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ealgyldenMy last batch of idle thoughts on PotC, from today's (fourth) viewing. Last one of these, I swear. Topics and questions include (but are not limited to) Norrington, velcro, roast pig, the healing abilities of the undead, Barbossa, and the love song of Jack and his lady. You know the one I mean.
So, that parasol that wee Elizabeth sees floating in the water in the prologue (right before she sees Will). Is that Ragetti's? Heh, okay, not seriously. But doesn't it look like just his style?
I would love to know what story Jack is telling Murtogg and Mullroy when Elizabeth falls off the fort wall. All we hear is, "And then they made me their chief." Jack! What are you telling those impressionable young lobsters? And why aren't you telling us too?
Speaking of Elizabeth's fall... I love Norrington more every time I see this movie. I love that he's so totally focused on getting through his proposal that he misses her "I'm swooning. In a bad, non-romantic way," warning signs, and I love that once she does swoon and fall, he's fully prepared to leap over the wall after her. Doesn't even pause. If Gillett hadn't stopped him ("You don't need her, sir! Choose me instead!"), we might have had a smooshy, waterlogged Commodore and a much-deprived-of-his-character movie. Norrington is a true gentleman and an officer worthy of his high rank, and I am so smitten.
I also love his uniform after his promotion to Commodore. Gorgeous, just gorgeous. Expensive too- all that silver braid wouldn't have come cheaply. Norrington has done well for himself (or inherited well, but as a Navy man, he's probably a younger son). Also, I looked for the medal this time,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
castalianspring, and I have no idea what it is. Sure is pretty though. Just call me Ms. Helps-a-lot. *g* (Seriously, I've started the hunt for info on naval and military medals of the time period, and with luck something will turn up. So maybe Ms. Obsesses-a-lot would be better.)
Still speaking of Elizabeth's fall... I really wonder what sort of closure is on her new London dress, the one that Jack tears down the front of the bodice to keep her from drowning. Not buttons, because there are no buttonholes. Not zippers, unless her father has a time machine. Possibly hooks and eyes, though it didn't look like it tore right for that- they would have to have been sewn on pretty poorly, or with very thin thread, for there not to have been any snags (Jack's quite strong, but those things are a bitch to tear free. Trust me, I wrecked enough costumes back in my high school theater days). It tears like it's closed with velcro. Practical of the costumer, but still, pretty funny to me. Zzzzzzip.
I love how sarcastic Jack is when he's lying on the prison floor telling Will about the legends of the Pearl. The sheer disdain in his voice on "Captain Barbossa and his crew of miscreants" could make a teenager weep from jealousy.
Elizabeth, as far as I could tell, is the only character to call Jack "Captain Sparrow" without prompting. I did lose track of what Barbossa called him, so I may have missed something, but I doubt it. He tends to prefer "Jaaaaack."
Speaking of Barbossa, why does he have so much fresh food on the Pearl? He doesn't need it himself. He hadn't planned on having a prisoner onboard- they likely expected to find the medallion at Port Royal (since it called them and all), but not necessarily attached to someone calling herself a Turner. And once he had Elizabeth, they set sail- no one went ashore to get piglets and grapes and layer cake (or whatever pastry-thing those two forward-thinking pirates were planning to eat while their buddies were taking the Dauntless. One of those two was the late Trevor Goddard, formerly of JAG, btw. I knew he was in PotC, but it wasn't until this time around that I finally spotted him. Well, my mom spotted him). It makes perfect sense that Barbossa would keep apples aboard. They're his obsession and his love. But a piglet that needs to be fed and taken care of, butchered, roasted and... eaten by whom? Is Barbossa an optimist or a masochist to keep so much fresh food around?
Still speaking of Barbossa... after Elizabeth gets tossed around the decks by the skeleton crew (heh) and winds up in his arms, he gives his fabulous speech about his Tantalean fate ("For too long I've been parched of thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. I feel nothing. Not the wind on my face nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh," and so on- by rights it should be corny, but Geoffrey Rush totally sells it for me) and... slugs down a bottle of Burgundy. That is such a random thing to do. He's totally reveling in his "Ha! Look! I can freak you out! Booga booga!" moment. There's no logic to it otherwise- he knows he can't drink it, his men know, and Elizabeth knows intellectually, at least. He's just... playing.
Anamaria has great skin for a woman who presumably has spent a lot of time at sea. I wonder what she uses. She packs quite a whallop, too. Neat.
