My Life Philosophy Based on the Movie Titanic

In 1997, the movie Titanic came out in theaters. I was 9 years old. All of my friends and I wanted to go see this new movie, but it was rated PG-13. After some convincing, my parents allowed me to go see it. I remember going with a group of friends and we each had little packs of tissue that were put to good use.

I became obsessed with this movie and with its star Leonardo DiCaprio. I had two Titanic posters in my room. I had a Titanic t-shirt. If a magazine had Leonardo DiCaprio in it, I owned the magazine. I had both movie soundtracks that were released and the Celine Dion CD. After buying the movie, I watched it several times a week. I also became interested in the Titanic itself. My parents bought me a Titanic board game and a collector’s box of memorabilia and information about the Titanic. I also started reading books that were set on the Titanic. I wanted to see all movies that Leonardo DiCaprio had been in. Unfortunately, due to my age, I wasn’t allowed to see most of them.

As I got older, this obsession died down. I still liked the movie, but I didn’t watch it all the time or obsess over it and Leo. Also, as I got older, DVD’s began replacing VHS tapes. Last summer I realized that I owned only 4 VHS tapes and all the rest of my movies were DVD’s. I wanted to get rid of those VHS’s and replace them with DVD’s. I got online and found a couple of the movies on DVD for a low price. Titanic was one of those movies. I ordered a DVD copy of it and it arrived in the mail a few days later. Of course, this made me want to watch this movie again.

It had been several years since I had seen it. When I watched it last summer, I saw the movie through new eyes. I had understood the concept of the movie as a child, but I never understood the deeper meanings of the movie. I cried at the end for completely different reasons. Titanic has become my favorite movie all over again and I have watched it several times since last summer.

However, it is now my favorite for new reasons. It’s still an enjoyable movie with a good storyline. It’s my favorite, though, because it teaches us a good lesson about how to live our lives:

Rose boards the Titanic feeling like a prisoner. She feels trapped by the expectations that are placed upon her. We find out that Rose’s father died and left her and her mother with nothing but a good name. He was deeply in debt. So, Rose and her mother have no money to continue living the lavish lifestyle they are used to. Luckily, Rose has caught the attention of a rich man who wants to marry her. Her mother likes this arrangement because it means they will be taken care of, so she is pushing this marriage on Rose.

Jack, on the other hand, lives his life as it comes at him. Despite his lack of money, Jack has traveled all over the world. He only has a few possessions. He got his ticket for Titanic by winning a hand of poker. He even has the good fortune to have dinner with the 1st class passengers one night. During this dinner, Rose’s mother asks Jack if he finds his rootless existence appealing. His reply is one of my favorite quotes of all time that sums up how we should live life: “I figure life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You don't know what hand you're gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you... to make each day count.”

As the movie goes on, Rose begins to like Jack. This upsets her mother who forbids her to see Jack and reminds her of how her marriage will keep them out of poverty. Rose goes along with this for a while, but during tea, she watches as a young girl is reminded to sit up at the table and place her napkin in her lap. I believe this makes Rose realize that this is what her life will always be like if she goes along with her mother’s plan. She will always live life by the expectations of others. She runs to find Jack and their love story continues through the ship sinking. As Jack and Rose are holding on to a piece of wood in the freezing water, Jack makes Rose promise to survive and to go on and really live her life. Of course, we all know that Jack dies and Rose is rescued from the water. She stays with the 3rd class on their rescue boat and does not go back to her mother or fiancé.

This is the part that always gets me! If I haven’t cried by now in the movie, this is where I start. Near the end of the movie, as we see old Rose sleeping, the camera pans over pictures of a younger Rose about to ride an airplane, riding a horse-like a man- with a rollercoaster in the background (like she and Jack talked about!), and doing other things. She kept her promise to Jack! She really lived life, making each day count, rather than being stuck in a routine lifestyle. If you haven’t watched this movie recently, I would encourage you to watch it and look past the tragic love story storyline and pay attention to the life lessons that can be found.

I wrote all this to say that this is how I wish to live my life-knowing that each day is a gift and making each day count. Today, we may not have expectations placed on us by our class in society and we may not be expected to marry someone to keep ourselves out of poverty, but we still fall into routines. I am also bad about looking forward to things and not enjoying the day that I am living in. I’m not saying that we should live like Jack and sell all our possessions and move from place to place by whatever means possible. I’m just saying that we should all take the time to enjoy life and really live it because you only get to do it once.

Lee and I are about to embark on an “adventure” in our lives. I hope that we will view our move as an adventure and we will take opportunities to try new things and to go out and experience life. I don’t want us to become so consumed with worry about having material possessions and money. That’s not what life is about and none of that will matter in the end. I will close this blog with a quote from another great movie about living life (Tuck Everlasting)-“Don’t fear death, rather fear the unlived life.”

~Megan~

P.S. The Titanic obsessed side of me must share this-I am extremely excited that we’re going to Gatlinburg on our honeymoon, because they’ve opening a Titanic museum in Pigeon Forge. It has all kinds of things like items from the real Titanic, a bucket of water where you can feel how cold the water was on the night the Titanic sank, and A REPLICA OF THE GRAND STAIRCASE!!! You can actually get married on the grand staircase…don’t think I didn’t think about it. I guess we’ll just have to settle for renewing our vows there. :)