was saved. The practice of "women and children first" is officially known as "Birkenhead Drill" to this day.

* AbuseMistake: When Rose tries to commit suicide, [[HappilyFailedSuicide Jack talks her out of it]]. However, she slips and nearly falls to her death. After a struggle where Jack manages to drag Rose to safety, albeit accidentally tearing her dress and falling on top of her in the process, [[spoiler:some crewmen investigating Rose's screams assume he's trying to rape her]].

** Rose is [[InterruptedSuicide talked down from this]] by Jack.

* HappilyFailedSuicide: After her suicide was stopped by Jack, Rose goes on to live a long and full life.

** A case of ArtisticLicenceHistory, as in fact more women and children from Third Class survived than men from First Class. Indeed, more ''men'' from Third Class survived than men from First Class. Contrary to what is portrayed in the film, Third Class passengers were not deliberately locked below decks. It did work against them that many were not English speakers, and they were located lower down in the ship, meaning the water reached them first.

** Contrary to popular belief, the third-class passengers were ''not'' locked in steerage. The purpose of the gates was to prevent the spread of disease so that only third-class passengers would require health inspections on their arrival in New York. Even when locked, they did not bar access to the deck--only to first- and second-class areas of the ship. Many steerage passengers, however, had a hard time finding their way through the maze of corridors to the lifeboats, with those who didn't speak English at an even greater disadvantage, since the signs were ''only'' in English. Even though the cabins of the first- and second-class passengers were closer to the decks and the lifeboats, the lifeboats were not loaded according to class. In fact, more third-class women survived than first-class men.

** Although they don't get any on-screen deaths, several dogs are seen boarding or being taken for walks on the ship. In the lifeboats, no dogs. Do the math.

* CaliforniaDoubling: ''Baja'' California, in this case - while there were scenes in the North Atlantic and even the actual Titanic wreck, the main filming location were in Fox's studios in Mexico.

** For all Rose's trials and tribulations aboard Titanic, the audience already knows she will survive. Averted, however, with Jack whose fate is left unrevealed until late in the film, thanks in part to old Rose giving her surname as Calvert rather than either [=DeWitt Bukater=] (her maiden name) or Dawson.

** Ismay was branded as this for years after he survived the wreck. This is in no small part to the media owned by William Randolph Hearst, who had a falling out with Ismay earlier. Among his nicknames were "the coward of the Titanic" and "J. Brute Ismay".

* {{Badass}}:
** Wallace Hartley and his band members certainly deserved this, at least.
** Rose, the high society waif, picks up a ''fireman's ax'' to break Jack out of his handcuffs.
** He gets a substantial downgrade from his RealLife {{Badass}} status (and from the opposite-direction exaggerated version portrayed in the 1958 film ''A Night To Remember'', made with the help of Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall only two years after Lightoller's death), but Second Officer Charles Lightoller still gets a small moment where he faces down a crowd rushing the lifeboats with a pistol and demands they keep order--then turns to order Fifth Officer Harold Lowe into the boat, while showing him that he'd just bluffed the angry crowd with an unloaded revolver.
** Why, hello, Molly Brown, it's very nice to meet you...and watch you live while everyone else ''drowns horribly in the ocean''! So much for new money being below you, eh, Ruth?

* NostalgiaHeaven: [[spoiler:Rose either dies or dreams and goes to the ''Titanic'' as it once was. It's purposefully up to interpretation]].

* TogetherInDeath: According to popular interpretation, the film ends with Rose dying and being reunited with not just Jack but everyone who died that fateful night.

** Confirmed by the movie itself. Rose gets on, but when Jack tries to as well, he almost flips the wreckage (a fairly flat piece of wood), and they clearly have to give up. Rose is almost in the water as it is, and adding Jack's weight would half-immerse both of them. Since Rose ''barely'' survives, she certainly would have frozen with the added exposure before the search party came by.

** For all Rose's trials and tribulations aboard Titanic, the audience already knows she will survive. Averted, however, with Jack whose fate is left unrevealed until late in the film, thanks in part to old Rose carrying a different surname than Dawson.

*** This was apparently a reaction (overreaction?) to his heroic portrayal in ''A Night to Remember'' (it is sometimes said that this was because Lightoller himself was an adviser to ''ANTR'', but he actually died a few years before that film; the adviser was Fourth Officer Boxhall, who is played by Creator/IoanGruffud but not named in Cameron's film).

* DoubleStandard: A historically-accurate one--if you were on the ''Titanic'', you had a Y chromosome, and you weren't a big-shot, [[MenAreTheExpendableGender you were more likely to be summarily left behind to go down with the ship]], even if there was room for you in the lifeboats (not that things were all that much better for big-shots with Y chromosomes, mind you; only a third of the men in first-class survived; the number of surviving third-class women was much larger). Precedent for this practice had been globally set by the disaster of HMS ''Birkenhead'' in 1845, 67 years before the ''Titanic'''s maiden voyage, although the latter would become the most famous example.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Jack to Rose.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/titanic_ver2.jpg]]

* YongerThanTheyLook: Rose looks very mature for a 17-year old. Though Kate Winslet was 21 when she played her.

* {{Wangst}}: Discussed In-Universe. Rose believes Jack must think of her as crazy for trying to throw her life away, despite having tons of money. Jack, however, replies that he not scornful of her for that, merely annoyed that she couldn't think of a more sane way out.