I love, love, love that final fight between Jack and Barbossa. I love the choreography, which uses every surface of that insanely over-dressed set. I love the special effects; no doubt some geek will go though it frame by frame and point out that in frame such-and-such Jack should have been a skeleton and wasn't and vice versa, and I don't care. It's fabulous anyway. And I love the banter, like, "So what now, Jack Sparrow? Will it be it two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound? Hm?" Such a drama queen, and a well-spoken one at that. I’m going to really miss Barbossa in the sequel.
Speaking of well-spoken, the phrase "[send whoever to] Davy Jones' locker" annoys me and always has. It's so cheesy. However, Mullroy's infernal substitution, "send them down to see old Hobb," that I like. Partially, I think, because it hasn't been so brutally overused; "old Hobb" isn't a name one sees for the Devil very often these days (unless one lives in backwoods Appalachia, I suppose). And partially because it has such an easy, colloquial, folktale-y feel to it. Nice. I also liked Gibbs' line, "We need us a devil’s dowry." Gibbs has a way with a colloquial phrase.
Speaking of Gibbs... I still love his story about Jack's escape from marooning. It's all in the rhythms- "... there he waited three days and three nights 'til all manner of sea creature came and acclimated to his presence." Wonderful. And he loves an audience, any audience; at the lightest prod from Will he's off and storytelling, and he likely would have done the same with wee!Elizabeth and pirate tales if Norrington hadn't chased him away. Useful person to have on a ship.
Why do the pirates scream when they get stabbed? Habit? It's not like they feel it.
Speaking of pirates and pain... I wonder what sort of healing powers Barbossa's crew has. They must have something- they can't be killed but they can still be wounded, and since they aren't running around all full of slashes and holes, those wounds must heal somehow. So how does an undead body fix itself? That's one handy curse (aside from the whole undead issue, that is).
Oh, back to Norrington for a sec! He just swings over the side of the Dauntless (first, too- he leads his men from the front) and charges (collectedly) into battle. Against skeletons. Without a twitch or a hesitation. I just love him so.
Finally, Jack and the Black Pearl. They have a love theme! I wasn’t listening to the score when Jack first hears her cannons when he's in jail, since Johnny’s voice was too distracting ("I know those guns! It's the Pearl," with so much longing and love in his voice), but I first noticed it when he's describing to Elizabeth what she (the Pearl) means to him. He gets poetic, "That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails; that's what the ship needs. But what a ship is... what the Black Pearl really is... is freedom." Meanwhile, the score settles into a romantic passage that echoes the Will/Elizabeth theme from the "blacksmith's hands" scene, with a slightly darker tone and a bit of the heroic/pirate theme woven in (part of it turns up late in track 10 of the CD, "To the Pirates' Cave!" and again on the CD... someplace else. I'm blanking. Damn). The same romantic "Jack/Pearl" theme reappears briefly at the end, when the Pearl first sails into sight after Jack has tumbled off the fort walls. Gillett snarks, Jack treads water, and then the ship sweeps around the headland with love theme in tow. And then at the very end, Will and Elizabeth embrace as their love theme swells triumphantly... and we immediately, without changing music, shift to Jack swinging home onto the deck of his ship. The crew is happy, Jack's happy, the Pearl's happy, and the score modulates back into that quieter, slightly darker, slightly more pirate-y version of the love theme that we heard when Jack was rhapsodizing on the rumrunners' island. That version of the romantic theme plays while Jack finally, finally gets to touch his ship again, gradually transforming as Jack settles back into his rightful place and sings his "really bad eggs" ditty... and then we sweep into the credits back on the main heroic/pirate theme. You can hear most of this last series of modulations in track 14 of the CD, "One Last Shot" (with track 15 being a truncated version of the credit suite).
See? Even the score thinks they're in love. Now if I can just isolate out a theme for Barbossa and his apples...
You're Jack's hat. You're the CAPTAIN. You're a bit
battered, but you command respect
What part of Jack Sparrow's outfit are you? {Pirates of the Caribbean}
brought to you by Quizilla
Every time I take one of these quizzies, I end up as bossy or violent. How strange. But hey, the hat's cool, right? "Commodore Norrington, my effects, please! And my hat."
So, that parasol that wee Elizabeth sees floating in the water in the prologue (right before she sees Will). Is that Ragetti's? Heh, okay, not seriously. But doesn't it look like just his style?
I would love to know what story Jack is telling Murtogg and Mullroy when Elizabeth falls off the fort wall. All we hear is, "And then they made me their chief." Jack! What are you telling those impressionable young lobsters? And why aren't you telling us too?
