Anyone else dislike how Disney glorifies "Pirates"?

[QuidditchChick07]

Convictions has nothing to do with it. If we're going to be that way, we all might as well live in a cement block with no windows and eat only lettuce that we grow ourselves indoors so no bugs can get to it, etc etc etc.

Oh wait...cement would kill the grass it sits on. Nevermind.

Again, people need to stop being so sensitive and remember how to balance fiction vs reality, imho.

 

[phinz]

Seems to me that if we want to look for the culprit it would have to start with Robert Louis Stevenson and the books that he wrote. Treasure Island, later brought to the big screen to show pirates as misunderstood, hard working sea fairing folks. Didn't start with Disney.

If you're saying that the original Treasure Island by RLS showed the pirates as misunderstood, hard-working, seafaring folks, then you need to go back and read it again. The pirates in Treasure Island are awful people. Long John Silver is terrible. Billy Bones is a drunken mess who reneges on his bills. Blind Pew is cruel and violent. Flint is a murderer. Israel Hands tries to murder Jim Hawkins. They are *not* portrayed as misunderstood in any sense of the word.

 

[Stratus22]

I'm going to get my popcorn and wait and see how this is all going to end.

 

[lbus42]

Yea but you have good knights and bad knights but not sure there were good pirates.

Don't know if they were good or not, but England employed pirates during their war with Spain during Elizabeth I rule. Some of the more notable ones were Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake. Note that they have "Sir" in their titles. They were knighted because of their service to the crown.

 

[lbus42]

Also, Knights were not military in today's sense of the word, not the crusade era knights whom I am referencing. They were mostly the aristocracy, wealthy landowners.

Up until recent times this was the norm. Only wealthy people could generally afford to raise an army. Think Roman Counsels who were also Generals and Kings who raised armies to invade other lands. Even in modern times you can say this still happens. Many countries still conscript people into their military.

 

[SgtTibbs]

While we're at it we could also explore the "Noble savages" myth in Pocahontas? Or the samurai from Mulan. Or the real circle of life from the lion king, (or what happened to Bambi's mum)

They'll learn all that stuff later.

Or what happened to Nemo's Dad, err I mean Mom.

 

[RedSox68]

No, it doesn't bother me. I much prefer DCL's simple enjoyment of the pirate stuff to the over-analyzing of possible social messages it might subconsciously send.

THIS. Thank you.

 

[RedSox68]

Or what happened to Nemo's Dad, err I mean Mom.

What is it with Disney movies that in most of his movies all the Moms are dead or get killed? Did the man have an unhappy childhood.

 

[pjpoppins]

This is funny.

 

[FigmentSpark]

What is it with Disney movies that in most of his movies all the Moms are dead or get killed? Did the man have an unhappy childhood.

He never got over the fact that his mom died in a fire in the house he bought for her. He loved her very much, but had issues losing his mom. Hence the 'moving on without mom' theme.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

There are pirates of all different kinds all over the world, and still exist today. The pirates that Disney portray in its entertainment are the Pirates of the Caribbean circa early 1700s. While there are many reasons they came about, some of the leaders/captains of those pirates were acting as privateers and paid by the Crown to antagonize the Spanish. There was also an large element of them that were trying to organize a rebellion to the Hanoverians that took the throne in the early 1700s, and they were doing so out of a sense of patriotism to the old line rule in England.

Of course there were some bad apples, thieves, murderers, rapists, etc., as there are in all civilizations, but they were not all that way. And yes, it was a brutal time. That was just a reality of that time period in history. Life was not as comfortable as we have it now.

There was a code they generally followed. In fact, the Pirates of the Caribbean operated like a republic and the seat of their power was Nassau. They actually did treat everyone equally for the most part and black and white people, served together as a crew. Some of the pirate ships attacked slave trading ships and freed slaves held on board and took the money/treasure aboard.

So for the pirates we are talking about that are subject of the Disney pirates, I would hardly equate them to ISIS. Not even close.

 

[RedSox68]

He never got over the fact that his mom died in a fire in the house he bought for her. He loved her very much, but had issues losing his mom. Hence the 'moving on without mom' theme.

I did not know that. That would be a hard one to get over.

 

[SgtTibbs]

What is it with Disney movies that in most of his movies all the Moms are dead or get killed? Did the man have an unhappy childhood.

I was referring to the fact that in the wild, With the loss of his mom, Nemo's dad would have changed sex to become his mom and Nemo would have mated with her.

 

[EASchechter]

You can thank Daniel Defoe, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Hollywood for the romanticism of pirates --

Daniel DeFoe started it in 1724 with the publication of A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates. It painted pirates as misunderstood heroes, and was hugely popular in Great Britain.

Gilbert and Sullivan gave us the Pirates of Penzance -- lovable goofballs who just want to be loved in return, and who all reform at the end thanks to the love of a good woman.

Then... Hollywood. Captain Blood really started the romantic pirate image on the big screen, with no little thanks there to Errol Flynn. There have been dozens of pirate movies since then, all the way up to Pirates of the Caribbean, and all of them following that old romance trope of "the bad boy who can be redeemed."

 

[ironz]

I'm fine with Disney's cleaned-up, fantasy rendering of Pirates. It's all in good fun.
If DCL cruised the eastern coast of Africa, however, there would be a different situation. My brother has shown me photos of his ship on part of a world cruise in that region in which the ship put up concertina wire and readied water cannons, as precautionary methods for several days. So, yes, the cruise industry, on a wider scale, does acknowledge the true pirates.

 

[kariandy6698]

Lighten up, folks. Let kids have fun without looking for reasons to be offended by disney version of pirates.

 

[EASchechter]

Oh, and here's a fun fact about the Golden Age of Piracy.

Pirates called each other "Matey," right?

Matey comes from the French word "matelotage." It means seamenship, but among pirates it became a term for a recognized and formal union between two men. It was basically a civil union -- those recognized in matelotage were responsible for each others debts, and inherited the property of the other in case of death.

It wasn't necessarily a case of equal rights, though. It was "we're breaking the law anyway, might as well go all in."*

*(Yes, I *know.* The only other option I could think of was "go all the way." which is just as bad!)

 

[godde8ss]

I did not read thru all the posts here, but let's not say Disney holds the torch for glorifying Pirates, or any other character with a less than savory past. I live in Tampa, and we have a whole month dedicated to the Pirate, which includes three parades. We give a Key to the city to the Pirates each year as they "invade the city". All in good fun...

 

[EASchechter]

I did not read thru all the posts here, but let's not say Disney holds the torch for glorifying Pirates, or any other character with a less than savory past. I live in Tampa, and we have a whole month dedicated to the Pirate, which includes three parades. We give a Key to the city to the Pirates each year as they "invade the city". All in good fun...

Saint Augustine does the same. And so, I think, does Baltimore.

 

[jrabbit]

for the most part I don't believe that most who are posting here are "offended" by Disney's Pirates - or anything else.

I fully believe that Children should be allowed and encouraged to explore fantasy ... and as they get older, learn more of the "real world facts" of the various subjects. And Adults should not loose the capability to enjoy fantasy and escapism - it's a real world coping mechanism.

Halloween and Harry Potter are not to be feared!! If you have strength in your faith and convictions - escaping for a short time into fantasy will not destroy you or your children's faith and beliefs.

Again Age Appropriate is key!!

Last word (for now) ... Santa Clause