History Fridge / Titanic1997

* We never find out what happens to Ruth. But it makes sense that Rose herself doesn't know either: Ruth basically sold her daughter as a bride to a really rotten and abusive man, and Rose probably feared that her mom would likely force her into another unwanted reunion with another rich man, [[AbusiveParents if not punish Rose for her defiance and refusing the lifeboat]]. After getting a taste of true love with Jack, Rose would never go back to becoming just a TrophyWife, let alone being a tool for her mom anymore. Not bothering to look for her mom's whereabouts was the only Rose could finally break with her for good.

* Cal going bankrupt in the crash of 1929 isn't all too surprising: underneath [[FauxAffablyEvil his pretenses]] of gentlemanly behavior, he's a spoiled and controlling asshole who treated his fiancee like a possession. His upbringing was likely one in which he got everything handed to him, so he never really learned discipline or how to succeed in the business world. He, like many people in the 1920s, would've believed the stock market would remain on a permanently high plateau, only to be wiped out completely when the crash came. His ending his own life was because he knew without money no one would want anything to do with him.

* So, what DID happen to Rose's mother? She admits to Rose she's pressuring her to marry Cal because her deadbeat late husband left them with nothing but the family name and a pile of debt. Rose marries rich, they can pay off the creditors; if she doesn't, all their belongings are sold off and her mother's taking in sewing. Now, she might have been exaggerating, but the fact that Rose's marriage is apparently their only trump card suggests there aren't any close relatives to take them in. Old Rose mentions that she 'heard' Cal shot himself after the Crash of '29, but doesn't say anything about her mother. (You know, the previously-unknown great-grandmother of that nice granddaughter who feeds her Pomeranian and hauls her out for helicopter rides to Russian research vessel in the middle of the North Atlantic and presumably packed all those trunks? i.e., is doing Trudy's job now?) So did Ruth have to swallow her pride, hock all her belongings, and either take up seamstressing or throw herself on the charity and pity of her society friends? [[DriventoSuicide Or did she take a darker option?]]
** She could have remarried. A lot of widows from the ''Titanic'' did. She was still a name and could therefore be a somewhat attractive prospect for an older bachelor.
** Just a guess but: insurance. Rose 'dies' unmarried and her next of kin is Ruth, so Ruth can make claims for both their possessions on the ship. Now, that doesn't include the Heart of the Ocean, because we know Cal claims for that, but it could well include every other thing they had. The paintings, jewelry, expensive clothes, it was probably all insured. Assuming Cal got them a good deal and the claim value is about equal to the actual value of the lost goods, Ruth does better than selling them (buying second hand often gives you leeway to ask for a discount, especially if you know the seller is desperate and will take any offer). She presumably had some place arranged to stay before the wedding (even hotel reservations would be something) and there were many collections for the survivors who lost their breadwinners/source of income (craftsmen losing tools, merchants losing goods) that were pure charity if she could bring herself to ask for that. She talks to Rose about selling their fine things and taking in sewing but that is probably mother-drama. It's possible that Ruth could have lived reasonably as a distressed gentlewoman for the rest of her life if she could deal with the responsibility of choosing rent and food over new hats...
** Cal was still rich for a long time after the ship sank. He may have set up a trust fund to take care of Ruth as his mother-in-law, since he regarded Rose as his wife in practice if not by law. Cal would have been aware that his reputation as a gentleman would suffer if he cut Ruth off without any money after her only child was thought to have died in the sinking.
*** Plus, Ruth and Cal were BirdsOfAFeather who seemed to genuinely like each other. He may have had real affection for her and wanted to take care of her, by settling her debts if nothing else.

*** the strokers as well as the majority remained at their posts, only 25 or so survived.

** Rose became a famous actress, for most of her life she was living unafraid, in the open, and her former associates must have eventually seen her on screen (presumably they were too ashamed to contact her). Her silence on the subject more likely is because she didn't want to upset her husband and family with rhe knowledge of a romance which was so much more important to her than her relationship with them that she imagines herself going to the afterlife with Jack and not her husband.

** The stokers suffered a very high death toll, and none of the engineers escaped the sinking. They are remembered as heroes today because they stayed at their post and kept the lights burning for as long as they did. Imagine being in the bottom of the ship, you can hear the steel squeaking in protest (and possibly can even see it beginning to warp), you know there's no way you can make it up the escape ladders now because the angle of the ship is too steep to allow you to climb them. You know that any minute the sea is going to rush in and kill you... and you STILL keep trying to maintain the ship's systems as long as possible to give the people on the upper decks a fighting chance of survival. How's that for HeroicSacrifice?

