The Legacy of the Pirates of the Caribbean

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Isabel Slingerland, Entertainment Editor

With the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie coming out in 2003, the series has become a household favorite for many of our high school classmates. But what makes this series a legacy whose newest film in the series is still the talk of the town? Logistically, they haven’t been one of those series to release one film after another to the point of making everyone sick of seeing the pirates on every ad and TV channel. If you look at the years that they have released movies (2003, 2006, 2007, 2011, and 2017) most of them are 3 or more years apart. This allows loyal watchers to forget their love for the series, but their nostalgia is always there. Their old love never fails to reignite as a new film approaches.

In tandem, the writers of the Pirates series are good storytellers. While each film in the series has had comparable setting and characters to tie them together, each has managed to tell a unique story. To get you prepared for the newest film, Dead Men Tell No Lies, let’s review the thought behind each of the preceding movies. The 2003 movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl, covered the plight of Will Turner who lost his beloved Elizabeth to a pirate by the name of Captain Barbossa. With the help of the iconic Jack Sparrow, the two set out on a journey to rescue her. In 2006, Dead Man’s Chest, piggybacks off of the previous film because Will and Elizabeth are arrested by Lord Beckett for aiding Jack Sparrow. In exchange for freedom the two must recover Jack’s compass to locate the Dead Man’s chest to give Beckett control of the seas. The 2007 film, At World’s End, the crew from the Black Pearl set out to rescue Jack from Lord Beckett who is trying to end piracy all together. To help save himself, Jack must summon an ancient goddess to defeat Beckett’s troops. Such various mystical elements are incorporated throughout the movies and add an interesting fantastical element to a more realistic story line, again adding another layer of interest to viewers. This mystical theme continues in the 2011 film, On Stranger Tides, when Jack Sparrow searches for the fabled Fountain of Youth. However, en route he runs into his past lover Angelica who forces Jack onto her father’s, Blackbeard’s, ship. Both are in search for the Fountain but now they must also lookout for the previously introduced Captain Barbossa who is now aligned with the King and trying to stop Jack and Blackbeard.

To introduce you to the new film, Jack begins a quest for the legendary trident of Poseidon to escape the ghosts of the Devil’s Triangle who are out to get him and every other pirate in the sea. To add to the excitement of this long awaited movie, Disney expressed that they hope to create two back-to-back films, so you can be expecting a followup to this tale not shortly after. So before it’s too late get your booty and gather your mates and head out to see Dead Men Tell No Lies.