#on stranger tides

[cindy-lou]

ÀSTRID BERGÈS-FRISBEY As SYRENA PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (2011)

[monastuff]

I'll have yall know my first ever crush was Captain Jack Sparrow so with that in mind

I need some good fics with him (hopefully not smut....okay maybe just a little smut) some fluff, some angst, some good adventure idk

I thought tumblr would be filled with CJS but it's a lot less than I imagined

Pirates Of The Caribbean is literally my favorite franchise

help a girl out

[doggydogchamp]

pirates of the caribbean scenes with miscellaneous cropped out speech bubbles I found

[laurasimonsdaughter]

I wish I could take a narrative scalpel to Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides and leave nothing but the mermaids. Because someone involved with this script genuinely had a feel for mermaids.

The original PotC trilogy made very effective use of little bits of folklore as shorthand in their storytelling. It helps to make the fantastical plot feel coherent and logical: of course a curse can be tied to a bloodline, perfectly expected that moonlight can create a transformation, naturally the souls of the dead can be carried by boat, stands to reason there is a villain who took his heart out of his chest.

To me this background feeling of mythical coherence is pretty much missing from the fourth movie, except for the bits with the mermaids. They are, considering the plot they are surrounded by, shockingly well grounded in actual folklore of the British Isles:

They are (perceived) female

They can appear beautiful and seductive

They can also appear more inhuman and frightening

They are dangerous and can be deadly

They sing

They enjoy human music

They drown and potentially eat people

They can also prevent humans from drowning under water

They might steal humans to keep

They can transform to have legs on land

They can be captured

They can fall in love with humans

They have an unseen culture/society of their own

They are linked to or have access to magical objects

They are associated with storms

Now of course these characteristics usually don't all show up in a single folktale, but they are represented across the folklore. And these elements are so solid that the details the movie adds for its own narrative purposes are easy to get on board with:

They are more likely to come out at night

They can die from drying out in the sun

Their tears have magical properties

They are drawn to man-made light

The only thing I don't love about their depiction is that they attack as a violent swarm, like full-blown and horror movie monsters. But I guess I'll allow it because the mermaids do stay equally beautiful and monstrous throughout. They don't go full monster when they start fighting and I appreciate that.

And that's not even touching the - in my opinion practically flawless - mermaid/human romance between Philip and Syrena, because if I get into that I'll be here all day.

Anyway, I would like an entire movie with these vibes and these vibes only, please and thank you:

[fred-erick-frankenstein]

love this little snarky Gillette moment in OST

look at him!!!

completely unaware of his impending doom😭

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

On Stranger Tides Cover Art by James Gurney

[northfromeden]

really on stranger tides rewatch means only one thing. more textposts

also them for dmc and awe

[ungodlybliss]

was trying to do the math for their ages and it was so frustrating the timeline for these movies irritates me soo bad when it comes to ages so i just made my headcanon whatever … anyways,, i believe they met just a few months after barbossa mutinied against jack & then he sailed to seville, met angelica,, etc etc

and bonus drawing for good measurelolz