Speaking of Elizabeth's fall... I love Norrington more every time I see this movie. I love that he's so totally focused on getting through his proposal that he misses her "I'm swooning. In a bad, non-romantic way," warning signs, and I love that once she does swoon and fall, he's fully prepared to leap over the wall after her. Doesn't even pause. If Gillett hadn't stopped him ("You don't need her, sir! Choose me instead!"), we might have had a smooshy, waterlogged Commodore and a much-deprived-of-his-character movie. Norrington is a true gentleman and an officer worthy of his high rank, and I am so smitten.
I also love his uniform after his promotion to Commodore. Gorgeous, just gorgeous. Expensive too- all that silver braid wouldn't have come cheaply. Norrington has done well for himself (or inherited well, but as a Navy man, he's probably a younger son). Also, I looked for the medal this time,
castalianspring, and I have no idea what it is. Sure is pretty though. Just call me Ms. Helps-a-lot. *g* (Seriously, I've started the hunt for info on naval and military medals of the time period, and with luck something will turn up. So maybe Ms. Obsesses-a-lot would be better.)Still speaking of Elizabeth's fall... I really wonder what sort of closure is on her new London dress, the one that Jack tears down the front of the bodice to keep her from drowning. Not buttons, because there are no buttonholes. Not zippers, unless her father has a time machine. Possibly hooks and eyes, though it didn't look like it tore right for that- they would have to have been sewn on pretty poorly, or with very thin thread, for there not to have been any snags (Jack's quite strong, but those things are a bitch to tear free. Trust me, I wrecked enough costumes back in my high school theater days). It tears like it's closed with velcro. Practical of the costumer, but still, pretty funny to me. Zzzzzzip.
I love how sarcastic Jack is when he's lying on the prison floor telling Will about the legends of the Pearl. The sheer disdain in his voice on "Captain Barbossa and his crew of miscreants" could make a teenager weep from jealousy.
Elizabeth, as far as I could tell, is the only character to call Jack "Captain Sparrow" without prompting. I did lose track of what Barbossa called him, so I may have missed something, but I doubt it. He tends to prefer "Jaaaaack."
Speaking of Barbossa, why does he have so much fresh food on the Pearl? He doesn't need it himself. He hadn't planned on having a prisoner onboard- they likely expected to find the medallion at Port Royal (since it called them and all), but not necessarily attached to someone calling herself a Turner. And once he had Elizabeth, they set sail- no one went ashore to get piglets and grapes and layer cake (or whatever pastry-thing those two forward-thinking pirates were planning to eat while their buddies were taking the Dauntless. One of those two was the late Trevor Goddard, formerly of JAG, btw. I knew he was in PotC, but it wasn't until this time around that I finally spotted him. Well, my mom spotted him). It makes perfect sense that Barbossa would keep apples aboard. They're his obsession and his love. But a piglet that needs to be fed and taken care of, butchered, roasted and... eaten by whom? Is Barbossa an optimist or a masochist to keep so much fresh food around?
Still speaking of Barbossa... after Elizabeth gets tossed around the decks by the skeleton crew (heh) and winds up in his arms, he gives his fabulous speech about his Tantalean fate ("For too long I've been parched of thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. I feel nothing. Not the wind on my face nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh," and so on- by rights it should be corny, but Geoffrey Rush totally sells it for me) and... slugs down a bottle of Burgundy. That is such a random thing to do. He's totally reveling in his "Ha! Look! I can freak you out! Booga booga!" moment. There's no logic to it otherwise- he knows he can't drink it, his men know, and Elizabeth knows intellectually, at least. He's just... playing.
Anamaria has great skin for a woman who presumably has spent a lot of time at sea. I wonder what she uses. She packs quite a whallop, too. Neat.
I love, love, love that final fight between Jack and Barbossa. I love the choreography, which uses every surface of that insanely over-dressed set. I love the special effects; no doubt some geek will go though it frame by frame and point out that in frame such-and-such Jack should have been a skeleton and wasn't and vice versa, and I don't care. It's fabulous anyway. And I love the banter, like, "So what now, Jack Sparrow? Will it be it two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound? Hm?" Such a drama queen, and a well-spoken one at that. I’m going to really miss Barbossa in the sequel.
Speaking of well-spoken, the phrase "[send whoever to] Davy Jones' locker" annoys me and always has. It's so cheesy. However, Mullroy's infernal substitution, "send them down to see old Hobb," that I like. Partially, I think, because it hasn't been so brutally overused; "old Hobb" isn't a name one sees for the Devil very often these days (unless one lives in backwoods Appalachia, I suppose). And partially because it has such an easy, colloquial, folktale-y feel to it. Nice. I also liked Gibbs' line, "We need us a devil’s dowry." Gibbs has a way with a colloquial phrase.
