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freedom-in-the-dark · 11 months

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A Fight Taken To Heart: How Edward Teach Became a Queer Ally in Honor of Charles Vane

This piece was originally written for the fantastic @blacksailszine, which unfathomably came out over a year ago (and you should check it out if you haven't!). Somehow, I managed to procrastinate posting this here for that long, which is asinine. Especially because I'm actually very proud of it!!!

The news about Ray Stevenson today has me emotional (of course) and thinking again about how his performance as Blackbeard had a great impact on me. In his honor, it feels like a fitting day to finally share my tribute to his character on this blog.

Without further ado... please enjoy my meta below 🖤

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The first time we see Edward Teach’s eyes, they’re framed in a mirror with a heart carved above it. Within the context of a scene designed to convey that Teach is a figure who commands fear and respect, this seems to be a curious choice for an introductory shot. Yet, much like many details placed throughout Black Sails’ meticulous narrative, the mirror’s design is poetic in hindsight because Teach’s heart was his ultimate motivation.

Over the course of multiple scenes, the first half of season 3 introduces us to both the pillars of who Teach is as a character and the primary characteristics of his relationship with Charles Vane. Taken as a whole, the picture painted of Teach’s presence in the story is that he acts as a metaphor for heterosexuality, toxic masculinity, and tradition. We learn that Teach had nine wives over the course of eight years, at least partially because he is motivated by the desire for a son. He glorifies strength above weakness, and he defines strength as superior physicality, independence, and sufficient leadership. He reminisces about the original state of Nassau in his youth, in which the standard was an enforced masculinity, powered by the notion that “one had to prove his worth.” And as he says to Vane and Jack in 3x02, in his view,

“You have taken away the one thing that made Nassau what it was. You have given her prosperity. Strife is good. Strife makes a man strong.”

Upon his introduction, Teach sees only the small picture of Nassau, not its place in the bigger picture of the world. He looks upon a Nassau rich in monetary plunder, preparing to come to its own defense or go to war, and he sees the ease in which men can typically join any crew as a marker of a lack of conflict. What he fails to take into account is that the primary strife now originates externally rather than internally because it is the strife of oppression, and that the solidarity that results from that strife creates its own version of strength.

”Why are you so determined to defend Nassau?” he asks Vane in 3x02, because the island is no longer anything special to him. “A lion keeps no den,” he tells Vane in 3x05, “Because the savanna, all the space within it. . . belongs to him.” Teach is not beholden to Nassau for haven or home, because he was able to assimilate into civilization whenever he had cause or desire. He married multiple women, flew under the British flag, and even spoke their “language” of flag codes (3x10). While Teach is certainly a pirate, it is by choice rather than survival.

As a result, he cannot understand the importance of true solidarity amongst the oppressed–and thus, Nassau’s defense–because he’s never needed it, as a straight white man who’s never been limited by oppression. And because this is a narrative where piracy is arguably a metaphor for queerness, filled with characters who do not have the luxury or desire to play by civilization’s rules, Teach sticks out upon his entrance. It’s also partially why he’s initially framed in an antagonistic light; he is not “with them,” and therefore, he is “against them” by default in some capacity.

The exception, of course, is his bond with Vane. Teach is one of many characters motivated by the desire to leave a legacy; as he says in 3x03, “There is an instinct to leave behind something made in one’s own image.” In his case, this manifests as his desire for a son–but he saw parenthood as an opportunity to mold and form another man to be his reflection. Teach wanted Vane to be a copy of him, but Vane never was, and it’s the primary source of the conflicts between them.

Teach had no love lost for Nassau, and so he calls it a “burden” on Vane, while Vane insists that he is “committed to it” and Jack by extension (3x03). Teach scoffs at the idea of such loyalty, deriding and discounting Vane and Jack’s relationship, casting aspersions on Jack’s character in the process–even as Teach demands to receive such loyalty from Vane himself. It’s evident that Teach doesn’t understand core aspects of Vane’s personality and motivations, but Vane is unequipped to explain himself to him.

This is partially because Vane initially doesn’t understand his own motivations either, especially in the face of his father figure’s disapproval. His inner struggle is exemplified in how he’s torn between allegiance to Teach, or allegiance to the rebellion for Nassau’s independence and his people caught in the fight. Flint summarizes Vane’s internal conflict by bringing it to light for him in 3x06:

“They took my home. I can’t walk away from that. Can you? Forget me, forget Teach, forget loyalty, compacts, honor, debts, all of it. The only question that matters is this: Who are you?”

It is not insignificant that a gay man says this to Vane. The struggle of finding oneself is inherently queer as a framing device, especially in the context of a narrative where piracy and freedom are pursued by the marginalized. The fact that wrestling with identity is the defining point in Vane’s arc implies that the answer exists beyond the bounds of what others would ascribe to him. Straight people–particularly in regards to Black Sails’ main cast of characters–are not faced with this question.

