Comments | kaellana: Nothing like some good old-fashioned POTC meta.

kaellana

Nothing like some good old-fashioned POTC meta.

May 27, 2007 11:19

This is a very meta-ish (and spoiler-ish) post, centred around the end of the Will/Elizabeth arc in AWE. I've made a couple of posts in other forums about it and decided to make a big one here to collect everything I know - and hopefully it'll be helpful to some other people. I've included my own thoughts, and some quotes from Ted and Terry on ( Read more... )

meta, will/elizabeth, at world's end, potc

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slytherin_candi May 27 2007, 16:28:58 UTC

Hello, I was pointed here during a comments conversation about the movie. I'm glad you typed this all out, it really helps! I've now seen the movie twice as well, but I thought that there was a green flash when Will left the little island before the credits as well? I would have to see it again to confirm this, but I could've sworn there was a green flash when he left Elizabeth and another one when he came back. I really wish they would've kept that information in the movie, though. Shows the writers that they need to triple-check before the movie is released!

kaellana May 27 2007, 17:21:44 UTC

I'm glad to help! And I agree about the cutting. I understand the need to save time, but they should be careful what scenes they judge as important. ♥

As for their parting scene, I seem to remember the camera panned out on them kissing furiously on the beach, then there was a shot of the Dutchman sailing away, and then a shot of Elizabeth standing alone. I don't recall a green flash, but you could well be right! I'm going to see it again soon, so I'll know for sure then! :D

If there is a green flash, then I don't think it changes much. Perhaps it could simply be the Dutchman crossing over to the other side to ferry the souls of the crew who wanted to leave - I presume the Dutchman doesn't have to go through the messy business of sailing to the end of the world. We didn't see the Dutchman flash earlier in the film because Jones wasn't ferrying souls.

...In the end, I think what writers say still stands, and the final flash post-credits still signals the curse being broken. :)

veronica_rich May 27 2007, 18:35:04 UTC

Yes, there was a green flash when Will leaves Elizabeth on the beach. THAT is the fic that needs to be written - who's to say it's not Norrington that Will's decided to return to the land of the living? Or even Gov. Swann?

As for whether a cut scene is canon, I would agree - however, the end scene after-credits WASN'T cut. It's right there in the theater for anyone who cares to sit and stay and watch it. So it's part of canon, as far as I can tell. Still, I can't fault anyone for wanting to write, ignoring it. That's what fanfic's about.

kaellana May 27 2007, 18:58:21 UTC

Very good point! It's so very hard to choose between the two, but I think I'd go for James. As Weatherby's "at peace" now.

The post-credits scene would be part of the canon, yes. I mean, the post-credits scene for CotBP influenced the following movies, so this one shouldn't be any different. But I agree - there's nothing wrong with following the path of the more bittersweet ending. I've already read some great J/E centred around that subject. It's just that given the information we have, I'd simply cast those fics as AU (albeit, not a huge AU).

cataglottisme May 28 2007, 21:12:49 UTC

Oh my, all those lovely theories!
I am quite ashamed to admit that mine was waaay less glamourous. Well, I thought, surely Will is going to free some of the crew. His father will stay, for sure, but I don't think the whole crew is going to pass up such an opportunity.
I just thought that the green flash represented the crew being freed.
Meh. I like yours better ^^

kaellana May 28 2007, 21:34:58 UTC

The crew definitely works too! But I suppose, if it was wanted, fanfiction could work it to anybody the author liked. Even the hanged boy from the beginning. xD

veronica_rich May 28 2007, 15:54:33 UTC

The more I think about that green flash when Will leaves her for the first time, the more I become convinced it has something to do with her being pregnant. I don't know how to explain it - it's like Will himself can't yet return, but part of him HAS (obviously). Because there is a new life that would not have existed had he died and remained dead.

kaellana May 28 2007, 19:28:28 UTC

Now that's a really interesting theory - I like it a lot. You could definitely work the green flash to fit that. One could argue 'part of his soul' is now in the unborn child, meaning a part of him has already returned from the dead.

I love how open-ended the whole thing is. It's not like post-DMC when the fandom was restricted on what it could or couldn't write - now it's much like the ending of CotBP, because we can come up with our own ideas and are free to send the characters where we choose. :D

veronica_rich May 31 2007, 00:55:19 UTC

I don't have the direct link; however, it's a recent entry in my community, turningpirate, in which someone posted that they asked if the green flash when Will leaves the beach would be the souls of those Will is releasing from the Dutchman (i.e., he would've offered them the same chance he offered Bill) back into the land of the living - if you want to look for it. Basically, the poster asked this, Terry replied that he liked that idea and accepted it, so that explanation is now "canon" as far as he's concerned.

slytherin_candi May 31 2007, 01:10:30 UTC

Ohh that would make sense! I'm assuming Terry is a writer? It's a bit sad that they have to go through and take ideas to use because their storyline got messed up :( Thanks though!

veronica_rich May 31 2007, 01:14:30 UTC

http://community.livejournal.com/turningpirate/43359.html

There's the direct link; I tracked it down.

slytherin_candi May 31 2007, 01:22:41 UTC

Thanks! Everything's clicking now :) And awesome community!

veronica_rich May 31 2007, 01:38:49 UTC

We always welcome new Will fans ...

kaellana May 31 2007, 07:33:48 UTC

Thanks very much! It looks like they're accepting it proper, I found this on Wordplayer.com (I've now included it in the essay above):

Ted Elliott on Tuesday, 29 May 2007, at 11:04 a.m:

>>> If it is to be implied that the curse is broken because of the green flash when Will returns to Elizabeth after ten years, then why was there also a green flash when he left her?

Someone correctly observed that there were a lot of members of Jones' crew who were suddenly free from their service to the Dutchman. Do you think all of them made the same choice Bootstrap did?

That explanation works for me - it seems to make sense :)

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