Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy

How capture the essence of a genre

Introduction

What is a pirate?

This is a question that the Pirates of the Caribbean film trilogy answers with bombastic confidence. The film trilogy I am sharing with you today comprises: Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, & At Worlds End. They set out to do one thing and one thing only. To make a film based on a Disney Parks ride to make more money. Admittedly they succeed; but they did so because during the creation of these films they were only focused on having fun!

Jack Sparrow’s Compass and Davy Jones’ key in Dead Man’s Chest

What’s Inspiring about this pirate trilogy?

What is so inspiring about this trio of films? 

What’s inspiring is that they fully embraced what a pirate story its. Its swash buckling, its magic curses on sailors, dirty sailors, and the pull between the law, and the outlaw. What works so amazingly about the Pirates of the Caribbean is just how willing they are to be messy. Dirty the actors up (granted they make Will & Elizabeth look very attractive no matter how disheveled or muddy they get) and go to new islands. 

It is incredible how 20 years ago how amenable studios were to moving their whole production to new locations. Building these amazing sets and putting the actors in these new places really does sell the premise of the story and make it all the more immersive. This is why these movies, despite their flaws, are still so breathtaking to watch.

This passion is carried over to the music, the choreography, special effects, cinematography, and writing of the film as well. Minor characters get the chance to shine and almost every part of the movie is filled to the brim with the fun that this crew had putting it all together. Its just so much fun to watch!

Elizabeth Swan in Dead Man’s Chest

Surprisingly the trilogy is told through the perspective of Elizabeth Swan. She is the protagonist of this story. While Will Turner & Jack Sparrow take up much of the spotlight in later movies Elizabeth Swan is the driving force behind everything that happens in these movies. From stealing her first coin to becoming Pirate Queen each of her decisions is pivotal and advances this adventure forward at a neck breaking pace.

The fact that the center point of this plot is a woman making her way through a male dominated profession is so satisfying. She is clever, quick witted, & an excellent fighter. While I could do without every male lead falling in love with her, it's par for the course in romantasy & power-fantasies so I can forgive it. Elizabeth Swan is my favorite fictional pirate and doing a character study on her is so much fun.

The thing that stood out to me most though about my most recent watch through was how much fun this trilogy had with its own characters and lore. The two sequels knew how much people loved The Curse of the Black Pearl and made sure to pay homage to it while still driving all of the characters along interesting narratives. The ability for all of these films to connect so seamlessly and introduce so many compelling characters is amazing. It is not often that you get villains in a story that are just as beloved as the heroes.

Final thoughts

It is not often that a movie comes along that defines a genre but when you think of pirates the first thing that pops into our cultural consciousness is Pirates of the Caribbean. They were able to take a premise that felt a bit goofy at the time and raise it to pop culture awareness with awesome film making and adventure. This trilogy is a lesson in fully embracing a premise and having fun with it.

So, the lesson from Pirates, just have fun with it!

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