its a long read so i've picked out the relevant parts that you will probably find the most interesting...even though ALOT of it is actually VERY relevant
its not my work; its the work of a very indulgent fan of POTC over on the sparrabeth[/b] livejournal forums...
^^^ here is the site if you want to read all of it....but beware it is LONG but VERY insightful....
***
[i]Looking for facts, one will soon come to find that not much is known about Jack Sparrow: He’s male, white and probably in his 30s.
He speaks English which might indicate that his parents were English as well, though his looks (mainly due to Johnny’s Cherokee origins) might also suggest Spanish or Portuguese ancestors. We have never seen him use any language other than English (apart from Pelegosto ;-) but he is able to explain the origin of the words “parley” and “mayonnaise”,
Furthermore he uses the French pronunciation for marriage which makes me think that he has some knowledge of that language. French was commonly used among members of the British Upper Class, so here’s maybe a hint at Jack being an educated man.
Notice he is also able to read and write and though he has the compass, we see him using charts and navigating instruments in DMC.
It has been stated by the writers that Jack started out as a cartographer-turned-pirate in an early draft of PotC-CotBP but the storyline was dropped, probably to link his backstory with Beckett’s. So here’s our proof that Jack was never meant to simply be a pirate but rather an honest man who was forced into piracy when someone (Beckett, as it turns out in DMC) branded the “P” into his skin.
Now we are to meet his father in AWE, a guy named “Teague” who is said to be dressed just like Jack, but with a differently coloured bandana. It has been assumed that Teague will make his appearance as a member of the Bretheren (the pirate council) but I rather doubt this since it has been stated he is in a scene with Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley. It’s hard to say whether he’s supposed to be a pirate or not.
The story goes Jack Sparrow was born on a ship during a typhoon, so he might very well be the son of a pirate. However, this contradicts the theory of him starting out as an honest, possibly educated man – except his story is going to be similar to Will’s and he was raised by his mother, refusing to become a pirate like his father.
There are rumours, surely to be taken with a grain of salt, that Jack was once a merchant sailor, working for Beckett and the EITC as captain of a ship called “The Wicked Wench”. When ordered to transport slaves to the Americas, he turned his ship around to take them back to Africa. Maybe he succeeded, maybe he did not – in any case, Beckett learned of Jack’s betrayal and sent the Wench to the bottom of the sea after (or before?) having branded its captain a Pirate.
Having lost everything he owned in this world, Jack sold his soul to Davy Jones to get his ship back, renamed it “Black Pearl” and made his first appearance as a pirate in Tortuga.
There are actually quotes from DMC as well as from the leaked AWE script which support this story:
1. In DMC, Beckett tells Will that it was him who branded Jack a pirate, which corresponds with the rumour quoted above
2. Beckett seems to know quite a lot about Jack – remember he knows about the Compass
3. Beckett wants Will to offer the letters of the marque to Jack; what made him think Jack might want them? Norrington uses the letters to “get his life back” – Beckett might (wrongly?) have assumed that Jack would want the same.
4. In CotBP, Gibbs mentions that no one knows about Jack Sparrow’s past up to the day he appeared in Tortuga
5. In the leaked 56 pages of the AWE-script, Barbossa mentions the Wench while talking to Sao Feng. Elizabeth (wrongly) assumes that he’s talking about her but in the script, it’s Wench, not wench!
6. The “Black Pearl” and her mysteries seem to be an important part of AWE. There’s a scene in which Will tries to question Gibbs about the ship (but to no avail – Gibbs seems to know as little as does everyone else)
So I think we have every reason to believe that there might be at least some truth in the EITC-story. But where does this lead us?
First of all, we learn that Jack has been already a captain before he became a pirate – and that he must have been pretty young back then for he is not THAT old in DMC, 13 years after he assumingly lost the “Wench”. Let’s face it, poor children, orphans, children of whores, etc. don’t become captains. You need to be able to read and write, you need to navigate and read charts – in short: You need a kind of education that must have been pretty expensive those days.
