“Titanic” and Its Life Lessons

A couple of summers ago, my friend and I watched the movie Titanic 4 times within a single week. Because Titanic is obnoxiously long (194 minutes to be exact), in one week, we spent 776 minutes watching Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and a sinking ship. Some may say that was 776 minutes wasted, watching an unrealistic love story that romanticizes one of the most tragic events in history. I don’t think this is true, so here are 3 valuable learnings from the movie Titanic:

#1 - Rose’s Experience as a Woman

One of the most compelling parts of Titanic is the storyline surrounding Rose and her experience as a woman in the early 1900s. Rose felt trapped in a life she didn’t want, and she was pressured to marry a man she didn’t love just for financial security. This was the lived reality of many women during this time. 

I frequently see women today, specifically in places like the US, complaining about how difficult it is to be a woman. I’m not denying the difficulties that are unique to womanhood, but I do think women living today can look at the lives of women like Rose and realize how good we have it, and how much had to be overcome for women to be valued the way they are today.

#2 - The Perfect Jack Dawson

On social media, men are represented as an evil species that treats women horribly. For example, there’s a whole trend on TikTok right now where girls post screenshots of texts guys sent to them that go from nice to hurtful in short periods of time with the sound of “Piano Man” in the background: 

@kkingerrr on TikTok (Link To Video)

So, even though some may consider Jack Dawson to be unrealistically perfect, I think it’s a good thing for women and girls to see a representation of a really great man, especially considering social media is constantly pushing the narrative that all men are awful. 

#3 - Praying as the Ship Sinks

One of the emotional parts of Titanic is the scene where the ship is sinking and we see people praying with a priest in the midst of all the chaos. Whether you believe in God or you don’t, I think we all relate to a feeling of helplessness and have experienced the desire to look outside of ourselves in difficult times.

Titanic shows us that at any moment, the ship could sink, and we won’t be able to stop it. Titanic shows us that we have an innate human instinct to look for something greater than ourselves in times of helplessness. It’s important to recognize this instinct and consider that maybe there is a purpose greater than life and death and that maybe there is a power greater than us that we feel the need to turn to when we reach the end of our own abilities.

So, next time someone tells you that watching Titanic is a waste of time or even if you think that yourself, I hope this post convinces otherwise.

Written by Peyton Price - Entertainment Values