Jack Sparrow's Character and his Trickster Traits in the Movie

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a film directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer back in 2003, is an action adventure film in which two civilians get twisted into the cruel globe of piracy. It has the precise dose of great fights, spectacular visual effects, interlaced plots, parallel actions… but above all great characters leading the story and twisting it on thousand different ways. This Walt Disney film is based on the well-known Disneyland and Disney World ride adventure called, of course, “Pirates of the Caribbean”. In contrast to the ‘fun’ ride at the Disney parks, this film has deeper meaning other than just the potential to capture and hold the viewers’ attention. By scrutinizing the literary elements of this film, we can uncover these deeper meanings and consequently enjoy the film to its fullest possible. The director and writers use a clever way of dosing info to the spectator. The characters of the film look for specific and frequently antagonistic objectives. But, the most charismatic of all the characters and one I admire is Captain Jack Sparrow, performed brilliantly by Johnny Depp.The character delicately balances amongst lucidity and madness. Jack Sparrow represents the trickster archetype of Carlo Goldoni’s renowned Alecchino, demonstrating these needed trickster traits in his exploits all through the film.

The trait of confidence (and in some situations more than self-confidence) is introduced to us in the character entrance scene. Jack appears to be bailing the water out of his boat, and the prospective seriousness of this scene is portrayed by way of Jack Sparrows facial emotions. We know that his boat is sinking quickly, nonetheless Jack seems to be overly confident, displaying no signs of panicking. He passes by a cave, Jack sees the corpses of other pirates and the warning sign, and devotes a gesture with his hat, suggesting Jack is a man of honour, and courage.The director shows and enhances this by looking forward in terms of path and future. The camera point and placing within the frame appears up at jack, giving him a point of authority, which is supported by the heroic stance he adopts. The camera is focused on the mast of the boat, providing us an impression that the boat is huge (when actually, it is merely a dinghy) in front of the other grand boats, suggesting again that Jack is a confident and crucial character. This thought is also supported by the lighting contrasts. The light shines and glows on Jacks face, this helps the audience to concentrate solely on him. The lighting on the bottom half of the scene, seems to make Jack look as if he is emerging from the darkness, after again giving him significance. The light is warm, planting the seed that Jack is ‘good’ or civilised at heart. As Jacks boat is in the final phase of sinking, he remains orderly calm. His squinted facial expressions and gestures indicate that he is in the procedure of calculating or functioning some thing out. As he methods onto the jetty with ease, his physical side and agility is introduced to us. He arrives at the port just on time, questioning the audience “is he a genius or a full disaster?” We get our first impressions of him becoming the trickster kind, as his timing and movement relates to that of Commedia del’arte’sAlecchino. When once again the camera suggests that he is in charge, by following behind him as he walks swiftly along the jetty. The director has used these camera angles to covey his viewpoint of Jack and manipulate and trick the audience. The scene lasts a small over a minute and there´s not a single dialogue in it. Every thing functions with the soundtrack (composed by Klaus Badelt) and staging. In this scene, we start off the get the smallest feeling that jack will be an essential character. He is introduced to us as a trickster, but 1 that we ought to understand to sympathise.

