credit: Pirates of the Caribbean
There are two big reasons why it’s a great thing that Margot Robbie’s Pirates of the Caribbean reboot has been canceled, and those are ‘girl power’ and ‘female-led.’ I know. That sounds sexist and misogynist, right? Anything that’s said against a female-led movie these days is bound to be a product of misogyny, yeah? If that were the case, then men wouldn’t be looking back to the 80s and 90s and praising women such as Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor, nor would they enjoy Robbie’s role as Harley Quinn, or Black Widow, or anything else that features a badass woman that can lead the way. But this particular story wasn’t bound to be one of those that could have gone that well unless the girl power and female-led elements were deleted and brushed over with a strong character and great dialogue, as well as a great story. Women can lead movies without having to shout out their girl power that often, but it does sound as though this reboot would have been little more than another movie showing how women can trump men in a big way and of course, how they’re the stronger sex. In other words, being sad about this cancellation isn’t that easy.
credit: Birds of Prey
Seriously, girl power has its place and time, but unless Pirates of the Caribbean is ready to give up its last vestige of reality, this wouldn’t have worked.
Strong women in movies have been great and even desired in a lot of ways, but the whole idea of girl power, while it could be positive, has ended up making men look highly ineffective, foolish, and like villains a lot of the time, which tends to alienate a great deal of the fanbase. Like it or not, men make up a big number of the people who want to go and see these movies, and while it’s very easy to laugh at ridiculous representations, too much of such a thing can become tiresome. It’s not a desire to keep women out of the lead role that gets people talking when it comes to female representation. It’s the idea that women appear to be trying to take over in some odd way when the truth is that there’s no need for such a thing, since men and women can easily coexist in the same movie and still come off as equally strong.
The hypocrisy of dumping Johnny Depp while Amber Heard was allowed to keep her role as Mera still needs to be brought up.
This is still kind of a sore spot with a lot of fans since Depp is one of the only ones that really need to come back to this franchise, hopefully with a few improvements and a new, worthwhile story. The fact that Depp nearly lost his entire career while Heard managed to keep hers is a sign that girl power isn’t a huge positive. Pushing girl power in such a strong way when it comes to this franchise would be a rather big mistake since, from the first movie forward, Captain Jack Sparrow has been one of the absolute best and most memorable characters of the story. There have been a few strong females that could have stood on equal footings, such as Kiera Knightley, Zoe Saldana, Naomie Harris, and even Penelope Cruz, but they all played their parts, and they played them well. Trying to reinvent the wheel, in this case, feels like it would be more about trying to one-up the original movies than bringing something new to the audience.
credit: Pirates of the Caribbean
There were female pirates back in the day, but they were exceptions, not the rule.
Women did take to piracy centuries ago. There are historical documents that prove this and speak of women who rose through the ranks and took what they wanted or used men to gain power and control over others. But they were the outliers, the exceptions, and not always the most powerful of individuals since, like it or not, many pirates were men, and while women could be every bit as vicious and even skilled when taking up this lifestyle and culture, they were still not nearly as influential as many male pirates that plied the seas. This movie would have been the exception to the rule, and as a result, it does feel as though it would have easily gone way over the top in an effort to promote the girl power that Robbie spoke of, and again, people would have been divided by the idea of whether it worked or not.
Johnny Depp set a very high bar for Pirates of the Caribbean.
From the first movie forward, Johnny Depp turned in a performance that was high enough that not even he could make it work with every movie, as On Stranger Tides proves. But thinking that anyone could come along and simply replace the lead of the original movie that easily obviously wasn’t a popular thought.
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