When it comes to pirate-themed films and television works, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series starring Johnny Depp.
However, even the most classic series will have an end day. In early 2019, Disney lost the writers of the new sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean"; in addition, Johnny Depp himself is also controversial, and without Captain Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, it is likely to be stranded.
And friends who like the pirate theme do not have to worry, in fact, in recent years, there has been a classic enough to rival the "Pirates of the Caribbean" of the unpopular conscience of the good drama, today on the wall crack Amway to everyone -
Black Sail
My personal impression of this drama is that the story is burning and the scale is large!
"Black Sail", which has been broadcast for four seasons and has been completed, can be called "the most cattle pirate drama in history", and in recent years, american dramas have undoubtedly been unpopular and high-quality existence.
Unlike Disney's magical style in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Black Sail takes the historical route with strong dramatic conflicts.
Its plot is intertwined with fiction and reality, boldly starting from the classic pirate story "Treasure Island", telling the surprising story of pirate captain Flint leading his partners to war with several major colonial empires and establishing a pirate republic.
The story begins in 1715, when a group of Pirates of the Caribbean robbed and killed a Spanish treasure ship.
Captain Flint, the smartest and most feared of all time, had not yet gained fame, and he and some of the most famous pirates who really existed in history formed an extralegal place called the "Pirate Republic" in the bahamas of Nassau.
Because the port of Nassau was so good that almost all the trading ships to and from Europe and the Americas passed through those waters, it became almost a paradise for pirates, with prostitutes, thieves, villains, slaves, and political prisoners exiled by the Empire, all the people who had been abandoned by mainstream society but were not willing to end their lives here.
The complex and harsh environment can kill people at any time, but as compensation for fate, they have one of the rarest things at that time, that is, freedom.
In order to maintain their independence with their wealth, Flint and others continued to rob merchant ships on the Atlantic route, until Britain and Spain listed pirates as the number one public enemy, and Flint became the target of public criticism.
Can Nassau win autonomy? What will be the fate of the "Pirate Republic"? What happened to Captain Flint and the pirates? ......
In terms of cast, Toby Stephens from the London showbiz family plays the legendary Captain Flint, and the one-legged pirate king John Silver is played by Luke Arnold.
Although almost all of them are newcomers except for the two main actors, each one is properly selected, which is very suitable for the character archetype, and everyone does not hesitate to "sacrifice hue"——
When the new drama premiered, in order to reflect the style of starz and attract the target audience, there were many large-scale scenes at the beginning, and the bold and beautiful erotic drama became one of the selling points of "Black Sail".
In addition, compared with the old-fashioned and conservative colonial empire, in order to reflect the uninhibited sons and daughters of the pirate group and the democratic spirit of independence and freedom, there are a lot of LGBT dramas in the play.
However, the reason why "Black Sail" can become the king of pirate dramas is because of its excellent plot and character development. The show adopts a rare "two-male mode" in the narrative, and John Silver grows into a pirate king, parallel to Captain Flint's two threads against the colonists.
But what really surpasses the predecessors is the extremely realistic naval battle drama of the play, no less than the classic naval battle film such as "Angry Sea Battle".
The examiners and military fans who have watched "Black Sail" should be greatly addicted, because the play shows more than ten kinds of mainstream ships in the world at that time, including british royal first-class battleships, Spanish treasure galleons, thousand-ton three-masted merchant ships, etc., and depicts various naval tactics such as sea chases, trap laying, two-ship bombardment, multi-ship deployment, and even the earliest amphibious landing battle in history.
Coupled with the traditional pirate theme of sword fighting, walking wooden boards, hook climbing, gold and silver treasures and treasure maps... It's a pirate legend that's both bizarre and realistic.
The background of Black Sail must begin with the classic pirate story of the British novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island.
The novel is based on a child story Stevenson told for his adopted son. It takes place in the mid-18th century, when the English boy Jim receives the legendary treasure map from the dying sailor Pence and follows an expedition organized by Captain Smollett to Treasure Island with the support of a local squire.
A group of evil people, led by the pirate king John Silver, also disguised themselves as sailors and mixed into the ship. Around the legendary pirate Flint's £700,000 treasure, the two gangs engaged in a life-and-death struggle.
"Black Sail" can be called the first part of "Treasure Island", and maybe starz will shoot "Treasure Island" as a sequel in the future.
In Black Sail, the three virtual characters in Treasure Island were retained according to the needs of the plot.
The first is Captain Flint, one of the most famous pirate characters in the history of Western literature, whose status is comparable to that of the heroes of China's "Water Margin" who represented Skywalker.
This is followed by John Silver, who pretends to be a chef from the beginning of the plot until the end of The Battle of Treasure Island.
Finally, there was Captain Billy, who worked as a pirate under Flint and later became a key figure in the treasure map.
Around the life and death of Captain Flint, there is a lot of controversy on the Internet about the finale of "Black Sail". Judging from the novel, he should have survived. Because, according to the setting of Treasure Island, Flint drew a treasure map in 1750 and died in 1754, while the finale of "Black Sail" was before 1720.
In real history, in 1713, most of the ports of the Bahamas were directly controlled by pirate chiefs Thomas Barrow and Benjamin Hornigold. Using their strategic advantage, they declared Nassau a "pirate republic." This part is the historical basis of "Black Sails".
Around these historical facts, the screenwriters introduced a large number of real characters and events in the half-fictional plot, and the whole play always fits the historical timeline, reflecting the four forces of England, France, Spain and pirates, around the strategic location of the West Indies.
