Journal of the Caribbean Kangaroo

Continued from Pt. 2 - "Dead Man's Quest"...

I would certainly go on to write a full-blown analysis of the mythological cycle in "Pirates of the Caribbean", but for the fact that I want to provoke your attention, not dissuade it. I will add that I'm writing this on Memorial Day weekend, 2007, which marks the 30th anniversary of the premiere of Star Wars, a story which, in essence, illustrates the Hero's cycle perfectly. I think there are a lot of parallels between the "Pirates" trilogy and the "Star Wars" cycle. I intend this as a compliment, not as insulting factoid--I'm sure most people cannot deny the similarities, but I attempt to explain that that is not unintentional. Not that the makers of "Pirates" set out to imitate "Star Wars", but that they fell upon the common storytelling devices which have been employed throughout centuries of storytelling. If you feel like there are no fresh ideas in storytelling...well, you're partially right...

In the first part of this, I'm going to discuss Death and Life in "Pirates" here, so once again, fair warning to go see the third movie--now. I'll still be here when you get back. Ok?

Ok. Death is everywhere in "Pirates". There's no doubt or disguise about that, from zombies to lost souls, to World's End--each movie is brimming with Death. Cheery stuff.

Death is crucial to every hero's journey. Every hero experiences death and rebirth. Sometimes it's a figurative death, and sometimes it's a literal one. Think about every sports movie you've seen--there's always a point, usually in the first part of the last half of the movie, where the player/coach/team experiences some great loss, some major event that seems virtually unrecoverable. Trust is lost, hope has failed, no one can go on...or so it seems.

This is necessary, not the least of which is because a unchallenged rise to victory is boring. At least from a storytelling point of view. An unchallenged rise to victory is not the story of a hero, but of a tyrant. The hero must overcome not just physical conflict, but metaphysical conflict!

In "Curse of the Black Pearl", we accept that the crew of the Pearl are, for most purposes, dead. They're animated corpses. Barbossa's anti-hero path takes this into account, for by the end of "Curse", he is returned to life. (Briefly, albeit.) This passage from life to living-death back to life and then true-death once again is quite crucial to the idea that Barbossa is on his own Hero's Journey.

Jack, on the other hand, cheats a bit.... Jack accepts Death as a means to challenge Barbossa on equal footing. Of course he is quite willing to return to "life" once he's defeated Barbossa. Even Jack's entrance, bursting forth from a cast-away casket at the beginning of the second film (which foreshadows the ending of the second film) once again illustrates quite visibly Jack's ability to cheat death repeatedly. (Conversely, this is once again another birth metaphor, as Jack has been cast away in a wooden "womb", bursting forth with a flourish of the Pirates' triumphant theme, and taking out a raven (another harbinger of death), for good measure. However, having him face True Death at the end of "Chest" truly signifies his Heroic Death. Much like Han Solo at the end of "The Empire Strikes Back", his "death" is unresolved by the end, though everyone is determined that they can rectify this.

Will's "death" is somewhat subjugated to the actions of Jack. Will's is the greater arc, as we've seen him go from blacksmith's apprentice to "mighty pirate". Will has moments of delay and doubt, which are considered, for the purposes of self-contained movies, his symbolic "deaths". Having him emerge from Sao Feng's "tub o' torture" in Shanghai is a symbolic re-birth, from a death that never actually occured, unless you consider (and you are certainly invited to do so) the break between films as a "death" between chapters. His more imminent future, however, contains a larger "destiny", as Tia Dalma foretells. Will and Elizabeth's own intertwining fates parallel that of Davy Jones and Calypso, and is potentially ill-fated if not for the ever-intervening hand of Jack Sparrow, eager himself for immortality.

A moment, here, to consider the fate of Norrington. Norrington himself is faced with death, both symbolic and literal. His first death, symbolic in his off-screen fall from grace in the events between "Curse" and "Chest". The opportunity is presented to him to re-establish himself among "the living", in presenting Beckett with the heart of Davy Jones. When confronted by Elizabeth (whose presence, more than once, acts as a purifier of other characters), he reconsider his false "life", opting for a defiant and truly heroic death.

Death is the end of the cycle, but the beginning of the cycle anew. The place where this happens, on the Campbellian model is known as the "Omphalos" - the World-Navel. Very appropriate is the idea that the climactic battle occurs in a massive maelstrom, which, very symobolically, is a navel. (Or a naval navel, if you want to get all homophony about it....) Here is where the journeys of Davy Jones and Will Turner are going to finally intersect, and with the defeat/death of Davy Jones, Will is going to be reborn. The two have now filled the same role, the Captain of the Flying Dutchman now Davy Jones must yield to the new Captain as destiny foretells. (There is an old story about a gaunt man who is force to row back and forth across a lake/river for all eternity, until one day a hero tells the ferryman to offer his oar to the next man who comes to cross, and when that man takes it up, he will become the next ferryman...more than once in "Pirates", I was reminded of this old faerie tale...)

Jack has come full cycle, being once more stranded, captaining a very small ship, once again, in search of the eternal life that he surrendered to Will.

(Barbossa has come full cycle, being the one who stranded Jack....)

Elizabeth has come full cycle, as we learn at the end of "At World's End", when her passion yields to a new life, one singing, as she did at the same age "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me..."

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" story arc has a bittersweet ending. It's romantic and in some ways tragic, and there are no easy happy endings...(Pirate, after all.) But it ends well, and it begins anew like any good mythological tale should. Could it stand a fourth chapter? Of course...Jack has farther to go in his own story. Much farther if he ever finds that Aqua de Vita...

Hope you've enjoyed this. Finding mythological value in stories is one of my passions, and I've tried to keep things relatively brief and readable, but with so much to work with, I'm only too happy to lose myself picking apart elements again and again. Let me know what you think, I may take on "Harry Potter" next....

--Steve.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: "At World's End" - Hans Zimmer