*** the strokers as well as the majority remained at their posts trying to hold the icy ocean at bay long enough for the pipping hot boilers to cool down to prevent them from exploding.

* Cal going bankrupt isn't all too surprising: underneath [[FauxAffablyEvil his pretenses]] of gentlemanly behavior, he's a spoiled and controlling asshole who treated his fiancee like a possession. His upbringing was likely one in which he got everything handed to him, so he never really learned discipline or how to succeed in the business world. He, like many people in the 20s, would've believed the stock market would remain on a permanently high plateau.

** He was clearly remorseful for what she did to Rose, so likely he treated his next wife much better.

* It could be that Rose's father was a good man to his wife and daughter, but lost their money through external matters or a gambling vice.

* We never find out what happens to Rose's mom, Ruth. But it makes sense that Rose herself doesn't know for several reasons:
** Ruth basically sold her daughter as a bride to a really rotten and abusive man, and Rose probably feared that her mom would likely force her into another unwanted reunion with another rich man, [[AbusiveParents if not punish Rose for her defiance and refusing the lifeboat]]. After getting a taste of true love with Jack, Rose would never go back to becoming just a TrophyWife, let alone being a tool for her mom anymore.
** Rose was so desperate to escape her toxic life that she never even bothered to find out about her mother's whereabouts. Considering she covered up her aristocratic background and never told her story (or even origins) to her own family for over 80 years, forcing her mother out of her mind and forgetting she existed was part of that process.

** It's double Fridge Horror/Brilliance if you're familiar with the real Thomas Andrews. Andrews in real life was a father to a 2 year old girl named Elizabeth when the disaster happened. Based on his interactions with Rose in the film, it's implied that Andrews views her as like a daughter. The [[AdultFear look of fear and horror in his eyes when Rose confronts him about the iceberg]] shows that he's deathly worried for her and was no doubt thinking of his own daughter and what he'd do if she were there...hence his pleading with Rose to "don't wait".

** You've forgotten Marjorie Bellamy.
*** Who is a fictional character from ''Series/UpstairsDownstairs'', the ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' of the 70s.

* An in-universe example with Rose when she remembers what Andrews told her earlier about the number of lifeboats while he is telling her that the ship is, in fact, sinking.

* So, what DID happen to Rose's mother? She admits to Rose she's pressuring her to marry Cal because her deadbeat dead husband left them with nothing but the family name and a pile of debt. Rose marries rich, they can pay off the creditors; if she doesn't, all their belongings are sold off and her mother's taking in sewing. Now, she might have been exaggerating, but the fact that Rose's marriage is apparently their only trump card suggests there aren't any close relatives to take them in. Old Rose mentions that she 'heard' Cal shot himself after the Crash of '29, but doesn't say anything about her mother. (You know, the previously-unknown great-grandmother of that nice granddaughter who feeds her Pomeranian and hauls her out for helicopter rides to Russian research vessel in the middle of the North Atlantic and presumably packed all those trunks? i.e., is doing Trudy's job now?) So did Ruth have to swallow her pride, hock all her belongings, and either take up seamstressing or throw herself on the charity and pity of her society friends? [[DriventoSuicide Or did she take a darker option?]]

*** If she survived him. In the extended scene, Rose only says that Cal's sons fought for his inheritance.

* The Irish mother is last seen tucking in her children after realizing they're not going to survive. The accommodations for third class women and families were located in the stern. There's a possibility they may have still been alive after the breakup and died once the stern imploded beneath the surface, half a minute at most.

** A deleted scene on the ''Carpathia'' shows that the little girl did indeed survive (I believe she is even being held by the woman Cal handed her to.)
*** Although, we should all remember that this is a fictionalized account of a historical event, and you shouldn't look too hard for fictional names in historical survivors...

** TruthInTelevision: A number of ''Titanic'' victims were travelling under assumed names or the names of other people. For example, a man who intended to sign up for ''Titanic'' as a stoker left his discharge book (used as a sort of work record aboard ship) behind after a heavy night of drinking in the pub. Without his book he couldn't sign on for ''Titanic'', but somebody used his book to sign on as a stoker. The individual in question, who was assumed to be the man to whom the book really belonged, died in the sinking and it was assumed for a couple of months that the book's owner was the victim. When it became apparent that the owner of the book was not the stoker who went down, it left a little mystery behind. Who was the guy who found a discharge book in a pub and used it to sign up as a ''Titanic'' stoker, only to die when the ship went down? We'll never know.