also: “That is the single most dangerous weapon they possess, the one they tempt. “Give us your submission, and we will give you the comfort you need.” No, I can think of no measure of comfort worth that price.”
I see the lack of slavery discourse in Black Sails fandom and I’m surprised. Mr Scott and the Maroon Queen are massive secondary characters and Madi is a major character in a relationship with one of the mains; however, their circumstances, the politics around it; its impact on interpersonal relationships – there is either really not much discussion on those lines (or I’m probably not looking properly.) Framed in that context, the second last frame of the show with Flint and Thomas as indentured labourers in a sugarcane plantation is disturbing, disquieting and frankly, disgusting.
Why is the fandom so quick to absolve Silver and console themselves with “Silver knew James will escape?” I wouldn’t mind Silver’s act quite so much if the fandom had not rushed quickly to frame it as an act of “love” and had instead called out Silver’s act as that of a desperately scared man because that offers some space for justification. Characters are allowed to be flawed; not offered blanket forgiveness for cruelty.
And much of fandom (and I suspect, even the creators) doesn’t understand why T.Ham fans show such open hostility to Silver. See, Silver can want to have Flint moved away from the centrepiece of war but Silver (Silver!) cannot claim redemption when he leaves Thomas in the plantation; when he doesn’t tell Flint about finding Thomas. Silver knows who Thomas is; there was that golden moment at the end of S3; so why leave this man to continue his morally and legally unlawful exile from civilization?
re: this post about rewatching Black Sails, Miranda’s role in season 1 also makes me love one of my favourite Flint speeches EVEN MORE. her relationship with Flint is way more public than i remembered, in a way that ties into the persona he constructs around himself. spoilers up to 3×01 under the cut!
another thing that, to me, stands out about flint’s grief over miranda’s death, is the dream sequence in which he says “i am ruined over you”.
now, i’m not a fan of trying to set direct comparisons between relationships, so i’ll leave that aside for another post (one day i might get around to writing that meta about comparisons within black sails, and how sometimes the show flounders a bit btwn its writing and its overall message), but what always always always gets me is this line:
“I was mistress to you when you needed love. Wife when you needed understanding. But first and before all, I was mother.”
there is SO MUCH wrapped up in this line. let’s remember first that this is his subconscious speaking. it’s not miranda’s ghost, it’s flint himself. that means that on some level, flint himself thinks of miranda as not only his friend/parter, but his mother and his wife. setting aside his sexuality (bc i don’t feel like getting hate-mail again, and i am perfectly happy w either bi or gay flint, so hold your insults pls), i think this line is remarkable.
it really portrays just how difficult and plain jawdroppingly complex their relationship is. i am firmly of the opinion that during flint’s formative years he had no sginificant or lasting female presence in his life, as evidenced by his string of unfortunate father figures: the man he calls the closest thing to a father is his superior officer, not his grandfather that raised him or his biological father that sired him. considering that he probably entered the male-dominated navy young, i assume he had few relationships with women in any significant capacity.
ofc this is a bit of wild conjecture on my part, but i hold to it bc it means that miranda is remarkable and important to him in multiple ways: she occupies the places that multiple women would otherwise have held throughout his life. he never had a mother, mistress, wife, and thus, with her strong presence in his life and her role in shaping him (which is significant!) she somehow naturally comes to provide for him all these things, without ever being confined to one. i don’t think it’s as simple as “mother & mistress & wife? does that mean he wants to fuck his mother figure? has odysseus become oedipus???” bc eh. too simplistic. we know black sails routinely does better than that.
again, i think this is something that is largely independent from the question of flint’s sexuality, bc throughout history queer ppl have married ppl incompatible w their orientation for all sorts of reasons (but then again, it also runs w a bi interpretation, so everyone can be happy), but i think it’s also important to acknowledge that this is how flint thinks of her, personally, in the heart of his heart: mistress, wife, mother.
i love flint and thomas’ relationship for how simple it is. yes, there’s lots of societal bullshit surrounding them that makes things hard, and if you think they never had fallings-out or difficulties then i think you’re terribly wrong, but at the same time, these two are the most straightforward example of star-crossed lovers on this show. they hit it off right away, they’re so obviously meant to be it’s almost ridiculous, and in the end even imprisonment and torture and mortal danger and war can’t keep them apart forever. that’s some fairytale stuff right here.
i love flint and miranda’s relationship for how complicated and real it is, and how i will never, as long as i live, be able to really define it or wrap my brain around it. it’ll forever be a scab i’ll keep picking at, and just like that it’ll forever be kinda painful but immensely, weirdly satisfying.