Which brings us back to Jack’s upbringing: As early as CotBP (deleted scenes) Jack talks about him and Elizabeth as “peas in a pod”. Of course, he is referring here to the fact that each of them doesn’t trust the other. But I think he’s already suggesting that they resemble each other in more than one respect. In DMC, Jack makes it quite clear that he thinks they’re very much alike. Because both of them are pirates or because both of them turned pirates though their biographies didn’t suggest such a career? The latter might very well be the case.
Now this would differ them from every other pirate we’ve met so far. There’s another dimension to their being an outlaw which, in my opinion, has to do with rebellion. It has already been stated that Jack is essentially an anarchist, opposed to authority and governmental structures. I think it can be safely assumed that he is opposed to a society which enslaves people and chooses to condemn him for every good deed he does in his life (freeing the slaves, rescuing Elizabeth).
As I have said in another essay, there are similarities to the story of Robin Hood, though Jack doesn’t work for a greater good.
(As for Elizabeth, I think it becomes quite clear that she is essentially unhappy with the restrictions of her class and society. She rebels against it not so much because of bad experiences but because she consciously decided that she doesn’t want this kind of life. Her motivations are, in my opinion, a lot more selfish than Jack’s which makes her more of a real pirate than he is – which has been confirmed by the writers.)
The question whether Jack is a good man or not has been brought up on numerous occasions. The writers themselves have stated that Jack is NOT a good man – which doesn’t mean he is completely free of any moral restrictions. He is said to have his own internal moral landscape which means his actions depend entirely on the situation at hand.
Now, in my opinion, it has not always been like that. Notice the way he smiles at Elizabeth in the curiosity scene when she tells him that he IS a good man. There’s an honest smile on his face, a rather sad one, not his usual pirate-grin. This makes me think that Jack may have started out like Will: A courageous young man, maybe a little naïve, determined to do the right thing. As for Will, being good didn’t get him very far. In fact,
I think Jack Sparrow wasn’t born a trickster, a liar and a murderer – like any other person, he only adopted certain strategies to counteract what life did to him. I don’t want to claim that his behaviour in certain situations can be excused, I am just trying to say that it doesn’t come out of nowhere and is certainly not based on him being such a bad person.
If you look at the leaked AWE script, you’ll notice that Jack almost certainly seems to host feelings for Elizabeth. Will is trying to make him say it, but obviously to no avail – as Tia Dalma said in DMC, he knows what he wants but is loath to claim it as his own. In many fanfictions, Jack confesses his love for Elizabeth – honestly, I don’t see him do it, even though I think he actually does love her.
Jack is known for playing his cards “close to his vest”. Furthermore, life has taught him that emotions like pity, friendship or love only make you weak and might lead to your downfall. In DMC, he didn’t want to be vexed by Elizabeth, he struggled not to fall in love with her – and in the end, when he finally couldn’t help it anymore, when he tried to be a good man, she sent him to his death. Although his smile might suggest that he actually doesn’t blame her for doing it, I highly doubt that her actions left him completely unmoved.
After what might have been a long time, he allowed himself to have feelings and what happened? They were used against him – as always!
I think the situation he finds himself in is very similar to when he was first marooned on the island. As can be seen above, Barbossa knows an awful lot about Jack’s past, he might even know the whole story which to me suggests that he and Jack may have been friends - remember Jack even agreed to tell him the coordinates of the Isla de Muerta. And where did his trust and friendship lead him? He was left to die on an uninhabited island.
In DMC, Jack fell for Elizabeth and in the end, he trusted her as much as to allow her to get really close to him. Again, he was left to die.
This is not funny and though we all want to see Jack happy, I can actually see why the writers made him a lot darker in AWE. Now they have compared Jack to Rick from “Casablanca”; it has been said that Rick’s character didn’t change in the course of the movie but was rather “revealed” – and that the same will be true for Jack.
