Pirates in popular culture
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In popular culture, the modern pirate stereotype owes its tradition mostly to depictions of Captain Hook and his crew in theatrical and film versions of Peter Pan, as well as Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver in the film Treasure Island.
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[edit] Historic and Modern Portrayal of Pirates
In 1879 the comic opera premiere Pirates of Penzance made it an instant hit, and the London premiere in 1880 ran for 363 performances. The comic opera is still performed widely today. Although early depictions of Captain Hook in the play Peter Pan may not have resembled today's depictions of pirates, in the 1924 film version Hook's dress appears stereotypical. The 1950 film adaptation of Treasure Island starred Robert Newton, and is considered highly influential on the modern perception of early pirates.
From 1989 to 1997 the Lego Group produced a series of pirate LEGO sets. Starting in the late 1990s, Japanese manga and television show One Piece boosted interest in the pirate genre. In 2003, popular interest in pirates rose again with the release of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which focuses attention on the pirate bases of Tortuga and Port Royal. Before that, theatrical and film interpretations of Captain Hook and his crew have been among the most popular and memorable expressions of piracy in popular culture.
In the 1990s, International Talk Like a Pirate Day was invented as a parodic holiday celebrated on September 19. This holiday allows people to "let out their inner pirate" and to dress and speak as pirates are stereotypically portrayed to have dressed and spoken. International Talk Like a Pirate Day has been gaining in popularity through the Internet since its founders set up a website, which instructs visitors in "pirate slang".
In several parody websites, it is claimed that pirates (in the Caribbean buccaneer sense) and ninjas are sworn enemies, despite the (geographical if nothing else) implausibility of this. This idea has become a fairly widespread cultural phenomenon – for example, "Pirates versus Ninjas"-themed house parties.
Pirates also play a central role in the parody religion of Pastafarianism, established in 2005.
[edit] Dress, Appearance and Mannerisms
Stereotypical pirate accents tend to resemble accents either from Cornwall or Bristol, though they can also be based on Elizabethan-era English. Typical dress includes: on the head, a bandana or a feathered or tricorne, an eye patch, a hook or wooden stump where a hand or leg has been amputated, horizontal striped shirts, and often Elizabethan-era clothing. They often have rotten or missing teeth and other effects of scurvy, along with numerous scars or other wounds from battle. Pirates are often depicted with monkeys or parrots as pets. Fictional pirate crews have typically been all male, but more recent fiction has depicted a gradual increase in appearances of female pirates as well. Pirates often carry a scimitar and a flintlock pistol, though other types of swords and guns are also depicted.
[edit] Space pirates
Space Pirates are science fiction or fantasy character archetypes who operate as pirates in outer space as opposed to on the sea, capturing and plundering spaceships for cargo, money, and the ships themselves. Space pirates tend to share many traits with the classical pirate archetype, being characterized as ruthless criminals.
[edit] Pirates in music
- Pop stars have long been drawn towards pirate culture, due to its disestablishmentism and motley dress. An early 1960s British pop group called itself Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, and wore eye patches while they performed. Keith Moon, drummer of The Who, was a fan of Robert Newton. Flogging Molly, The Briggs, Dropkick Murpheys, The LeperKhanz, The Coral, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Bullets And Octane, Mad Caddies, The Vandals, Thee Pirates, Armored Saint, Pickled Dick, Jimmy Buffet, Rotten Future, and Stephen Malkmus have pirate-themed songs as well. San Diego three-piece Thee Corsairs take both their name and song inspiration from pirates.
- Easily the most elaborate example of songs in this Rock sub genre is "Pirates" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer a massive, 13 minute long performance piece from their 1977 tour, it features the Orchestra de L'Opera de Paris. The piece can be found on the album "Works, volume 1"
- German metal band Running Wild adopted a "pirate metal" image in 1987, with its third album.. The Texas punk group Employer, Employee was considered "pirate rock" by its fans, as its lyrics often contained themes of piracy ("One Count of Mutiny"), as well as the 16th-century New World in general.
- The Sex Pistols adapted the saucy song "Good Ship Venus" as their hit "Friggin' in the Rigging". Fellow Malcolm McLaren protegée Adam Ant took the pirate image further. One of the tracks on the album Kings of the Wild Frontier was called "Jolly Roger". In 1986, The Beastie Boys paid homage to the pirate lifestyle on their Licensed to Ill album with the song "Rhymin' and Stealin'". The song is filled with piratical and nautical phrasing liberally mixed with 1980s hip-hop references.
- Mutiny is an Australian pirate themed folk-punk band with releases on Fistolo Records. Pirates imagery has also been adopted by many anarchists, possibly due to the origins of the black flag of anarchism in the pirate flag, and due to books like The Many Headed Hydra by Marcus Reddiker, about the early resistance to capitalism and colonialism, and Pirate Utopias, by Paul Lamborn Wilson, otherwise known as Hakim Bey. According to several authors, the pirate ship was among the most democratic institutions of the colonial age.
- The Arrogant Worms, a Canadian band, play a humorous song called "The Pirates of The Saskachewan." It can be heard on line here.
- Pirates also occasionally rival vampires as themes for goth music, fashion, and imagery. Goth musician/comedian Voltaire illustrates the sometimes humorous rivalry between vampiric and pirate camps of goths in the song "Vampire Club" from the album Boo Hoo (2002).
- The Jolly Rogers is a pirate themed reniassance faire musical troupe based out of Kansas City.
- The hardcore/pop punk band Set Your Goals will soon be releasing their first, pirate themed, full length "Mutiny".
