Something Strange in the Pirates of the Caribbean Neighborhood.
Much in the same vein of Ghostbusters - a dark story is told of a pervasive evil but interlaced with an edgy adult humor while maintaining a quirkiness that made it entertaining for me as a child. As an adult, I was shocked when I re-watched Ghostbusters and heard the frequent occurrence of salty sexual humor. I could easily be offended by the sexist suggestive comedy but never in a million years would I petition the director or studio to do re-shoots and re-release the film to soothe my personal distaste and reformat the movie for today's audience. It's a timeless, proven classic still enjoyed by millions even among today's audience. Don't touch it. If I disapproved of the sexist remarks in the movie, I would simply... wait for it.... not watch the movie.
Ghostbusters was rated PG. Parental Guidance suggested. If I had to give the POTC attraction a rating it would definitely be PG. It is a ride of debauchery - it never pretended to be anything but. It starts with a skeleton impaled by a sword with a nesting gull in his hat. It ends in a massive mess of arson. There is rampant drunkenness. Gun violence. Depiction of war violence. Thievery. Fighting. Water torture. Pillaging. And yes, even a wench/bride auction that includes the headlining busty redhead. In reality there is nothing uplifting about the pirate's life - and the true atrocities of historical pirates were a thousand times worse. So why, then, do millions of park guests sing of “A Pirate's Life for Me” as they have for the last 50 years? It's fantasy. It allows us to be voyeurs of a world of adventure and debauchery and escape unscathed. Why has the Pirate’s of the Caribbean film franchise reached an astonishing five films? Many of the same themes are depicted without any backlash and the audience demographics span the same range that the park attraction does. I have a hard time comprehending the constant scrutiny the attraction has come under, while Hollywood once again does as it pleases.
Walt Disney himself helped to design this attraction with an adventure theme that is as family friendly as possible while staying true to the villainous nature of pirating. With these announced changes it is no longer the “Pirate’s Life for Me” it was intended to be. And with these changes, this attraction is yet again even further from Walt’s original vision of the last attraction he personally participated in designing. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I will respect them all. I understand that many welcome the change and the various reasons why. I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it. On the reverse, you certainly don’t have to like my take on it either, and many will not. As I mentioned earlier, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. When all's said and done once these changes are implemented, for myself, this will no longer be the must-ride attraction it once was. It is what it is.