Though there can be no doubt he’s meant to be the clown of the series, there has always been more to him than his funny way of talking and the strange behaviour. I think you’ll agree with me when I say that he’s beside all that a very romantic character, with his big, kohl-framed brown eyes and the longing in his voice when he talks about freedom. A German journalist (can’t remember in which magazine, might have been “Cinema” or “Die Zeit”) even went as far as to claim that Jack Sparrow has the aura of a tragic figure.
I think I might want to agree with that because the same is true for almost every character Johnny Depp has portrayed throughout his career: Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and John Wilmot made us laugh, but in the end, not one of them turned out to be a happy or even funny person.
For Jack, I like to think of him as someone who has chosen not to sink into depression, despite the fact that life has not always been kind to him. Being a pirate offers him freedom (though it’s fake freedom because he had to give up himself to gain it) and the chance to get back on the very people who once betrayed him. Furthermore, he finds himself among people who don’t care about his past or where he comes from. He appeared in Tortuga and obviously nobody started asking questions. [Again, notice the similarities between Jack and Rick in “Casablanca”]
It was the right place to forget everything – what happened and who he was before. His first years as a pirate were probably spent inventing himself a new personality, the one of Captain Jack Sparrow. He’s more of a legend than a real person and almost everything he says is a lie. He behaves strange and people believe him to be a simpleton which is decidedly not true. He is intelligent and clever, perfectly capable of using the fact that people tend to underestimate him to his advantage. He has the habit of drinking far too much rum [Bogart again! In “Casablanca”, we rarely see him without his whiskey] and his overall behaviour as well as his outer appearance wouldn’t lead anyone to believe that he has ever been anything other than a pirate.
I think AWE is an interesting situation for the character because he finds his life is at a turning point again. Terry has already said that Jack’s feelings for Elizabeth put him into a dilemma: Could he be a good man (again)?
It’s possible that the “legend of Jack Sparrow” will be on the verge of falling apart in AWE.
I believe that behind his mask, he is a rather vulnerable person and the events of DMC would have made it decidedly harder to keep us his role as the great, untouchable Captain.
He has been betrayed, he has experienced death and in AWE, he is left with the feeling that his rescuers wanted to get back his ship rather than himself.
His past is haunting him, impersonated by Lord Beckett and his future is, as always, insecure. Add his unrequited love for Elizabeth and his newly arisen fear of dying and you can see what’s troubling Jack in AWE.
Though I do not want to see the much loved character of our captain disappear entirely, I think it’s part of the story (and of great interest to the audience) to tell how the famous legend of Jack Sparrow came to be alive.
Jack in AWE is going to be different, even Johnny Depp has said as much – but then, different doesn’t necessarily have to mean less likeable.
I think it’s gonna be an interesting movie – and the leaked script rather confirms this.
Ok i find this interesting because above all else it makes PERFECT sense!
Jack is so much more than the trickster and the simpleton....hes adopted these ways from things that have been done by him.
As Lovelyone has claimed before, he hides behind things to make his real self invisible!!!
And elizabeth is the only one that has EVER got close to seeing the real jack sparrow
Gender: Female Location: Giving dirty Mr Sparrow a sponge ba
thanks thats a great read!!
Its so true...usually when a character dies and comes back like that they have shifted Psychologically!
Its not going to be Jack returning to his pirate ways (he's going to remain pirate)..Its going to involve Elizabeth..it usually symbolizes that an asjustment has been made so that one person can be allowed in to that character..and only one person!
And yes..underneath much of what he has...he is empty..Its just common sense..no person can have everything in the world and be happy if there isnt someone there wit them..something that can love him back for once.
Gender: Female Location: Giving dirty Mr Sparrow a sponge ba
I dont agree about that legend of Jack sparrow falling apart in AWE because he's returning to hiis old self his old self was still there once he embraced piracy (liz saying she's read about what he's done)..but gradually it has dissapeared..
remember he showed the scars to Elizabeth? All of those happened whilst he was a pirate..