And various players do try to ascribe an identity to him. Teach tells Vane that he’s a lion, while the Spanish soldier calls Vane a fellow sheep (3x05); Eleanor lists Vane as the antithesis to civilization (3x01) and calls him an “animal” to his face (3x09). Yet even up to his end, though civilization and history would paint him differently, Vane’s motivations were always painfully human. Vane was driven by emotions on a deeper level than most recognized, and by desire for two primary things: freedom and honest loyalty.

Vane felt empathy for the unfree, and he was defined by wanting to avoid living in chains again at all costs–literally or metaphorically. He explicitly compared the fear that slaves face to the wider struggle of the pirates on Nassau (3x01), and the fear they feel as they sit on “Spain’s gold on England’s island,” expecting a retaliatory response. Vane feared subjugation or submission at the hands of any person or power, considering it a fate worse than death; to him, “no measure of comfort [was] worth that price” (3x08). His manifesto was “side with me. . . and we’ll keep our freedom,” and he said he was “[a man] who would die before being another man’s slave again” (2x06), which became his ultimate fate.

Pursuing freedom defined both Vane’s life and death, but it was not an abstract concept. It was freedom to a purpose: freedom from expectation; to make his own choices; to define home as he saw fit; and, crucially, to surround himself with honest people who provided mutual loyalty and respect without subterfuge or manipulation. This is why Jack, who knew him best and cared for him most, called Vane a “good man” and summarized him this way in 4x07:

“He was the bravest man I ever knew. Not without fear, just unwilling to let it diminish him. And loyal to a fault. And in a world where honesty is so regularly and casually disregarded…”

Vane exhibited and sought both honesty and loyalty. It was also how he expressed his love, and the way he wanted love to be expressed to him in return. That is partially why Eleanor so effectively acted as his downfall: he repeatedly trusted her, but she could not or would not be loyal to him. By contrast, as he told Teach in 3x02, Vane found loyalty and commitment in Jack–and in Anne by extension.

So while “a lion keeps no den,” as Teach said, what a lion does keep is a pride. A lion may be free to roam, but it does so with a family. Teach did not begin to understand the significance of that to Vane until after Vane gave his life not only in the name of freedom, but also in defense of his family and home.

This turns Teach’s earlier question of “Why are you determined to defend Nassau?” into the unspoken question of Why did Charles Vane willingly die to defend Nassau and those who are fighting for it?

When Teach called Nassau–and, to some extent, Vane’s partnership with Jack–a “burden,” Vane tried to explain to him that wasn’t the case. At the time, Teach didn’t listen. He gave Vane an ultimatum: I’ll help protect these people, but you have to leave them, their cause, and your “commitment” behind.

Teach thought leaving all of that behind was freedom, and it was a definition of freedom he thought that he and Vane shared, referring to the two of them as being “of the same mind” (3x05). But Vane was unable to leave his people or their fight behind, because that’s not what freedom meant to him. For Teach, freedom meant solitary independence; for Vane, freedom came to mean solidarity (3x09):

“Because they know that my voice, a voice that refuses to be enslaved, once lived in you. And may yet still. They brought me here today to show you death and use it to frighten you into ignoring that voice. But know this. We are many. They are few. To fear death is a choice. And they can't hang us all.”

After Vane’s death, Teach listens. In the absence of being able to listen to Vane directly, he does the next best thing: he goes to the people Vane valued most and died to protect. In the name of the mutual interest of revenge, he listens to Vane’s family.

At first, Teach obviously thinks Jack and Anne are both weird–to use a different word, he thinks they’re both queer–and he makes that clear in underhanded comments. Neither Jack nor Anne fit into the boxes of “man” or “woman” in the traditional senses that Teach is most accustomed to valuing. He doesn’t understand why Vane would align with them and their cause above all else, or why Vane would be loyal to them and value their unconditional loyalty in return. But Teach seemingly knows that if he can get to know them, then perhaps he can understand what Vane saw in them, and–in turn–learn more about Vane as well. Vane lives on in pieces of them, and so it is upon listening to them that Teach ends up indirectly listening to Vane one last time.

In a discussion spurred by Anne’s concerns, Jack and Teach debate the merits of murdering Eleanor Guthrie or chasing Woodes Rogers, and they bond over their shared understanding and memory of Vane’s “distrust of sentimentality” (4x02). They can chase an empty version of revenge in the name of justice, fueled by emotion... or they can fight to win the war of resistance that Vane gave his life to incite. Between the two of them and their shared grief, and in an echo of Vane’s internalized arc, they find that the only question that matters is this: Who was Vane, and what mattered to him most? They both discover they already know the answer.

For Teach, acknowledging that answer involves fully accepting that Jack and Anne were the family that Vane chose, that the rebellion for Nassau’s freedom was personal enough to Vane that he died for it, and that this is a fight which holds value and necessity that Teach initially misunderstood.

