Archetypal storytelling in 'The Curse of the Black Pearl'

The original Disneyland attraction had already distilled the cultural image of piracy into one grand adventure. It brought together practically everything that people associate with pirates: buried treasure, rum, mutiny, cursed gold, ghost ships, exotic islands, sword fights and the romantic notion of living beyond the reach of civilisation. The film understands that this is its greatest asset. It doesn't attempt to dismantle the pirate myth or make piracy realistic. Instead, it embraces it wholeheartedly. It takes this enormous collection of familiar images and ideas and gives them characters, motivations and a narrative. In a way, the film romanticises the attraction itself. It takes something that was already a celebration of the pirate fantasy and asks: what sort of people would actually inhabit this world? That's a wonderful starting point for an adventure film.

He is a pirate. He is selfish, opportunistic, dishonest and frequently motivated by personal gain. Yet the film makes his motivations understandable, sometimes even sympathetic. Jack doesn't necessarily want to destroy society. He simply doesn't want society to have any authority over him. He represents a kind of radical personal freedom. He lives according to his own rules, treats established authority with irreverence and approaches almost every situation as an opportunity to outwit someone. And crucially, the film doesn't make him a traditional hero who happens to be unconventional. His selfishness is an essential part of his character. His heroism emerges almost accidentally, through his relationships and the situations he finds himself in. That's what makes him such a compelling antihero.

Will Turner and Jack Sparrow are not simply opposites in terms of morality. They are opposites in how they approach the world. Both want something. Both are willing to take risks to get it. Both have a strong sense of personal purpose. But they have fundamentally different ideas about how to achieve their ambitions. Will believes in working within the established order. He is a blacksmith, a skilled craftsman, and someone who believes that hard work, ability and personal merit should allow him to advance in society. He wants to make something of himself, but he is constrained by the very social structure he believes in. Jack, meanwhile, completely bypasses that structure. He doesn't seek recognition from society because he doesn't particularly value its approval. He makes fun of its institutions, manipulates its rules and lives by his own code.

This contrast becomes even more interesting when you consider the other characters.

• Elizabeth Swann begins firmly within the expectations of respectable society. Yet she discovers that the world beyond those expectations offers her an independence she cannot find within them.
• **Commodore Norrington **represents the institutional ideal: discipline, order, honour and social standing. Yet his commitment to these ideals can make him inflexible.
• Barbossa represents piracy in a much more traditional sense: ambition, greed, power and self-interest. He is a darker reflection of Jack's freedom.
• Jack Sparrow occupies an interesting middle ground. He is undoubtedly selfish, but he has a personal code that separates him from outright cruelty. The brilliance is that the film doesn't simply divide the world into good people and bad people. It gives us different philosophies of living, each with their own appeal and shortcomings.

This brings us back to the original idea of stereotypes. The film knows exactly what the audience expects from a pirate adventure and gives it to them. But it also plays with those expectations. Jack is simultaneously the ultimate pirate stereotype and a parody of it. He is flamboyant, drunk, unreliable and obsessed with his ship, yet he is also remarkably perceptive and resourceful. Will begins as the conventional romantic hero, but his development takes him towards the very world that initially seems incompatible with his identity. Elizabeth begins as the conventional damsel in distress, but increasingly becomes an active participant in her own adventure. The stereotypes aren't discarded. They are used as foundations upon which the film builds more interesting characters. And that is arguably much more effective than simply trying to subvert every convention.