Spoilers, of course, for all of Black Sails!
The last two seasons in particular have such brilliant writing, acting, and cinematography. And I could probably go on and on about the fascinating parallels, themes, character constellations/developments and much more, but what I’m here to talk about today is how the backstory they gave Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) made his actions and words so much more meaningful and intense and emotional and the show as a whole so much better.
Captain Flint is known for being the pirate who buried the treasure chest of riches hidden on an island that sparks the whole of the novel Treasure Island. (Several other characters from the book appear as well, such as Long John Silver, Isaak Hands, and Billy Bones, as well as historical figures like Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny.) There isn’t much known about Captain Flint in the novel. He was a ruthless pirate, he accumulated a great deal of wealth, he did not trust anyone, one day he died.
Black Sails fills that gap with a rich backstory that makes Flint a complex and tragic character. Because before he was Captain Flint, ruthless pirate, he was James McGraw, an officer of the royal navy. He fell in love with Thomas Hamilton, the son of a prestigious English family, and was happy for a short while until his love was taken away from him. This experience led him to turn against England as a whole, a nation that not only robbed him of his love but also declared his love to be monstrous and vile.
“They took everything from us. And then they called me a monster. The moment I sign that pardon, the moment I ask for one, I proclaim to the world that they were right. This ends when I grant them my forgiveness, not the other way around.”
Instead of accepting this designation, Flint becomes a pirate intend on avenging what he believes to be his lover’s death and punishing England for calling him a monster for loving someone. His ruthlessness in his fight against the crown, consequently, is much more relatable and understandable. It is informed not by greed, but by pain.
When he talks about being painted as an evil villain, it is obvious that it does not only refer to his actions as a pirate but also to his sexual orientation. His words, therefore, hold more weight since his actions could certainly be seen as villainous, his loving a man, however, is definitely not. Not only does this make his character much more sympathetic - as he was driven into piracy by bigoted and hateful people - and complex - because we as an audience can understand where his violence comes from - but also gives the narrative as a whole a consistent theme.
“They paint the world full of shadows and then tell their children to stay close to the light. Their light. Their reasons, their judgements. Because in the darkness, there be dragons. But it isn’t true. We can prove that it isn’t true. In the dark, there is discovery, there is possibility, there is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it. And who has been so close to doing it as we are right now?... All this will be for nothing. We will have been for nothing. Defined by their histories, distorted to fit into their narrative until all that is left of us are the monsters in the stories they tell their children.”
In the last two seasons the pirates ally themselves with a slave revolt. The struggle for Nassau has moved from being solely about the pirates’ self-interest to an almost revolutionary effort against the English oppressors. The treasure chest is no longer simply wealth, it is intimately connected with freedom. Literal freedom for the former slaves, freedom to live on one’s own terms and not on terms defined by a government that despises you for others.
What Flint refers to in his speech quoted above is so much more meaningful and emotional because it comes from a gay character. Him condemning the English’s judgements of the world would ring hollow if it only referred to his piracy and related activities, but because it also refers to his experiences as a gay man, the possibility that lies in the darkness, is the possibility of a new way to live life free from persecution.
I haven’t even talked about Anne Bonny and Max and how their relationship made me cry more than once and how women actually get to do things and have agency and be people. It’s a good show, is what I’m saying, and their decision to include lgbt themes is a decisive factor in that.
Satori over and out
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