Teach is straight, and his views on masculinity are not fully incompatible with the ones civilization enforces. Oppressive powers hold no true threat for him, because he is capable of assimilation; he could leave Nassau and thus the rebellion for its freedom behind. He always planned to. But after the sacrifice of the man he considered a son, he chooses to become an ally in the fight against white supremacy, and an explicit supporter of Jack and Anne–the queer found family that Vane prioritized, and died to protect.

Teach always thought he was molding Vane into his own image, but the reverse became oddly true instead: Teach allies with the cause, gives his life for it, and indirectly protects Jack and Anne with his final moments, echoing and honoring Vane’s sacrifice.

Woodes Rogers expected to keelhaul Teach into submission by default, through torture no man should have been able to repeatedly survive. But to fear death–to submit to death on anything other than one’s own terms–is a choice. A pirate’s fear is an opponent’s victory; Vane and Teach both knew that, and embodied it. Teach’s unwillingness to let fear diminish him or to be broken by Rogers was largely the result of his own principles and hard-won defiance, but it was also the only reason Jack and Anne narrowly avoided the same fate.

It aligns poetically: in the final months of his life, Teach’s actions were motivated by old shifting shrapnel lodged in his chest and the beating of his heart, which he referred to as “a grim little timepiece” (3x06). And “the louder that clock [ticked]”–the more the shrapnel moved, and the closer his end became–the more inclined he was to pursue happiness and purpose (3x01).

Ultimately, he was keelhauled 3 times, and then he was shot.

For Charles–tick.

For Jack–tick.

For Anne–tick.

And for Nassau–

Boom.

How fitting.

After all, Edward Teach always expected that his heart would bring about his end.

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If you'd like to read more of my meta about this show, here are the other pieces I've written:

• Black Sails, Queer Representation, and the Valid Canonicity of Subtext

(I should crosspost that to tumblr at some point ^)

• The Flinthamilton Reunion Is Definitely Real

• James Flint Is Gay

And my pinned post on Twitter @/gaypiracy has a collection of the shorter posts / writing I inadvisably did on there.

Don't forget to check out the Black Sails Zine for a variety of incredible work :)

#black sails meta #edward teach #blackbeard #charles vane #black sails #edward teach meta #this is mostly going to get seen and scrolled past by people who are into that Other Show now isn't it? probably lol #vanerackham #what on earth is the trio's quasi ship name?#vanerackhambonny #fuck it I don't know #charles vane meta #my meta #okay I'm done. but in all seriousness I'm still very proud of this piece of writing!!!!#thank you to Ray Stevenson for all that he gave us by playing Teach with such gravitas and depth. RIP to a wonderfully talented man

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alwaysbemybae · 1 year

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"The Thing" in Black Sails

Black Sails S3E7 and S3E8 make a number of references to “the thing.”

Silver says he sensed Flint’s “terror at the thing [Flint was] becoming.” Madi speaks to Silver about her restraint: “So I will fight this thing rising up in me eager to see more blood spilled today.” Eleanor calls Charles “the thing sitting in the cell in your fort.”

Flint and Madi recognize and acknowledge “the thing” inside them demanding vengeance and bloodshed. This acknowledgment enables them to manage their “thing.” Eleanor externalizes the thing. To her, the thing is outside her; it is the animal that is Charles Vane.

Eleanor does not recognize the thing in her. But even as she appears to become more “feminine” and “civilized,” that thing becomes even stronger in her, the thing demanding vengeance and bloodshed. And that is one of the main messages of Black Sails: that civilization makes the Thing into its external other, but civilization is in fact itself the Thing.

(We see this also with Woodes Rogers overseeing the absolute brutality of keelhauling in the name of civilization. )

#black sails #james flint #captain flint #john silver #charles vane #madi scott #eleanor guthrie #black sails meta

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heycarrots · 2 years

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Recently, I read a comment that Flint “barely won” the fight with Singleton and . . . I’ve got some thoughts.

Previously, I talked about how we initially view Flint mainly through the eyes of the crew in season one and it’s absolutely most applicable in the series premiere. We don’t even get a glimpse of “James” until he collapses inside Miranda’s door at the end of the second episode. Up until then, we are deliberately fed not lies, exactly, but deliberate misdirection. Twice during the first season, we are tossed into the story through the eyes of a newcomer like a cat tossed into a bathtub.

First, we see the story from Silver’s perspective. Granted, we have NO idea what his history is, but as brand new baby viewers, ourselves, (on our first watch, that is, because who the hell stops at a single viewing?) Silver is the perfect cypher to dress up in our own naïveté. So that bathtub that our Silver kitten gets tossed into is INSTANT unrest and a failing captaincy with no real power left, grasping at control like sheafs of paper caught and scattered on the wind. The second time, we see it through Dufresne’s first boarding. Both times, we are wrong about the character of the cat in the tub.

In this first instance, we are meant to doubt Flint’s cunning and even more, we’re meant to doubt his strength. We’re all familiar with the Gregory MaGuire effect (even if you don’t think you are). MaGuire wrote Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Son of a Witch and many more. Basically, he flips well known stories on their heads and repaints the protagonists in slightly less flattering lights, giving deeper, more human motivations to the stories antagonists.

