swatkat

My mum doesn't know who Johnny Depp is. Not her fault, considering that she rarely watches movies, and has an appallingly bad memory when it comes to remembering actors – but it did lead to some rather amusing discussions today while watching Pirates.

Mother:(After Jack saves Elizabeth from drowning) So, you're saying that this filthy-looking man is the hero?
Swatkat: That's right.
Mother: He's really… filthy.
Mother: How can this filthy-looking man be the hero?
Swatkat: He doesn't end up with the girl, if that's what you're worried about.

Mother:(after a while) Who is he, anyway?
Swatkat: His name is Johnny Depp. He's a famous actor.
Mother:(as Jack makes a very ridiculous face) He isn't very handsome, is he?
Swatkat: *splutter*

She loved the movie, though.

Disclaimer: It is three and I should be in bed, so none of the ramblings below might make sense. Forgive me?

While watching the movie, I also realised a very odd thing – Elizabeth Swann is not, in fact, my favourite character in the movie. I do like her – she's quite likeable – but she's not one of those characters who make me grin like and idiot and say, "That's my girl". And it is odd, because she had seemed *just* the type of character I could root for. She's smart, she's brave (that too in a very Gryffindor way), she knows what she wants, she's got great lines, she has moments that made me want to stand up and clap ("But why is the rum gone?")… but when we come down to the main thing, I *like* Elizabeth Swann, but I am not particularly interested in her as a character.

When I was young, I *adored* adventure stories. Starting from The Adventures of Tin-tin (he even went to the moon), to Enid Blyton's adventure stories, and R.L. Stevenson, and Jules Verne and Mark Twaine – this was my childhood staple reading. I loved the adventures. I loved that they traveled all over the world, went to strange and beautiful places, did strange and beautiful things, *all by themselves*, without having anyone to restrict them or instruct them. And what I loved the most was that they were so free. I was insanely jealous of Famous Five's George… not only did she have all those wonderful adventures and that fabulous dog, but she actually owned an uninhabited island! And Tom Sawyer? He actually ran away from home and lived in an island for days! You will not believe how many times I planned running away from home… somewhere… to live all by myself (I saved money, I stocked food – I remember my mother puzzling over a stack of rotten biscuits inside a box one day; I never did tell her about it *g*), not because my parents were mean to me, but because it would be so much *fun*. And then there was that boy in Treasure Island - Jim. How come he got to have so much fun (goes in search of treasure, confronts *actual* pirates, finds treasure) while I got nothing? I imagined how wonderful it would be to be one of the boys in The Prince and the Pauper, or one of those characters in Jules Verne's stories (M. Aronnax did not deserve that trip in the Nautilaus). This list, really, could go on and on. POTC, in a way, appeals to these same longings in me – the adventure, the strange and beautiful things that they do and the people that they meet, the freedom that they have - *that* is incredible. And in this aspect, I understand Elizabeth Swann when she sings "A pirate's life for me". I wanted that too. Perhaps I still do. It's not very practical, but there you go. And so – how come I don't particularly care for Elizabeth, the way I do for Hermione and Buffy and Faith and Nikita and all the other characters that I love so?

I've been thinking about this for a while, because it really bothered me. What went wrong? And I've realised that it's not Elizabeth's fault that I couldn't grow to love her character. It's me. Somewhere down that line, I changed. I met the Jo Marches and Anne Shirleys of the world, the girls who craved for freedom and adventure, but had to settle with what they got in the real world, even though settling down didn't mean they stopped wanting. And here you have Elizabeth – who *got* it, got everything. She got to be a pirate. She got to have adventures with pirates who became skeletons and cursed medallions and the like. She got to marry the man she loved by breaking all conventions of the world she lives in, without having to face any repercussions of it (it sure seemed that way; if her father and Norrington approve, everyone else probably will too). She didn't have to be responsible, because things fell in place. That's what her world is like. A fairy tale world. That's the kind of world that I wanted when I was young. And I suspect that if I'd met her a few years earlier, she would've been my heroine. But I'm not the same person anymore – I know things don't happen that way, I *know* you don't get what you want (none of my favourite characters get what they want) - and I can't relate to her anymore. And when I read fic (watch movies etc), I need to relate. I loved the way things happened on-screen, I loved the way the movie played out, but in the end? Elizabeth Swann will be the character I'll always be jealous of, but never quite get.*

Also, I want to marry Commodore Norrington. So. Pretty. *dies*

*Well, unless of course they do something very interesting with her character in the next movie. But that seems unlikely, considering the genre.