[Christopher D.]

In the movie Titanic, Rose and Jack are portrayed as being true lovers after only being together a short time, with an agreeing audience. Does this reflect society's confusion about the difference between love and infatuation?

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Name : Christopher D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 23, City : Arlington, State : TX Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Terri24701]

I think it's a modern portrayal of fairytale love. Who wouldn't want to meet someone and fall madly in love? I don't know if it's confusion or wishful thinking-maybe both. Do you think the world is ready for a story about real love? I guess it's more exciting to see a story where two strangers are in a crisis situation and discover they are soulmates. I think movies/tv set pretty high marks for us 'ordinary people' who are trying to find 'true love' in a world that is often, well, ordinary! Maybe we set ourselves up for disappointment.

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Name : Terri24701, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 33, City : Philadelphia, State : PA Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, 

[Emily]

Although society does have a lot of confusion about love and infatuation (love=mutual respect, common interests, ability to communicate, spiritual binding; infatuation=intense attraction based only or mostly on the physical aspects of the other person), I think Rose and Jack's relationship could be based on love, especially since Rose was depressed and vulnerable and their meeting was an intense emotional situation where they both would have learned a lot about each other and accepted their strengths and weaknesses.

There was also probably a long conversation that the movie viewer didn't see (before they started looking at the pictures of naked prostitutes) where they would have learned more about each other, making it possible that they actually could love each other. Also, they did make the long-term commitment to get off the boat together, although by most standards their physical relationship did go quite fast.

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Name : Emily, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 18, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Srinivas]

In another response, Emily described infatuation as being an 'intense (physical) attraction.' It must be beyond this, because it is common to be infatuated on an emotional level, or a spiritual level. Infatuation separates itself from love by its obsessive quality, which results in the attraction being aimed not at the person within but at the idea of being attracted to that person (or at the obsessor's glorified perception of the target person). Love is an understanding, while infatuation, a misunderstanding. Yet, oddly, lasting love seems to stem either from infatuation or friendship, or from both. Therefore, the intense misunderstanding known as infatuation may actually unwind its coils and be understood as love. As far as Titanic is concerned, we only witnessed infatuation. Their attraction seemed to be based on the drama surrounding the moment. Further, Rose was on the rebound, and Jack was the stowaway Alice in Wonderland. Just wait 'til Rose finds out how broke Jack is. Love might have eventually developed, but it was still nowhere in sight.

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Name : Srinivas, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : East Indian, Religion : Humanist, Age : 26, City : Tucson, State : AZ Country : United States, Occupation : Law Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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