We’re meant to expect that here. Jumping on the Oz example, we’re meant to find that the legendary Flint, casting such long shadows over the story of Treasure Island, is in essence, a little old snake oil salesman behind a curtain.

That’s our setup going into this duel. We’re supposed to think this elaborate facade of smoke and mirrors is finally going to collapse, revealing Flint to be incompetent.

So let’s take a look at the fight Flint “barely” won.

We see him flipping tables in his cabin just prior to the fight. He’s just learned he doesn’t have the votes, due to Vane’s murderous intervention. He’s frustrated because he doesn’t yet have a plan.

I’ve seen speculation about him finding the feather in the wreckage and this proves that he notices every little thing out of place. Sure, Flint is fastidious and detail oriented, but we also, if you recall, saw him carefully placing that feather with the log book in the drawer. It’s a security measure to know if someone comes snooping. So he finds the feather and knows that someone who was onboard the Walrus knows about the page, so he immediately formulates a plan. He’s gonna frame Singleton for the theft of the page. He decides right then.

*edited to add: I’m 100% sure he knows Singleton is NOT the one with the page. It’s likely Singleton can’t read, which Flint would be well aware of, perhaps not just as a member of his crew, but as someone who is challenging him for the captaincy. He knows whoever DID steal the page can read, because they came back to look at the log to read it for context clues. He gets all this from that feather. Flint is openly declaring Singleton to be a thief in front of the whole crew to force the hand of the real thief, hoping the fear of retaliation would press him to more quickly try to move on it or, as Silver does, attempt to get the hell outta Dodge.

So, stepping out on deck, he’s had zero contact with Singleton, which means the blank page is folded up somewhere on his person. At the end of the fight, we see him take the page out of Singleton’s pocket. He doesn’t search him, hoping to find something, he goes right for it.

He wasn’t “losing the fight”, he was allowing Singleton to get in close enough that he could plant the page in his coat pocket while still managing to not die, so stealthily, that the entire crew, watching the fight, wouldn’t see it happen.

Flint wasn’t a weaker fighter than Singleton. We see clearly his technique is far superior from the very first parry, he just needed time to plant the page. I’ve seen a lot of commentary on this fight and no one seems to really get this. It wasn’t just a fight, it was a deliberate misdirect, one choreographed to the audience in Flint’s interaction with Billy.

Flint: “The men think I’m . . .”

Billy: “Too weak?”

Flint: “I was gonna say unlucky.”

In conclusion, Flint could’ve taken Singleton out immediately, but chose not to.

#black sails #captain flint #toby stephens #james flint #john silver #long john silver #treasure island #black sails meta #wizard of oz #gregory maguire #the man behind the curtain #singleton #fencing #dual #mutany #Charles Vane #Billy Bones

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mxmollusca · 2 years

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Stede Bonnet deserves a ho phase. He needs to be rejected by Ed and then go try to fill the void with every season 2 guest star with a beard (including Jemaine Clement as Bartholomew Roberts and Richard Ayoade as Charles Vane) only to be rehabilitated by lesbian power couple Anne Bonny and Mary Read (played by Maya Rudolph and Rima Te Wiata respectively). Get David Jenkins on the phone 'cause our boy needs to bang his way across the Caribbean post haste.

#stede bonnet #blackbonnet #edward teach #rhys darby #jemaine clement #richard ayoade #maya rudolph #rima te wiata #anne bonny #mary read #charles vane #bartholomew roberts #taika waititi #our flag means death #ofmd meta #my meta

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myblacksailstales · 2 years

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Just re-watched 3x09 and noticed that the relationship between Eleanor and Vane is like a twisted version of The Beauty and the Beast.

In the fairy tale, the Beast captures the father; the daughter willingly takes his place and becomes a prisoner of the Beast instead. In time, she learns to love the Beast (which psychologists interpret as her learning to accept and humanize her own sexuality -- the "bestial", instinctive part of her self) and consequently, the Beast is transformed into a handsome prince.

In the case of Vane and Eleanor, the beast captures the father (Richard). The father offers to deliver his own daughter to the beast, to sacrifice her in order to save himself. The beast refuses and kills the father. The daughter refuses to believe that her own father betrayed her and directs her hate towards the beast. In her eyes, the beast remains bestial; in the end, Eleanor refuses to recognize Vane's humanity.

Her last words to Vane:

You're deformed. Unformed. Flesh, bone, and bile, and missing all that which takes shape through a mother's love. You cannot comprehend what you took from me or why it was good, because there is no goodness in you. There is no humanity in you, no capacity for compromise, nor instinct toward repair, nor progress. Nor forgiveness. You are an animal.

#charles vane #eleanor guthrie #black sails #black sails meta

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psilactis · 2 years

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ok im just realizing something.....

