Discussions about Kate Winslet's nude scenes in Titanic have been a topic of conversation on the internet, for almost as many times for why her character in the film couldn't share the door with Leonardo DiCaprio's character at the end of the film.
But being rated PG-13 by MPAA (Motion Picture Association) for disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality and brief language, means that Titanic couldn't include sexual nudity.
While the film's rating does allow it to have nudity, considering nudity is restricted to PG and above, and that anything that constitutes more than brief nudity is required at least a PG-13 rating, nudity that is sexually requires an R rating.
So why did the MPAA managed to pass this, if Kate Winslet really shows her full frontal nudity, and in a sexual manner?
Let's not forget that famous car scene, where the two get intimate.
Curious, people began speculating, and even debated this on various online platforms, including on Reddit, where they argue whether Winslet's character Rose Dewitt Bukater did bare it all in front of DiCaprio's Jack Dawson.
In one of the most famous scenes in Titanic, Rose asks Jack to draw her wearing only the Heart of the Ocean necklace.
This is when she said the famous line "Draw me like one of your French girls."
The scene takes place in the private suite of Rose's fiancé, Cal Hockley (Billy Zane), on the RMS Titanic.
At the time, Rose is feeling trapped in her engagement and societal expectations, and that she decides to rebel and take control of her own destiny by asking Jack to draw her. The scene reflects Rose's desire to break free from her constrained life and embrace her own desires and identity. The reference to "French girls" alludes to the more liberated and artistic culture of Paris, contrasting sharply with the rigid social norms she faces.
This scene has become iconic in film history, often referenced and parodied in various media.
Due to having that blend sensuality, vulnerability, and artistry, James Cameron managed to leave a lasting impression.
The scene also managed to cement itself to mainstream pop culture, because Kate Winslet appears naked in the scene.
And this is significant, even decades after the film's release.
After all, it's difficult for anyone to forget how the then-21-year-old actress looked when she posed with only a necklace and nothing else.
In the scene, while it does show a glimpse of Kate's full bush pubic hair beneath that thin silk chiffon when she disrobes, that few extra frames before the scene shifted don't really describe what really is or what isn't there.
Because Kate never detailed the scene, nor did Leonardo, or James Cameron, people could only wonder.
People were seeking for the particular frames, not because of the erotic nature of the scene, but because many of the videos that were updated earlier to the web have that black bars due to the aspect ratio of the film not matching the aspect ratio of the screen.
The original theatrical release of Titanic was in a widescreen aspect ratio (2.35:1), which would have black bars on modern 16:9 TVs. Some home video releases, especially older ones, were reformatted to fit standard 4:3 televisions, resulting in a version without black bars but with some loss of the original framing.
And here, the black bars were cropping the view.
People only get what they were after, after the release of remastered edition of Titanic, which includes Blu-ray or 4K versions, that offer the original aspect ratio but without losing too much of the picture.
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The most notable remastered version of was released in 2012.
This version was a 3D conversion to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the actual Titanic's sinking in 1912. The 3D re-release involved an extensive and meticulous process to convert the film from its original 2D format to 3D, enhancing the visual experience for modern audiences.
One of the most notable 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray remastered versions was released in 2017, which provided again improved picture quality and sound to match the capabilities of modern home entertainment systems.
In the so-called "open matte" version of Titanic, meant for TV or home video, the black bars are removed, revealing more of the image at the top and bottom.
The conversations were quite fiery, with some users even said that they weren't even born when the film first came out in 1997.
The scene in Titanic has a long impression to the media and pop culture, and also to Kate herself.
She said that the scene is still haunting her.
This happens because the nude drawing scene has endured way past its days, thanks in part to DVD, and Blu-Ray, and of course the internet.
It etched its mark so deep into Kate's mind, that she would rather not sign anything that had that picture on it.
"I don’t sign that [picture]. It feels very uncomfortable. Why would you do that?" she said. "People ask me to sign that [picture] a lot."
"There’s a photo of it as well that someone has lifted from a still of the film, and that photo gets passed around too. I’m like ’No! I didn’t mean for it to be a photograph that I would end up seeing still 17 years later.’"
"It’s still haunting me. It’s quite funny really."
Despite the romantic disaster movie catapulted both Kate's and Leonardo's fame to significant heights, it also came with a cost that affected the British actress to a large extent.
Kate never liked the attention she was exposed to after the famous drawing scene and almost regretted taking the role.
The excessive unwanted attention had a very negative effect on her.
She also got body shamed a lot, especially as she became older.
"What I really remember vividly is that when I did Titanic and was so thrust into the public eye, I was shocked and horrified by how vilified I was by mainstream media. I think that doesn’t happen now. Sure, that stuff happens on social media, amongst people and the public sharing opinions – some people just have nasty shit to say," she said.
"But mainstream media behaving in these really irresponsible damaging ways – I do think that has actually stopped."
So here, despite being an Oscar-winning actress with countless films under her belt, yet Kate cannot seem to to escape that one particular scene.
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