By now you’ve probably seen this picture of all the different configurations in which Jack could’ve fit on that goddamned plank at the end of Titanic. It’s been going around Tumblr and all the viral picture sites for a few months now (if you know who the original source was, let me know), and James Cameron is finally weighing in on this notorious plot hole.
“It’s not a question of room; it’s a question of buoyancy. Jack puts Rose on the raft, then he gets on the raft — He’s not an idiot; he doesn’t want to die — and then the raft sinks. So it’s clear that there’s really only enough buoyancy available for one person. So, he makes a decision to let her be that person.” [IGN via Vulture]
You can see the video below. I’ve always said, James Cameron’s movies may be cheesy, but they’re not illogical or full of holes. He may not have the greatest taste, but he’s not a hack or a dumbass like McG or Brett Ratner, who would never bother to consider this kind of stuff. If anything, James Cameron is the exact opposite, an OCD engineer type who goes to great pains to verify that all the dorky minutiae of his movie is going to be consistent, because he’s exactly the type of guy who sees a movie and wants to delve into its dorky minutiae. Let’s not forget, he invents new types of camera rigs and dives to the bottom of the ocean for fun. He also hunts hookers for sport on his yacht parked in international waters, but that’s more of a rich-guy thing than it is an engineer-guy thing.
For me, the big question isn’t so much whether Jack and Rose would’ve really fit on that plank, it’s whether those deep-sea salvage guys went right back after that jillion-dollar necklace after the old bitch just threw it in the ocean like a dumbass.