S02 and the whole fort&abigail debacle would have gone Very Differently if everyone on that damn island didn't treat Vane like a stupid brute

And, like, I get why they would think that. From their perspective, Vane jumps to violence as soon as he can. He can't do politics. Or talk any sense. He just wants Murder

Except that isn't true!!!

By all accounts, Vane is the smartest person on that island. He's the one that best understands how the flow of the people work. It's like this: obviously, he is good at planning. Sure, he's no military genius like Flint, but he was Blackbeards protégé, and Blackbeard is, supposedly, the best pirate strategist ever known. So, he's good at politics actually. The thing is, he knows that, in a place like Nassau, you can't just expect to have pure ideological and political moves and win. You have to be able to show strength. Physical strength.

Which is why he kills the people he kills - Low, so he can fix Eleanors moment of weakness, and protect the enterprise. Mr Guthrie, as revenge to show he should not be so dumbly played.

He's also really good on the political aspect of things! He made the whole plan to get a new crew, a new crew that wouldnt adhere to Nassaus preconceived politics, and would do as he says. He made the plan to take over the fort, instantly re-establishing himself as a powerful force in Nassau.

My point is. MY POINT. is that, if people didn't treat him like such a buffoon, maybe nothing of the fort and Abigail thing would have played out like it did.

When forced to talk by Eleanor (something they denied to do before being held at gunpoint, again proving my point) , Vane told Flint that he wouldn't agree to the plan because he wanted proof of what was being offered. Us, as the audience, are led to believe this is a stupid request. But it isn't!!! Vanes position is weak enough as it is- he has a crew he can't fully control, he has a fort falling apart, he has no ships e no way to get more money (and no way to entertain his men, either, considering they can't hunt). So, how could he just give up a huge ass prize like that, based on the promise of a man who has treated him with nothing but contempt since they've met? On the vague threats of civilization??

Honestly, what I think they should have done, that probably would have worked, is to have put Billy in that room. Billy, out of anyone in Nassau at that point, is the one that really understands the looming threat of civilization. He has seen it, the ships. He has felt it, being tortured on that beach. He has talked to it, and he has seen how the pirates are nothing but animals to them. And, and this is important, Vane would have believed him. Not only because of the scars and how the story tracks, but because, once, he tried to make the whole of Walrus crew disband, only so he could put his hands on Billy. Vane knows the value of a honest man, and he knows Billy to be one. So he would have believed him. And things would have gone a whole lot different wouldn't they.

#Wake up everyone. It's vane stanning hours #black sails #Charles Vane #Meta #Again. Please don't badmouth vane in my post he's my meow meow :((#Everyday I wake up and am insane about black sails #AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE #When he catches eleanor running off with a Abigail #He tries AGAIN for reconciliation #He offers to talk again and come to a different agreement #And Eleanor DENIES IT bc she thinks he's just crossing her (bc that's what SHE would do)#And vane tells her. That if she goes through with it #That he can't just let something like that go unanswered #She was robbing his crew of a huge prize!!!#That requires an answer!! Or at least compensation #None of which were offered by her #So he had to go the revenge route #He knows his position is fragile and he can't just slack or else he'd just get killed by his men!!!#Anyway.#We don't talk enough about how Vane is blackbeards kid and that's why He's Like That

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queer-ragnelle · 4 days

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I would love your opinion on Black Sails! I was never able to finish it (even though I want to). Seasons 1-3 felt linear and natural in the way the characters were driven and motivated. Season 4 changed so much... undoing character growth, scrapping character beliefs for new motives that were narratively weaker, and using way more shock/gore than there had been used previously. I would love to know your opinions on it, and if I'm talking out of my ass on this. Love the show! Would love to finish it. Would genuinely love to hear you do a character analysis, if you felt up to it. Ty!

Hi Anon! I'm going to put this below a cut since it's not strictly relevant to this blog and yet I have much to say about it lol

It's been over a year since I watched Black Sails in it's entirety, but I'll go on record saying it's the best show I've ever seen. I love the writing, the acting, the costuming, the filmography, the music, the everything. It is [almost] perfectly balanced. Ironically I felt season 1 was the weakest and didn't take the same issues with season 4 as you did. My biggest criticism of season 1 involves the plot regarding Max's captivity on the beach. I think connecting her with Anne could've been achieved some other way (or even a similar plot just overall less sexual violence/quicker resolution). But even so, I still stand by that I recommend it, particularly to those who love a blend of historical and fiction/mythic characters.

I would love to see an Arthurian retelling on that scale and with that tone. Starz had produced their show Camelot in 2011, three years before Black Sails, and while that first season also has some issues, I'll forever be heartbroken it wasn't renewed. I fully believe they would have developed Camelot into an epic tale ala Black Sails, particularly with strong female characters and queer storylines. We could've had it all....

