AWE babble

Jun. 9th, 2007 10:10 pm
katharos: (Default)
[personal profile] katharos
So, finished my exams this week. Last exam I'll ever take. ever. (hopefully.) So can finally do stuff other than revise, which so far has seemed to consist of revamping the anime soc for next year. Which has been fun. :D God, I am both a power hungry control freak and an organising maniac. The things you learn about yourself given people to order about. :)

And, um, I might have rewarded myself for finishing the exam by going to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. For the, um. Fourth time.

I-I can't help myself. I adore this film to a ridiculous degree. It hit all my buttons. It hit buttons I didn't even know I had. And I've been reading fic in the fandom, somthing I've done very little of before - mostly because Will has been my favourite character all the way through the films, and pre- AWE there were very few fics that both contained Will and wrote him in a way that didn't make my teeth grind. I'm happy to report that this seems to have changed, and I might actually have to put together a recs list just so I can keep track of them all. Oh, such hardship!

So, yes, AWE babbling.



I only completly got the first scene the second time through and oh Beckett. One of the best, best villains ever I can just enjoy loathing and who probably has the Evil Over Lords list under his pillow. Slaughtering everyone connected with Piracy just to get someone to start singing - and that was one of the most awesome opening scenes. Shivery and intense and beautifully defiant - and then when the boy's last note was abruptly cut off...

And the song itself I absolutly adore. The King and his men stole the Queen from her bed hums it. It turns everything we learn that happened into the past into fairytale language, and really amps up the sense that what we're seeing is something that happens in the realm of legend and myth - not quite real history, something just one step to the side. A kind of Carribbean Dreamtime. (also love the double play of meaning in bed/sea bed that comes when you realise who the Queen is.)

Will! Oh, my Will, you really came into your own in this film. I adored that scene in Beckett's cabin, where Will is delicatly drinking tea and just casually dropping rather important bits of information that Beckett would really rather Jones didn't know. And coming up with the breadcrumb trail idea. And then when Soi Fang betrays him - the annoyance and frustration on his face, but also the complete and utter lack of surprise.

Barbossa and Jack and their constant attempts to one up each other - I'm indescribably happy that they got to sail off into the sunset to continue to betray each other bitchily ever after.

Elizabeth was awesome, which made me happy as well. I loved the way they contrasted her visually to herself in the first two films - showing her tanned by sun and sea wind, more often dressed in ragged clothes than not and loaded with weapons. The wedding scene (PURE AWESOME!) was just such a perfect contrast to the interrupted wedding scene we see in DMC - no perfect porcelain doll in a wedding dress kneeling in the rain here! It underline the fact that these two people really wouldn't have been happy in the roles laid out for them by Port Royale society - a wedding in the middle of a battle in a maelstrom conducted half by a pirate captain who keeps breaking off to shout insults at his opponents and half by themselves in between breaks to slaughter their enemies - much more appropriate. *hearts*

And speaking of the Port Royale contingent - Governor Swann. I know we only see him for a few brief scenes but they were all so spot on for the character - said so much about who he is and was and I had a lump in my throat all through that scene at the end of the world. Norrington was also a similar case. He was absolutely perfect whenever we saw him, and I did love his death scene. "Our destinies have been entwined Elizabeth. They've never joined." *wibbles*

In regards to the script spoilers - I honestly prefer the film ending, and I take that as the final canon. A finished film, to me, is like the final edit of a story - there might have been stuff in a previous version that you edited out, but the final version is the final version. Although that's not going to stop me from reading (and enjoying!) fics that use the deleted stuff. Hopefully this will get us twice as much fic. :D

And I think I've finally put my finger on the reason why I really don't like the cut version of the ending. It's just - it's too easy. *cowers* Yes I know waiting ten years isn't easy! And it's not quite that, it's that it's - passive, and scribed. Neither Will nor Elizabeth are the sorts to wait around and let things sort themselves out for themselves. I much prefer the idea of the Captainship of the Flying Dutchman being the unbreakable, irreversible bond that everything in the films have implied it is, and Will and Elizabeth moving heaven and sea to find a way to be together in spite of it - I much prefer the idea of them fighting for it, as they have always done, rather than acceding passively to someone elses plan. And luckily for me there is already a good quantity of fic in the fandom doing exactly that!

Will probably have more to say later.

Date: 2007-06-09 10:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com
Barbossa and Jack and their constant attempts to one up each other - I'm indescribably happy that they got to sail off into the sunset to continue to betray each other bitchily ever after.

♥ I like to think they *both* find the Fountain of Youth, and spend eternity sailing and bitching at each other.

I liked Will and Elizabeth a lot in this movie. Main characters are rarely my favourite ones, so of course I preferred Jack, but I think they really shone in AWE. Although most of the fandom thinks the opposite, apparently... :/

And I've already said I like the ending as it is. ^_^

(Also: where do you find PotC fic?)

Date: 2007-06-09 11:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] katharos-8.livejournal.com
I tend to think of the Pirate movies as having a triple lead: Will, Elizabeth, and Jack all seem to share equal main character status to me. :) I think they shine best when they're all bouncing off each other. (And Will was so severly underappreciated in fandom pre AWE that I often felt like I was waving a tiny flag for a minor character.)

and spend eternity sailing and bitching at each other.

Yes! But then I think how soon the Age of Sail will pass and that makes me said. And then I find myself wistfully constructing dystopias where technology has fallen and Calypso rules the seas again, dragging all metal, computer driven monstrosities down to the Locker, and then a realise that this is a happy fluffy scenario and find myself eyeing my brain in horror. (and making surreptious encouraging motions at it.)

As for fic, these are the good places I've found.

[livejournal.com profile] pirategasm is the best fic com - a lot of high quality fic gets posted to it. [livejournal.com profile] despatches is the round up newsletter for Age of Sails fandoms, currently linking large amounts of POTC fic. [livejournal.com profile] turningpirate is a nice friendly com for fans of Will Turner - there's been a couple of rec lists for post AWE fic posted. Some really good stuff. :) [livejournal.com profile] fabu also links to a lot of very good fics, and has previously done round ups for CotBP and DMC era fic, if you fancy travelling back in time.

Date: 2007-06-10 03:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grey-damaskena.livejournal.com
I'm too tired to say anything intelligent about Pirates, and not sure I have anything intelligent to say in the first place. But I'm glad your exams are finished, huzzah! And glad to see you online again.

Date: 2007-06-12 01:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] katharos-8.livejournal.com
Thank you! It'd good to be finished. Strange, but good.

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