Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Genres Tell No Tales

This one is still up on Lindsay's Nebula channel! Along with several other of her videos that are no longer available on YouTube. --Elisa

Lindsay Ellis

I also wish I could see this one again

Will Davis

I've been wanting to watch this one again as well, I was scrolling through the patreon looking for an alternative link or a reason why it's no longer available

i'm scrounging the patreon for content i haven't seen, anyone know how i can get access to this video? it says it's private

Fonzie Blair

Lindsay, I'm curious, were you skeptical before seeing Curse of the Black Pearl when it was in theaters?

I would still really like to hear your comments on some of our country's important non-cinema topics of the times, like race relations, or materialism, or deteriorating public discourse. I think you may be one of the few Youtubers with the intellectual and rhetorical chops to pull this off.

JM

One of my favorite movie experiences is when something I think looks like a dumb cash grab turns out to be genuinely entertaining and fun (The Lego Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy). I remember reading Roger Ebert's review of the first Pirates movie, where he also seemed surprised at how much he enjoyed it. When he said that Johnny Depp was "channeling a drunken drag queen" I was out the door and on my way to the theater.

Lindsay Nelson

Great video, thanks for making it 😊

Rake

Also have you seen BreadSword's video about Treasure Planet? I found a lot of it to be a bit gushy about the film, but it presents some interesting background on why Treasure Planet flopped as hard as it did. I feel like we could have easily seen Pirates having fallen to a similar fate if Disney had not thrown their weight behind marketing it in the same way they did to Treasure Planet.

Couldn't agree more with your assertion on genre fatigue. I know personally I could watch superhero films for the next decade without getting tired, as long as they are, at their core, /good/ films, and not mostly approached as a surefire way to make money. There's so much material to work with no matter the genre. The fact that stories tend to tread the same ground over and over again speaks more to the lack of imagination or willingness to take risk than whether or not the genre is "dead". Genres die because from a business POV, the risk of treading new ground with one outweighs the promise of returns. Better to abandon it entirely and move on to the next thing.

I remember skipping the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie thinking it was just a shameless cash grab based on their ride. Oh boy I was wrong... It might have been a shameless cash grab, but in that case it is an excellent cash grab. As today I've seen it a few times and I recall it as one of the best adventure movies of recent years.

I did really enjoy the latest Pirates movie for how surprising good it was (Jack was back in a more of a side character role, I loved the two new characters and Salazar's crazy awesome zombie shark torpedoes). But really, they should have that as series finale. Hell, if its that big in China, why not make the series about Chinese pirates? True story, the man who runs my tuesday night social groups was an extra on set right around the time the movie wrapped up. For about a week or two, he was hailed as this big star by the locals in the area that was the basis for one of the setpieces.

Matt Eldritch

Great commentary as always Lindsay! It's always interesting to hear about the history of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie and the subsequent other "movies based after theme park rides" genre that Disney tried so hard to make a thing. I find the comment especially about Depp and his abuse allegations especially interesting because I know so many people to this day who still defends Depp against the accusations and subsequently not believe his wife Amber Heard, but are more than willing to believe allegations against media personal such as Harvey Weinstein and Louis C.K. Maybe it's because men like Depp are remembered more favorably in the public conception of the audience than most other media personal with sexual assault allegations, or maybe it's merely the number of accusers. It's hard to say, but it is tiring that Depp keeps on making appearances where he just seems tired and makes the franchise itself seem tired. Keep up the good work Lindsay!

I remember that 'Pirates of the Caribbean' came out just after I had done a play-through of a bunch of the old LucasArts Monkey Island games, which are inspired by the the same theme ride, and so my attitude at the time was, 'This movie probably is not going to be any good, but I kind of want to see it anyway' -- and then it actually turned out to be a legitimately fun movie! 2003 had a few movies like that, ones that were quite a bit better than anyone had any right to expect them to be -- the other one I remember was 'School of Rock', but I think there might have been one or two others.

Jacob Haller

Hi, my first comment here. I think that Depp was the "best man" (sorry for my english, I'm french ^^ ) during his marriage with Vanessa Paradis. He had during this period a very stable life. Everything went wrong since they were separated/divorced. Paradis left probably because she become tired about his late behavior (the fear of age?) and the fact that he cheated. Anyway. About The hunchback of Notre Dame, I think it's just brilliant, I never saw a critique about this film so interesting. THIS one needs a remake. Without gargoyles.

Rork

ah thanks!!! Hopefully!

Alex de Winter

I did a re-edit and reupload, check in again in a few minutes.

Lindsay Ellis

Heads up, video is "not available", at least in the U.K.

Alex de Winter

Audio's working again!

Kevin Strehl

No audio :(

ladym

no audio...

Sébastien Proulx

Having the same problem :/. Damn I was so stoked to watch this. I'll check back in a couple hours

Looks like i'm having the same sound problem as Alejandro here. Some music during the first minute or so and then no sound at all. Weird!

agh, that was my bad - there was a copyright problem (And the video was banned for some people) and I clicked a replace option, and boy did that not work out. Check back in about ten minutes or so, it should be fixed.

Lindsay Ellis

Am I the only one that can't hear anything? Just electronic music during the first minute, and then silence

Nice use of the Westworld Paint It Black music! And of course another excellent video essay!

Loved the Lonely Island as a backbone and as a Tabletop nerd I was pleasantly surprised by the Smash up cameo! :)

I always wondered why Pirates nosedived so hard.

John Wells

I love your love for lonely island

Dallas

I'd forgotten that I genuinly admired Depp and those creative desicions for a while back then. I'd grown tired of him as an actor long before the abuse story blew up, although I was still disheartened. I think watching this is the first time I've had those old feelings resurface and clash with all that disappointment. Great video as always Lindsay! They're always the highlight of my day. And if you ever decide to do a video just gushing about Mupppet Treasure Island, I'm 100% here for that.

LL

Eeyup

Sam Fulton

Is anybody else getting 'This video is not available'?

Lucy Welch

Looking at Johnny Depp in his youth makes me thoughtful and more than a little sad. I'd credit the young Depp with his gentleness and fragility as an influence on my youth. I remember seeking out "The brave" around 10 years ago maybe, and thinking it then a very haunting and tender piece. When Amber Heard came out, I believed her. No question. It's easier when you don't or never cared. I appreciate your work here, you're a maestro of the heartstrings these days.

Also whether or not Depp gets to show himself in the Dark Universe is a massive question given that they will just reboot the franchise by declaring that the next movie is the actual start of the franchise. #justicefordraculauntold

Honestly, Depp has given up on his career choice. He started giving up around 2004, and it shows in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And it says a lot that the critics and the audiences are noticing but not the studios.

Oh, why must you tease us with a clip from Transformers? (Don't get me wrong, I love all your stuff including this. But, well, the plate is not yet whole...)

Good work as always!

Barry Donnelly

"I don't think appreciating the person and the actor that Johnny Depp was is mutually exclusive with thinking that he should be facing real consequences for the person he has become" I really appreciate this line

Oh the video was so great. I give it a yay out of ten.

John Diniz

Are you worried about any "um, actually"s about Pirates: The Ride being from the 60s?

John Diniz

I always found it interesting how everyone seems to have a different one that they think was "the last good one". For me, definitely 2. I loved Davy Jones. His design, his performance, I had his action figure, hell, I had EVERY action figure from Pirates 2, even that weird coral guy who just said "a captain goes down with his ship".

Jennifer Miller