Is Black Sails Historically Accurate?
Black Sails’, the hit Starz Network series, portrays a historically accurate account of the lives of pirates and their counterparts. :
- Combat wasn’t just a bunch of pirates boarding ships and fighting with cutlasses. …
- New Providence really was a pirate hideout. …
- Pirates DEFINITELY weren’t the good guys. …
- Blackbeard really was a ladies man. …
- Charles Vane was hanged for piracy. …
- There were black pirates, and some of them did have quite a bit of power. …
- Pirates also were glamorous. …
So far, Black Sails avoided these obvious pirate stereotypes. They did not perpetuate the most blatant tropes of pirates, but Black Sails still repeats many other tropes from the past century of film and television, resulting in many historical inaccuracies.
From a creative standpoint, Black Sails tried to ensure their success by copying the show Game of Thrones and included qualities that would appeal to the lowest common denominator in their audiences; large amounts of violence, foul language, and sex.
Two years after the premiere, the show continues to promote itself as “realistic” . One claim they repeated involved avoiding the most common clichés in pirate films such as parrots, eye patches, and Robert Newton’s pirate accent. So far, Black Sails avoided these obvious pirate stereotypes.
The show did use ships in tanks or stationary open-air ship sets, which is easier and often less expensive than sailing ships on open waters. Starting a show like Black Sails requires a significant financial investment, but does not need the same level of investment every season.
Who is the character in Black Sails?
Black Sails, the Starz series now entering its second season, is known as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s characters Long John Silver, Captain Flint and Bill Bones before they meet young Jim Hawkins.
Even Blackbeard is alluded to in the pilot episode. While it may not be as feminist-friendly as Starz’ other mega hit in 2014, Outlander, the Michael Bay drama is compelling and the mix of fact and fiction makes it all the more easier to disappear into the world and live a pirate’s life for yourself.
First of all, what a name for a pirate, am I right? Anyway, Hornigold had many professions over the years. He was a pirate. He was a privateer. Benjamin Hornigold was also a pirate hunter, and Captain Vane was his target. This may explain why, on Black Sails, he is willing to assist Captain Flint. Truth and fantasy are woven together quite intricately on this series.
What is the issue with Black Sails?
Some of the things portrayed in Black Sails are not as easily categorized in regards to accuracy. One such issue is the portrayal of black people in pirate crews. The issue of blacks and their treatment by pirates is a question pirate historians still debate today.
From a material culture perspective, Black Sails resembles most of the productions made in the past century. Every shot features inaccurate sets, props, and costumes. For instance, the pistol held by captain of a merchant vessel during the first battle scene in the first episode dated from late in the eighteenth century. The color-tinted glasses worn by Jack Rackham in the first season came after the Golden Age of Piracy. Many of the pirates wore boots that would not be appropriate for the time and context of the show. The list of inaccuracies could go on for many pages. The show’s choice in material culture is not surprising. Why does this mistake happen so often in film and television productions involving pirates? Budget and audience expectations are the most likely explanations. Plenty of costume and prop departments already contain sizable inventories for films set during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras. A typical viewer of this show, or any other pirate-themed production, will not know about the changes in eighteenth-century material culture that makes using items from 1795 wrong for Black Sails’ setting of 1715. Many audiences practically expect the see post-period material culture in their pirate films since so many others previous movies used similar sets, props, and costumes.
So far, Black Sails avoided these obvious pirate stereotypes .
What pirates did with black men onboard varied between crews and circumstances. There are documented instances when white pirates considered blacks as property or used them as menial laborers on pirate ships. Other times, the European-descended pirates considered black men as part of the general crew.
James Flint in season 1, episode 1 of Black Sails.
The large ship with many guns and large open decks is a common sight in pirate movies. The ship’s big open decks allow for huge masses of men, armed with cutlasses, the necessary room for cameras to capture large combat scenes. Large amounts of guns allow for brilliant shots of ships trading broadsides.
But ships of force would often have bigger crews, often above a hundred men. For a crew of fifty to one hundred men to be able to properly man the fifty large caliber guns on one of the broadsides of a hundred-gun warship is unrealistic. Such large ships of the line often contained crews of eight hundred men.
In Peanuts, an unseen adult character is shown to GREATLY overreact to the institution of zip codes. Was this reflective of a real thought process that people had at the time or just something that Charles Schulz thought was funny?
In Peanuts, the short lived character 555 95472, along with his sisters 3 and 4, was a victim of their dad’s frustration at how everyone was being numbered, and their dad decided that if everything was going to be numbered anyway then they may as well take on their zip code as their last name and numbers for first names.
I have recently rewatched the original Parent Trap, which was made in 1961 by Walt Disney. The premise of the film is that two twins are separated by their parents shortly after their birth, due to divorce, with one daughter raised by each parent in isolation; they discover one another 14 years later.
Why is Athens still around today but not Sparta even though sparta won the Peloponnesian War?
I know that frigate captains could usually paint their ship whatever colours they liked and that they could even add a few more guns abroad, if Patrick O’Brian is to be believed.