So many Sparrabethians have been heart broken over the latest installment of POTC that it's compelled me to write a more detailed analysis over why it is "not so bad" as Kraken phelgm when looked at from an analytical perspective. To preface the anaylsis, I'll say two things. First: J/E cannot be found in AWE except by those who already know where it is and second: I have a unique take on the film because I think it actually works better (in a heart-breaking, gut-wrenching way) if our two favorite pirates don't wind up together. With that:
The J/E relationship of DMC could NOT continue the same course in AWE:
The flirtaeous banter and outrageous double entendres were not meant to continue into AWE. From a long range telescope, there was only two directions the J/E relationship could have gone from its breaking point in DMC. Either, it could have faded away, which fortunately it didn't, or it could develop into a deeper admiration and MATURE love. DMC set up between Elizabeth and Jack a set of terms in which the characters essentially say they would only care for each other if they met said terms. By the end of DMC, they've met each other's terms: Jack has showed that he is a good man, Elizabeth that she is a pirate. They met each other's terms, but neither character understood how they had met the terms. Confused? Good!
While the audience knows that Jack's actions in returning to the Pearl were inherrently alturistic, Elizabeth does not. While the audience knows that Elizabeth's actions in sacrificing Jack to the Kraken were almost alturistic, Jack does not. This creates the conflict we see in AWE. They're still attracted to each other, but their misunderstanding has caused them to shift their priorities. This doesn't mean, however, that their similarities aren't discovered by the end of the film--AWE is very much about the journey of mature love and sometimes the greatest journey traveled is the distance between two people.
There is no mass conspiracy, nor was it ever shuffled underneath the rug...
The J/E moments in AWE are few, but are they ever potent! They're not showy, obvious moments that we're told ought to be "romantic", like a kiss in the middle of a battle field in which men are dying while the camera is rotating 360 degrees.
A few of the highlights include:
Puragtory:
While most people complained that the purgatory scene was lacking the key: a breeze, a gust, a kiss line, I thought the purgatory scene was as strong without it. There are plenty of other things that point to J/E and to the final outcome of AWE. Let's start with the way that the purgatory sequence opens: with a peanut. It seems harmless enough, but since nothing in film is ever arbitrary even if your main character is going "nuts", what does the peanut represent?
Someone suggested in an essay that in Purgatory, Jack is "starving" figuratively speaking. He's a man starving for the life that is within his reach but is prevented from obtaining. All he can find as means to sustain himself is a single peanut, which is in turn stolen by the symbolic legend: Captain Jack Sparrow. I believe this interpretation is correct. The Jack Sparrow who initially found the peanut is a man who is starving. I'd wager he is part of the whole man who wanted to reveal himself to Elizabeth as a good man, and who made the choices to sacrifice himself for others. I'm going to take it one step further to say that there is always something that eludes Jack: happiness and inner peace and it is represented by the peanut. Jack the man, wants to know what the peanut (or happiness) tastes like, but before he can, he's shot by his legend, the shadowy portion of himself known as Captain Jack Sparrow. Since the shot of Jack's tongue reaching for the peanut is so prominent, I really believe the line "I do want to know what it tastes like" is being called back with the shot. I'd say the happiness he seeks is with Elizabeth, but as we discovered in DMC, his image as Captain Jack Sparrow "shot down" the chances of Jack Sparrow the man. It's interesting that it is this same characterization that asks for help as he lies on the floor dying. Captain Jack Sparrow selfishly devours any chance of Jack's tasting happiness.
In DMC, the rum was "always gone", there's no reason why a peanut cannot replace that unattainable goal.
According to Tia Dalma: "purgatory is the worst punishment a man can bring upon himself". The sad irony of Jack's situation is that his punishment was wrought from the choices he made as a younger man that fed and fueled his alter ego while starving and killing his inner good man. His choice to pursue the Pearl and to sacrifice his honor for a false ideal was what led him to purgatory and it continues to stand in the way of his gaining what he wants most--including Elizabeth. Jack's punishment was brought upon himself for several reasons, but chief among them is "he locks his heart away". By refusing to trust others in the plans he creates and involves them in, he brings the punishment of purgatory upon himself.
Also to add to the significance of Jack's advances on the goat (other than it's hilarious), I'd say it might be a symbol for his being a scape goat. Someone noted once that Norrington's recieving the goat in DMC was symbolic of his being the scape goat of the series and I agree that Jack and Norrington share the same fate.
Of all the men in the series they are, ironically, the two most self-sacrificing characters. Sure, they make mistakes as humans do, but at the core, they're naturally alturistic. Jack's being chained to the mast of the Pearl, a punishment for the noble choice he made to save the crew and being sent to the depths for that choice earns him the goat in purgatory. Due to his previous actions and life long mistakes, he's a character on whom other character's can shift the blame.