- Ska/Punk band The Mad Caddies 2001 album "Rock the Plank" has a skull and crossbones on the cover of the album, also featuring the song "Weird Beard", a song in the flavor of many classic sea shanties.
- The Ska/Punk band the Aquabats recorded a song entitled "Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates", which told the story of Jim, a young boy who joins a pirate crew headed by Captain Hampton.
- The Pirate, a musical starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, has a number of songs about Piracy in general and the dread pirate "Black Mack" Macoco in particular.
- Relient K released a single covering the song "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" for children's show VeggieTales. It was originally recorded by the cast of VeggieTales, and Relient K's version of the song was later included in the 2003 compilation album called Veggie Rocks!
- Denver-based Celtic punk rock band The Potcheen Folk Band recorded an original tune based on the Irish pirate Grace O'Malley, one of few female pirates in history. Potcheen recorded several traditional sailing tunes on their album Up She Rises.
- The hardcore/metal band Parkway Drive has a song titled "Mutiny" which features a sample of a line from Pirates In The Carribean spoken by Johnny Depp.
[edit] Pirates in sports
Because pirate ships connote fearsomeness, loyalty and teamwork, many professional and amateur sports teams are named "Pirates." The most famous of these is the Pittsburgh Pirates, a Major League Baseball team that has used the nickname since 1891.
Other teams:
- Professional
- Pittsburgh Pirates - Major League Baseball
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers - National Football League
- Oakland Raiders - National Football League
- Portland Pirates - American Hockey League
- Amsterdam Pirates - Dutch Baseball League
- Orlando Pirates - Premier Soccer League, South Africa
- Tampa Bay Mutiny - Major League Soccer
- Canberra Raiders - National Rugby League, Australia
- Collegiate
- Minor
- Richmond Renegades - Southern Professional Hockey League
- Prince Albert Raiders - Western Hockey League
- Portland Junior Pirates - Atlantic Junior Hockey Leauge/METRO Junior Hockey League
- Rochester Raiders - Great Lakes Indoor Football League
- British Football (Soccer)
- Bristol Rovers FC. The Pirates - Bristol, England.
- Rugby Union
- Roller Derby - WFTDA - US and Canada
- Surly Gurlies - AZ Roller Derby
[edit] Fictional Pirates
[edit] Works
- Peter Benchley's 1979 novel The Island, and the 1980 movie adaptation for which he wrote the screenplay, feature a latter-day band of pirates who prey on civilian shipping in the Caribbean.
- The Pirate Movie, an Australian film loosely based on The Pirates of Penzance, stars Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol.
- The Pirates of Dark Water is a Hanna-Barbera animated series of the 1990s.
- The Pirates of Penzance, a comic operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan contains a Pirate King and a crew of orphan pirates.
- The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe is a surreal adventure with stereotypical pirates and Charles Darwin. Featuring The Pirate With A Scarf.
- The singing and dancing pirates Nasty Max, Mighty Matt, Massmedia and Sleazeappeal from the animated series Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea.
- Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff is an adventure comic strip frequently set among modern-day pirates of China and Southeast Asia, led by the notorious Dragon Lady.
- Sid Meier's Pirates! by Sid Meier is a well-known video game featuring pirates.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, movies based off of the popular Disneyland attraction, "Pirates of the Caribbean".
- The pirate-themed Monkey Island series of computer games is also inspired by the same Disneyland ride and set in the 17th century Caribbean.
- Nate and Hayes, a 1983 film based on the adventures of the notorious Bully Hayes, a pirate in the South Pacific in the late 19th Century. Also known as Savage Islands.
For more pirate films, see also: Category:Pirate films
[edit] See Also
- "Barret's Privateers" is a song popular in Nova Scotia detailing the fictional story of Elcid Barret and his privateers and their voyage on the Antalope to raid American shipping vessels.
- Pro wrestler Paul Burchill from WWE Friday Night SmackDown! dresses like a pirate and claims that Blackbeard is his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
- Maddox (writer) often portrays himself as a pirate on his website The Best Page in the Universe.
- Members of "The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" believe that global warming is a result of the severe decrease in pirates.
[edit] External links
[edit] Lyrics
- Lyrics from Pirates (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) by Greg Lake and Pete Sinfield
[edit] Pirates' Code
[edit] Virtual pirates crews
- The Pirates of Tibia A today very large organization in the game Tibia which has as number one priority to work as the pirates in the golden days of piracy.
[edit] Pirates publications and online resources
- The Pirate Brethren Web Forum A Place to Discuss the Golden Age of Piracy, and Pirate Reenacting
- The Pyrate's Way Magazine Full-colour 96-page resource designed for pirate crews, leisure boaters, maritime and nautical enthusiasts and those who search for the golden days of pyracy.
- No Quarter Given Newsletter for pirate reenactors and enthusiasts, with a great deal of pirate information.
- Bilgemunky.com Online source for the latest in pop-culture piracy. Includes many pirate-themed reviews including music, clothing, games, and rum.
- The Pirate Brethren Web Reenacting the Golden Age of Piracy, 1680-1725. Our group is dedicated to research and an accurate portrayal of Golden Age pirates
- Historical Re-enactors based in Orlando Principal re-enactment group for Searle's Raid on St. Augustine, Florida
- http://www.ThePirateKing.com/movies/ Nearly complete list (several hundred entries) of every Pirate movie ever made, from the silent era to present day
- International Talk Like A Pirate Day - Held September 19th
- Youth Pirate Glossary
- Talk Like A Pirate Video Clips
