This month’s character poster features pirate Captain Li’l Jack. (Click here to download it.) So I’ve been wondering, who’s your favorite pirate?
Pirating as a criminal activity may not hold much appeal. But pirates come with other associations: freedom leading the list. Freedom to live outside of the rules, space for plenty of adventuring, an acceptance of shiny-object lust. Pirates, in fiction and in cinema, hold an aura of mystery and excitement.
But they’re not all the same—not by a long shot. Captain Hook, while supposedly ferocious, was terrified of the crocodile. He seemed an overblown, snobbish, blundering fool, to me. But I recall my father reading Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Treasure Island aloud to us, and the pirate Long John Silver was truly frightening.
When Johnny Depp modeled Cap’n Jack in Pirates of the Caribbean after Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, he gave the pirate a humorous twist, winning further acclaim for his remarkable ability to inhabit extreme characters. His choices contrasted with those of actor Geoffrey Rush, playing Captain Barbossa, another terrifying pirate.
My pirate Captain Li’l Jack? You’ll decide for yourself what sort of pirate he is. I will share a piece of his backstory that is not entirely spelled out in the book: he was a Thalidomide baby. For any of you who are not of my era, let me explain. Thalidomide was a medication prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness that turned out to cause birth defects—usually deformed limbs. My Li’l Jack is missing his right forearm and both hands. He dreams of being a concert pianist – one of the few things he couldn’t possibly become as he is.
I found it easier to write my villain knowing the specific pain of frustration and rejection that has fueled his life’s choices. I have to be able to empathize with a character in order to truly bring him or her to life.
By the way, the character posters make great stocking stuffers: print them out, roll them up, tie with a ribbon, and voila!
Leave a comment to let me know who your favorite pirate is from literature or cinema! Did you love or hate said pirate?