On that note, Black Sails was absolutely vital in my journey as an author adapting Arthurian legend in a historical 6th century. The meta about ambiguous storytelling subject to biased perception or outright misinformation and thus misconceptions about people involved in historical events fascinated me. On one hand you have Jack Rackham's obsession with his legacy, almost uncannily aware he's in a story and his limited time to leave his mark. Then there's Charles Vane's hanging in Nassau, when the history books say he died at Port Royal. It circumvents expectations, not with shock value (looking at you, Game of Thrones finale), but in service to the narrative by calling into question the validity of our accepted reality. Beyond that, it seamlessly blends historical figures, the cast of Treasure Island, and original characters created to incorporate more women and people of color into the narrative. Everyone's developed and fascinating and complex with clear motivations and fleshed out backstories (except for Silver, lol, which itself makes him compelling). Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles does similar things. He utilized Saint Derfel as his point of view character to analyze the Arthurian legend through a [semi-]historical lens. But I think Black Sails does it better. It also seems to transcend genre at times. It's adventure and action, but it's got everything from romance between a network of characters in all different Stiuationships to the horror of Flint's past haunting him (literally). And yet it never feels like too much. It doesn't lose track of what it's doing. Nothing set up is dropped or forgotten about. It's frustrating when the goal post moves yet again, but in a way which draws us in closer to the characters and makes us all the more driven to see it through. When another hiccup arises we must overcome, or even a devastating and insurmountable shock (Miranda....), it feels earned. Of course that was liable to happen. How could we have been so foolish to think things would have worked out?

This show gave me permission, and frankly, the determination, to experiment with my own retelling. The people who made Black Sails knew when to stay true to the past, drawing on facts to develop the story in accurate ways (such as utilizing the colony of escaped slaves to bring Madi and her people into the story (which also ties into Treasure Island in which Silver had a black wife!)) and when to follow the rule of cool (Jack Rackham in his definitely-historically-unviable-but-undeniably-cool shades). Literally life changing.

I don't think I could narrow down the characters enough to do a full analysis of one of them, I love them all for different reasons. But I did name my borzoi Long John Silver, so, I kind of have to talk about him, right? Well I think the character's lack of a backstory, ie his unwillingness to disclose it, acts as a surrogate for the viewer. We ride the wave with Silver, thrust into this predicament with the map and the gold and the very culture of Nassau's pirate trade whilst Silver somehow remains a blank slate mystery as he navigates this dangerous world with a quick mind alone. While Flint could certainly be considered the main character, and we're quite often in his head, his memories, his nightmares even, I don't think the viewer's supposed to identify as him so much as with him. Flint is Flint. But we are Silver. (Scary thought lol)

If you couldn't tell already, I'm long winded. :^) So I'll stop here and the real deep dive character analysis happens in my books. Gawain is just landlocked Flint if you squint<3 Thanks for asking about Black Sails! Everyone go watch it.

#black sails #arthurian legend #ask #anonymous

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zmediaoutlet · 2 years

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fbb masterpost

started my fandom boost bingo card! I'm going to update whenever I do something so I have a running accountability card.

rb/rt an art post: queued this awesome old!chesters piece by @midnightsilver

rb/rt an edit: reblogged this b-e-a-utiful edit about the family circle of deals and obligation and a touch of dean-as-object by @undeanlich

comment on a fic: Burmese Boxing by keuppia (are they on tumblr? hard to tell. fic is a Nacho Varga character study.)

interact with a meta post: shared & ahem, heavily agreed with this great character musing about Sam's attitude toward hunting by @idontneedasymbol

rb/rt a fic post: reblogged Eclipse by @bitchfacebrothers -- a super tight little moment that I just really love. Said this in my tag but it's just so -- unartificial. They go, they see it, they're done. I love that kind of thing.

made a rec post for @armellin, who is great.

left kudos on Seedlings by @twofrontteethstillcrooked, which I had bookmarked but somehow never left the little heart? A great Black Sails modern au (which I love, even though I tend to hate modern aus!), featuring the most delightful description of Charles Vane ever.

sent an ask to a bud. <3

free space: I guess this is free for a reason, but I can say that in the spirit of high fives I started Wincest Wednesday. So. You're welcome.

All done, @thehighfiveproject.

#fandom boost bingo #spn #better call saul #black sails

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chibivesicle · 2 years

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How GK should have ended. Looking to a similar piece of media - Black Sails

