The morality, or not, of Pirates, and Scott

John Mark Reynolds on “the fun film, but moral mess” that is the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise thus far:

In another era, Disney would have created a sympathetic pirate (Long John Silver) or a funny pirate (Smee), but never a pirate whose goal was to make the audience want to be a pirate (Johnny Depp).

Pirates were and are very bad men. They are not about liberty, but about abusing others liberty in order to get what they want. Walt Disney would never have allowed his hero (Orlando Bloom) to become a pirate, because by definition pirates cannot be heroes. The original Pirates ride at Disneyland mocked pirates, mocked the movie stereotypes about them even harder (Captain Blood anyone?) and left the pirates dead for their trouble.

The new Disney revisions to the ride, by the way, leave a fey Johnny Depp sitting on a pile of loot rewarded for his looting, raping, and pillaging. Disney would have understood the problem. Prudes can never recognize the appeal of the pirate against the straight jacket of an overly regimented culture. Progressive conservatives see the appeal, but also see the bad [side]. They want heroes and not pirates. Old movies used to help reinforce the difference. A hero (James T. Kirk) will defy the man’s rules in order to obey a Higher Good. A pirate? He defies the laws for his own good.

Of course, kids have played at being pirates forever. Children cannot easily see the problems of piracy thinking that pirates are simply kids who have gained the bodies and powers of grownups without having to grow up. That is true enough, but children miss the deep truth that adults that will not grow up are very dangerous people indeed. Old Hollywood would have felt some obligation to point that out.
Hollywood is so morally confused it cannot pull apart the freedom of a pirate, which is attractive, from their evils. They create a pirate in Jack Sparrow who is not often seen pirating.

Hollywood is Walter Scott-less, full of writers who want adventure, action, and liberty, but cannot see how anyone can get it without living for self. Only when the steal from the Inklings (Tolkien and Lewis) do they get it right, though even then they must make the traditional hero (Aragorn and High King Peter) much more conflicted than they appear in the books. Hollywood loves flaws more than the heroes who have them.