Its like he was the legend and then he let slip an became a weakling and IMO it happened when he started to be with Tia/Calypso..depression taking over etc
again ONE person has shown an interest in his past. That is Elizabeth
Interesting how its only 13 years he's been a pirate...VERY interesting..I would say that for 6 years Jack was still brave as a pirate..then throughout the final 7? he let SLIP, he's in a trance..this is when Calypso/Tia came into his life I bet you! the Jack we see in movie 1& early 2 is there because of that! Elizabeth is now entering his mind on 7th(13th) year..the longing to be with her..to "return" to her. In doing so he returns to HIMSELF, the man/pirate he was 7 years previously.
Last edited by LovelyOne on Oct 11th, 2006 at 11:12 PM
v.true Lovelyone, and i have a feeling that Jack is going to realise this by AWE...
...and i have a feeling that elizabeth will realise it too.but then she will 'nobely' marry will and then become a widow...bah humbug!
i cant wait now, you know....
this film will be filled with so much unresolved sexual tension that i wont be able to stand it !!!!
all the looks..the stolen glances...and i BET there will be a few innuendos somewhere!!!
Gender: Female Location: Giving dirty Mr Sparrow a sponge ba
Yeah!!^^
Also its very interesting how Jack seems to have been very lucky during his time as a pirate..only recently however..before hand (first 6 years) he has been very badly injured..and IMO during the final 7 years he's just been "lucky" (again I believe because of Calypso)..and on the 13th his luck runs out Davy is on his ass again...13 is an unlucky number remember..
Last edited by LovelyOne on Oct 11th, 2006 at 11:16 PM
Gender: Female Location: Giving dirty Mr Sparrow a sponge ba
Elizabeth entering his life on the 13th is not the unlucky thing..she is what is going to help now that his luck has run out..she's the reason for him to stay strong..he's now going to have to fight because the luck is not there anymore..again people only really fight when they are fighting for someone else.
Gender: Female Location: Giving dirty Mr Sparrow a sponge ba
again guys I'm getting this 7 years thing from the Odyssey, Odysseus and Calypso..she's the reason why Odysseus is forced to become weak for 7 years after previously being very brave and masculine..during the 7 years he is forced to embrace his feminine side lol (weaker side) and then on the 7th he gets active longing for penelope and this is the thing that makes him return to the man he once was..but had he not had those 7 years with Calypso he would have never been able to finish his quest...it was essentail that he have those 7 years of "hibernation" as a character..because this is what makes him stronger in the long run. IMO Elizabeth helped that happen too
Of course Jack wasnt with Tia/Calypso for 7 years thats the difference..but I think weakness of Jack was still there even after he left her possibly a few years before..
Last edited by LovelyOne on Oct 11th, 2006 at 11:33 PM
Gender: Female Location: In purgatory having kinky hallucina
You are right Lovelyone, Lizy is what is keeping him strong in his darker moments. She has given him the strength and the courage for him to face all the obstacles. In a way Liz is making him a different person. Thats the power of Love.
Gender: Female Location: In purgatory having kinky hallucina
And I believe that Jack started to change when he decided to jump in to the water and rescue Liz in POTC1. He made the decision of jumping in to the water regardless the situation of being caught by the Armada. He was showing his courage and his morals. He was helping someone that he didn't know, out of harms way.
__________________
Last edited by Mistypirate on Oct 11th, 2006 at 11:57 PM
Gender: Female Location: WheRe JacK is I'M There By His Side
But she didnt come in on the 13th year....DMC is taking place in the 13th year....he meet her what like a year ago COTBP so that makes it the 12th year...right? maybe one of the last things he got as being lucky!!! i wonder what he did for a whole year?
Gender: Female Location: WheRe JacK is I'M There By His Side
No seriously i was very moved by this thesis....Wow its funny how u can miss so much if u dont pay attention....Jack educated makes a lot of sense!! and Liz/Jack...thats depressing to think that ur whole life u've been disappointed by life over and over again....when u finally let someone get close enough to see who u are...and then bam they leave u to die!!! As unfortunate as that sounds im not sure how easy its going to be for Jack to let Liz get close to him again.....i mean he died because of her...he faced his greatest fear...and now that he's back from the dead im not sure if he's gonna let his guard down around her!! because we all know how that went last time... she is his weekness...and im sure he dosent want to go back to death! which explains him trading her to Sao Feng...the farther she is from him the better his chances of surviving are! and plus im sure coming back from the dead is no easy task....mentally he's most likely gonna be worse!!
i TOTALLY agree that both jack and liz have been disappointed by love throughout their lives....
i always got the feeling that elizabeth thought she loved Will because she thought he was a PIRATE since the day she met him...and since she has been intregued by pirates her whole life, i knew that made sense....
