Hello and welcome back to Favourite Character Praise Friday!
This is one of my absolute favourite posts to write and I hope you enjoy my
picking apart of my favourite characters enough to stick around while I examine
my next victim, I mean, character. Don’t worry, I do not rank these characters
in a particular order, it just so happens that some characters are better worth
sharing praise for at a different point in time to others! Remember, every
fifth instalment is Least Favourite Character Praise Friday, so keep an eye out
for me probing at characters I can’t stand and raving about how well they were
written in order to evoke such a reaction.
So, who is the subject of my next Favourite Character Praise
Friday?
Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean
Franchise!
Warning, the following will contain spoilers about the
Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise
When I was a child I absolutely adored watching the first
three Pirates of the Caribbean films. I always found Jack Sparrow hilarious
because of his sense of humour. With the films having a target audience of
kids, I'm not surprised that I found him so funny, but even into adulthood, he
is very much a comforting and reliable character.
I found that his brand of humour was even more accessible as
I got older, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to talk about him. As a
child, it looks more like a matter of pride when he corrects people for not
referring to him by his title, when they do not hesitate to refer to Captain
Barbossa by his title. However, seeing it as an adult, you realise it's not
about pride, it's a matter of respect. Jack is aware that he is a pirate and
therefore probably shouldn't expect to be treated with politeness by those who
wish to see to see him hang. But the fact they will speak of other pirates like
that, would obviously be infuriating. He demands respect even when he's at his
lowest, knowing that he had worked hard, despite his shortcomings to become the
pirate he is. He, in a way, shows an alternative perspective in knowing your
worth as a person, which I think is not a good thing to show kids, but also to
show adults that may be accompanying these children. He shows you to demand
decency, rise up and cause chaos when disrespected. His attitude may be extreme
but it is, in a way, an admirable stance to take.
I also adored Jack Sparrow due to seeing him act impulsively
and sporadically. It shows that he came into piracy at a young age and thus
never really had a childhood. He takes joy out of things that ought to inspire
fear, like fighting with a cutlass or the chase, but in spite of his impulses, his
actions tend to be more selfless than what may be seen at a glance. When Jack
visits the fountain of youth, he switches the goblet with the mermaid's tear in
it, so his lost love Angelica wouldn't die to pass her years onto a man
pretending to be her father, feigning care for her, and using her for her
youth. Jack noticed this and saves her life, instead of drinking it himself to
preserve his own life and mortality. His selfless nature shines through his
arguably insane decisions.
Jack Sparrow is also very clever, a trait that tends to be
understated, veiled by his humour and the volume of action in the films. Jack was
the first person in Dead Men Tell No Takes to mock Hector Barbossa, telling him
that he knows about who Carina Smythe actually is, and that she isn't the
daughter of a noble explorer as she believes, but a pirate. He works this out
relatively quickly after examining the information presented to him: they are
both knowledgeable about the stars, both by trade. Her awareness that she was
named after that star aids Jack in his conclusion that she is his daughter. Which
is, as we later learn, correct. I feel like this aspect of his personality does
need more attention by fans but the execution of hi cleverness is quite hard to
do. I would love to try and do something like this in the future.
Please, if you have opinions on Captain Jack Sparrow, feel
free to share them with me! Don’t forget you can check out my previous
Character Praise by looking through the hashtags below.
And remember!
Per Aruda Ad Astra!
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