Sharky Reblogs

Stuff that makes me happy! My art blog is @sharksmirk. On queue, posts 3 times a day.

[sharksmirk-reblogs]

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[rikdrawsthings]

[friendships-are-masterpieces]

Rewatching the original Pirates trilogy, after not seeing it in nearly a decade, I realize more and more that James Norrington should’ve been the lead protagonist. On the page, he was clearly meant to be the stodgy romantic interest for Elizabeth to pass over for the hot blacksmith’s apprentice. Orlando Bloom was peak teen heartthrob material in 2003, and the studio cast him as such. However, I personally find Norrington to be so much more interesting than Will. He believes in morals and valor, which Elizabeth mistakes for being boring. However we see in the sequels that he can get gritty and grimy, and play pirate games just as well.

Also despite Elizabeth being the Governor’s daughter, he isn’t interested in her for status. He accepts that she chooses Will, gives Jack a head start to outrun them, and despite reclaiming his rank in World’s End, he lets all her pirate friends escape and ensures her safety. There’s also multiple deleted scenes that show he’s a good man, including letting Elizabeth off the hook for accepting his proposal (twice), and saying he only wants her love if it’s “unconditional.” Even though he wants her more than anything, and these films take place in the 1700’s, he still wants to make sure it’s her choice to marry him.

Elizabeth choosing Will makes sense when you remember she’s 19-20 years old in COTBP, but longterm, Norrington really was the more interesting character and better choice. If the whole movie had been reframed around a staunch military man, who has to team up with a morally ambiguous pirate to save the love of his life, with less formulaic love triangles, it could’ve been just as amazing. Or alternatively, just allowing Norrington to have a bigger role in the sequel films, especially when he’d lost his rank, and was slumping it on the pirate ships.

[valeriarts]

I love this analysis and point of view. It’s amazing how many of us who watched POTC as children or teenagers have found ourselves reflecting on quite similar things as adults, years later.

For me, Norrington has always been that marvellous exception amongst so many formulaic characters adapted for pirate adventure films. I’ve got nothing against any of them; I adore them all in the context in which they exist: Jack Sparrow is the heart and soul of the films, with his uniqueness and eccentricity; Barbossa is the villain who is at times tormented and ambiguous; Beckett is the cold, calculating claw of imperialist Europe; Elizabeth is the woman who, destined for the most subservient social role, finds the courage to decide every aspect of her life for herself.

James Norrington, however, is that complex, multi-layered character who undergoes the most changes across the three narrative arcs. He is a stern man who hides a kind heart; from being the epitome of self-control, he finds himself becoming the most vulgar and troublesome drunkard in the taverns of Tortuga; he clings obsessively to his former English glory; and he eventually comes to a clear and bitter realisation of the consequences of the choices he has made. A character of this calibre might be found in the novels of Hugo or Tolstoy, but not in a pirate film.

The original creators have always loved him, but Disney’s production team has repeatedly tried to sideline the annoyingly and frighteningly cumbersome, overly multifaceted presence of that character.

As children we fell for it, but as adults we cannot help but finally recognise the greatness of James Norrington.

As for what could have been Elizabeth’s romantic endgame, I’ll write a separate post to do it justice. I have my own personal take on the final scene between them in the third film 🙏

[triplexmile]

Ramen Raider

[detrituz]

[kuijoon]

in the original yugioh manga they mention that seto is at the top of every arcade game but I refuse to believe that he’d be good DDR sorry dude. You go Anzu

[yoan-le-grall]

[basi-boy]

this video has been the last hinge holding me together for weeks now. I need to watch it once a day or I'll start disintegrating

[ps1]

夏のクラクション

[rikdrawsthings]

[gremlininho]

[theartloca]

Corny a** Danlady moment😶‍🌫️ What did you do Danteee😔 you fool...

[pondmermaid]

Girl help

[that-vexaholic-cryptid]

Something I'm noticing is that when men talk about Janeway they say her characterization is all over the place, but women seem to recognize an archetype and love it

[pnglove]