I think a recent post by Ted mentions something about the way that Elizabeth condemns Norrington in the same way that she did Jack in DMC, only Norrington is allowed the chance to redeem himself in a way that Jack was not.
Also, you'll note that Jack's decision to give up his immortality and even Elizabeth at the end of the series was a choice reminiscent of Norrington's choice in COTBP.
Another observation: Jack's punishment in purgatory involves two punishments. The first is that he's forced to face himself and the different aspects of his personality. The second is that the Pearl is trapped in the middle of the desert without any sign of the sea. Not an obvious symbol, but when you think that he loves a woman as harsh and untameable as the sea, it takes on greater significance. In his love for Elizabeth he found new freedom not only for the Pearl, but for himself and all the warring aspects of his personality. Through his love for her, he allowed himself to reveal that he was a good man at the end of DMC. Since that man was rejected, and sent to purgatory for punishment, his good man is as much a prisoner there as the Pearl is without the sea and more importantly without Elizabeth.
It's interesting to note that it is only Elizabeth's presence and voice in purgatory that pulls Jack out of his hallucinations. I'd say that's indicative of the nature of their relationship. She is the voice of reason, and the only thing that keeps Jack from stepping over the edge. If you look at his final choice to give up the heart of Jones for Will, you could argue that it is she that prevents him from becoming the "cruel man" that Davy Jones implies that Jack Sparrow truly is. In other words, it is the sight of her suffering that prevents "Captain Jack Sparrow's" quest for immortality from consuming what human decency he has left.
Calypso and Jones
Most have surmised that the relationship of Calypso and Jones is meant to be compared to W/E. I've never agreed with that sentiment, merely from the way that Jones is described. When we're first introduced to Jones from Tia Dalma's perspective she calls him: "A great sea Captain who ran afoul of what vexes all men". The writers have always been very careful to note that Jack was 'vexed' by Elizabeth and like Jones, he too was a great sea Captain who became vexed. The descriptions of Jones have never resembled Will. Later, we find out that Jones was "a man once, until he became a monster". Based on my observations, I don't see how Will can possibly match that description. Even when he attempts acts of villainy, his motives are inherrently noble--every betrayal he makes is with the intention of saving his father. The same can be said of his betrayal of Elizabeth. Even before he had seen the kiss between J/E, his choice was to free his father from the Dutchman. He never really sacrificed his principles or his humanity for a woman.
Now, look at Jack's actions in Purgatory. We see two very different, human sides of Jack Sparrow in purgatory that are murdered by "Captain Jack Sparrow" in an act of brutal cruelty. In that sense, Captain Jack Sparrow has become the "monster" that has destroyed much of the good man that Jack Sparrow was and mostly because he believed that it was the actions taken by "good" Jack to reveal who he was to Elizabeth that Captain Jack Sparrow believes is "what got them into this mess in the first place."
In the prison cell, Calypso says that it has been torture for her to be bound in human form, and that while Jones is many things, he was never cruel. She also says that it was in her nature not to be at their meeting place at the ten year mark, and that Jones would not have loved her if she was anything less than what she is. Does this sound familiar? Elizabeth made the decision to chain Jack to the mast of the Black Pearl (which incidentally sounds like the offer Calypso first made to Jones with the Dutchman) and to leave him for Will, and Jack loved her all the more for it despite his best efforts not to.
I think this is where the similarities between Jones and Jack end. While Jones did not understand that it was in Calypso's nature to desire her freedom above all else (sound like Elizabeth's speech?), Jack comes to understand that he cannot tame Elizabeth. Jones never realized the similarities he shared with Calypso and how they both loved the sea with equal abandon. In that way, he never understood that those similiarites would be what would ultimately tear them apart.
Kettlefish and Shipwreck Cove
In Ted' most recent post, he points out that Jack's speech about the Kettle Fish actually explains why it is that he and Elizabeth cannot be together at the time. In his speech, Jack wisely points out to the Court that if they were to all hole up together, they would all be dead in a month. Pirates locked in close quarters do not survive--they kill each other. Jack acknowledges that Elizabeth is his equal pirate and since they were locked in close quarters with each other in DMC, the result was Jack's death. However, what Elizabeth lacked in DMC was an understanding of how Jack worked and the knowledge that sometimes to succeed, a person must do whatever is necessary. She didn't gain that perspective until after Jack's death. What was lacking between the two of them that ultimately culminates as a result of the Bethren Court meeting was a mutual trust. Elizabeth admitted in DMC that she trusted Jack, but after his betrayal of Will it appeared that the trust was not reciprocated and worse, was entirely misplaced.
