Reveling in revelry...

[fajrdrako]

I went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" again today. Fifth time.

It feels now like going to see "The Lord of the Rings" - not that the movies are particularly alike, but when I see LOTR I can sit back and bask in the music, the words, and the action, because they are so familiar and pleasurably.

I noticed another Jack Sparrow/Lymond parallel: nothing concrete, just that I find two speeches by the so-articulate heroes rather alike. Jack Sparrow, talking to Murtogg and Mullroy near the beginning of the movie, says:

...It is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer my weasley black guts out.

In the beginning of "The Game of Kings" Lymond says to his mother (and a roomful of women):

De los alamos vengo, madre. From the stews and alleyways of Europe with a taste for play acting - yes - and killing and treason and crimes, they say, nameless and enticingly erotic.

Just strikes me as the same kind of heroic bravado... done for similar strategic purposes.

I told this to Marcelle and she said, "Isn't this comparing the sublime to the ridiculous? You realize you are comparing Dunnett and Disney?" I guess she knows me enough to know how amazing that is.

I therupon started a commentary on the Romantic-heroic paradigm of heroes that is somewhat out of fashion in modern popular literature. My brain is somehow also working on a mini-essay on the heroic-Romantic pradigm of "hero as clown" but it's still pretty inchoate. It's probably better not to mention this aloud. For one thing, I'm not thinking of many clown-heroes to fit my thesis besides Lymond and Jack Sparrow - possibly Miles Vorkosigan. Possibly Indiana Jones.

Comments

[gem225.livejournal.com]

If you're going to compare Jack with Lymond, I'll have to see the movie. I love Lymond, and I need to read more about him and buy the rest of the series. I have the first two books. How many more do I need, please? Four? :-)

Lymond and Jack Sparrow

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

There are six books in the Lymond series:

The Game of Kings
Queen's Play
The Disorderly Knights
Pawn in Frankincense
The Ringed Castle
Checkmate

In that order.

I don't know if the Jack/Lymond similarities are really there, though others have noticed that Jack is like Thady Boy, Lymond's dark alter-ego in "Queen's Play". I see them as... similar enough that some of my passion for Jack Sparrow echoes my passion for Lymond and I tend to consciously interpret Jack in similar ways as to how I interpret Lymond. Lymond is more complex, but then he had six long novels to be developed in. Their careers are not necessarily dissimilar.

I Beg to Differ

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

"Isn't this comparing the sublime to the ridiculous? You realize you are comparing Dunnett and Disney?"

Nope. You are comparing Dunnett and Depp.

Contemplate that for a bit...!

Re: I Beg to Differ

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

LOL! You are so right.

[viva-gloria.livejournal.com]

Came to your LJ via pirategasm and your execllent fic -- and am reeling in shocked delight that someone else thought of Lymond (oddly, I had Pawn in Frankincense in mind) in relation to Johnny Depp's Captain Sparrow. And I can make such a good case for Jack Sparrow being of noble birth, fallen upon hard times: Lymond's alternate post-galleys career, perhaps.

I hope you don't mind if I Friend you!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, you certainly make a good first impression - praising my writing is the way to my heart, and certainly to my good graces. Thank you.

I'm always happy to hear from a Dunnett reader!

So, why "Pawn in Frankincense" in particular? Because there are ships, and battles on ships, and Leone Strozzi is a privateer? My basic case as to the correspondences between PotC and the Lymond books was in my first post on the subject, I'm not sure if you saw it - at http://www.livejournal.com/users/fajrdrako/84648.html.

There's something else in the movie I wanted to comment on in relation to Lymond but darned if I can remember it. Maybe I'll recall it when I see the movie again on Sunday.

Thanks for friending me; I'll friend you too. Anyone who recognizes a Dunnett reference is a welcome friend for sure.

[viva-gloria.livejournal.com]

praising my writing is the way to my heart, and certainly to my good graces. Thank you.

*chuckles* You have returned the compliment, too! Thank you!

Why Pawn in Frankincense? Not the ships, so much, as the sheer OTT spectacle of Lymond and Jerrott's equestrian display and subsequent escape -- which, more than any other moment (and there are so many to choose from), strikes me as the most cinematic scene of the series. And a very Jack Sparrow moment.

Thanks for pointing me at your other Sparrow/Lymond post, too. I'm busy sifting my memories of the novels, for I'm sure there are other correspondences. Wish we knew more of Jack's background: he is remarkably well-spoken for a pirate ...

Enjoy the movie again, tomorrow!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

the sheer OTT spectacle of Lymond and Jerrott's equestrian display and subsequent escape

Yes. Good call.

Don't you just love those "Jack Sparrow" moments?

I'd love to hear other Dunnett/Pirates correspondences if/when you come up with them.

Jack is preternaturally articulate for a pirate or anyone else - as Lymond is - it's one of the reasons I love them both. I loved the word-games Barbossa played with Elizabeth as well.

Yes, I know I will enjoy it! Grinning in anticipation.