The door on this debate is once again wide open.
It’s been 25 years since “Titanic” docked in theaters, but a major question from the film continues to divide fans: Could Jack Dawson have fit on the wooden door in “Titanic”?
Viewers have often debated whether Leonardo DiCaprio’s character could have gotten on the floating panel with Rose DeWitt Bukater (played by Kate Winslet) after the ship sinks in 1912 and the majority of the passengers are left treading the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
Rose lives, as she climbs safely atop the door, while Jack forces himself, in the name of love, to stay in the freezing water and dies (most probably due to hypothermia).
The war of words over the door has been reignited after TikToker Jtallan posted a video showing the prop from the 1997 James Cameron romantic epic on display at Planet Hollywood at Disney Springs, in Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
The user captioned his viral clip, “Did you know this? I love the history and facts in #disney.” “Did you know the wooden panel used in the movie ‘Titanic’ is located in Disney Springs?” the video’s text said. The user filmed a plaque showing a photo of Rose on the board, with Jack dangling off one end.
Viewers, of course, took to the comments to fire away their thoughts on the prop and the infamous timber. Several noted if there actually was — or wasn’t — enough room on there for Jack, too.
“Oh damn I take it back — there was only room for one person,” an observer stated. But another fired back, “They could’ve both fit.”
Another added, “So maybe they both couldn’t fit after all.” Someone then wrote, “And I will always say there is room for two on there hahahahahah.”
“Maybe there wasn’t room for two of them. Looks a lot smaller,” a fan wrote. “This wooden panel is the real hero of the movie lol,” one quipped.
Cameron, 67, isn’t a big fan of the debate himself and has stated in the past he thinks it’s “stupid.” The “Avatar” director told BBC Radio 1 in 2019 that he “never really seen it as a debate.”
The infamous moment in 1997’s “Titanic” where Jack and Rose are drifting in the icy waters after their ship goes down. 20th Century FoxCameron continued, “Could he have decided not to bring his little dagger, just in case Juliet might stab herself with it? Yes, absolutely. It sort of misses the point.”
However, in a 2017 discussion with Vanity Fair, the Canadian filmmaker set the record straight about the door.
“The answer is very simple, because it says on page 147 [of the script] that Jack dies,” he explained. He also added that it was “very silly” that people are still questioning the scene over two decades later.
Cameron went on: “The film is about death and separation; he had to die. So whether it was that, or whether a smokestack fell on him, he was going down. It’s called art, things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics reasons.”
