Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 02:39 am
[crossposted from [livejournal.com profile] pirategasm]

This is a bit late but...

As an old man walked down the beach one day, he saw a child picking up something from the sand and throwing it into the sea. The old man asked the child, "What are you doing?"

"Chucking the starfish," the child replied.

"Why?" asked the old man.

"The starfish washed ashore in the high tide. If they stay on the beach they will dry out and die, so I'm chucking them back into the ocean."

The old man looked at the child and at the beach and said, "There are hundreds of starfish on this beach. How can what you're doing make any difference?"

The child bent down, picked up another starfish, pointed to it and said, "It makes a difference to this one," and threw it into the sea.

-Author Unknown-

...everytime I tried writing a tribute or something to PotC fandom I freeze up and don't quite know where to start. I rec often and I'm not sure that is exactly *enough* for me to tribute it as such because I rec so often and.

I remember, sitting in that theater, wondering what was up with the lights, they were still half on during the previews and then.

Blackness.

A wash of gold, flowing across the screen, to fade and suddenly this.

Disorientating flash of white, of fog and mist and vaguely formed dreams and out of it, out of it comes this ship, and the lonely sound of a girl singing for pirates, for freedom.

And isn't that just somehow perfect, just somehow resonating.

Because lo' a pirate reached and grabbed her shoulder, kindly old storyteller that is wild at the edges. And lo' a pirate joined her, brocaded and noble and yet somehow free at heart; and lo' a pirate joined her, bewigged and escapist and escaping England and his wife's death to make his way on a warm outpost clinging to the edge of a sea.

Lo' a pirate joined her, small and soaking and weighted with an aztec medallion.

I watched the movie of these changeling creatures, of a kohled fool who became more, of a dusty smith who became more, of a girl who tried to swing a sword and failed. and tried to negotiate her freedom and failed. and tried to breathe in a corset and failed.

Pirates set her free.

And isn't that somehow perfect?

A blacksmith who fails at being heroic. A pirate who fails to stay free. A commodore who has charge of everything but his heart.

And a treasure cave, located up the nostril of an island that looks like a skull.

And isn't that somehow perfect?

'cause you get to the end, landed on a black ship, breathless but with the smell of sea in your lungs and the knowledge of Jack's hands on his ship at last and the music soars in your ears and.

I realize, distantly that the movie doesn't affect everyone this way, but.

Perhaps I am one of those starfish that was thrown back into the ocean.

breathe, with me, the sea

Near spontaneously I started writing fic, I friended massively from the interesting posts on [livejournal.com profile] pirategasm's friendslist, read so many wonderful fics, got to know so many interesting people, and.

in small and big ways learned a bit better how to breathe.

::hugs fandom::
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 02:51 am (UTC)
Yes. Exactly.

You have such a beautiful soul.
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 05:50 am (UTC)
Oh, Lord.

::chokes up::

Adding this to Memories, if you don't mind.
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 07:57 am (UTC)
I'm barely on the fringes of Pirate fandom but god, that was fabulous!

<3
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 10:04 am (UTC)
I already have my sister [livejournal.com profile] _audrey drawing naked pirates! heeeelp I'm drowning! I kneed a pirate to come cut off my bodice!!!1!
XD
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 09:11 am (UTC)
Oh god, this is exactly what I thought and felt, but could not find the words to express if my life depended on it. And it almost made me cry. And definitely goes to Memories. Thank you!
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 09:18 am (UTC)
A blacksmith who fails at being heroic. A pirate who fails to stay free. A commodore who has charge of everything but his heart.


What lovely commentary. This makes me want to watch the movie again. And coming from someone who flits from fandom to fandom as much as I do? That means a lot.


Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 09:49 am (UTC)
*hugs you*

*hugs fandom*
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 09:57 am (UTC)
This was a lovely post, dude. I'm so jealous of your swirly love affair with this movie and the ideas behind it. I can juuuust catch sight my Smallville passion - it's there, on the edge of my vision - but to be in the throes like you are is something else again. You did a great job of describing it, and you did your fandom proud!!
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 12:20 pm (UTC)
Excellent stuff. I can't find my DVD anywhere tonight :-(

Gina
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 01:34 pm (UTC)
*hugs back*

It's a little weird, looking at this and knowing the feeling, only shifted 'cause for me, the fandom that does this isn't PotC. I've got a thing for water, but my real heart's in the desert and mesa, on the road and in the gun. But it's good to know that pirates can do the same thing.
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 03:30 pm (UTC)
*hugs* I would never have been able to put this into words, but that was perfect. And I'm off to rewatch it now and cry like a baby.
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 03:55 pm (UTC)
God this is beautiful. I'm all teary eyed now. You captured just what this fandom is for me, and I'm sure so mant others. Thank you.
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004 03:57 pm (UTC)
That bit with the starfish sounds a lot like an essay that was referenced in a self-help book I was typesetting about a month ago. The essay was called the Star Thrower, I'm pretty sure, and though the particulars weren't the same, the general gist was.

*hugs you and pirates*
Wednesday, June 30th, 2004 12:08 pm (UTC)
*hugs* That's it pretty much exactly, only I couldn't've said it as well.