Speaking of Gibbs... I still love his story about Jack's escape from marooning. It's all in the rhythms- "... there he waited three days and three nights 'til all manner of sea creature came and acclimated to his presence." Wonderful. And he loves an audience, any audience; at the lightest prod from Will he's off and storytelling, and he likely would have done the same with wee!Elizabeth and pirate tales if Norrington hadn't chased him away. Useful person to have on a ship.
Why do the pirates scream when they get stabbed? Habit? It's not like they feel it.
Speaking of pirates and pain... I wonder what sort of healing powers Barbossa's crew has. They must have something- they can't be killed but they can still be wounded, and since they aren't running around all full of slashes and holes, those wounds must heal somehow. So how does an undead body fix itself? That's one handy curse (aside from the whole undead issue, that is).
Oh, back to Norrington for a sec! He just swings over the side of the Dauntless (first, too- he leads his men from the front) and charges (collectedly) into battle. Against skeletons. Without a twitch or a hesitation. I just love him so.
Finally, Jack and the Black Pearl. They have a love theme! I wasn’t listening to the score when Jack first hears her cannons when he's in jail, since Johnny’s voice was too distracting ("I know those guns! It's the Pearl," with so much longing and love in his voice), but I first noticed it when he's describing to Elizabeth what she (the Pearl) means to him. He gets poetic, "That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails; that's what the ship needs. But what a ship is... what the Black Pearl really is... is freedom." Meanwhile, the score settles into a romantic passage that echoes the Will/Elizabeth theme from the "blacksmith's hands" scene, with a slightly darker tone and a bit of the heroic/pirate theme woven in (part of it turns up late in track 10 of the CD, "To the Pirates' Cave!" and again on the CD... someplace else. I'm blanking. Damn). The same romantic "Jack/Pearl" theme reappears briefly at the end, when the Pearl first sails into sight after Jack has tumbled off the fort walls. Gillett snarks, Jack treads water, and then the ship sweeps around the headland with love theme in tow. And then at the very end, Will and Elizabeth embrace as their love theme swells triumphantly... and we immediately, without changing music, shift to Jack swinging home onto the deck of his ship. The crew is happy, Jack's happy, the Pearl's happy, and the score modulates back into that quieter, slightly darker, slightly more pirate-y version of the love theme that we heard when Jack was rhapsodizing on the rumrunners' island. That version of the romantic theme plays while Jack finally, finally gets to touch his ship again, gradually transforming as Jack settles back into his rightful place and sings his "really bad eggs" ditty... and then we sweep into the credits back on the main heroic/pirate theme. You can hear most of this last series of modulations in track 14 of the CD, "One Last Shot" (with track 15 being a truncated version of the credit suite).
See? Even the score thinks they're in love. Now if I can just isolate out a theme for Barbossa and his apples...
You're Jack's hat. You're the CAPTAIN. You're a bit
battered, but you command respect
What part of Jack Sparrow's outfit are you? {Pirates of the Caribbean}
brought to you by Quizilla
Every time I take one of these quizzies, I end up as bossy or violent. How strange. But hey, the hat's cool, right? "Commodore Norrington, my effects, please! And my hat."
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-07 04:54 am (UTC)Still speaking of Elizabeth's fall... I really wonder what sort of closure is on her new London dress, the one that Jack tears down the front of the bodice to keep her from drowning.
Doesn't Jack pull a small knife? I could be wrong, I've seen it fewer times and am often slow on details.
Re Norrington love, you might want to read a friend of mine who loves gentlemen (http://www.livejournal.com/users/durberville/131666.html#cutid1).
I'm trying not to go yet again...*g*
(no subject)
Date: 2003-08-07 05:14 am (UTC)You should! It'd be good luck. You might win a secret prize. All the cool kids are doing it; you want to be cool, don't you? Wait, gimme a sec, I'll get a handle on this "corrupting through peer pressure" thing... *g*
Doesn't Jack pull a small knife? I could be wrong, I've seen it fewer times and am often slow on details.
He does when he gets rid of her corset, certainly. But I didn't see the knife when he ditched the dress (and I would guess that dealing with an unconscious girl, her voluminous skirts and a weapon while trying not to drown would be complicated, but then it's not like I've tried it). It's entirely possible I missed it, though. Guess I'll have to see it again. Gee, darn.
Certainly Jack gets to stroke the Black Pearl's wheel far more erotically than Will ever gets to stroke Elizabeth.
Heh, no kidding. Poor Will. Boy has a lot to learn, if he wants to keep up with someone like Elizabeth. She seems to have him soundly beaten in the comfortable physicality sweepstakes, his fencing skills notwithstanding.
Thanks so much for the link! Off to go read...