Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man's Chest by Grace + 2 Comments

Oooh, can you feel the anticipation! Tomorrow's the big day for At World's End! If only taking a look back at Dead Man's Chest didn't make me want to skip it completely...

Keira Knightley has gone on record saying that she felt she had more of a role in Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man's Chest, than she did in the previous Pirates film. On balance, this assessment is likely true. In Dead Man's Chest, Elizabeth Swann, Knightley's character, gets to do a lot more swashbuckling of her own than she did in Curse of the Black Pearl. However, it comes at such a high expense that I ended up finding Dead Man's Chest to be even more infuriating from the standpoint of heroine content than Curse of the Black Pearl was!

Sure, Elizabeth comes to her own, stowing away in a ship, visiting Tortuga, getting into sword fights, and blowing off Daddy's wishes to go try to find Jack on her own. However, everything she does comes with an undermining caveat. To stow away on the boats, she dresses up as a boy and much gender switch hilarity and homophobic joking ensues. Hahaha. At one point, in conversation with Jack (after she has already shown herself to be a competent swordswoman), she actually says, "You do know Will taught me how to handle a sword." Barf. Later, she finds herself faced once again the threat of sexual violence, swordless and being stared down by the lecherous and leering Pintel and Ragetti. Most horrendously, though, in the film's last big battle scene between the Pearl and Davy Jones' monster, Elizabeth has the important job of shooting a musket at some powder kegs at a key moment. Jack has disappeared. Jack returns, and rather than shooting the kegs herself, Elizabeth gives the gun to Jack and then (literally) cowers at his feet while he shoots. I really wish I could find a still picture of it, as it illustrates the problem with Elizabeth's character perfectly.

Sadly, though, Elizabeth isn't the worst of it. Though the only other female character, Tia Dalma (played by Naomie Harris) is a completely stereotypical sorceress/witch and is infuriating, it isn't even gender that is the biggest issue in this film. Nope, the big issue is the incredible racism.

In an effort to get out of the open water as soon as possible to avoid Davy Jones, Jack and his crew dock on an island filled with cannibal savages. A big chunk of the film takes place on this island, where hilarity and mayhem ensues as Jack, who these "natives" think is some sort of god and are going to release from human form by roasting and eating him, tries to escape his fate. The rest of the crew, as well as Will, is meantime also trying to escape, from cages made of human bones. It's 20 or so minutes of jokes about these horrible aboriginals (all with dark skin, of course) who eat people and talk funny and paint extra eyes on Jack's face. Marc at I Am NOT The Beastmaster called this part of the film, "dull, disturbing, and completely unnecessary," and I completely agree. This type of humor is such an unwelcome throwback that it's almost but not quite shocking it was included this way. Note to Gore Verbinksi: this is so, so not OK. (For some excellent posts on this, see Ally Work, The Angry Black Woman and Gardner Hill.)

And the racism doesn't even end with the cannibals. Tia Dalma, the witch/sorceress character, just happens to be black (and have something that looks like ink all over her mouth--what was that about?). Of her, S. A. Bonasi noted:

Tia Dalma is definitely in "Magical Negro" territory. She's overly willing to help the white characters, often for a smaller price than one might expect and even after Jack steals from her. She is exploited by the white characters, and the film offers no criticism for this. Rather, it's intended to be funny. White people ripping off a black woman who is helping them? Totally hilarious! [/sarcasm]

Furthermore, there was the treatment of Dalma's sexuality. Hey, I'm all for sexuality. If it was just Dalma lusting after Will and Jack, I'd call her an honorary fan and be done with it. My problem is that her sexuality was also treated as a joke. The film made it perfectly clear that there was no way that Jack nor Will would actually be romantically interested in her. A Black woman thinking she is sexually/romantically desirable? Hahahaha! [/more sarcasm]

Exactly.

At the beginning of the film, the members of Jack's crew who are least "with him" are mostly men of color, while the loyal one is white. And on and on it goes.

This is all unacceptable, and I expect more. The Pirates films, especially this second one, are a great example of how being conscious of sexism and racism in films can make bad films less enjoyable. If I'm not thinking critically, I can say I like these movies--they are fun and cute and Johnny Depp is fantastic. However, the minute I start to look the least bit hard at them, they totally fall apart. I believe we can do better. I believe it's possible to make a movie with the same amount of fun without the racist and sexist tripe getting in the way. And I hope Pirates 3 is better. But I have to tell you, I'm not holding my breath.

More Commentary:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest by scarlett at The Hathor Legacy
• My Favorite Part of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest by Revena at The Hathor Legacy

Posted by Grace in 1 Star: Typical