Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Pirates....

Is Pirates of the Caribbean Goth?

My inital answer would be 'no', however it has been running over in my mind for a while now. Simply because there are elements that do appeal to Goths and have connections to the Goth 'philosophy' so to speak.

Pirates were seen as villians while they sailed the seas. They struck fear into the hear hearts of travellers. But they weren't necessarilly evil beings, just like Goths.
I do believe that the Pirates in POTC are exaggerated to make them seem cooler, but it is a fantasy, so what were you expecting?
Jack Sparrow is also a character who would be similar to Goths (in a general sense at least). He is opulent, extravagant, gay, impulsive and self centered, eyeliner- wearing, (and extremely good looking... XD)
The movie also incorperates some amazing period clothing and fashions, and makes the whole eighteenth centuary life seem fantastic.
The Curse of the Black Pearl in particular features undead skeleton pirates that haunt a ghost ship, cursed treasure and romantic conquest.

In Voltaire's book What is Goth, he talks about the 'Gay Pirate' look for men, (and why it's so bad). It used to be very popular years ago but it died out a bit. Until the enormous popularity of POTC, that is.
Is the overwhelming success of Pirates the thing that is preventing it from being called Goth, or simply because it doesn't feature crumbling graveyards or vampires? (Or other Goth cliche?)

What about something like TNBC? That is also hugely popular, but it does feature Halloween Town.
The Matrix? That's a Cyberpunk movie.

So, has anyone else thought about this? What do you think?

xxx Lilly
Listening to Hannah Fury- Flying

1 comment:

  1. I love PotC. So, so much. I watched the third one the other day right after a Doctor Who episode with pirates.

    My God was I happy. And yes, I'm stalking your blog.

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