Concerning the pairing Jack/Will in PotC fanfiction:
I thought this would be a good time for me to voice my opinions on this rather sensitive topic, since my next PPC story has to do with J/W bad slash. Really bad slash. Now, I do not think that all slash is bad slash, but I find this particular pairing, Jack/Will, which so many authors find endearing, to be a bit ridiculous. This is my rather
( Read more... )
Comments 7
"I didn’t see any homosexual inclinations in the captain whatsoever."
As much as I hate most PotC slash, I have to admit that I definitely believe the man is bi. From what I hear it's historically accurate... hey, after a few weeks at sea without a woman a man is going to want some lovin'. And Jack strikes me as the type who wouldn't care hid his bed partner was a man or a woman, as long as he gets what he wants in the end.
Reply
I can understand a Jack/Will pairing in an AU fic, though it would still take some MAJOR stretching of character for them both.
The worst thing about the way this pairing gets written, IMO - well, apart from when the characters get destroyed - is that at least the ones I've encountered don't even bother to explain it. They just go "Oh, well, Will realised he didn't love Elizabeth any more, so..." and move on to the manlove. This is irritating.
About this:
Heroic swashbuckler fits Will. Actual pirate, does not.
Exactly! I'm thinking of the screenwriters' commentary on the DVD, where they explain how the line "He's a pirate" actually shows that Will has become the romanticised pirate Elizabeth dreamed of before she actually found out what pirates were like - in other words, he's not a real pirate at all. He would never just run off to become a thief - the only time he'd go against the law, as we see repeatedly in the movie, is for a really, really good cause ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Although I nearly threw something at the screen when they said (of Jack's "It never would have worked between us" line) "It makes you wonder just how far Elizabeth would have gone to save Will... what did happen on that island?!" (paraphrase obviously as I have not yet memorised the commentaries :p). Because fics that pretend something did happen between Jack and Elizabeth at that point in time really squick me, and I was so mad at the screenwriters for giving them validation. :p
Reply
Oh, I know. That was really frustrating. It's like when Orlando Bloom calls Legolas "Leggy". It makes for thousands of fangirls who think that it's okay to write stories where the characters call him that.
I think that comment about Jack and Elizabeth was not meant to be taken seriously, especially as a main plot point. When the screenwriters comment on it, they say, "I love Elizabeth's expression here," or something to that effect--it wasn't something in the script, just their spur-of-the-moment, off-color interpretation of her glance at Jack.
I'm too tired to do a long Jack/Elizabeth rant right now. I will say this, though: I get really tired of people who portray Elizabeth "giving in" to her instincts on that island. She didn't have any romantic instincts towards Jack--were they not watching 99% of the time when she found him just simply annoying? Also, so many fanwriters talk about a Jack/Elizabeth relationship as if they'll be long time partners once that annoying Will is out of the way. Yeah, right. Any ( ... )
Reply
Jack/Will is something I'll buy if it's done well -- which it very rarely is. (For one thing, it's a bit hard to get around the whole Elizabeth thing while staying within the historically accurate code of morality and propriety that Elizabeth and Will, at least, are fairly bound by, occasional heroics notwithstanding. And, no, "oh, he didn't love her after all, so she let him go" doesn't count as getting around it.) I can very easily see Jack as bi, he does flirt with anything that breathes (if only to annoy the other person), and I could see a relationship there. If it's handled very, very carefully and skillfully indeed.
98% of the time, it's not. And you're spot-on with all the reasons why it needs very hard work to make it plausible.
Reply
Leave a comment