Earlier in the film, it is Jack to council Will about the dangers of "locking his heart away from Elizabeth forever". I think it's possible that Jack took his own advice. At Shipwreck Cove, his vote to make her Pirate King establishes that he thinks of her as an equal and in many ways, a better leader and pirate than he is, and it also establishes (as Ted pointed out) that he trusts her to lead in his stead. For his plan to work, he knows that he must have someone he can trust unequivocably to lead the Black Pearl and the Pirate Lords. Jack is not a man who trusts lightly, given his past dealings with both Elizabeth and Barbossa--that she continually wins his trust is an admission of admiration beyond Will's declaration of love during the battle. Though the crack is small, Jack opens his heart to her in that moment and she recognizes that their trust in each other is finally mutual and that in a world of inequities in which she is a pawn, he sees her as his equal Captain.
It's also in Shipwreck Cove where we see yet another Jones/Jack parallel. Teague tells Jack: "it's not just about survival and living forever. It's about living with yourself forever". Jones made a choice after Calypso did not meet him, to bind her in human form and betray her to the pirate council. Will asks Jones: "after which betrayal did you cut out your heart?" We see that after Jones made the choice to bind Calypso, he was unable to live with himself for all eternity, and that is why he cut out his heart. This is tremendously important because it sets up Jack's choices for the remainder of the film.
Choice
I think it's important to recognize that as the writers have said, Elizabeth's choice of who she ends up with is not entirely her own. The nature of Will's proposal cements that she has no choice in the matter. When he proposes, he tells her he's "made his choice". He's given up his father to be with her, and pointedly asks her what her choice is. With that proposal, Elizabeth has no choice. If she had wanted to say no, she couldn't have done so--her acceptance of the proposal stands between Will and his stabbing the heart--a fate he does not deserve. This isn't to say that she doesn't love Will, but you'll notice that when he tells her that he loves her, she responds with nothing less than hesitation. I think this is a sign that while she's willing to marry Will to keep him out of trouble, her heart does in fact lie with Jack.
"A Lost Bird Who Never Learned to Fly..."
Jones has what is arguably the most memorable line of the series as pertaining to Jack Sparrow. He calls Jack: "a lost bird who never learned to fly." The line works on so many spine tingling symbolic levels its hard to decide how best to explain it. First, let's relate it to the events of purgatory and to the peanut of happiness. Due to the interference of 'Captain Jack Sparrow', it is true, Jack never learned to fly. If flying is symbolic of happiness, its true that Jack has never obtained the elusive peace. Since his persona was never whole, and the good man was starving or killed underneath the reign of Captain Jack Sparrow there was never a chance for the good man to soar as a united whole. More than likely, I think the line, as it comes from Davy Jones, pertains to Jack's inability to show love. As Jones views Jack as a man who is similar to himself, he assumes that like him, Jack lacks the heart to love others.
Through out much of the series, Jack has been lost. His compass stopped working, he didn't have posession over the navigational charts. He lacked a sense of purpose and direction with his life. Also, lost has more than one meaning. You can be lost in a physical sense, or you can be what's known as a 'lost cause'. I think the latter interpretation fits Jack's character nicely. To every one but Elizabeth, Jack is a lost cause, a man for whom there is no hope for redemption. In that, he is a lost bird who never learned to fly. However it is Jack himself who claims that "it is never too late to learn", which again, foreshadows the choice that sets him free, gives him purpose and allows him to fly.
I've said that Jones and Jack are similar but are not each other. Their paths are meant to mirror one another, but they differ in one key betrayal. In the scene in which Jack has to choose between stabbing the heart and gaining immortality for himself, or giving up the heart for Elizabeth's sake, Jones says: "you're a cruel man Jack Sparrow". This is another blatant call back to Calypso's line when she says: "You were many things Davy Jones, but you were never cruel." Jones believes that Jack will make the same choice that he made when he betrayed Calypso. However, Jack understands Elizabeth better than Jones understood Calypso. Jack is able to do what Jones could not, in that he is willing to set Elizabeth free, even if that means that her heart belongs to another man. He knows very well that he could not survive eternity having betrayed the woman he loved. The camera work sets up Jack's decision and that it's solely for Elizabeth's sake. He looks at the heart, then to the way that she sobs over Will's fallen body, then back to the heart one final time and his decision is made.
It is through his decision and his love for Elizabeth that the monster who was Captain Jack Sparrow is no longer. Notice that during the entirety of the rescue scene, the facade of Captain Jack Sparrow is dropped and his actions from this point forward are nothing but heroic. There is no slur to his speech, no strange kilter to his walk. The warring pieces of his personality unite and he finds the strength to fly in the most romantic scene of the entire movie.