I’ve been meandering around various series as of late and finally found one that really stuck a similar chord with me and GK - the mid- 2010s drama - Black Sails. It is a series that had so many similar themes to GK, the level of violence and brutality, a similar level of outcast/criminals/convicts to colonial powers in a territory that is intended to be tamed for a distant power. The theme overlap is so great that if you liked all the stuff going on in GK, this show will be your jam. Most importantly, the creative team for Black Sails kept CONSTANT characterization for everyone and it paid off so well. They make each character so clear that when they go off and do a dumbass/rash thing, you only slightly groan b/c you know that Jack Rackam cares about his identity, that John Silver wants to belong and be accepted despite pushing people away, that Max is tired of the cycle and feels guilt for having to chose between two shitty decisions, Eleanor will not allow anyone to change her mind and that Captain Flint is a carefully crafted fiction/tool for James McGraw to exact revenge upon the very nature of the British Empire. And Woodes Rogers is just such a good guy to dislike when he enters the story. After finishing Black Sails, I just thought about how Flint/McGraw was so much better that Tsurumi and Sugimoto. The thing that always fell short with Tsurumi’s motivations about the death of his wife and child were the feelings that were associated with that loss. It always felt hollow to me that we still never got the full Tsurumi back story to really push his motivations. We know he came from a family who became wealthy and then lost it and it was never resolved. His overlap with Sugimoto is his similar tendencies to go to extreme lengths for someone who has not actual input into those motivations (aka I’m doing this for Umeko vs Thomas). He also has that reckless ability to be shot in the shoulder with a musket and then swim, one armed to a Spanish man-o-war, board her and take the ship over is as equally unlikely, but he pulls it off so much better than Sugimoto. I noticed that Charles Vane is the one who is more likely to use a musket as a blunt weapon while Flint does a calculated mix of precision musket shot, then sword, and then it degenerates into whatever it will take to kill his opponent - cannon ball, fists etc.

So, if you are looking for a series that is under the radar to fill that void that GK left in your soul with that last arc and flat ending - go watch Black Sails. Season 1 is a bit lame and over the top at times but after they stopped trying to be ‘Pirate Game of Thrones’ it shines as an excellent series. This show might just make me want to scratch that itch to meta-nerd out again, perhaps doing more GK comparisons. Plus, I can clearly state that Flint was my favorite character the entire time in Black Sails. Which is saying a lot for me since I rarely love a MC this much. There is no real Ogata character in Black Sails as many more of the cast are dealing with lifetimes of trauma, abuse, guilt and moments where suicidal types of behavior are necessary. Which is a relief for me, since the thing which ruined Ogata for me in retrospect is that he should have died on that damned ice floe. And Black Sails will not shy away from killing someone with Ogata level involvement to serve the story and motivations going forward and they feel like they make sense to the viewer.

That’s it for now, if you want to see a series that really gets it and nails it - go watch Black Sails.

#golden kamuy #a series that beats the ending of golden kamuy by a long shot #black sails

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be-papas · 2 years

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for all that s2 was a tragedy surrounding flint's meta narrative - his backstory, his motivations, seeing the man under the monster mask - s3 brings that hyper aware storytelling out in eeeeverybody.

black sails has always been, on some level, a story about stories. silver basically says as much when he's early on in figuring out how to manipulate the crew and ensure his survival. stories win hearts and minds more than anything else. flint and silver's storytelling ability is what sets them apart as leaders. hell, even the macguffin of s1, the urca gold, is just a story that our characters are chasing for episodes on end before it finally becomes real.

s2 opens the can of worms for bigger story questions, questioning how heroes and villains are made, and how who gets to tell a story can dramatically change it. but s3 is still a pretty demonstrable shift for me where characters are no longer just concerned with stories, but with their legacies. it's not just flint and nominally silver now - charles vane, jack rackham, governor rodes are all now talking about being heroes and villains and obsessed with the mark they're going to leave on the world. billy has taken it upon himself to become propaganda master of the revolution, outright constructing a legacy for silver to stand alongside flint's. hell, even blackbeard showed up this season for seemingly little purpose other than to reinforce toxic masculinity and make his legacy by adopting vane as a son.

frankly, i don't really have a concluding point to this. i probably just need to see s4 to see where the hell they're following through with all this setup. but it's...interesting, to say the least, to watch most of the guys in the ensemble violently contract main character syndrome all at once.

#someone correct me if not but while they all have ambitions i dont think max eleanor or madi have been overly concerned w stories/legacies #which? i guess the women are fighting hard enough just to be recognized as players they dont have time to care about that.#but interesting if true nevertheless.#black sails #john silver #captain flint #james flint

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alwaysbemybae · 1 year

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Flint and Gender

Vane: “I can understand a woman’s desire for domesticity. But a man’s?” Vane outright questions Flint’s masculinity. But Flint does not respond at the level of gender identity. He turns the conversation into a discussion on what it means to build something vs. prioritizing freedom. (3x8)

Eleanor: “So many goddamn men. Too many goddamn men.” She lists the men who have incorporated her hard work into their own agenda: her father, Scott*, Vane, Flint. Flint doesn’t defend or explain himself. He simply asks her to extend her critique: “Woodes Rogers. He’s really so different from the rest of us?” (4x5)

One character suggests he’s not enough of a man. Another character suggests he’s too much of a man.

But Flint’s responses are not contained by the category of gender. He doesn’t seek to define gender. Instead, he expands the conversational framework so that we see how gender is intertwined with colonialism and other forces.

*Racialized as chattel property, Scott does not belong on this list of oppressive men. It made me furious that she included him. Another example of how you can’t think about gender apart from race, colonialism, etc.

