(no subject)

[apocalypsos]

I have to go into work for overtime tonight. Cross your fingers and hope I can leave early. (I know, I know ... I need the cash for my laptop, not to mention I still haven't gotten my teeth fixed and Winchestercon's on the horizon and ... erm, I need to win the Powerball, I think.)

Anyway, I was thinking about one of the complaints about Pirates, since I saw it again with my family this weekend. It's the handling of racial stuff that's been going around. Something that keeps getting pointed out is, "They put all of the black pirates in one cage and all of the white ones in another and just dropped the cage with the black pirates into the ravine." So I made a note this time to pay attention.

Cage 1:
Four white pirates: Gibbs, Cotton, Marty the dwarf, and Will (What? He counts.)
One black pirate
One Asian pirate
One parrot (Well, really.)

Cage 2:
At least two white pirates
One black pirate
At least two Middle Eastern or Indian pirates (Hard to tell which, because between screwing with costuming, accents, and casting it could go either way. I'm leaning towards Indian, but it was really difficult to tell with how little time was spent on them. Thanks bunches, Disney.)

So, segregated cages? Not so much. Yes, there are more white pirates in one cage than the other, but that's mostly because they need to keep the pirates we know from the Black Pearl -- Gibbs, Cotton, and Marty -- in the same cage with Will. Both of the other pirates in the cage with them -- since as is said in the movie they only need six pirates to crew the Pearl -- aren't white.

And it's not like I got much of a chance to count who's who when Jack was being confronted by his crew on the Pearl after he sails back in his coffin after the jail escape at the beginning of the movie. I believe that was when I was out at the bar ordering a Black Pearl (rum, triple sec, Coke, and lime). Ah, premiere theaters, how I love you. :)

It's not like I don't know where the complaints are coming from. It's just with the cages set up like they are, I'm not sure the cages work as an argument on the racial thing. Not that there aren't other questionable instances in the movie, that's for damn sure.

I don't know, maybe I'm just stretching here. And God knows the cannibal plotline wasn't essential to anything, really.

Don't mind me, I'm rambling to kill time until work. *glares at clock*

Comments

[faith21.livejournal.com]

out at the bar ordering a Black Pearl (rum, triple sec, Coke, and lime). Ah, premiere theaters, how I love you. :)

So you can have your very own "where has the rum gone?" moment?! Damn.

[umetnica.livejournal.com]

I noticed the black pirate in my last viewing but I didn't see the asian pirate. I kept meaning to find the arguments that included the segregated cages to point him out but couldn't be bothered. Now I feel better since you put it out there. ;)

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

I like how some people are whining about the racism in having all the cannibals be black. THOSE PEOPLE AREN'T BLACK, YOU GUYS.

[paddle-slut.livejournal.com]

hunny you are totally right...i mean seriously, how stupid would it be if they dropped the cage with the pirates that we know & luv in it....duh...seriously...
& are you serious that you can order drinks at your movie theaters...i so fuckin wish

[mayhemwench.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. I saw a bunch of comments about that, and I was like, "WTF? They aren't pasty, so that automatically makes them black?" I'm pretty sure they were supposed to be some sort of Carib or Taino group (I base this entirely on the fact that they're in the Caribbean, as I know next to nothing about Native American groups outside of the western U.S. and Mexico), though I think Disney based the costuming and makeup off of one or two still shots from that Yanamamo documentary they make everyone watch in anthropology 101.

*relurks*

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

Seriously.

As a black person -- thank you.

Geez.

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

They did drop that cage. It just happened to land in water and conveniently break open.

And if it's such a racist movie, what about that fine man who said "Cannot say about Jack," but told Will exactly where the Pearl was, not to mention, oh, I dunno, Tia freaking Dalma?!

[paddle-slut.livejournal.com]

i don't think it's racial at all...i just think people have to stop being so goddamn sensitive

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

I actually wrote a rant that got published in EW in response to the idiots who made this same "racist!" rant about the Lion King.

You know, where Madge Sinclair and James Earl Jones played the king and queen of the jungle.

[paddle-slut.livejournal.com]

what?!...how can anyone call the lion king racist...it's a fuckin kids movie for god sack....ABOUT LIONS....god some people are so stupid

[irradiatedsoup.livejournal.com]

I don't think the movie is racist.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I don't, either. After seeing it a second time ... er, nope.

[budclare.livejournal.com]

Also, there aren't a lot of multiracial cannibal tribes roaming around, so it's "all" or nothing...

[budclare.livejournal.com]

As I recall, Jack's necklace had more white toes than not, so it's not like the white people were faring much better. Or better at all. Personally, I'd rather fall to my death.

[astrothsknot.livejournal.com]

What's sec? Cos I don't want barmaids looking at me funny before the rum's gone.

[faith21.livejournal.com]

It's a sweet liqueur, orange-flavored I think...

[astrothsknot.livejournal.com]

Wonder if you can get it in the UK....I totally want one. I can't decide if a Black Pearl sounds like something I should drink or perform on JPad....or Norrington....