Jack - Why fight, when you can negotiate

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lovethemtigers
I got this idea from another forum...a topic being discussed...and thought it would make for good discussion here too....
let us compare Jack and Will's personalities...

Jack's motto is "Why fight, when one can negotiate"

so, this thread's purpose is to search through both movies and find spots where it shows that Jack is acutally calm and collective and Will flies off-the-handle - and has a quick temper....

Jack thinks things through...whereas, Will reacts instantly, without thinking....

and it may be this temper of Will that ultimately is a factor in which way Elizabeth decides to go...food for thought??? this isn't my original idea...it was someone else's, but it got me thinking....

lovethemtigers
Okay...one scenario....from COTBP...the morning after the invasion by the crew of the Black Pearl...Will is ready to go after Elizabeth, Norrington is saying they can't do that...Will goes to Jack and helps him escape from Prison so Jack can help him...but Jack is not so quick to help until he learns that Will is William Turner....a fine name, named for his father, no doubt....Bootstrap Son....

so, Jack and Will go and take over the Dauntless...and Jack tells Will to follow his lead...jack is patient and waits for the opportune moments, Will is impatient.....

It's brought out when Norrington spies Will with Jack on the Dauntless and says "Rash, Turner, too Rash."

lovethemtigers
and then on board the Pearl with Barbossa...Jack pleads to himself...Please don't do anything Stupid....
Then Will holds a gun to his neck and tells Barbossa he is the son of Bill Turner and will send himself to Davy's Locker....
Like That...Jack Says....

Jack knows now is not the right time to reveal who Will is.....

willofthewisp
Ah. I think I see what this is. I have a great example. Jack and Will are sailing together and Will's talking about his dad and Jack breaks the news that Bootstrap was a pirate and Will is all set to kill him...the guy he busted out of jail and hijacked a ship with to go save the woman he loves. Jack takes immediate charge of the situation and spells it out for Will, "Either you can accept your father was a pirate and a good man, or you can't." I think it's just that Jack's older and has more experience that he isn't as hotheaded as Will, and Will's been getting better about controlling himself.

Other trait: willingness to "use" the other side.

Want to talk about how Jack views everyone as a resource whereas Will is just now getting into that?

lovethemtigers
okay....how about....when they get to the cave where Barbossa has taken Elizabeth...Jack is being patient...watching the scene unfold and waiting for the moment...but Will, being impatient...knocks Jack over the head with a paddle and decides to do it on his own...

so he has used Jack to help him find the Pearl..and now that he's found Elizabeth and the Pearl...he no longer needs jack..so he knocks Jack out and goes forth on his own....Poor Jack...used and abuse...
bangin

lovethemtigers
I guess someone got me thinking....this movie is and our selves are very contradictary...because we say Jack is a Pirate....that Will is a pansy...yet...Jack is very mischevious and uses people as leverage in his negotiations, but at the same time is level-headed, smart, clever, ten steps ahead of everyone else...and has a good heart, he wants to negotiate instead of fight, he has a good heart, like Barbossa tells him lost him the Pearl in the first place:

Jack: I'm having a thought here, Barbossa. What say we run up a flag of truce? I scurry over to the Interceptor, and I negotiate the return of your medallion, eh? What say you to that?

Barbossa: Now you see, Jack, that's exactly the attitude that lost you the Pearl. People are easy to search when they're dead. Lock him in the brig.



..yet, on the other hand Will is impatient and can have bursts of violence...yet is brave, noble and honorable...

lovethemtigers
OkAY...here is a great line exchange that was left out of the final draft...but this was great...Jack is so funny...and here is Will trying to deny the inevitable..that he is a Pirate...


Jack notices that Will is standing, frozen on the dock,
staring at the boat in dismay.

JACK (CONT'D)
Come aboard.

WILL
I haven't set foot off dry land I was
twelve, when the ship I was on
exploded.
(regards the boat)
It's been a sound policy.

JACK
No worries there. She's far more
likely to rot out from under us.

Will steels himself, steps into the boat as if its going to
capsize with the slightest movement. Jack hoists the sail.