… i’m so sorry for hijacking your post, op. i hope you don’t mind me spilling my feelings everywhere.
“An Irish Pub in France” (sent by a friend)… people honestly fucking hate us for no reason and consistently compare us to animals but I guess “Gypsy” isn’t a racial slur in Europe lmao /sarcasm
^^^^ And, this is a very common thing in Europe.. and very much acceptable there.
This is why no, witches, you are not “Gypsies”. Unless you are one of the people directly referenced in these signs, you are not one of them. Wearing crystals or reading tarot cards does not make you a member of a marginalised group. Liking nice dresses or using henna does not put you at risk for being shut out of every damn shop in Europe, leading to a total lack of resources, ability to get paying work, and ability to get shelter.
Dear witchcraft/wicca community,
You do you with your beliefs or whatever, but if you keep referring to yourselves as g*psies, I sincerely hope you have to live your entire lives facing the exact same hardships that marginalized itinerant peoples face a thousand times over.
Disclaimer: Contrary to popular (?) belief I don’t actually “hate” Silver. His characterizations make sense and it’s very compelling to watch– what I’m NOT here for, is the constant defense of him by various fans/shippers. He’s allowed to be a flawed character, you know, and people are entitled to feel disdain towards him and his harmful (yes, they are harmful) actions.
Let’s break it down, then:
In retrospect, this is an odd scene because why would Silver even entertain the idea of them walking away? They should be focused on the war and trying to win, yet he speaks about the two of them walking away unscathed like it’s a certain outcome. And to ask Madi if he would be enough, when he’s well aware of the answer (judging by how invested she is now in her war), is telling. This gets echoed by Flint in 4×10, where he tells Silver that she won’t be enough for him anymore because the war brought purpose to all of their lives. Of course, knowing what we now know with the knowledge of 4×10, Silver has in actuality already obtained information about Thomas and that he is indeed alive and well in Savannah. In his mind, the option of walking away from the war is already set in stone, seeing as he’s got everything he needs to put an end to it– the only question remains is a matter of when.
He knew the Spanish were coming, he knew that there would be massive casualties yet he went along with it anyway. He knows Madi found her purpose as the next Maroon Queen, as this war only solidifies her will to liberate her people even more. He knew, yet he betrayed her anyway– because her legacy, the life of her people, the subsequent treatment of future generations of her people, doesn’t matter to him as much as her life. It’s an utterly selfish act, and it’s an act of someone who refuses to be supportive of the woman he loves, regardless of the fact that perhaps it’ll cost Madi’s life to achieve her goals (collateral damage is a-ok as long as it’s not the woman you love, I suppose?). He, a cishet white man, definitively stripped away Madi’s own freedom of choice and her power as a leader, merely because he doesn’t want to lose her. Her and Flint’s war isn’t important, because the struggles of marginalized people never affected him, and never will affect him. He simply doesn’t care. He’s the man with no backstory, a man who can spin tales to fit whatever narrative he wants to tell, while Flint and Madi’s backstories are the driving force of their character.
James McGraw said it best: “In most cases, a man trying to change the world fails for one simple and unavoidable reason: everyone else.”
