By 50% to 17%, Britons who watched the movie say Jack and Rose could both have survived
This week the floating debris which Rose clung to at the end of Titanic has been auctioned off, fetching a price of more than $700,000.
In the decades since the ship-sinking film's release the prop has been at the centre of the biggest controversy in the plot, with debate raging over whether or not it would have been possible for Jack to join Rose on the floating 'door' (actually part of the doorframe). The film would have you believe that it is not, resulting in Jack dying of hypothermia from floating in the freezing water.
However, new YouGov data shows that 50% of Britons who have seen the film believe that there was room for both Jack and Rose to both safely occupy the makeshift raft and survive. Only 17% disagree, consigning Jack to his frigid watery death.
A quarter of viewers (23%) are unsure, while the remaining 10% cannot recall the scene.
Evidence suggests that the public are wrong, however. In a bid to put the argument to bed, Titanic director James Cameron set up a science experiment which found that although Jack could have got on to the debris without it sinking, its buoyancy would have been below the waterline, exposing them to the freezing water and dooming both.
Overall, 82% of Britons say they have seen Titanic at some point, including 42% who have watched it multiple times.
Of those who have seen the film, 21% say they love it and a further 60% that they like it. Only 13% actively dislike or hate the movie.
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Photo: 20th Century Fox