In "Black Sail", in addition to the three virtual characters from "Treasure Island", what attracts the audience's attention is actually these pirate kings, who are representatives of the real existence in the "Golden Age of Pirates of the Caribbean"——
"Blackbeard" Edward Titch
In the Caribbean, the famous "Blackbeard" is a symbol of the pirate community. He represents the ideal person in the hearts of pirates: ruthless but compassionate to subordinates; brave in battle but without losing wisdom; spending money like dirt but robbing the rich and helping the poor.
For the navies of the colonial empires, the name Blackbeard alone was enough to make them feel frightened and retreat without a fight. Together with his beard, several pistols on his chest, and the Queen Anne's Revenge, Tich became a legend of the pirate era. From Pirates of the Caribbean to One Piece, he has appeared in many works.
In Black Sails, Edward Titch appears late, but there are two scenes that are excellent.
The first game is to show his extraordinary martial arts and invincible brilliance, let Flint and him sword, the first two seasons of basically invincible Flint was beaten by Blackbeard to find teeth, thanks to Charles Vann to block a sword to save his life.
The second scene is his ending, this scene is really a thrilling classic model in silence, Rogers wanted to execute Him in the most cruel and humiliating way after capturing Blackbeard alive, but he did not expect Edward Titch to survive three times of torture with superhuman will and not ask for forgiveness, And Blackbeard is indeed worthy of the name.
Charles Vann
In historical facts, Charles Vann was not the kind of pirate who only wanted money and did not hurt people, he was the most evil man who raped and plundered, and he was notorious. It is said that when he was hanged, all the merchant ships of Britain, Spain, France and the Netherlands were thanking God.
But in the series, he is portrayed as a freedom-loving, uncompromising character, embodying the purest pirate spirit in him: to die without freedom. In order to rebel against all domination, he is willing to be the enemy of the world. In order to provoke the people of Nassau to rebel for autonomy, he preferred to give up his life.
In Vann, the pirate's temper towards the enemy is most prominent. He had courage and strategy, and his combat effectiveness and tactical planning were reminiscent of today's special forces.
At the same time, he is also the most moral character in the whole play, not only forgiving his subordinates several betrayals, but also saving Captain Flint twice. You know, when competing for the leader of the pirates, he was Flint's strongest challenger, and because he admired the intelligence and strategy of the other party, he not only drew his sword to help, but also gave it to the sage and was willing to be his deputy.
"Printed Booquet" Jack Rackham
Historically, he did serve as captain under Tich and Vann; but the difference is that he was never one of the pirate kings.
In the play, in order to make this character more moving, the deeds of samuel Bellamy, who loves strange costumes, and Samuel Bellamy, another real pirate king, are combined to create a "wise multi-star" butler role.
Just because of Jack Rackham's little cleverness in stealing chickens and not eating rice, and his love for women, he became the most popular character in the series except Captain Flint.
Therefore, he can get out of danger many times, and he can't die. He was also a man who lacked political ambition and wanted to take the treasure with his beloved Anne Bernie and retreat into hiding. Unfortunately, the day did not go according to people's wishes, and in the end, I still had to live a life of licking the knife edge at sea.
Anne Bernie
Inseparable from Jack Rackham, Anne Bernie is one of the most legendary figures in the history of piracy.
She was originally the daughter of a squire in the Bahamas and married, but after meeting Jack Rackham, she did not hesitate to cancel the marriage and follow Jack across the world.
What's even more amazing is that she later falls in love with Mary Red, a female pirate dressed as a man, and they form a strange relationship with Jack, and both of them are pregnant with Jack's child!
In the play, many scenes of female sympathy revolve around Anne Bernie. The writers also expanded Annie's inner drama, making her the most simple and fragile character in this intrigue-filled world, with a fiery passion underneath her cold and tough exterior.
"Pirate Hunter" Benjamin Hornigold
The last Pirate King was actually Benjamin Hornigold, the "pirate hunter" who later hunted down Flint. His origins are different from other pirates, or because of this, he is like Song Jiang in "Water Margin" who looks forward to Zhao An.
It turned out that Hornigold had been commissioned by the British Navy during the War of the Spanish Succession to become a privateer who plundered the Spanish fleet. That is to say, his plundering was officially authorized, and it is no wonder that after receiving the king's pardon, he became an enemy of pirates.
Hornigold's end in history is not the same as in the play, when he was captured in 1719 in a battle with a Spanish merchant ship and died in a Cuban prison. Another theory is that he died of a rock.
In "Black Sail", the "pirate republic" that rejects foreign powers and implements democratic voting is the ideal goal that supports the protagonists to fight for.
So we see that these pirates are different from the ancestors of the traditional concept who only knew how to burn and loot.
They were exiled political prisoners, politically demanding privateers, sailors oppressed by a tragic fate, and escaped slaves who rebelled against brutal imperial rule, unqualified heirs, inhumane imperial navies, insatiable merchant ship owners, and slave owners entrenched in the Americas and the West Indies.
In the harsh maritime environment, they created a unique culture of piracy, operating ships democratically, voting together to elect or depose captains, distributing the spoils equally, and expressing their opinions in public meetings to collectively make major decisions.
Even, in an era when ordinary sailors did not receive any social security, pirates established disability pensions. All this contrasts sharply with the evils of dictatorships and the embryonic years of capitalism.
The Pirate Republic began with a revolt against colonial tyranny, which in turn shook the foundations of the two great empires of England and Spain, affected the most prosperous slave trade of the time, brought most of the transatlantic trade to a standstill, and shook the entire of Europe by the demands of pirates.
Undoubtedly, this struggle for autonomy is unheard of in the old days when monarchical authority was divinely entrusted. More importantly, the ideals of pirates were not extinguished by their joint encirclement and suppression by colonial empires.
On the contrary, the world's first spark for freedom and democracy was quietly planted and spread from the West Indies to the New World, where the flames of the independence movement would later be ignited.