The traits of agility and cheating are very best shown off in the scene where Will and Jack are engaged in battle. The scene opens with Jack emerging as if out of nowhere and holding will at sword point. This associates with the Alechhino character, exactly where he has used the element of surprise. The setting of the dirty, serene blacksmith workshop makes for a excellent spot to stage a fight. The light is dark and low, like the slow and cautious soundtrack being played. The only warm light comes from the cracks in the walls, indicating to the audience that the spot is isolated and away from the hustle of the town. The director makes use of an more than the shoulder shot as Jack seems to be curiously eyeing Will. His facial expressions clearly indicate to the audience that he is trying to recall anything this is supported by the line “you seem somewhat familiar, have I threatened you just before?” Jack displays the typical trickster archetype of trying to stay away from fights, as he conjures up a comeback and decides to be swiftly on his way. The shot then switches to Will holding a sword up at jack. Portraying his over self-confidence Jack lowers Wills self-esteem as he, employing clever word play, threatens Will on the topic of crossing paths with a pirate. The director decides to covey that Jack can fight when he needs to, as the camera turns to a medium shot of Jack as he makes the first move of his sword. Jacks swordsman ship shows the audience that, despite the fact that he can be goofy at occasions, he is very skilled and practiced when it gets significant. As soon as once again, contrasting among his straightforward going nature and seriousness. The director utilised this specific shot to emphasise to the audience that Jack is seasoned and educated when it comes to carrying out what he does greatest. The light strikes down via the roof onto the edge of the shot, as jack confidently, taking extended strides, tends to make his way to the exit. He is stopped when Will throws his sword into the door latch. The camera is placed against the sword, hunting onto the side of jacks face. His facial expression is 1 of shock and surprise. The director’s intention in this shot was to convey to the audience how close the sword was from his face. He has does this brilliantly, as the shot captures each Jacks reactions, and the subtle lighting in the background. Jacks agility is displayed furthermore, as he is hung type a chain but continues fighting with the free hand. The lighting then alterations to a darker tone, as if the light from outside is being covered by anything. As jack is held at point, he withdraws a gun, clearly paying no interest to the rules of a fair fight. This indicates to the audience that he will do something to get his way, and frankly doesn’t care about the ‘rules’. The scene closes with Jack pointing the barrel of the gun at Will. The shot switches to a direct close up of Jacks face, as discomfort and shock is displayed. The panning out shot shows the result of this.

