Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
May. 30th, 2007 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyficI enjoyed this film a lot. It was a hell of a lot better than the second one. But it was like a mosaic—all the little tiles were beautiful and perfect, but if you pull back to look at the whole picture, it just doesn't work. From a fannish perspective, I like what happened with the world and the characters. But as a movie, it didn't quite hang together. It had no dramatic arc (or rather, four or five of them working independently) and I ended up walking out of the theatre feeling like I'd been sitting there for twice as long as I had been.
A few quick points:
-I find Will to be a one-dimensional whiner. Even when he tries to double-cross people, he sucks at it. And though he is a pretty pretty boy, he is so not up to par with Elizabeth. Most of this I'm going to blame on Orlando Bloom and his lack of chemistry with other actors, particularly with his father in the film. That being said, it makes perfect sense that he ends on the Dutchman. He's the only character stupid and idealistic enough to actually do that job. Jack as the captain would have been a disaster. I've seen some discussion that Jack gave up his chance at immortality to save Will's life, but to me, it didn't look like he was going to take it anyway. If his primary goal was to save Will, he would have stabbed the heart before Davey Jones had a chance to stab Will. He hesitated. I think he knew he couldn't be the Dutchman's captain and immortality won that way would be torture. Will being stabbed just presented an elegant solution. That's my take, anyway.
-WTF Norrington? He was such a conniving delightful bastard in the last film and in this one he's a patsy? I don't believe he's that naïve, not anymore. It didn't ring true to me that after everything he'd been through to regain his status he would be so blindly obedient. But I recognize that spending any time on him would have slowed down the rest of the film, and with the position he was in in this movie, he needed to die.
As we were leaving the theater, my sister-in-law pointed out that there are only two women in this film, which is true. What do you want from a pirate film, right? But I find both these portrayals of women problematic. Both Elizabeth and Tia Dalma are on the surface presented as powerful women, but the film went out of its way to put that power in terms of men's desire.
Take Tia Dalma. She's a pagan goddess, a kick-ass one at that. BUT she has been completely confined and limited by the power of men (the nine pirates) and the betrayal of one man in particular. When Davey Jones asks why she wasn't there for him she says it was her nature. Story-wise this is a beautiful answer. But it plays into every stereotype about sexually powerful women: she is faithless, fickle, petty, ungrateful, spiteful.
Then there's Elizabeth. In a lot of ways, this film is Elizabeth's story. She becomes the pirate king, captain of her own ship, fights as hard as any of the men. But have you noticed that almost every man in this series has wanted her? Will, Jack, Barbossa, a whole ship full of pirates, Norrington, and now Sao Feng. And the scene between Sao Feng and Elizabeth really bothered me.
Unlike the other men, Sao Feng gives a reason other than desire for wanting Elizabeth—he thinks she is Calypso. When he first asked for her as part of the deal, I rolled my eyes. I was so proud of Elizabeth for standing up, for telling Will that he didn't need to protect her honor. What she did was her decision, it was not in the custody of someone else, even someone as well-meaning as Will. And the scene on Sao Feng's ship started well. They were talking as equals, as supplicant to goddess. Elizabeth may not have known what he was on about, but she caught on fast and used it to her advantage.
And then Sao Feng tried to rape her. Was that necessary? Did they have to show that Elizabeth could not defend herself from unwanted advances and the only reason she wasn't raped was because of good timing? That felt like a slap in the face, like the writers were putting this strong female character back in her place. It undercut everything they'd built up so far. Yes, she has a strong will and can stand on her own…but she's still weaker than the men-folk, so there.
The previous film also had a moment like this. Elizabeth escapes, dresses as a boy, manipulates an entire ship of sailors without having to seduce anyone—good so far. But then when Will, Jack and Norrington are having their big swordfight, she throws a hissy fit. She has a complete tantrum there on the beach. And yes, it was funny. But it lessened her as a character. She's screaming about the posturing of the men but at the same time completely failing to take advantage of it or to protect the chest herself. Again I say—was that necessary?
For the most part, Tia Dalma and Elizabeth are strong female characters. I could perhaps overlook these parts of their portrayal except that they are the only women in the film.
Then there's the button after the credits. Elizabeth ends the movie as a pirate king with her own loyal ship and crew. But ten years in the future, we see her waiting on the bluff with her son for the return of her husband like a fisherman's wife. There's nothing in that to say she hasn't been spending the last ten years having raucous adventures, but the image itself is one of a domestic, house-broken woman waiting patiently for the return of her adventurous husband. (I'm also not looking for to the prominent presence of a ten-year-old in the hinted at fourth film. I'm sure![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
feiran agrees with me.)