JACK (CONT'D)
Besides, we are about to better
our prospects considerably.

He nods toward the H.M.S. Dauntless, looming in the harbor.
Will whiteknuckles the gunwales.

WILL
We're going to steal a ship? That
ship?

JACK
Commandeer. We're going to
commandeer a ship. Nautical term.

WILL
It's still against the law.

JACK

So's breaking a man out of jail. Face
it, Will: you may say you'll never be a
pirate, but you're off to a rip-roaring
start.
(smiling)
My advice -- smile and enjoy it.

lovethemtigers
now here's another interesting exchange between Gibbs and Will that was left out of the final run:

Gibbs settles in, happy to have a willing listener.

GIBBS
I'll tell yee. Now, Jack Sparrow
has an honest streak in him, and
that's where the whole problem
starts. This was when he was
Captain of the Black Pearl -

WILL
What? He never told me that.

GIBBS
Ah -- he's learned, then. Plays things
more close to the vest. See, Jack was a
cartographer, back in Old England.
Somehow I he came by the money to
commission the Pearl. Hired himself a
crew, promised each man an equal share.
(lowers his voice)
So, they're forty days out, and the
First Mate says, everything's an equal
share, that should mean the location of
the island, too. So Jack gave up the
bearings.
(shakes his head)
That night, there was mutiny.

Gibbs voice is a whisper, now, so Will has to lean closer.

GIBBS (CONT'D)

Jack gave hisself up for the sake of
his loyal crewmen. He was marooned on
an island, left there to die.

WILL
How did he get off the island?

JACK
(loud)
I didn't!

Will and Gibbs jump. Jack is right there beside them.

JACK (CONT'D)
My body's still there, rotting
away, and I am but a ghost!

Will and Gibbs aren't sure what to make of that. Jack
laughs.

GIBBS
How did you get off the island?

JACK
Ah, that's a dark and unpleasant
tale, best left untold.

He starts off.

WILL
Wait -- what about the pistol?

JACK
The pistol. When a pirate is marooned,
Will, he's given a pistol with a single
shot. No good for hunting, or
surviving, really. But after three
weeks of starvation and thirst -- the
option of that pistol begins to look
good.

Jack lets this sink in. He pulls out the pistol, raises it.

JACK (CONT'D)
But I survived. And I still have
that single shot. It's meant for
one man. My mutinous first mate -

WILL

Barbossa.

Jack shoots a glance at Will -- nods, and moves away.

lovethemtigers
^^^^Gosh, Jack is such a good hearted, honest man, is he not...makes you wonder....after all this time...who is really a Pirate...jack...or Will...

lovethemtigers
here's a deleted scene from one of the early scripts of POTC....another one showing what a good man he is...and deep down he's not really a Pirate...so brings up the question...again...who is the Pirate...Jack or Will...and if it's Will...then that negates the arguement that Elizabeth has dreamed of a Pirate her whole life...and then she met Jack..she thought will was..but he wasn't really..or is/was he? I'm really beginning to wonder...

lovethemtigers
^^^oops forgot to post the scene...here it is:

Will wraps a cloth around his palm; Jack joins him near the
chest.

WILL
Well, you're the worst pirate I've ever
heard of.
(smiles)
You're a man who can be trusted, who
can be counted on, and who can It
betray his friends. What kind of pirate
is that?

JACK
(admits it)
The worst.
(beat)
On the other hand, maybe I'm a man who
can't pass up a chance for revenge
against the black-hearted bastard who
stole my ship and left me to die in the
middle of the ocean -- twice! -- and
who knows how to get what he wants. Now
that's a great pirate.

Jack cuts his palm, grips the coin he stole above the chest
... and then hesitates.

Will looks at him...

Jack releases the coin. It lands in the chest beside the
other bloody coin.

Suddenly, the lid of the chest, all on its own, SLAMS SHUT.
Elizabeth stares at it.