Jack Sparrows traits of pondering ahead and improvisation are displayed greatest in the scene where he, together with Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom), steels the interceptor ship. In the beginning of the scene, Jack and Will are situated underneath a bridge, with Jacks facial expressions clearly indicating that he is in the procedure of analysing the positions of his targets. Once again, the earlier trait of overconfidence is displayed when Jack overlooks the smaller sized ship docked in the bay, as an alternative beckoning straight for the bigger a single, the interceptor. The camera position is a point of view shot from Jack and Will. This camera angle makes it possible for the audience to witness specifically what Jack is. The lengthy shot of the camera, permits us to see all the men surrounding the ship, determining precisely how large of a process this will be. Jack is mentally certain he can pull this off, but to get rid of his partners (Will Turner) doubts, he lashes out with a the line “Don’t question about your business boy, there’s no use going, just go. How far are you willing to go to save her?” In which Will replies, “I’d die for her”. By employing this wordplay, Jack has reassured and instilled self-confidence into Will. We begin to realise that Jack is knowledgeable when, utilizing only the resources available to him at the time he conjures up a strategy to sneak aboard the ship without having getting seen. He improvises an underwater breathing device making use of a nearby canoe and uncommon utilization of Newtonian physics. The Camera angle looks up from underwater to the jetty. The director then angles the camera into a tilt across to the shot of Jack and Will walking underwater. The warm light from the sun above the water, streaks down onto the canoe, indicating that theremight be hope for their strategy. The shot then switches to the inside of the canoe, showing Jack and Will from a frontal view. In the course of this, Will exclaims “This is either madness, or brilliance,” to which Sparrow replies, “It’s outstanding how frequently these two traits coincide.” Truer words are seldom spoken, once again indicating that Jack is positive of his plan. His movement by way of the water is smooth and swift compared to Will’s, as if implying that he has been by means of and seasoned a comparable scenario before. His huge, unhesitant methods relate to that of Alechhino’s. The camera looks up from the water into a close up of the side of the grand ship, emphasising again the size of it even far more. The light at the bottom of the ship is dark, indicating the dangers of the water. The leading of the ship is lit in a much warmer light from the sun. The director has used this shot to establish the grandness of the ship. The soundtrack also complements the lighting. The composer has employed a low, nearly dark and subtle piece, when the camera emerges at bottom of the ship. But as it tilts upward into the light of Jack and Will climbing the ship, the diegetic music becomes a a lot more upbeat and more quickly tempo, virtually in time with the accurate movements of Sparrow. As he boards the ship stumbling, Jack comically and confidently exclaims that he has come to ‘take over the ship’, with Will following in his footsteps. This provokes to the audience that Jack is clearly in charge and the one particular producing the choices. The look and nature of Jack leads you to beneath estimate him. They reply with laughter, then smugly point out that this particular ship can not be crewed by two males, that they’ll never ever make it out of the bay, to which Sparrow replies: “Son,” and raises a pistol, “I’m Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?” Jack makes use of this line frequently all through the movie, as if to attempt to make his mark in the planet and much more importantly, constantly remind himselfof whom he is. For the duration of the pistol encounter, the camera is placed against the barrel of the gun, giving a close up Point of view shot of the confused expression of the crew member. This is once again displaying more than-self-assurance and eliminating any hint of failure of his program. The scene cuts to The Commodore at the dock, exactly where he sees Sparrow and Turner attempting to steal a presently unassailable, mediocre ship in broad daylight, at which point he says, “That is without doubt, the worst pirate I’ve ever seen.” The shot then switches to the inside of a handheld telescope, giving a rounded view of what the commodore can see, the crew floating on a dinghy even though jack and will prepare the ship. The director has utilised this method of the shot to indicate the job that has been achieved by jack. The shot pans over from the crew to Jack and will, where it can be observed that Jacks is ordering will to hoist the sails, utilizing exaggerated and virtually silly hand gestures. He is swaying gently. The director has interpreted this into to the character to convey his point of view of Jack in his on-going selection among savagery and civilisation. The over emphasised movements relates as soon as once more, to that of Alechhino’s, displaying that the writers have taken abroad the traits of this comedic trickster and instilled into their personal character of Jack Sparrow. As the scene moves forward, the soundtrack steadily increases its tempo, as if it is constructing up in anticipation to the massive moment of when they steal the ship. The warm light is shining from the corner of the shot exactly where Jack is standing at the bow of the ship hunting at the oncoming crew, implying when once more that the plan is nearer to success, this is supported by the smirk Jack has across his face, additional assuring the audience that all is going to plan. The shot switches to amongst the two ships, giving the audience a 180 view of what is taking spot on each ships. In this shot, the camera is swaying gently, hinting to the audience that the tides are not too rough. Jacks signature walk is after again used as he strides across the ship effortlessly cutting all the ropes. He leaves the port taking of and bowing his hat to the commodore, in thanks for letting him get away. By undertaking this, Sparrow brings comedy into this tense scene.His theme track is played, as he sails into the fraying light of the horizon, the light getting hopeful indicating the adventure ahead. Pondering ahead is as soon as once more displayed by jack when the crew decides to use the cannons, discovering that Jack has disabled the rudder chains in advanced. The shot used in this scene is take kind a high point searching down, it appears as if is Point of view shot from the crow’s nest. The scene ends with Jack cunningly steering the ship over the dinghy full of crew, this is once more a Point of view shot, as the bow of the ship collides with the camera. The camera zooms out backwards and pans more than the top of the ship and sea, utilizing a medium shot. The light is dark and cool in the corner of the shot. The director intends the audience to see the ship sailing into unknown darkness, by utilizing this particular shot. The commodores very first mate exclaims “that has got to be the best pirate I’ve ever seen”, in contrast to what the commodore mentioned previously.

In conclusion, it is clear that the writers have attempted to present Captain Jack Sparrow as a character the audience is encouraged to admire, and I definitely do. The director emphasises his trickster traits and we realise that he is an specialist in his field. Like Alechhino, I believe Jack Sparrow will be a character remembered for many years to come.It´s is exciting to see how information is dosed in between the number of intersecting characters and targets. In that sense it’s a complicated and comedic film. The character of Jack Sparrow is one particular we can not eliminate from our minds. He possesses all the trickster traits, mixed with civilisation. The film is certain to age quite effectively.