#bsme

Strap yourselves in, crew, because I Have Thoughts.

I’ll start this off by repeating (with some changes & additions) what I wrote in another reblog about the theme of female narratives on Black Sails.

Black Sails is incredible not just for its queer representation but also its women and, even more incredibly, its commitment to female relationships, women supporting each other, and female legacy.

Idelle always stood by Max, and when Max started her steep social climb, she never forgot about the friend by her side and pulled her up along with her, as she put to use the skills she herself had learnt from another woman: Eleanor.

Madi adored and was inspired by her father, but it’s her mother that has raised her and taught her the leadership that sets her apart from every other character on the show. I’d argue that none of the men, not Flint nor Silver nor Billy nor anyone else, is as accomplished a leader as Madi, and it’s no coincidence she learnt a great deal of that from her mother.

Even though we never get to fully delve into that aspect on the show, the profound impact of losing her mother has forever shaped Eleanor, who started her life-long quest of legitimizing Nassau in response to her mother’s statement that it was “no place for a little girl”. As Hannah New said, this made her determined to be „the girl that makes sure no more women die the way [her] mother died.“

Marion Guthrie is not just a woman in power, she’s a woman who wanted to pass on her legacy and skills to her granddaughter. When she learns of Eleanor’s death she recognizes a kindred spirit in Max, who finally gets to see modeled for her the kind of person she could be, that Eleanor could have been. Even if she turns down Marion’s first offer, this relationship is massively important to Max and must have widened her horizon immeasurably by showing her just what is possible. Marion immediately chooses to bestow her inheritance on Max in lieu of Eleanor, wanting her life’s work and power to remain in a woman’s hands.

Heck, add Mrs Hudson conspiring with Mrs Mapleton, or Eleanor and Miranda’s initiative that saved Abigail, or Mrs Mapleton’s continued work for Max, or Madi drumming up support by talking to Eme, or her nigh-prophetic talk with Ruth.

And all this isn’t even going into the romantic or not-supportive relationships between women!

However, within the universe of the show, as in real life, women’s achievements are often dismissed or forgotten by the larger narrative. Even if they leave visible fingerprints in history, the hand that made them is often forced to stay invisible.

Marion Guthrie is pulling the strings behind the scenes, Max can only run Nassau by using Featherstone as the face of her rule, and Eleanor’s efforts for Nassau on Rogers’ behalf were never going to be remembered by the history books. Civilized society allows them no other venue to visibly hold power. Eleanor, Max, Madi and the Maroon Queen could carve out spaces of open sovereignty only outside of civilization, in places that were created with the express purpose of existing outside of mainstream society. In real life, they would likely go on to leave no visible trace of their contributions and relentless struggle for influence.

So let’s get to the main course. 

Charlotte, who unwittingly and against all odds has the most visible and longest-lasting legacy of all female characters, possibly all characters, period.

To start off let’s appreciate Idelle confronting Anne about Charlotte’s murder in 408. (Which is an exceptionally good episode for the female cast, and was - surprise! - written and directed by women.) 

In any other show, Charlotte would never have been mentioned again. She was a minor character, and a prostitute to boot, and we all know how media likes to treat women like that. But Black Sails, even if it took 20+ episodes, reminded us that she wasn’t just cannon fodder, that her death was impactful and cruel, and that she left a legacy in the people she surrounded herself with, be that Idelle’s friendship and loyalty or Jack’s pirate flag - which leads us to my main point here.

Can we acknowledge that the symbol that goes on to represent pirates forever was designed by a woman? 

Yes, Rackham gives directions and gets to popularize it, but the show went and took this important piece of pirate mythology and entrusted it to the hands of a young woman of low circumstances. 

The show could easily have had Jack himself draw the motif, he is after all a creative man with a background in textile design, and his most defining character trait is his wish to design his own legacy. Instead, we get more than one scene of Charlotte struggling to fullfill a difficult client’s demands. (And isn’t that relatable to everyone who has ever created art on commission!) And two episodes before the final reveal, the narrative makes sure to remind us of this seemingly unremarkable woman and what happened to her. Her involvement was significant and the show doesn’t allow us to forget. If it had only ever been about setting up the punchline (”it’s fine”) for the final reveal, there would have been no need to draw so much focus to her untimely demise in 408, at a time when all plot threads were coming to their end, when everyone was scrambling for the finish line.

