Repairing and Maintaining an Established External Relationship
OVERVIEW OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JACK AND ROSE
The relationship between Jack and Rose is featured in the movie Titanic. Rose is a 17-year-old protagonist in the film who can also be described as a socialite. She was traveling to the U.S. with her ensemble, including her overbearing mother and a controlling fiancée with his ex-Pinkerton valet (Levine 3). According to Levine (3), Rose is everything an ideal young 1912 woman should be: obedient, well-dressed, high class, and poised. Even though her social status requires her to have all these features, Rose does not feel that way. Rather, she feels overwhelmed by social pressure, which drives her to commit suicide, at the point where she is about to take her life. She meets Jack. Jack is the opposite of Rose in terms of social status. He is an artist who loves life, and despite his poor financial circumstances, he chooses to live life to the fullest (Levine 4). Jack convinces Rose not to jump; this is where their romantic relationship starts. Neither Rose nor Jack have anyone they can depend on. Rose hardly speaks to anyone because of her suffocating family and controlling fiancée, who talks to her like she were a child. On the other hand, Jack has few friends in the third class that he was traveling on the ship (Levine 11). Although Rose and Jack love each other, they do not talk about marriage; rather, they plan to run away together, and Jack tells her that he will teach her how to live the life of a Bohemian artist (Levine 11). Since the ship voyage is meant to last six days, the relationship between Rose and Jack seems to be a race against time (Levine 11). Mostly, they try being together, despite Rose’s fiancée Cal keeping a close eye on her. Their relationship is considered unacceptable, especially because they are from two different social classes, and the fact that Rose is already engaged to be married to a mean, controlling man, Cal. But the two are so devoted to each other that Rose asks Jack to take her virginity. When Cal finds Rose and Jack, he shoots at them (Levine 12). This means that their relationship, even on the verge of death, was against all odds.
THE MAIN PROBLEMS IN JACK AND ROSE’S RELATIONSHIP
The first problem that Jack and Rose face is breaking the 1912 ideal relationship that society expects. Since Rose is from a high-class family, it is expected that she should marry someone from the same social status. However, it is unfortunate that Rose does not like or love the high-class man to be her husband. He disrespects her, and she feels her family has pressured her to abide by and obey the social rules. On the other hand, Jack is from a low class with financial problems. Their relationship is risky because it is not what the high-class society would want, and Rose’s family could easily destroy Jack, let alone the mean fiancée. According to Lincoln (231), unethical relationships will likely face many unsatisfactory emotions. Rose had chosen a companionship and lifestyle that were against the elite ideal society. Her mother, Ruth, and other elite people disapproved of the relationship (Levine 20). Need help with your assignment ? Get in touch with us.
Another problem is that Rose had not yet broken her engagement with Cal before starting another relationship. Based on how the elite class in the film perceives it, an engagement is a commitment and needs a formal declaration of disapproval before starting another relationship. The most crucial result of a commitment is that it makes people take the action of protecting and maintaining a relationship even when it costs them (Miller 203). Feeling trapped, Rose decided to get out of the relationship unceremoniously because she knew that facing the ‘protocol’ would be tasking and even cost her the love of her life, Jack.
In as much as Jack is from a low class, he has referent power. According to Miller (363), the resource for referent power is love or respect. In this kind of power, one can get someone to do what they want because they can relate with them, feeling wanting and attracted to remain close (Miller 363). In this case, Rose can identify with Jack because she feels Jack understands her and listens to her as opposed to her family and fiancée, who only expect her to be obedient and do as they want. If Jack had not died, this could have been a challenge in their relationship because Rose would have felt she owed Jack her devotion because Jack saved her life multiple times from her toxic family and fiancée. Miller writes that when people are intimate, they may hate the loss of personal control and autonomy, which comes with interdependency (38). Miller adds that these people may fret that they may be abandoned by the people they rely on (38). Therefore, if Jack had not died, Rose would have felt indebted to Jack for saving her life.
HOW THE PROBLEM SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIXED AND ENSURE SATISFACTION OF THE RELATIONSHIP
It is clear from the film that Rose is unhappy with her life in an elite family and her relationship with her fiancée. This probably dragged her into wanting to commit suicide before she met Jack. On the other hand, Jack had financial problems and was possibly struggling to make ends meet, especially as an artist. If the relationship survived the ship capsize, they needed to have used insight-oriented therapy. Sigmund Freud believed that, more often than not, people carry unconscious scars and injuries from their past relationships that could contaminate and complicate their present relationship without their knowledge (Miller 436). To address these grievances that create more problems even when they find a perfect partner, they need to go through emotionally focused therapy. If Jack had not died, they should have sought this therapy. For instance, in the therapy, they should have identified their needs and emotional fears and realized their past hurts and struggles (436). In addition, they should have identified and admitted their deep feelings, such as comfort, acceptance, and reassurance, and collaboratively invent ways of solving their problems. For example, they could have faced Rose’s family and shared their true feelings respectably despite the elite norms. This could have helped Jack and Rose address any other conflicts they may have faced in the future and live satisfactorily. In the film’s first scene, Rose is seen sitting melancholically alone as the first-class party goes on, showing how people are happy (He 3). This means that there were many underlying issues, such as loneliness and restriction, that Rose was facing before she met Jack. On the other hand, Jack faced financial problems because of his poor status, which explains why he was traveling in the third-class sector. Their therapist should have used affective reconstruction if they had a chance to live together and be satisfactorily married. Affective reconstruction is when a spouse revisits and re-imagines past relations to identify coping styles and themes that characterize conflicts with past partners (Miller 437). They could then have solved any emotionally charged conflicts that may have emerged had they both survived the shipwreck.
Works Cited
He, Qiaochu. Suffering and Love: A Comparative Study between Titanic and Manchester by the Sea, 2021.
Levine, Matthew. Poor little Rich Girl, What Does She Know About Misery?: The Significance and Symbolism of Rose in James Cameron’s Titanic, 2017. Pell Scholars and Senior Theses. 109.
Lincoln, Karen D. “Social support, negative social interactions, and psychological well-being.” Social Service Review 74.2 (2000): 231-252.
Miller, Rowland S. Intimate Relationships, Eighth Edition. New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2018.
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