veronica_rich (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
veronica_rich) wrote2006-08-13 02:46 am
veronica_rich) wrote2006-08-13 02:46 am
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Boys and their boots (and hats) ...
My penchant for wanting to discuss symbolism does sometimes overextend my grasp; I'll admit that upfront. But there's something I wanted to bring up based on a DMC discussion I saw in a subset of someone else's REALLY GOOD LJ discussion (it's in the one about the dice, for anyone who's heard of/read that one).
I'll try to be brief. There's a discussion in the comments section of the dice post - http://community.livejournal.com/triskaideka____/16644.html?thread=145156#t145156 - wherein we discuss the symbolistic importance of hats in the POTC movies. It's pretty much a given that Jack's hat is his power source. *G*
But![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
metalkatt and I were discussing this earlier, and I told her it occurred to me that hats didn't work for all the characters (I'm just dealing with the major ones here, because at 3 am, any more than that would induce a migraine. Please feel free to add your own 2 cents in the comments, though, about anyone you like). Let's look at Will and James, specifically.
Will really advances as a character in DMC. He learns how to cheat to get what he needs (using the dice game as disguise for his real motive, hardly "honorable" in his old world), how to square more with adversity, how to deal with Jack and accept the consequences for not getting *enough* information from Jack (witness how when Elizabeth finds out Jack lied to her, she gets pissed off, but Will simply calls him on it and lets it drop as if he expects no less). But at the beginning of the movie, when he's actually wearing a hat - the only time he is - he is arrested and shackled and led to Beckett.
This scene annoys me. Will seems so ... impotent here. He doesn't struggle physically as much as he should. Elizabeth's demand for the charges is more forceful and badass, while Will just sort of stands there - I don't mean because he's the man he should be louder or angrier, I mean WILL HAS A TEMPER and we've seen it. Frankly, if this were the first time I were ever seeing Will Turner in action, I would be underwhelmed with both character and actor.
I've always contended that Bloom's not a wooden actor, he just tends to underplay rather than overdramatize, and a lot of viewers don't appreciate or see need for the difference. And it occured to me that may be the case here, too (of course, direction helps, but an actor's gotta be able to pull it off and if my meta is right, he does).
Notice that Will doesn't act like this in the rest of the movie. Once he leaves the jail, he takes charge, tracking Jack down himself, taking risks, going into strange places, getting the crew out of trouble and ultimately, off the Pelegostos island. His attitude isn't the same, either - he's confident once he manages to get Jack on the Pearl and make demands. He's not even as impotent on board the Flying Dutchman as he was in his wedding coat and hat, not even when he's being physically whipped. And, while deferential to Tia Dalma's mystical powers, he's not hesitant in the way that Gibbs and the other pirates are.
In other words, there is Will Turner in this movie, and there is William Turner - and I don't mean son and father. ;-)
Anyway, if a hat isn't Will's power here, what is?metalkatt says it's the boots. She also pointed out James has the boots, too, and they seem to be better for him than his hat, as well. (Come to think of it, EVERYONE in this movie has pirate boots.) Throughout the first movie, James had his hat and wig, and he never seemed really in charge as he should've. When he rescues Will, it's at Elizabeth's wheedling; he doesn't get to defeat the undead pirates until they're mortal, thanks to Jack and Will; he doesn't even get to hang his captive, because of Will's, Elizabeth's, and Swann's interference. In DMC, he's buffeted about when we first see him, staggering here and there or being led about. But once he's free of his wig, he's free to comment on absolutely anything. He fights for himself, he seizes the chance to steal the two Power Objects in the movie (heart and letter of marque), AND he manages to trick his way away from Jones's crew with none the wiser. (metalkatt wants to know why the hell he'd want to go back to his hatted, bewigged life, if he does so much better without them, and I'm inclined to wonder, as well.)
Thoughts?
I'll try to be brief. There's a discussion in the comments section of the dice post - http://community.livejournal.com/triskaideka____/16644.html?thread=145156#t145156 - wherein we discuss the symbolistic importance of hats in the POTC movies. It's pretty much a given that Jack's hat is his power source. *G*
But
metalkatt and I were discussing this earlier, and I told her it occurred to me that hats didn't work for all the characters (I'm just dealing with the major ones here, because at 3 am, any more than that would induce a migraine. Please feel free to add your own 2 cents in the comments, though, about anyone you like). Let's look at Will and James, specifically.Will really advances as a character in DMC. He learns how to cheat to get what he needs (using the dice game as disguise for his real motive, hardly "honorable" in his old world), how to square more with adversity, how to deal with Jack and accept the consequences for not getting *enough* information from Jack (witness how when Elizabeth finds out Jack lied to her, she gets pissed off, but Will simply calls him on it and lets it drop as if he expects no less). But at the beginning of the movie, when he's actually wearing a hat - the only time he is - he is arrested and shackled and led to Beckett.
This scene annoys me. Will seems so ... impotent here. He doesn't struggle physically as much as he should. Elizabeth's demand for the charges is more forceful and badass, while Will just sort of stands there - I don't mean because he's the man he should be louder or angrier, I mean WILL HAS A TEMPER and we've seen it. Frankly, if this were the first time I were ever seeing Will Turner in action, I would be underwhelmed with both character and actor.
