← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · nikolai
Thread ID: 8511 | Posts: 7 | Started: 2003-07-27
2003-07-27 14:58 | User Profile
I took the kids to see Disneyââ¬â¢s pirates of the Caribbean last night. Before the move I figured that at least it should be free of any political correctness given genre.
I was wrong.
The hero pirate ship crew looked like something you would see on a NASA space shuttle mission. The 15th century pirate crew was composed of a wonderful diverse mixture of Whites, Africans and (I am not kidding) women. The ââ¬Åpeople of colorââ¬Â all were represented as powerful and strong pirates.
And as is now often seen in movies, the women seemed to have unnatural strength given their small body size. A 110 pound woman in the movies today can easily destroy a 250 pound man with her fists.
Of course, the ââ¬Åbad guysââ¬Â were the English. The English (all white) were represented at weak, incompetent and as general buffoons.
2003-07-27 17:22 | User Profile
NO movie made today can recreate earlier eras.
:dung:
2003-07-27 18:17 | User Profile
**O movie made today can recreate earlier eras. **
I thought Braveheart did a nice job.
Could you imagine if Disney made Braveheart? You would probably see Black, female, lesbians leading the Scottish clans against the English. :D
2003-07-28 01:30 | User Profile
Braveheart was a woefully unhistorical film, from the trivial (facepaint was worn by the tribes who resisted the Romans, not by medieval clans, tartan was invented by Lancastrian victorians 700 years after supposedly worn in the film etc), to most of the supposed 'events' depicted.
2003-07-28 01:48 | User Profile
Leveller is correct about Braveheart. However, several movies that did a good pretty good job historically include Black Robe, Rob Roy, Ride With the Devil, and Gods & Generals (the last two concerning the Civil War).
2003-07-28 02:56 | User Profile
Originally posted by nikolai@Jul 27 2003, 08:58 * The hero pirate ship crew looked like something you would see on a NASA space shuttle mission. The 15th century pirate crew was composed of a wonderful diverse mixture of Whites, Africans and (I am not kidding) women. The ââ¬Åpeople of colorââ¬Â all were represented as powerful and strong pirates.*
I recall only two "people of color" among the pirate crew of at least 20: a black man and a mulatto woman. I don't remember them being portrayed as any stronger or more powerful than the mostly white crew, although it struck me as odd that the mulatta would have owned a boat in the past.
Of course, the ââ¬Åbad guysââ¬Â were the English. The English (all white) were represented at weak, incompetent and as general buffoons.
I thought the bad guys were the pirates. :P I don't see how you saw the English represented as weak or incompetent; they fought quite bravely against the immortal zombie crew, even when it was clear they were getting slaughtered.
I liked POTC. It was quite a welcome break from the never-ending stream of "omg grrrl power wooo" movies we've had lately, and I didn't see much that was terribly PC or objectionable about it.
2003-07-28 04:58 | User Profile
Saw POTC with the wife and it was OK.
Anyone who's read much (or even little) about the real pirates of that era can tell you that the mixed sex & colors and the faggotry portrayed or implied in the movie is tremendously tame compared to the real thing. These people really were mixed & matched and insane by our standards, so much so that the great Scottish screenwriter George MacDonald Frasier (also of the Flashman novels) once despaired that the truth about them would forever be too strong to be portrayed accurately, in movies or anywhere else. These men and sometimes women actually were beyond belief, and the movie offers a cute and very tame view of them.
BTW, one of the truly accurate comments I've ever heard was that the 17th and 18th century pirates were an early version of the hippies.