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Pirates in the arts and popular culture

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A LEGO Pirate

In popular culture, the modern pirate stereotype owes its tradition mostly to depictions of Captain Hook and his crew in theatrical and film versions of Peter Pan, as well as Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver in the film Treasure Island.

Historic and modern portrayal of pirates

In 1879 the comic opera, The Pirates of Penzance, was an instant hit in New York, and the London premiere in 1880 ran for 363 performances. The piece, depicting an incompetent band of "tenderhearted" British pirates, is still performed widely today. Although early depictions of Captain Hook in the play Peter Pan may not have resembled today's depictions of pirates, in the 1924 film version, Hook's dress appears stereotypical. The 1950 film adaptation of Treasure Island starred Robert Newton, and is considered highly influential on the modern perception of early pirates.

From 1989 to 1997 the Lego Group produced a series of pirate LEGO sets. Starting in the late 1990s, Japanese manga and television show One Piece boosted interest in the pirate genre. In 2003, popular interest in pirates rose again with the release of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which focuses attention on the pirate bases of Tortuga and Port Royal. Before that, theatrical and film interpretations of Captain Hook and his crew have been among the most popular and memorable expressions of piracy in popular culture.

In the 1990s, International Talk Like a Pirate Day was invented as a parodic holiday celebrated on September 19. This holiday allows people to "let out their inner pirate" and to dress and speak as pirates are stereotypically portrayed to have dressed and spoken. International Talk Like a Pirate Day has been gaining in popularity through the Internet since its founders set up a website, which instructs visitors in "pirate slang". A second pirate day on the 1st of October has been known to exist aswell.

In several parody websites, it is claimed that pirates (in the Caribbean buccaneer sense) and ninjas are sworn enemies, despite the implausibility of this. This idea has become a fairly widespread cultural phenomenon – for example, "Pirates versus Ninjas"-themed house parties. In anime and manga subculture, this meme is exemplified by One Piece and Naruto, two action-oriented shonen series that feature pirates and ninja, respectively, as their main focus. Both began in the late 1990s, and both have gone on to become immensely popular in Japan, further enhancing the notion of a "rivalry" between the two franchises. These show also became popular amongst audiences in USA and rest of the world.

Pirates also play a central role in the parody religion of Pastafarianism, established in 2005.

Dress, Appearance and Mannerisms

Typical dress includes: on the head, a bandana or a feathered tricorne, an eye patch, a hook or wooden stump where a hand or leg has been amputated, horizontal striped shirts, and often Elizabethan era clothing. They often have rotten or missing teeth and show other effects of scurvy, along with numerous scars or other wounds from battle. Pirates are often depicted with monkeys or parrots as pets. Fictional pirate crews have typically been all male, but more recent fiction has depicted a gradual increase in appearances of female pirates as well. Pirates often carry a cutlass and a flintlock pistol, though other types of swords and guns are also depicted.

Pirate's Treasure

Main article: Buried treasure

Pirates generally quest for treasure, which is often stored in treasure chests. Pirate's Treasure is usually depicted as being gold, often in the form of Doubloons or Pieces of Eight.

Pirate Accent

Stereotypical pirate accents tend to resemble accents either from Cornwall or Bristol, though they can also be based on Elizabethan-era English. Pirates in film, television and theatre are generally depicted as speaking English in a particular accent and speech pattern that sounds like a cross between a West country accent and an old English accent, similar to that of Robert Newton's performance as Long John Silver in the 1950 film Treasure Island. However, the characteristic speech patterns of fictional pirates appear to pre-date Newton's performance, for example in J. Warren Kerrigan's Irish-accented performance as Peter Blood in the 1924 film Captain Blood[verification needed].

It is unlikely that this was the case in real life, since, even though many English-speaking pirates sailed out of Bristol, they came from a wide variety of regional backgrounds, and pirates in general came from a wide variety of countries.

Space pirates

Main article: Space pirate

Space Pirates are science fiction or fantasy character archetypes who operate as pirates in outer space as opposed to on the sea, capturing and plundering spaceships for cargo, money, and the ships themselves. Space pirates tend to share many traits with the classical pirate archetype, being characterized as ruthless criminals.