I've always contended that Bloom's not a wooden actor, he just tends to underplay rather than overdramatize, and a lot of viewers don't appreciate or see need for the difference. And it occured to me that may be the case here, too (of course, direction helps, but an actor's gotta be able to pull it off and if my meta is right, he does).
Notice that Will doesn't act like this in the rest of the movie. Once he leaves the jail, he takes charge, tracking Jack down himself, taking risks, going into strange places, getting the crew out of trouble and ultimately, off the Pelegostos island. His attitude isn't the same, either - he's confident once he manages to get Jack on the Pearl and make demands. He's not even as impotent on board the Flying Dutchman as he was in his wedding coat and hat, not even when he's being physically whipped. And, while deferential to Tia Dalma's mystical powers, he's not hesitant in the way that Gibbs and the other pirates are.
In other words, there is Will Turner in this movie, and there is William Turner - and I don't mean son and father. ;-)
Anyway, if a hat isn't Will's power here, what is?
metalkatt says it's the boots. She also pointed out James has the boots, too, and they seem to be better for him than his hat, as well. (Come to think of it, EVERYONE in this movie has pirate boots.) Throughout the first movie, James had his hat and wig, and he never seemed really in charge as he should've. When he rescues Will, it's at Elizabeth's wheedling; he doesn't get to defeat the undead pirates until they're mortal, thanks to Jack and Will; he doesn't even get to hang his captive, because of Will's, Elizabeth's, and Swann's interference. In DMC, he's buffeted about when we first see him, staggering here and there or being led about. But once he's free of his wig, he's free to comment on absolutely anything. He fights for himself, he seizes the chance to steal the two Power Objects in the movie (heart and letter of marque), AND he manages to trick his way away from Jones's crew with none the wiser. (metalkatt wants to know why the hell he'd want to go back to his hatted, bewigged life, if he does so much better without them, and I'm inclined to wonder, as well.)Thoughts?
no subject
- Will's entire wedding ensemble, a more obvious shackle linking him to Elizabeth.
- Norrington's powdered wig and social respectibility (if one wants to assume the hat is the sum of all that), that which would have idealy allowed him to be with Elizabeth.
Again, ass talking, but I can't help but be slightly snide--I finally got to go back and see the movie again, and found her character bothered me more than upon initial viewing (probably because I was just so damn delighted that she was taking on a more active role). I also noticed that when Jack returns to the Pearl to shoot the 'splodey barrels, Elizabeth does this weird thing where she reclines on the stairs and clasps herself to his leg in a manner which recalled dozens of tacky submissive romance novel covers to mind, in a moment of delirious, amused horror....
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You *just* noticed that? We call that her Princess Leia moment (remember the vintage SW poster where she's kneeling, leaning against Luke's leg as he holds the saber aloft?). I can't figure out if it's to steady Jack in case the Kraken reaches up for him - as it did for her ankles - or if it really is some bodice-ripping thing. I wouldn't be surprised at the second, simply because we've already had Jack ripping her bodice anyway.
probably because I was just so damn delighted that she was taking on a more active role
Now, now, you're going to bring the Wrath of the Feminazis down on us. Seriously, I didn't have a problem with her wanting to participate in the voyage and the ass-kicking. I didn't even have a problem in the first movie with the whole triangle thing with her and Norrie and Will, because it was believable. But, OMG, THIS MOVIE NEEDS OTHER WOMEN so that the other males can Get Some and quit trying to dive into HER knickers. I'm *sure* the writers intend for her to be Empowered Chick, but the real net effect is that Elizabeth is no more out of a traditional female role in THESE movies than in any other.
Dammit, I LIKED the old relationship between her and Jack, of mutual guarded respect. The more I've seen their smoochy-smoochiness, the more I want to shake the writers and ask "What the FUCK were you thinking?" Can't a woman have a businesslike relationship with an older man that stays businesslike? Or does the man have to be evil and ugly and beyond wanting to fuck (Barbossa) for that to be the case? Then again, we'll probably get Elizabeth trying to lure him into her pants in 3 ...
And no, for any homophobic anonymous fucks who might be reading this, I don't give two rips about this "effect" on my 'ship of choice. J/W was never canon, so why would this matter if W/E didn't? Not every plotline in the world has to come back to who wants to fuck whom, which is precisely my continued, ranting point.
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And no, believe me, envoking the Wrath of the Feminazis was not my intention ^_^;; Rather, I meant to convey that so delighted was I by the OMG SWORDFIGHTING and OMG BOY!LIZ HAWT and OMG SHE'S SAVING WILL that it.. kind of blinded me to how all the other junk she was doing (and what was being done to her) was really... rather lame -_- By the second viewing, the thrill had worn off, and I was able to watch with a slightly more objective POV. Only slightly because if fandom, but, you know.
Barbossa did seem to rather fancy her in the first movie, just that he never followed up, but I suppose there would have been no point in him trying. But now, presumably, he could. On top of the Elizabeth fanboy trifecta, that's somewhat worrisome. I do not savor the idea of Lizzie!gangbang -_-
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You mean *implied* offscreen gangbang. This is Disney, after all ....
no subject