Some Theological Reflections on Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Last night I went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides." To be sure, it was a pretty good movie; I have loved pirates since I was young, and there is something appealing about the life of a free pirate. Who wouldn't want to live a life free from the restraints of law? Who wouldn't enjoy the adventure? Wouldn't finding buried treasure (guarded by ancient Aztec curses, of course) give one's life both pleasure and purpose? All these aspects of piracy lend the life a devilish appeal. And devilish it truly is.

As I watched the movie last night, I thought of something as Jack Sparrow evaded Royal Soldiers for the umpteenth time. I realized that, as a human being, I am sympathizing with the wrong person! The Pirate, Jack Sparrow, should not be the hero. He, after all, is a criminal who lies, cheats, steals, and murders people! The Soldiers, who are portrayed as the enemy in the movie, are actually the ones who we should be rooting for. They, after all, are trying to uphold the rule of law that keeps us safe from people like Jack Sparrow. Yet we still cheer for the pirate. Why? I realize that the pirate exemplifies all human hubris, that is, the pride and arrogance that makes us attempt to ascend toward places that only God should hold. The appeal of the pirate is that he makes his own rules. He is not bound by any rules from heaven or men. He acts solely on his own selfish impulses, and at some level, that is what we all want as human beings.

There is something curious about human nature, that those who are deeply hated criminals at some point in history become heroes many years later. This is the case with figures such as Jesse James, Billy the Kid, even Robin Hood (if he was, indeed a historical figure). As these criminals and evildoers are highly detested for their deeds, we also admire the hubris that exists in all of us, but that they exhibit in a greater manner. As Rene Girard would point out, in the world's great mythologies, a person who is different from the society would often be perceived as bringing some form of evil on the society and would be killed in order to restore peace. This person would be a virtual scapegoat for the community. However, over time, as the people remembered the act of violence they performed to remove the contagion from their midst, the person would often become "divinized," in a sense. Often the characters who fulfill the role of the scapegoat in a mythology end up as gods of some sort. That, I believe, is what we sometimes do with characters like pirates or stagecoach robbers. These characters, whether truly historical, or simply archetypes of historical characters become victims of the system in our eyes. They truly did do the sorts of things that disrupted the peace of the community, and in most cases, we exacted violence against them to remove them and restore peace (I am not making a comment on whether or not the violence used against them was just or unjust, I am simply stating the fact). After they are dead, we vindicate them, not by making them into gods like the ancients did, but by overlooking the truly heinous nature of their crimes and making them out to be heroes who stand for lofty ideals such as freedom or liberty.

Pirates of the Caribbean 4, like all movies which celebrate pirates, gunslingers, gangsters, or any other type of criminal is simply what human beings have done for thousands of years. Even though as Christians we confess that the cross has revealed the hubris and sin of humankind, it is still alive in the world. When we watch movies about pirates or bank robbers, we see what we all want in our sin. When we look at the cross, we see the world's only truly innocent victim (who was accused as a criminal, remember) whose death reveals and triumphs over our sin. The vindication of the innocent Jesus in his resurrection is much greater than the vindication we give to criminals whom we rightly accuse and wrongly divinize. We must recognize this in our entertainment and also in our own selves.