my first question is: Jack says in the movie to some guy "can I bum a smoke?" did they really use such modern talk in 1912? the second question is: Jack & Rose were in the lift getting away from a guy that was chasing them, then she gives him the finger (the middle one.) Was that gesture really around in 1912? And my final is: Rose went though so much hell at the end(ie. saving Jack, sinking of the ship, swimming to save her life, getting on the wooden floaty thing etc.) and she still had her stilletoe shoes on, in tact!? that was a bit far fetched. please help!

It's a fantastic movie and my heart still hurts just thinking about it.

-- Pauline Vizcarra (vizcarra@tig.com.au), December 29, 1997

Answers

Pauline: My answer is to all questions is: ask someone who was around in 1912. My guess is: they probably did "bum a smoke" and "flip the bird" but probably called it something else or made some other gesture. As for the shoes, would you worry about your wardrobe facing 28 degree water and almost certain death??? I'm not trying to be a wise guy, just trying to put this fantastic picture in the spirit that it was produced. I have been a "Titanic nut" since I was 10 years old and I am 49 now. I saw the movie tonight and and was as about as impressed as I can get! Best regards and Happy New Year!

-- Peter Nivling (pcnivling@capecod.net), December 30, 1997.

As for using the middle finger as an obscene gesture -- I think that's pretty old. I recall reading some ancient Roman writings where - at least in later Rome - 100 A.D./C.E. the gesture was used. If my memory is still serving me correctly (I'm too lazy to check this out) Seutonius, a Roman historian wrote about some emperor who got pissed off and "made an obscene gesture with his middle finger." Bumming a smoke, that doesn't sound that modern to me, what phrase could you replace it with? I can't say my heart still hurts -- it doesn't. I was sad for about three hours after the movie... I thought about it - I could really identify with Jack Dawson, (I'm an artist without much money myself), and it hurt a bit to see him die after all that fight to live, (sorry for the spoiler), and that made me sadder than the relationship ending -- after all -- it probably would have ended eventually, passion fades, they were from different worlds, and if Rose thought being rich was a prison -- shit, being poor is worse. They may have loved each other a lot, but they were also young and they didn't know each other all that well.

-- Norman Doering (davedoer@prairienet.org), December 31, 1997.

Norman---you are a pessimist my dear. As the other said, my heart still aches now. Perhaps I have become obbsessive with the movie, but I don't think we are suspossed to apply to many realistic world problems on these fictional characters. Perhaps they would have broken apart, but the love the felt seemed true.

-- Becky (Raisongal@aol.com), January 04, 1998.

I've never heard the phrase "bum a smoke" before, so I figure it is old talk, not modern. Giving someone the finger is quite old. Plus Rose and Jack were fictional characters. They were basically trying to show how unladylike Rose has become since hanging out with Jack. I think that part was really funny the first time I saw it. The second time I continued crying because I knew Jack would die. I'm not sure how shoes were made back then, but like that thing she wore that squished her all in, I'm sure they were tight on her feet. I don't lose my shoes very easily. I didn't even notice her shoes too much. Don't look for movies to mess up so much or you lose the magic of them.

-- Heather (ClickyLove@aol.com), January 05, 1998.

Hello Becky, am I pessimist... maybe. There are a few cases of people marrying their first high school sweethearts, but the odds are against it. I guess I don't believe in love at first sight, only lust at first sight -- love takes a little longer.

-- Norman Doering (davedoer@prairienet.org), January 09, 1998.

About Rose flipping the bird...I have baseball books that include team photos from the 1880s and 1890s. In one of these pictures, the team has lined up in two rows and is being photographed, but the photographer doesn't notice that one of the players is flipping off the camera. The caption even notes this. So, if this could happen, for real, in 1880, then a character in a movie from 1912 could certainly know about the gesture. Even a well-bred lady from Philadelphia.

-- tom shoebotham (cathytom@ix.netcom.com), January 10, 1998.

Norman, you are hilarious and honest, if a bit crude. This movie is my all-time favorite. I have a question related to one of these that no one has addressed. How on earth did that diamond not come out of Rose's pocket during all that action, and if it's because it was heavy, wouldn't she have noticed how therefore cumbersome it was, and have dropped it in the ocean somewhere?

-- Bob Gregorio (rgregori@pacbell.net), January 10, 1998.

would the diamond have fallen out of her pocket? Maybe in reality -- I suggest that you experiment : put a similar sized and weighted object in your suit coat and then go swiming in it - jump off the diving board, thrash around etc. and see if the object is still in you pocket when your done... Try several different coats with different pockets ... I don't know the answer to your question - it may have only been an needed plot device.

-- Norman Doering (davedoer@prairienet.org), January 11, 1998.

I think her life belt helped hold the diamond in her pocket. I think it covered the opening enough so that it wouldn't fall out through everything they went through. And would you notice anything in your pockets if you thought you were probably going to die?

-- Miranda Swearingen (Kylen1@hotmail.com), January 14, 1998.

Good point, Miranda! The life jacket would have covered the pocket opening. I missed that. Yea, the diamond being there is quite realistic.

-- Norman Doering (davedoer@prairienet.org), January 17, 1998.

I watched for the shoe thing specifically my second time at the theaters, and she's barefoot when she's on the debris.

-- Dave Phillips (Sonitus@USA.net), January 17, 1998.

Come on, Norman, haven't you ever read Yeats? "Young we loved each other and were ignorant." The kind of love exemplified in "Titanic" is "the kind of love we all dream about, but seldom find." (James Cameron - "Titanic" CD) I've had my share of failed relationships, yet I don't consider myself overly romantic because I believe that love and passion like this can exist and endure. This film has so much to offer because it spans the spectrum of human nature: all the hope, desire, love, tragedy, passion, and courage that makes us who were are. If someone asked me to tell them about human nature, I might just sit them down for three hours or so to view "Titanic."

-- Rose (rosemarie17@hotmail.com), January 17, 1998.

First off, the answer to "Can I bum a smoke?" I think it's perfectly reasonable that the expression was around. I mean why not? Next Yes flipping a bird was certainly around in 1912. Someone said it came from some long ago war where the people who shot arrows had this "deal" about if they lost they had to cut off that finger since it was their arrow shooting finger. However they won so they all showed that finger to the oppisite side to rub their faces in the fact that they won. Now FOR THE SHOES:) In the James Cameron's Titanic book there is a pic of Rose on the wood panel just beofre you know that Jack is dead. You can see that her shoes have a strap the buckles around her ankle. Still think it would be so easy to loose the shoes during all that hell???

-- Miranda Swearingen (Kylen1@hotmail.com), January 19, 1998.

"Bum a smoke" was indeed used back then. Flipping people off dates back to the ancient Romans. And most of Rose's shoes were Mary Janes (those shoes with the straps across the top that buckled on the side to keep them on.

-- Bethany (beth174@hotmail.com), February 09, 2002.