Silver, and people like Silver, are exactly the reason why Madi’s people had to suffer for centuries. The curse of the Cishet White Male™.
the weirdest thing about a lot of the common criticisms of millennials i see is that they all seem to boil down to:
you are soft. you believe the world should be kind. you expect people to treat you fairly. you think your needs are important, that you deserve to be listened to, that you shouldn’t be hungry and frightened and in pain.
and people are seriously SO OFFENDED by this. like, how dare you. how dare you believe the world might be a good place, how dare you believe you should be treated well just for existing. life is pain, princess, anyone who tells you different is selling something, now wipe that smile off your face, shut your mouth and go suffer like i did.
and it’s just like… i have a kid. if she grows up expecting better treatment than i experienced as a young woman, i’m doing my job. i know the world isn’t perfect, but random cruelty isn’t something we should just shrug our shoulders and accept, and it’s so fucking weird how angry people get at youngsters who refuse to do just that.
When people say that Flint didn’t deserve a happy ending and that they hope that the reunion is fake, I hope they realise that they’re also saying that this cinnamon roll that never did anything wrong in his entire life deserved to be taken away from his loved ones, get locked up at Bedlam and commit suicide/be sold to a labor camp and never reunited with his loved ones again.
Same anon.I agree so much.I think one of the reasons we all love Flint so much is him being a gentleman after all these years of hard living (lets thank Miranda for that) and respect he shows the ladies.Most important-he sees the women in his life as equals,as partners.
Flint and Eleanor were not always on the same side,but there was always an understanding between them and never once he treated her with anything less than respect.Their partnership,a business one sometimes and still very personal because they shared the same dream once was a thing of beauty.
Flint’s relationship with Miranda still means everything to me.Flint loved and admired her, Miranda was his home,his safe harbor and Flint cherished that. They could tear each other down,were bound by misery-but if Thomas was his heart,Miranda was his soul and we saw what happened to him when he lost her.
Maroon Queen is another important woman in his life,as his war partner.From the moment he met her,Flint respected her authority and understood her position as a leader.I can’t say he did not use her for his own purposes,but Flint made sure she understood the risks,saw the big picture and that the war he is bringing to her door step is a chance to fight back.
Flint’s relationship with Madi is one of the highlights of S4 for me.Their mutual respect did not happened over night. It took losing Silver and events of the Underhill plantation for them to bond and I think Flint inspired Madi when she got to know him a little better. And he once again enjoys a presence of a strong and intelligent woman in his life and I believe he cares about her a lot and not only as a partner in their upcoming war.Madi is another one of these rare people he calls friends.
There are many reasons to love Flint,but yes his respect for women is one of the greatest ones:)
Ugh, don’t get me started on folks dissing Black Sails over “queerbaiting” or “bury your gays”, etc. This is the LEAST queerbaiting and “bury your gays troupe” show you will ever see. And Eleanor’s death had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with her being bi-sexual. Obviously, no character should be killed because they’re queer. But a character should also not be exempt from death because they’re queer. Not if the death makes sense and works storyline wise, which I feel like was the case here. Eleanor’s death was entirely about her and Rogers’ actions. He may have led the Spanish there but she set so much of this into action herself, going back to last season when she killed Vane.
Speaking of, I saw a lot of people calling for her head back then. I think if Jack had shot her and said “Revenge for Chaz”, you’d be getting a different reaction from some fans. Eleanor has always been a polarizing character. That she died this way, in such a violent manner by a stranger with no actual grudge against her, gave a much bigger impact to viewers than if she’d been killed by someone the fans knew for reasons viewers understood (even if they didn’t approve of).
Eleanor has done alot over the course of the show. Lied, killed, stole, double-crossed, betrayed, etc. She did the same things that every other character – male and female – have done. And she died, as many of those characters have before her (Vane, Teach, Gates, Miranda, Scott, Hornigold, Dufrense, etc.). Like those deaths, it had nothing to do with gender or sexuality, just the price of the world they chose to be a part of.
I trust these writers to not kill for shock value. Steinberg said that every character death must create more storyline than it ends and I feel like we will see that. We already are. Max is now aiming to take down Rogers and united with Jack in this cause. Eleanor’s family in Boston will become involved. And Rogers/Spain storyline will expand because of this. And I have a theory/speculation of how this will entangle Billy going forward. The fallout from her death will be huge, as it should be.
I think this is important to consider. A lot of people I know have taken the time to make phone calls, write e-mails, be heard by their representation (or most normally their staffers) and they’re probably wondering about their impact…
Meg's Mumbles 