So in conclusion: good film, some problems, nowhere near as good as the original. I'm waiting to see how it shakes out in the fandom. I think I'd actually prefer to look at fic that only treats the first film as canon, though.
A few quick points:
-I find Will to be a one-dimensional whiner. Even when he tries to double-cross people, he sucks at it. And though he is a pretty pretty boy, he is so not up to par with Elizabeth. Most of this I'm going to blame on Orlando Bloom and his lack of chemistry with other actors, particularly with his father in the film. That being said, it makes perfect sense that he ends on the Dutchman. He's the only character stupid and idealistic enough to actually do that job. Jack as the captain would have been a disaster. I've seen some discussion that Jack gave up his chance at immortality to save Will's life, but to me, it didn't look like he was going to take it anyway. If his primary goal was to save Will, he would have stabbed the heart before Davey Jones had a chance to stab Will. He hesitated. I think he knew he couldn't be the Dutchman's captain and immortality won that way would be torture. Will being stabbed just presented an elegant solution. That's my take, anyway.
-WTF Norrington? He was such a conniving delightful bastard in the last film and in this one he's a patsy? I don't believe he's that naïve, not anymore. It didn't ring true to me that after everything he'd been through to regain his status he would be so blindly obedient. But I recognize that spending any time on him would have slowed down the rest of the film, and with the position he was in in this movie, he needed to die.
As we were leaving the theater, my sister-in-law pointed out that there are only two women in this film, which is true. What do you want from a pirate film, right? But I find both these portrayals of women problematic. Both Elizabeth and Tia Dalma are on the surface presented as powerful women, but the film went out of its way to put that power in terms of men's desire.
Take Tia Dalma. She's a pagan goddess, a kick-ass one at that. BUT she has been completely confined and limited by the power of men (the nine pirates) and the betrayal of one man in particular. When Davey Jones asks why she wasn't there for him she says it was her nature. Story-wise this is a beautiful answer. But it plays into every stereotype about sexually powerful women: she is faithless, fickle, petty, ungrateful, spiteful.
Then there's Elizabeth. In a lot of ways, this film is Elizabeth's story. She becomes the pirate king, captain of her own ship, fights as hard as any of the men. But have you noticed that almost every man in this series has wanted her? Will, Jack, Barbossa, a whole ship full of pirates, Norrington, and now Sao Feng. And the scene between Sao Feng and Elizabeth really bothered me.
Unlike the other men, Sao Feng gives a reason other than desire for wanting Elizabeth—he thinks she is Calypso. When he first asked for her as part of the deal, I rolled my eyes. I was so proud of Elizabeth for standing up, for telling Will that he didn't need to protect her honor. What she did was her decision, it was not in the custody of someone else, even someone as well-meaning as Will. And the scene on Sao Feng's ship started well. They were talking as equals, as supplicant to goddess. Elizabeth may not have known what he was on about, but she caught on fast and used it to her advantage.
And then Sao Feng tried to rape her. Was that necessary? Did they have to show that Elizabeth could not defend herself from unwanted advances and the only reason she wasn't raped was because of good timing? That felt like a slap in the face, like the writers were putting this strong female character back in her place. It undercut everything they'd built up so far. Yes, she has a strong will and can stand on her own…but she's still weaker than the men-folk, so there.
The previous film also had a moment like this. Elizabeth escapes, dresses as a boy, manipulates an entire ship of sailors without having to seduce anyone—good so far. But then when Will, Jack and Norrington are having their big swordfight, she throws a hissy fit. She has a complete tantrum there on the beach. And yes, it was funny. But it lessened her as a character. She's screaming about the posturing of the men but at the same time completely failing to take advantage of it or to protect the chest herself. Again I say—was that necessary?
For the most part, Tia Dalma and Elizabeth are strong female characters. I could perhaps overlook these parts of their portrayal except that they are the only women in the film.
Then there's the button after the credits. Elizabeth ends the movie as a pirate king with her own loyal ship and crew. But ten years in the future, we see her waiting on the bluff with her son for the return of her husband like a fisherman's wife. There's nothing in that to say she hasn't been spending the last ten years having raucous adventures, but the image itself is one of a domestic, house-broken woman waiting patiently for the return of her adventurous husband. (I'm also not looking for to the prominent presence of a ten-year-old in the hinted at fourth film. I'm sure
feiran agrees with me.)So in conclusion: good film, some problems, nowhere near as good as the original. I'm waiting to see how it shakes out in the fandom. I think I'd actually prefer to look at fic that only treats the first film as canon, though.