Navel-Gazing: Is Jack Dawson a Manic Pixie Dream Boy?

On the occasion of the re-release of Titanic in 3D, Amy and Allison ponder their nostalgic affinity for a young Leo DiCaprio. Why did Jack Dawson pull at the heartstrings of teenage girls everywhere (aside, of course, from his boyish bowl cut)? Was it because he existed only to save Rose from the shackles of repressive privilege? Does that make him—gasp—a Manic Pixie Dream Girl? Can boys even be MPDGs? Join us on this journey into the Heart of the Ocean , full of film theory, feminism, and teenage angst!

By DivineCaroline

Allison

Allison: Titanic came out when I was seventeen, so I may have been too much of a swooning ninny to realize the psychosexual implications of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Jack Dawson. But as an older teenager who was itching to burst out from under my parents’ thumbs, Jack was just the ultimate. He came into Kate Winslet’s life, liberated her from an existence full of corsets and drinking tea, and Made Her a Woman. If the sexes were reversed and he was the female character, he’d definitely be considered a MPDG. Amy: The question is: Is he a MPDB because girls like you and me left the movie fantasizing about quirky, unemployed artists saving us from curfews and not being allowed to wear spaghetti straps?