Pirates in music

  • Easily the most elaborate example of songs in this Rock sub genre is "Pirates" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer a massive, 13 minute long performance piece from their 1977 tour, it features the Orchestra de L'Opera de Paris. The piece can be found on the album "Works, volume 1"
  • German metal band Running Wild adopted a "pirate metal" image in 1987, with its third album.. The Texas punk group Employer, Employee was considered "pirate rock" by its fans, as its lyrics often contained themes of piracy ("One Count of Mutiny"), as well as the 16th-century New World in general.
  • The Sex Pistols adapted the saucy song "Good Ship Venus" as their hit "Friggin' in the Rigging". Fellow Malcolm McLaren protegée Adam Ant took the pirate image further. One of the tracks on the album Kings of the Wild Frontier was called "Jolly Roger". In 1986, The Beastie Boys paid homage to the pirate lifestyle on their Licensed to Ill album with the song "Rhymin' and Stealin'". The song is filled with piratical and nautical phrasing liberally mixed with 1980s hip-hop references.
  • Pirate imagery has also been adopted by many anarchists, possibly due to the origins of the black flag of anarchism in the pirate flag, and due to books like The Many Headed Hydra by Marcus Reddiker, about the early resistance to capitalism and colonialism, and Pirate Utopias, by Paul Lamborn Wilson, otherwise known as Hakim Bey. According to several authors, the pirate ship was among the most democratic institutions of the colonial age.
  • The Arrogant Worms, a Canadian band, play a humorous song called "Last Saskatchewan Pirate." It can be heard online here.
  • Pirates also occasionally rival vampires as themes for goth music, fashion, and imagery. Goth musician/comedian Voltaire illustrates the sometimes humorous rivalry between vampiric and pirate camps of goths in the song "Vampire Club" from the album Boo Hoo (2002).
  • The Bilge Pumps are a piratical musical group based in Dallas Texas performing at Renaissance Faires, pubs, and various other events.
  • The hardcore/pop punk band Set Your Goals will soon be releasing their first, pirate themed, full length album, Mutiny.
  • Ska/Punk band The Mad Caddies' 2001 album Rock the Plank has a skull and crossbones on the cover of the album, also featuring the song "Weird Beard", a song in the flavor of many classic sea shanties.
  • The Ska/Punk band the Aquabats recorded a song entitled "Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates", which told the story of Jim, a young boy who joins a pirate-hunting crew headed by Captain Hampton.
  • The Pirate, a musical starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, has a number of songs about piracy in general, and the dread pirate "Mack the Black" Macoco in particular.
  • Relient K released a single covering the song "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" for the children's show VeggieTales. It was originally recorded by the cast of VeggieTales, and Relient K's version of the song was later included in the 2003 compilation album called Veggie Rocks!
  • There is a metal band from Calgary, Alberta, Canada called Verbal Deception that base their music on pirates and life at sea. They have recently released their debut album called "AURUM AETUS PIRATICUS".
  • American pop-punk band Set Your Goals recorded two songs, "Dead Men Tell No Tales", and "Mutiny!", comparing the life of a pirate to the life of a band who resists giving in to major record label demands. These songs are off their album Mutiny!
  • Scottish pirate metal band Alestorm is a band which uses pirates as it's main theme, with a heavy metal and power metal feel. The band play such songs as "No Quarter", "Set Sail and Conquer" and "Terror on the High Seas".
  • Irish-American Rebel Rock band The Bleeding Irish have numerous songs referring to Pirate history and Piracy in general, most notably their latest hit "Tale of Anne Bonney". A song about the life and death of female Irish Pirate Anne Bonney and her love affair with Calico Jack Rackham.
  • British metal band, "Peglegger", base their lyrics and riffs upon that of old pirate tales and folk music. Another example of the non-existant genre of "Pirate-Metal". "Peglegger"s most notable song is "Battle Cry".

Pirates in sports

Because pirate ships connote fearsomeness, loyalty and teamwork, many professional and amateur sports teams are named "Pirates." The most famous of these in the United States is the Pittsburgh Pirates, a Major League Baseball team that has used the nickname since 1891.

