Hi everyone, I'm new on this forum and am a huge Titanic buff.

At the dining table, Bruce Ismay is carrying on about how size conveys strength, stability, etc. Rose then makes a reference to Sigmund Freud and how his preoccupation with size might be of interest to Ismay. Ismay then asked if Freud was a passenger. I really didn't completely comprehend the joke.

I understood the implied innuendo, but what does that have to do with Sigmund Freud??? Somebody please explain this joke, everybody on this planet understands it but me.

MJ

Welcome, I am a big Titanic fan too and I never really understood the joke. I found a website on Sigmend Fraud. Hope it helps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud

Its a very subtle joke!! Basically, you know the theory that men with small penises have a pre-occupation with large flashy things, ie ferrari's, big watches, etc etc etc.
It was Freud that developed this theory. In essence, Rose is suggesting that Ismay is obsessed with the impressiveness of Titanic because his penis is lacking!!!!
Hope that helps!!
Es
xxx

LOL!!! Thanks, thats hilarious, but why didn't Ismay know who Sigmund Freud was where as Rose did know? As Rose is leaving, Ismay says "Who is Freud, is he a passenger"? This second part also seems like it is intended to be funny as well.

MJ

I think the intention of that line was to show his ignorance!!! Freud's first book was published in 1900, and so his work had been around for a good decade.In 1912 his work was all the rage, and Ismay would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to have missed it. (although many of Freuds theories were not proven until the 1980's) I think the line was also to show Rose in an intelligent light, much like she her love for monet's paintings.
Basically, I think the whole conversation was to show Ismay as an ignorant tycoon who couldn't see past the end of his nose, and Rose as a self educated, but still very young, lady. It was after all, a rather immature joke. I loved it
Correct me if I'm wrong though!!!
Es
xxx

Great joke, great explanation, but it was one of the only parts of the script that was NOT written by James Cameron. The name of the actual writer escapes me because he was discluded from the credits as a writer because that was literally one of the only lines of dialogue of his that made it on screen.

Rose is so smart I like her.

But Freud actually published his theory at 1920. It says so on a few sits in the internet -- you know, there are these sites with lists of mistakes that were made in a movie, for example www.moviemistakes.com

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I read, ages ago that the actor who played him ad-libbed the line,and it made cameron laugh so he kept in it. But thats probably just one of those rumours!!!

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Some theories were published that late, but his first publication was 1900:
"After the publication of Freud's books in 1900 and 1901, interest in his theories began to grow, and a circle of supporters developed in the following period. Freud often chose to disregard the criticisms of those who were skeptical of his theories, however, and even gained a few direct opponents as a result, the most famous being Carl Jung."
(from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud)

But his works on Psychosexual development was kind of an ongoing thing in his career.
Es
xxx

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I highly doubt that an actor would come up with such a sophisticated bit of dialogue, but I suppose stranger things have happened. If you listen to Cameron's commentary on the DVD, he credits to aforementioned writer for that line. Rumor put to rest, it came from the horses mouth. Um, also, the actor who played whom?