Jack is only able to fly through Elizabeth's influence and it's only fitting that she fly with him. They are, in that moment temporarily set free by his decision and this is the first time we see them connect physically in a way that isn't sexual. It shows that their love has deepened and that they can take solace in each other's mere presence. He shows his compassion for her by resting his cheek against her head, and she rests her head against his heart--the man who seemed to have none, but proved that his heart was greater than any one else's, the blocking is not accidental. It's interesting that this is the only scene in which they're truly alone with one another, the only scene that had music not included on the soundtrack, and the only scene in which there is no dialogue and the only moment of peace, however bittersweet it may be. Remember that pirates are most honest when they say nothing at all.
Here's Looking at You, Pirate...
It's my summation that Elizabeth didn't realize that she loved Jack until it was too late. I don't think she understood the depth of her feelings for Jack until she had to say goodbye. Her choice of a farewell to him is interesting: she chooses a line of his from COTBP: 'Jack Sparrow, it would never have worked between us.' For starters, it's not a true good bye. She uses it in the same way that Jack did in the first film; they will in fact meet again. Also, it's interesting that this line in particular was chosen because they've switched roles. This time, it is the true pirate of the series, Elizabeth, to say it to the man who has always been a pirate, but has revealed himself to also be a good man. We all know that Jack's love of Elizabeth started when he left Port Royale, and I think the use of the line from COTBP sets up the same situation for Elizabeth. She realizes she loves him, but she's already promised to Will--her ship is sailing so to speak. Her choice has to be Will and Jack understands this. They cannot choose to be together because of how that will impact Will's future as COTFD. The Dutchman must always have a Captain, and the man must remain uncorrupted. In this way, Elizabeth must play her part, and since she is not Calypso, she will remain loyal to him, though her heart may belong elsewhere.
It's important to note small details in the farewell scene. For starters, her eyes rest first on Jack, but when he does not meet her gaze in his sadness, she chooses to say farewell to the others first, as though to steel herself. She worries needlessly because Jack is inherrently noble about the impossible situation they find themselves in. Rather than making it difficult, he prevents her from kissing him (which would have probably cemented their feelings) and sends her on her way with a loving grin and the idea that "it would have worked between them". It's interesting to note that after he prevents her from kissing him, she thanks him. While it seems as though she's thanking him for all that he's done, I think it's in response to his preventing her from making a mistake she can't afford to make. He allows her to save face and go to Will with a clearer conscience though her heart may in fact lie with Jack.
It's a classic Cassablanca ending with a pirates twist. While fate has separated them perhaps forever, they know in their hearts that they've changed and impacted each other's lives for the better, and that they'll always have the Rum Runners Island.
The End?
The ending of the film leaves much open to interpretation. Elizabeth goes to be with Will, and has only to meet him one day every ten years. The rest of her time is her own.
Meanwhile, Jack has returned to his ordinary self, or so it seems until he looses his ship. It is after he looses his ship, again, he seems to have a change of heart. He abandons his prior plans to sail into the sunset with a strumpet on each arm and continue his quest for immortaility with the navigational charts. Its interesting that he does not choose to go after the Pearl, and in light of the choices he made to obtain the Pearl (selling his soul to Jones), it's probably a hopeful sign that he allows Barbossa to have it; he's finally rid of a bond to a ship that made him a slave and cost him his soul.
He pulls out his compass, and it points behind him, as though to land. However, he finds that it points to rum. Notice that for the first time, Jack desire for rum is fulfilled. If you'll recall, Jack's line in DMC of "why is the Rum always gone" was a call back and a subtle hint of his thoughts of Elizabeth, only this time, he finally has the rum. It's interesting that after he takes a drink from the rum, his compass gives him a new heading, in the direction of what we think is the fountain of youth while he's singing 'drink up me hearties', the song that Elizabeth taught him that he loved.
The fountain of youth can have more than one meaning in this instance. There is the literal fountain of youth, an adventure that Jack may embark on to finally obtain immortality, or there is a hidden meaning. It's been stated that Jack failed to pass his piece of eight onto a successor. It is also stated that passing on is 'dead certain' and that 'being the last of anything' does not bear fruit.
I think it's interesting that they chose to close the movie with Elizabeth and her son, who is also singing 'drink up me hearties', with a hat that looks very similar to Jack's. This isn't to suggest that the child isn't Will's. I think they made that very clear, but whose to say that Jack's big adventure to the fountain of youth didn't result in his finding a successor in Young William Turner? It was implied that Elizabeth and Jack's paths would cross again. Jack could find immortality in helping Elizabeth to rear young Will, even if it is from a distance.
So, which story through out POTC has greater romantic substance? More importantly, is the third entry in the series AWE or AWWWWWW? That is left entirely up to interepation! Drink up me hearties!
Current Mood: accomplished
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