Rackham, by grumbling that it’s “fine”, relinquishes ownership to some degree: it’s the first time he sees it as it will henceforth be recognized as his insignia, and further down history, the ultimate symbol of piracy itself. He didn’t design it, Charlotte did, and her inheritance is the one that, within the world of Black Sails, will live on when Rogers has returned to Nassau and every pirate has been hanged, when all bones have crumbled to dust and all our heroes have been reduced to monsters by history. Any child alive today will easily recognize the skull and crossbones, but how many can recite the deeds of Calico Jack Rackham? Or that it as Woodes Rogers that brought Nassau to heel? So even if Jack went on to make it the icon it is, the symbol far outlived his own infamy.

And finally, when Jack has already turned away to deal with ship’s business, it is Anne that spends a moment longer looking at the flag, maybe even remembering its origins - the woman whose premature death she is responsible for. And it is Anne that has the final words of the show, ordering the crew to “Get us underway!”

Flint knows that as a deviant man, he will likely be remembered as a monster along with his fellow pirates. A woman’s legacy, on the other hand, is often glossed over and forgotten by history, like Max and Marion Guthrie’s power behind the scenes, like Charlotte’s contribution to history.

Black Sails reminds us of the stories that real life history distorts by diminishing those on the fringes.

Hey, same anon with the stays. So. Miranda is with Flint on the ship and wears beautiful gown. And it STRUCK me. Oh God, Flint (season 2 version Flint with ponytail and beard and in his leather coat) helps Miranda to tighten her stays. Isn’t it a lovely idea? :D And then I thought, my God, I should at least try and write you about it in case you find it intriguing and bless us with the sequel. ;-) 

ok nonnie, you writing this is srsly uncanny, for 2 reasons:

i’d been toying w two ideas for the “dripping water” prompt, the alternative was on the walrus on the way to charlestown

i’ve been thinking abt writing some james/miranda fic traveling to see peter ashe wayyyy before this prompt ever came along

so essentially, this is like the cosmos trying to kick me to get on top of that lol. idk when i’ll get around to it, since i’ve got a long list of wip’s, inc two codas to “the art of asymmetry”, but it’s def happening sometime in the future.

the saga continueth!

James Flint

There is much to be said about this scene and this speech in particular, but I think that while both Silver and Miranda rightly call James out on “fighting for the sake of fighting”, there’s also a degree to which they don’t understand what ultimately fuels him. Because yes, at this point he is incapable of functioning without having either love or rage, but there is also a very genuine sentiment in what he says.

And the difference is entrenched in James and John’s different understanding of that oft-mentioned “darkness.” 

De Groot was the ship’s master, and as such always primarily concerned with keeping the Walrus intact and in sailing condition. And just as Eleanor died when Nassau was razed to the ground, De Groot drowned with the ship he had a closer relationship with than anyone else.

That’s a good point!

We, the audience, watch the finale knowing that we only have 60+ min left, so how can it all be wrapped up? How will we let go of the war??? When to the characters, it’s another day, one of many many many more to come and conquer. When he buried the cache, Flint wasn’t aware there were less than two hours of narrative left (and that according to Treasure Island it would stay in the ground for decades to come). Nor when Madi smiled at him seeing a long war effort together with him. Nor when Rogers attacks the Walrus, when Max, Jack and Anne sail to Philadelphia, and so on and so forth. None of the characters saw the end of their story looming where it did, and that’s part of what makes it so painful for us! Because we know that whatever plans are being made, most will never get to play out, even while the characters are betting everything on their success.

It’s hard to keep this in mind as a modern audience, considering that we’re watching it with the knowledge that historically, nothing will ultimately come of their war efforts. We knew before the show ever started that England would eventually crush piracy and that slavery wouldn’t be abolished until much, much later.

I’d argue that even knowing they might not survive this war and turn it into an all-out victory by themselves, even if they had been defeated ultimately, Flint and Madi knew they would have been martyrs to a cause that might have been picked up elsewhere as a result. I mean, we all know Flint was willing to die several times over; one of them notably for his men and a peaceful Nassau in Maroon captivity. And so was Madi, as a hostage. These two weren’t necessarily expecting to outlive the war and see it won, but to make enough noise to rouse others in places that were equally unstable. Can you imagine how their deaths would have galvanized the people that rallied behind them? Not that it’s a desirable outcome that they were actively hoping for, but it’s a powerful one, and they knew that 300%.

But it’s hard to dismiss Julius and Ruth’s POV’s either. Protecting what you have in whatever way you can is just as understandable, and as a marginalized group, carving any amount of happiness from a world that hates you is in itself an act of rebellion.