Other teams:

Fictional Pirates

See also: List of fictional pirates

Novels

Further information: [[:Category:Pirate books]]

Films

Further information: [[:Category:Pirate films]]

Television

Comics and Manga

  • Terry and the Pirates (1934-1973) by Milton Caniff is an adventure comic strip frequently set among modern-day pirates of China and Southeast Asia, led by the notorious Dragon Lady.
  • Batman: Leatherwing (1994) and Elseworlds comic by Chuck Dixon featuring Batman as a pirate.
  • The Red Seas (2002 onwards), a mix of pirates and strange phenomena by Ian Edginton and Steve Yeowell.
  • One Piece (1997-onwards), set in a fictional world where piracy is at its height, the World Government and its Navy attempt to put it to a stop, and one young man desires to become the next Pirate King. One of the most popular manga to date in Japan.
  • OMFG! features a chapter where Super Sensei is trapped on a pirate ship and has to battle his way out. He brandishes ninja stars and his signature nunchakus and defeats all the pirates soundly.[citation needed]

Webcomics

  • Sea Monsters (2006-) by Gwendolyn Meer is an action/adventure and comedy webcomic starring infamous pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Calico Jack Rackham (among others) as modern-day pirates in the Mediterranean area.
  • Seabeaver.net (2003-) is a humorous flash animated cartoon series about a crew of pirates.

Games

  • Star Fox 64 features a pirate named Sarumarine who has a pirate accent and has a ship with cannons, a pirate stereotype.
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker features pirates such as Tetra and her crew.
  • Sonic and the Secret Rings has a stage called Pirate Storm which is based near some ruins with a fleet of pirate ships which have been ruined by heavy storms, the stage boss is called Captain Bemoth who has some features of a pirate. One minigame is based on shooting down ships with a cannon.
  • Uncharted Waters is a series of computer games by Koei set in the Age of Exploration where the player takes the role of a naval fleet captain. All the games feature pirates as regular threats and it is possible to play with pirate characters in some of the iterations.
  • Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is a massively multiplayer online game in which the player takes the role of a pirate, having adventures on the high seas and pillaging money from roaming enemy ships.
  • Skies of Arcadia is a computer game about a group of Air Pirates (called so because the land of Arcadia has no actual seas, just air and floating islands, therefor all ships are airships) that struggle against an oppressive power threatening to take over and destroy the world. In the game, Air Pirates are split into two categories. Blue Rouges, who are chivalrous and only attack military ships and leave as many as possible unharmed, and Black Pirates, who attack any ship they can, including merchant and civilian ships, and have no regard for who they injure in the process.
  • Rogue Galaxy is a computer game in which the main character, Jaster Rogue joins a crew of space pirates to help defeat an oppressive empire.
  • Sonic Rush Adventure takes place in a pirate-themed world where Sonic battles a new villain called Captain Whisker who resembles Dr. Eggman.
  • Final Fantasy XII has many characters, including Balthier are sky pirates.
  • Lego Racers first boss is Captain Redbeard. When he is beaten, you can build cars using "pirated-themed" lego pieces.

Stage

See also

Lyrics

Pirates' Code

Virtual pirates crews

  • The Pirates of Tibia A today very large organization in the game Tibia which has as number one priority to work as the pirates in the golden days of piracy.

Pirates publications and online resources

  • Pirates Magazine Quarterly periodical of Pirate History and Maritime Lore for general readership as well as the pirate enthusiast, focusing on the "golden age" of pirates. A lot of fun features but with real articles as well - high quality.
  • No Quarter Given Newsletter for pirate reenactors and enthusiasts, with a great deal of pirate information.
  • The Pyrate's Way Magazine Full-colour 96-page resource designed for pirate crews, leisure boaters, maritime and nautical enthusiasts and those who search for the golden days of pyracy.
  • Bilgemunky.com Online source for the latest in pop-culture piracy. Includes many pirate-themed reviews including music, clothing, games, and rum.

Pirate Accent

Pirate Living History / Re-enacting

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