UNTIL SHE MET JACK SPARROW
and what was the first thing jack did?
HE SAVED HER
he did the EXACT opposite of what norrie and her father told her that Pirates do...which makes him break the 'mold' straight away....and i think this is what intregued her the most about him.
SHE stuck up for HIM in potc 1 when norrie was arresting him for saving her life...she saw the freedom within him as soon as she opened her eyes and looked at him.
What intregues me the most is exactly WHEN these two characters decided they were a match for eachother...the curiosity scene on the pearl did not come out of thin air; obviously they had studied eachother deeply to be able to discover exactly what the other wants deep inside...
it just intregues me to know WHEN exactly they knew that they saw something of themselves within the other...
wow.... great find. that was an awesome read. whoever wrote it did a great job organizing all of that.
QUOTE
Jack is known for playing his cards “close to his vest”. Furthermore, life has taught him that emotions like pity, friendship or love only make you weak and might lead to your downfall. In DMC, he didn’t want to be vexed by Elizabeth, he struggled not to fall in love with her – and in the end, when he finally couldn’t help it anymore, when he tried to be a good man, she sent him to his death. Although his smile might suggest that he actually doesn’t blame her for doing it, I highly doubt that her actions left him completely unmoved.
After what might have been a long time, he allowed himself to have feelings and what happened? They were used against him – as always!
I think the situation he finds himself in is very similar to when he was first marooned on the island. As can be seen above, Barbossa knows an awful lot about Jack’s past, he might even know the whole story which to me suggests that he and Jack may have been friends - remember Jack even agreed to tell him the coordinates of the Isla de Muerta. And where did his trust and friendship lead him? He was left to die on an uninhabited island.
In DMC, Jack fell for Elizabeth and in the end, he trusted her as much as to allow her to get really close to him. Again, he was left to die. QUOTE
I think i really resonate with this part.
i agree that Jack is, in many ways, proud of who Elizabeth has become, and he truly does admire her and desire her for her piraty actions...
But it must have affected him negatively in some way. I firmly believe this.
Cause I mean, when you get down to it, Jack hates Barbossa yeah, but he also respects him. He recognizes that they are a lot alike. He understands that Barbossa may be his match as far as cleverness and wiles.
So i think its possible to be incredibly proud/aroused by what she did, while at the same time feeling incredibly betrayed.
Gender: Female Location: Giving dirty Mr Sparrow a sponge ba
I disagree with that! ^^^
Barbossa didn't show regret did he? He totally cold shouldered him when he did that..
ELIZABETH showed him that she still has feelings for him even after the betrayal..
he will only feel hurt if she cold shoulders him in the future..she almost kissed him again remember?...I think he knew why she was doing it..because she saw him as a threat..he knew she was trying to lie about why she was doing that because HE does the exact same thing when he's trying to cover up what he's really doing. You even see him laugh a little bit because she is just like him..
Know what else I find interesting?
Odysseus' story spans for 20 years before he returns home to his wife and son and there his story ends..although once he's home I think it continues for like another year
when you add up where Jack's story starts till DMC/AWE..its 13 years...then ad on 9 years where the script I had ended with Elizabeth and 9 year old son?
Its 22 years LOL
not exact but a coincidence?
I think not.
Jack be Odysseus
Elizabeth be Penelope
the son be Jack's
Last edited by LovelyOne on Oct 12th, 2006 at 07:28 PM
KMC Community Forums
A thesis on Jack; past, present and future
Oct 11th, 2006 10:36 PM
