5-25-21

Pirates have always intrigued my son. When he was in kindergarten, to celebrate the first hundred days of school, he had to do a project in which he was asked to present one hundred of an object of his choice. He chose pirates. We bought bags full of kiddie plastic pirate coins. I then helped him find the names of one hundred famous pirates — both historical and fictional. We printed the names of the pirates and helped our son cut them out and glue them onto the plastic coins. He loved rattling off the names, and as he got older, through reading and watching various documentaries, he started learning the stories behind those pirates. One of which was Long John Silver, arguably the most famous fictional pirate of all times, until Disney introduced Jack Sparrow. 

This year, when I decided to homeschool my son, he asked if we could please read Treasure Island. There was no way I was going to say no. So much of the way we — as a society — have romanticized the Golden Age of Piracy can be attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson. And sure enough, while reading the book, my son started identifying similarities between Treasure Island and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. His excitement over these similarities shaped the essay I asked him to write. Writing, after all, is always more fun when you can write about what interests you. But first, even more appealing to my son than writing about something fun, was being assigned movies to watch for homework. My intention was to watch Pirates of the Caribbean with him, but alas, I disappointed him when I fell asleep — on each of the movies. I tried, but while my son thinks Jack Sparrow is fantastic, I have never been a fan. And the zombie pirates, sorry, they are too out there for me. Too far beyond the realm of believable. But the movies still rank as some of my son’s favorites, and if Jack Sparrow prompted my son to want to read an adventure classic, well, I guess Sparrow is good for something.

Enjoy G3’s essay:

Pirates: From Long John Silver to Barbossa and Jack Sparrow

Ever since I was young, I was captivated by the lore and the myths of pirates. I researched them, watched movies, and even got into a fight with my kindergarten teacher that they still existed. She said they didn’t exist anymore. I said they did, in and around Africa. I was right. My family had watched Captain Philips with Tom Hanks which was about Somali pirates. In Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow always made me laugh when I watched him. One day in kindergarten, when every one said they wanted to be teachers when they grew up, I said I wanted to be a pirate. I always took pride in wanting to be something different. One night, when I was little, I read the entire kids version of Treasure Island and I loved it. This year, I have just read the real Treasure Island, and I will talk about how Pirates of the Caribbean got ideas from Treasure Island. Even though the ideas seem minute, they still originated from Treasure Island. In the following paragraphs, I will talk about the similarities in TreasureIsland and Pirates of the Caribbean.

I will now talk about the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie which was The Curse of the Black Pearl. In Treasure Island, you hear the drinking song that is sung mostly by Billy Bones, “FIFTEEN MEN ON A DEAD MANS CHEST, YO-HO-HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM.” Pirates of the Caribbean has many drinking songs such as, “A pirates life for me.” This shows how fictional pirates through the years are pictured as drunken men singing songs. Another connection/idea is Jim Hawkins learning about piracy from Long John Silver. This is translated to Will Turner getting his knowledge of pirates from Jack Sparrow, almost like an apprentice and master. Captain Barbossa marooned Jack Sparrow like Long John Silver marooned Benn Gunn. When this happened, both Sparrow and Gunn got a little crooked in the head. We learn that Silver had a parrot named after Captain Flint, maybe that is why Barbossa’s monkey is named after Jack Sparrow. Both pets were named after famous pirates. The final connection between Treasure Island and Curse of the Black Pearl is Long John Silver had one leg just like Barbossa. But don’t misjudge them. Even with one leg, both men are fierce and get up on the wrong side of the bed.

In the sequels, I see less similarities between the stories, almost as if the producers got more confidante in their knowledge of pirates. In the second movie, we hear Mr. Gibbs singing “Fifteen men on a dead mans chest.” This is the same drinking song Billiy Bones sings. Speaking of Bones, when he got the black spot it meant Flint’s men were coming to take the map which lead to the treasure. Jack Sparrow also gets the black spot warning him that Davy Jones is coming. Billy Bones also keeps the key to his chest around his neck like how Davy Jones keeps the key to his chest around his neck. “Dead Man’s Chest” is in the song which is in the book. It also refers to Davy Jones’s chest. Davy Jones’s locker is the bottom of the sea where sailors rest in peace. The mutineers in Treasure Island talk about this multiple times. This is also where Jack Sparrow goes at the end of this movie.

As I said before, in the last three movies of this series, the similarities become less frequent. I will combine the last three movies — AtWorld’sEnd, OnStrangerTides, Dead Men Tell No Tales — into this paragraph. In, AtWorlds End each pirate lord has a piece of eight. This is exactly what Captain Flint squawks in the chapter “Pieces of Eight.” In Treasure Island, they mention Black Beard and how he is weak compared to Captain Flint. In OnStrangerTides Black Beard is a main character. Long John Silver says, “Dead men don’t bite. This is pretty much the same thing as in the fifth movie. The tittle is called, DeadMenTellNoTales.

So these are my reasons as to why I think Pirates of the Caribbean got its ideas from TreasureIsland. I just regret not getting my mother to like these movies.