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lotesseThe first thing that I found myself needing to talk about after seeing PotC:DMC was Norrington. Because I am very, very afraid, but also intensely hopeful.
One of the things that I really loved about this film was the way that it stepped out of the fairy-tale happy ever after. CotB ended with the poor boy getting to marry the rich girl and the pirate-with-the-heart-of-gold getting to sail off into the sunset, no problems. Except that things don't work like that, it the real world. This was one of the points at which DMC felt like fic, and in a good way.
And oh, James Norrington. He really doesn't come off well when they collide with the real world. Will and Lizzy are bruised but still all right. James is destroyed. And, angst-ho that I am, I like that. I like that he's drunken and despairing, filthy and unmitigated in his sarcasm. And, also? Rilly rilly hot. Oh my god, he looked good enough to eat. But he's an honest soul who understands what Jack means by freedom. He can't be allowed to exist in any realistic universe, at lest not as anything but a punching bag for said universe.
But the movie didn't feel right. When poor ragged James stumbles on-screen, the film gets silly. Silly? Shouldn't the destruction of a mian character be a bad thing, or at least worth some notice? Lizzy tried, and that about broke me, but I really hated Jack and Will for not caring. For most of the film, James snarks from the sidelines and is made the butt of jokes. And then he gives Davy Jones' heart to the East India trading company. What now?
One of the things that I really loved about CotB was that it allowed Norrington to be more than the two-dimensional secondary villain. Yes, he's the Law, and yes, he wants to marry Elizabeth, but he has a heart and a mind and a good deal of biting wit. That's big, for a Disney film. To let Commodore Norrington be lovable. And I'm terrified that they're going to take that away, make him the bad guy and let the piratical ones get off scot free with the actions they took to destroy him. I don't want Norrington to be redeemed--he doesn't need to be. He's one of the best characters in the series, morally speaking.
Mainly, it bothers me that none of the others seem to care about what's happened to him. But there is also the fact that something did happen to him, that he suffered the adverse consequences of piratical actions. I'm holding out hope that James will be the real hero of this story, that he's planning a double-cross against the EIC. That he, of all of them, will care enough about others to try and help them realistically, without silly swordfights of harebrained plans. That he'll be the one to make it all work out right in the end.
I need a pirate icon.
One of the things that I really loved about this film was the way that it stepped out of the fairy-tale happy ever after. CotB ended with the poor boy getting to marry the rich girl and the pirate-with-the-heart-of-gold getting to sail off into the sunset, no problems. Except that things don't work like that, it the real world. This was one of the points at which DMC felt like fic, and in a good way.
And oh, James Norrington. He really doesn't come off well when they collide with the real world. Will and Lizzy are bruised but still all right. James is destroyed. And, angst-ho that I am, I like that. I like that he's drunken and despairing, filthy and unmitigated in his sarcasm. And, also? Rilly rilly hot. Oh my god, he looked good enough to eat. But he's an honest soul who understands what Jack means by freedom. He can't be allowed to exist in any realistic universe, at lest not as anything but a punching bag for said universe.
But the movie didn't feel right. When poor ragged James stumbles on-screen, the film gets silly. Silly? Shouldn't the destruction of a mian character be a bad thing, or at least worth some notice? Lizzy tried, and that about broke me, but I really hated Jack and Will for not caring. For most of the film, James snarks from the sidelines and is made the butt of jokes. And then he gives Davy Jones' heart to the East India trading company. What now?
One of the things that I really loved about CotB was that it allowed Norrington to be more than the two-dimensional secondary villain. Yes, he's the Law, and yes, he wants to marry Elizabeth, but he has a heart and a mind and a good deal of biting wit. That's big, for a Disney film. To let Commodore Norrington be lovable. And I'm terrified that they're going to take that away, make him the bad guy and let the piratical ones get off scot free with the actions they took to destroy him. I don't want Norrington to be redeemed--he doesn't need to be. He's one of the best characters in the series, morally speaking.
Mainly, it bothers me that none of the others seem to care about what's happened to him. But there is also the fact that something did happen to him, that he suffered the adverse consequences of piratical actions. I'm holding out hope that James will be the real hero of this story, that he's planning a double-cross against the EIC. That he, of all of them, will care enough about others to try and help them realistically, without silly swordfights of harebrained plans. That he'll be the one to make it all work out right in the end.
I need a pirate icon.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-07 07:03 pm (UTC)I felt like James was just a sharp as ever, but the world just stopped noticing.
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Date: 2006-07-07 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-07 07:37 pm (UTC)