WILL
Let's get out of here.

willofthewisp
Neither one is really a pirate in the true sense of the word because most of the time, they both stand for the side of good. I would never call Will one. He only breaks laws/rebels when it's to help someone else like Liz or his dad. He hardly ever acts completely selfishly. Jack is also not a true pirate because his conscience stops him from doing things a lot of pirates do. So neither one is really a "pirate," although I'd say Jack has a pirate spirit about him.

lovethemtigers
So...I like how Jack says....a man who knows how to get what he wants...Now that's a great Pirate.....

that part is great....so If Jack is a man who knows how to get what he wants.....we all know, but the end of DMC what Jack wants is Elizabeth...will he get her....and the foreshadowing of Jack telling Will that not all treasure is Silver and Gold....I think the treasure Jack has searched for his whole life...is Elizabeth.....

ludagurl3d
Can I also note that Jack hates to kill, and is reluctant to attack anyone first. (It's always a last resort) and Will is the one to make the first kill in these movies, and he seemingly shows no remorse when he attacks people. When he doesn't get what he wants he resorts to violence. Yeah you guys said that LOL..

Chiki Mina
wow, lovethemtigers. You have done alot of thinking lol big grin

So positive smile Im so proud big grin

lovethemtigers
yeah....too much thinking....it's time for me to get back to work next week....

Chiki Mina
oh geesh....my boss wants me to work more hours for her. At least I get payed, problem is that is stressful because of college.

lovethemtigers
I work tonight...so i won't be on here much today after this little time this morning...

anyways...watching DMC commentary...and T and T are talking about the scene when Jack sends Will on board the FD....and they say that some think Jack is being devious...here...but he really isn't...they Jack tells Will whats going to happen..Will doesn't go there totally blind...Jack doesn't really trick him...he tells Will he's going to run into unruly creatures he may have to fight...etc.....

willofthewisp
Jack has a soft spot for Will. I don't think he really likes him, but he's not going to let anything bad happen to him. I think in his own way, Jack likes Will's innocence and his courage. Will's like a knight in shining armor. He's not perfect, but he's got the old fashioned sense of honor and duty that Jack doesn't see in himself. Maybe he sees potential in Will.

lovethemtigers
Agreed...I've said for some time now...that Jack has a special place for Will....he cares about Will because of his character and who is father is...and Plus...jack knew that Bootstrap was on the FD...he probably figured at some point will and bootsy would run into each other...son and father reunited thanks to good ol' Jack

lovethemtigers
you know...we all say that Liz has dreamed of a Pirate all her life....some say it's Will...some says it's Jack....ya know....but you are right Willo...neither one of them is a Pirate in the true sense of the word....but T and T did say at the end of POTC that Will had become the Movie/Fantasy Pirate...a pirate who is willing to break the law to help those in troube, but is a good man, is romantic....

but that also describes Jack...especially by the end of DMC....

tee_pirategirl
Yeah T&T do describe him as "a pirate movie pirate" but they also say (in the part in the cave where Jack and Barbie are fighting) something along the lines of: "He takes advantage of the situation...blah blah blah...(the important part) and proves that he is the ultimate best pirate." or something like that, don't remember right now.

So I guess they're both sorta pirates but in different ways. Will "breaks the rules because they are wrong." and Jack "One word love...curiosity."

willofthewisp
Yeah, I think they say in DMC that Liz is the most pirate of all of them. Will has a lot more in common with the Errol Flynn pirate movies of the 20s and 30s where the character is a legitimate guy who has to resort to being a pirate for a little while, but to do something good. Jack seems to turn that perception on its head, but reverts back to it at times, which he doesn't really like to do. I would argue that because of this Will has more self-esteem than Jack. I don't think Jack is as sure of himself as he tries to show.

lovethemtigers
^^^that makes me sad...and now especially since he's thinking Liz only may have kissed him to chain him to the mast...but maybe not..since the script says that Jack looked into her eyes and knew that her heart was the same as his.....and we know Jack's heart belongs to Lizzie...

willofthewisp
Well, if you're sad about the whole self-esteem thing, look how confident Jack is facing the kracken. I'm sure knowing Liz, really knowing her, right before that gave him a big self-esteem boost. He hasn't completed that journey yet, and love gives you strength.

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