#markannejack

BLACK SAILS SPOILERS BELOW

First of all, THANK YOU for the ask. And I'M SO SORRY it has taken me this long to answer it. AND. I'm SO SORRY that when I attempted to answer it I accidentally deleted the ask instead of saving. 

I agree with you that the relationship between James, Thomas, and Miranda can be interpreted in many different ways. And yet it is still so incredibly detailed and well drawn. In a way, it really reminds me of my other favorite trio- Max, Anne Bonny, and Jack Rackham- and also the eventual relationship between Anne, Jack, and Mark/Mary Read. 

Now I haven’t done my rewatch yet, but I personally interpreted Thomas as gay and Miranda as polyamorous and I thought they had a marriage of convenience that eventually evolved into a true loving marriage even if it was not one that included sex- and I’m actually not completely sure that it didn’t include sex either- it was just the feeling I got. I will have to rewatch. I interpreted James as bisexual because he was attracted to Miranda as well as Thomas. Though I believe he fell in love with Thomas first and grew to love Miranda later. I do believe that Thomas was his true love, if that makes sense.

I know that some people think that James is gay and perhaps he originally started his affair with Miranda because he was affected by heteronormative society he lived in - like a case of compulsive heterosexuality. and that is a valid interpretation as well. I see this a lot with Anne too. I interpret her as bisexual. But I know a lot of people interpret her as being a lesbian and that Jack is so entwined with her life that it would be unbearable for her to leave him. I think that is a valid interpretation- and it is actually one that rings true to things I have wondered about my own sexual identity. But the beautiful thing about James and Anne is that whether or not they identify as bisexual or gay or lesbian, that doesn’t really change anything about the way they love the people they love and there is something so affirming and beautifully queer about that. 

Recently I have found a lot of comfort in the term queer because it includes all of those thoughts and feelings and wonderings about our identities. Like, was James a gay man performing heteronormativity who, nonetheless, grew to love Miranda as well as Thomas because of all the shit they’d been through after Thomas’ “death” or a bisexual man? Was Anne Bonny a lesbian who met her Jack so young that she hadn’t figured her identify out yet- but then they were so platonically in love at that point that she wanted to share her life and lovers with him instead of leaving him? Or was she bisexual? Does it matter? There is a fluidity of sexuality in both stories that I find very affirming. I still personally think that they are both bisexual characters, but I do think the other interpretations of their sexualities are just as valid.

While we are on the subject, I feel like there is also a lot of gender non-conformity going on with Anne and Jack- both individually and with the entire dynamic of their relationship. And then Mark shows up in the last episode to join their crew and you realize that both Anne and Jack are attracted to him and you know that they were historically in a polyamorous relationship... basically I am saying I want the Anne/Jack/Mark Black Sails sequel: exploring gender nonconformity and polyamory on the high seas....