You write a story about a man falling in love with the ocean, and being betrayed by her simply because it's in her nature, to be wild and free.
And then you write about said man returning to her embrace because men of the sea always return to the sea...
And that's all well and romantic, and tragic in an almost Shakespearean way...
But then the primary romance, you turn the man into an undead captain of a ship that carries souls lost at sea to the underworld.
And then you turn the woman into...what, a housewife? A mother who waits for her husband to visit?
Elizabeth Swan is a pirate.
She knew pirate law and was fascinated by pirates since the first movie.
Every time she held Jack's compass, which only points to what you most desire, it pointed to him.
I have always interpreted that as Elizabeth being attracted to the freedom he represents, rather than him as a person.
Plus, when she killed jack sparrow in the second movie, with him grimly smiling at her and calling her a pirate, we see that she has a darker side. A utilitarian, but still cruel edge that's more pirate than the kind and compassionate "you'll do good one day" Elizabeth Swann we saw earlier in the movie.
And in the third movie, she stood with her crew, not with the East India trading company. Just like in the first and second movie, rather than fighting to escape and get back to her safe and contained governess life, she would rather be on a ship with a band of dirty knaves.
She also convinced the pirate lords to band together to fight.
Not because she just wanted Will to be able to settle down with her, and had to do all these things to keep him safe.
But because it was in her nature.
What was it that the goddess of the sea said in the second movie?
Elizabeth Swann should've been a representative of that.
Someone who at first appeared kind and proper and as deferential as women of that time period were expected to be...but who beneath it all was an adventurer at heart.
Someone as wild and harsh and passionate and quick to enrage as the sea herself.
Who, like the sea, could be still and tranquil and passive on good days, and a monstrous and powerful, untameable force on other days.
That's what they should've done with her.
That's the kind of pirate she should've been.
One who shows mercy to some, and unfettered rage towards others.
A woman both loved and feared across the seven seas, known as the pirate king.
Who, legend tells, sleeps with the devil himself, the captain of the flying Dutchman, master of Davy Jones' locker.
Thematically it makes perfect sense.
Listen. there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a wife and a mother.
But Elizabeth Swan could've been both a mother AND a pirate king.
She would've been kick-ass at both.
I'm just saying. It's not right what they did to her character.
germansingergirl
vaporwave
romaincrisis
pixelskylines
izzy806
theartofmadeline
