Does it bug anybody else how people seem to consider Ed and Stede to be old? I mean, they’re not kids, but Taika and Rhys are in their 40s. They aren’t ‘old men’. They’re at the beginning part of what most people would consider to be middle aged.
And maybe this is just a me thing, since I’m not that much younger than them, as I approach my 42nd birthday next week, but I’m not old. I mean, I’m not a kid, but I barely even feel like an adult most days.
And yes, I do know that for a pirate in those days, 48 or so would have been considered ancient. I know the real Blackbeard died in his mid to late 30s and Stede Bonnet at 30. But that’s reality, and OFMD is not supposed to resemble reality. If it did, it would be a very different show.
Anyway, I’m not having a go here, and maybe to younger fans they really do look like two decrepit, ancient, old men, or maybe people are just joking around, but more likely this just seems a bit like a byproduct of the film and TV industry’s obsession with youth. I think people are surprised (not in a bad way, just pleasantly surprised) to see people not in their 20s depicted as being in love, and having sex, and all those things that we’ve been indirectly told for years can only happen up to a certain age. And then to see it in a queer romance too, that just makes it stand out all the more, and compared to a lot of the other media people see, these characters do seem older. Because they are.
So I think what I’m saying isn’t, “Hey, stop calling them old!”, which I guess you’re welcome to do if you really must, it’s more something along the lines of, “It shouldn’t be unusual to see these kinds of relationships, and if it was more normalised then maybe people wouldn’t think they were old.”
But it’s also to remind people that calling them old perpetuates that idea that romance in your 40s and beyond is unusual, and that’s not a good thing to be telling people, even by accident.