#black sails #james flint #captain flint #black sails meta #captain james flint #charles vane #eleanor guthrie #mr scott

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via-whitmore · 2 years

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So I was talking with a friend today about my rash of Charles Vane apologist reblogs mostly from @twinsunstwink and my knowledge on this rewatch that he is, apparently, the most disliked character in the fandom.

I DEFINITELY get this. He is the one we see onscreen committing, what i would argue, is the most heinous onscreen act with regard to what Max is put through. I am never going to argue with anyone who doesn’t like him, his being propped up as a martyr, or can’t continue watching the show because of how that violence is portrayed so early on. I always understood it as the writers leaning on prestige TV tropes (competing with GOT) and then realizing they couldn’t have their romantic lead be this terrible a person.

I will fully admit Vane has the least interesting arc, even though it’s very personally meaningful to me for reasons. And that he never quite moves beyond being the character that is there to keep the 18 to 35 year old dudebro demographic happy. I am totally dazzled by If Bad Then Why Hot and also by only having seen Zach McGowan in a slapstick comedy role before watching Black Sails and being impressed with his range. I also was not radicalized when the show started and wasn’t thinking as critically about media so I was consuming his actions towards Max in a more passive way. This is the kind of thing pirates did. It’s a genre convention, and on I went.

But I have just seen this meta by @seaofgriefs about how, in Season One, everyone is acting according to preconceived notions of the pirate story and are slowly given more subtle characterization. In this framework, Vane is the raping pillaging villain. He is repeatedly referred to as an animal by Eleanor and Flint. His actions towards Max show him to be so. But a less competent viewer, as I was, might just take it as “well this is accurate and this kind of sexual violence is a big part of prestige TV.” Like I said, I definitely get viewers who don’t want to look past that. I am only 90 percent sold on the intentionality of this character expansion. But it makes Season One an easier sell. Maybe the writers did just realize this was a fucked up move. But maybe they used that pushback in a way that benefited the writing for the whole.

But it got me thinking it’s only after he attempts to aid in Max’s escape and realizes he can’t stop the violence he set in motion that he begins thinking about his past and goes to face the man who enslaved him. We see this as being a result of wanting to reassert power over Eleanor. But those scenes when he returns to the island have a heavy overtone of him having experienced sexual violence to me. When he returns to Nassau in power as a result of that coup, he tells Jack he won’t kill him and Anne because “I am a little less concerned about perception than I used to be.”

His perception, his notions of “a proper pirate” and his toxic masculinity motivate his method of punishing Max. But what if, once he realizes he cannot stop the situation, he sees what he has done to her as a mirror of what he underwent? It would certainly be better if he freed her in the way Anne feels bound to. But what if shame for her as well as being shamed by Eleanor motivates his return to face his abuser and move forward?

I am not saying any of this to let him off the hook. A true redemption arc would involve him asking Max how he can make amends. But it is a read that possibly integrates his Season One actions into the rest of his arc.

#black sails #meta #shoutout to the based on your likes feature for giving me all the meta #this is the first time I’m not lurking

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greenleaf4stuff · 2 years

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The Power of Stories: Black Sails and The Sandman, Captain Flint and Morpheus (Some Meta Rambling/bullet points about similarities)

- both pieces of media are stories about stories, and about the power of stories, each in their own way; Black Sails is about how stories can rewrite and shape history, people, legacies, whereas The Sandman is about the power of stories to shape the world and its future, how they affect humans and other entities.

- both pieces of media employ historical figures and fictional characters; The Sandman has Shakespeare, whereas Black Sails has Charles Vane, Anne Bonny, Jack Rackham, Blackbeard and such characters. The Sandman uses characters from the bible, myths and folklore, Black Sails uses characters from Treasure Island.

- both pieces of media deal with universal themes and are incredibly diverse in their cast and characters, featuring tropes and turning them on their heads or employing ideas less commonly used in fiction; both are very forward-thinking still, and certainly were when they were first released

- Both protagonists (Captain Flint and Morpheus) are unlikeable in some ways and difficult personalities, both have survived and are dealing with a great trauma that shapes their current actions, both are eloquent and aware of the power of words and stories and use them to their advantage. Both of them can be incredibly kind to those they care about, incredibly stubborn, and extremely cruel and callous to those they deem enemies.

- Both protagonists have a very, very small pool of people around themselves that they can truly trust and confide in, while pushing everyone else away for various reasons; those who are close to them give them new impulses, ideas and influence their decision making, progression, and so forth, though at times it can take a while for them to get through James’ and Morpheus’ thick skulls

- bonus: both tv series feature a reunion (each involving a protagonist) that is very profound, impactful, heartwarming and beautiful to the stories each, and important for the protagonists and their character arcs (past and present). The non-main-character involved in these reunions also shaped the protagonist in some very profound ways.

#black sails #captain flint #james flint #the sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #black sails meta #the sandman meta #mine #there is probably a *lot* more that could be discussed #if anyone wants to add to this please do I would looove to read it!

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signpiner · 2 years

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