More thoughts about POTC - DMC: The symbolic meaning of Elizabeth's dress//Tia Dalma
I watched POTC II for a second time on Sunday. Rewatching it, also spawned a mini essay on the symbolism of Elizabeth's clothing.
Elizabeth's dress features several times by itself in DMC and actually gets some of the nicest shots. Interestingly, one shot matches a shot in CotB:
In CotBP, Elizabeth sinks into the water, because her new dress with its corsett has been suffocating her. We see how she slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
This time around, we get a shot of her dress first floating in the water and later on sinking down. This second shot is definitely a parallel to Elizabeth's drowning scene in CotBP.
This parallel got my wondering if her dress might have any symbolic meaning. My take on it: Elizabeth's dress stands for her role in society.
In CotBP, her role in society is stifling her. She wants adventure which is hinted at early on by her being curious about pirates, keeping the coin and reading pirate novels in secret. Instead of being able to live her dreams, she's supposed to married the Commodore, however.
Her father who's in favour of this match gives her a beautiful dress for Norrington's commission ceremony. Unfortunately, this new dress is suffocating her and eventually causes her to faint. The dress is a sign of her father's love, nevertheless, the dress represents a golden cage for her.
Elizabeth's fainting coincides with Norrington's proposal. Elizabeth is scared of being trapped all her life in the role of a good wife who patiently waits for her husband when he's at sea, organizes his estate and bears his children.
Elizabeth's toppling from the parapet is the event that starts all other events in CotBP. When she is drowning, the coin she's still wearing around her neck calls out to the cursed pirates. It's all the event, the triggers the meetings between Jack and Elizabeth and Jack and Norrington.
Amazingly, Jack does something selfless here: He saves Elizabeth's life and cuts open her corsett. When we see this scene on a symbolic level, I interpret is as Jack giving Elizabeth a way out of the restraints of her life.
Let's take a look at what else Elizabeth wears during the course of CoTBP:
- When the pirates attack, Elizabeth is only in her nightshirt.
Here she has her first chance to stand up for herself. She can prove that she is not only pretty, but also smart and courageous.
- Barbossa then gives her a voluminous dress that never quite fits her.
Once again Elizabeth becomes fairly passive. One scene that's still stuck in my mind is Elizabeth cowering in fear on the floor of the Captain's cabin when she realises that the entire crew is cursed.
- Elizabeth strips of this dress before she jumps into the water and is marooned together with Jack on an island. Once again, she shedding a dress makes her more piratical. Foreshadowing the events of DMC, she flirts a bit with Jack, yet doesn't give in to him: Ultimately she even burns his beloved rum.
- Next she's is rescued by Norrington and given man's clothes. The script even contained a scene with Elizabeth asking Norrington for clothing and her giving her one of the uniforms.
Elizabeth in man's clothing is very active. Amongst other things, she escapes from her room, steals a boat, tries to persuade the crew of the Pearl to help her rescue Will and fights together with Will against the undead pirates.
In a small way, we also get to see what Norrington is like: He doesn't cage Elizabeth, e.g. by ordering her to stay in her room until she is wearing respectable clothing again. Instead he allows her to run around in man's clothing. This suggests to me that he is willing to respect her desire for freedom. It also foreshadows that he respects her so much that he sets her free in the end and so gives her the chance to marry Will.
- In the final CotBP scene, Elizabeth is once again dressed up in an elegant dress.
She doesn't actively fight here. Instead she uses the options society allows her: She pretends to faint in order to distract Norrington and her father from Will's rescue attempt.
By the end of CotBP, has more freedom than in the beginning of the movie and is allowed to marry the man of her choice. Despite this, she is still part of society with all the expectations this includes.
During Dead Man's Chest, we only see Elizabeth in two major outfits: Her wedding dress and the man's clothing she acquires.
- Once again her dress stands for her official role in society. Her wedding dress is supposed to be a dress for a happy occasion, yet nothing cheerful happens while she is wearing it: Both she and her future husband are arrested and she is imprisoned. When her father tries to rescue her, the plan goes wrong and her father is imprisoned as well.
This time, Elizabeth is more assertive, however, even when wearing a dress. She has tasted freedom once and she knows what she wants. So she escapes and successfully pressures Cutler Beckett into giving her the letters of Marque.
- After this scene, we only ever see Elizabeth in man's clothing.
In all these scenes, she is setting her own rules. She fights like a man, but she also uses tricks and her charms to get what she wants. Not that her charms always work. Norrington appears rather unimpressed by her in one scene on board of the ship mocking her about not getting what Jack did to her "latest fiancee". Fainting to gain the attention of "her" men no longer does the trick either.
(After receiving some feedback from selenak I'll try to clarify my take on Elizabeth using her charms: She only uses it on Jack and then it's really her playing exactly the same game he does. The other time she tries to act lady like is when she does her fainting routine.)
What I find intriguing is that at the same time, her dress is still playing a part.
E.g. Elizabeth uses it in order to scare the crew of a merchant vessel and manipulate them into sailing to Tortuga. The crew of this ship believe that the dress belongs to a virgin bride who is looking for her husband she lost at sea. Ironically, this is indeed Elizabeth's story at the time.
The dress is finally discovered by Will and lost - it sinks slowly to the bottom of the ocean - after the ship is destroyed by the Kraken.
When I view the loss of Elizabeth's dress as symbolic, I see it as a metaphor for drifting outside society's boundaries. She has so much freedom now that she doesn't always know how to use it responsibly. She makes some choices she then deeply regrets. The question if her actions are justifiable, is tricky and I won't go into right now. Just want to say that Elizabeth might well have saved the rest of the crew from the Kraken when she chained Jack to his ship.
Another side note regarding clothing:
Norrington is wearing the jacket of his commodore uniform during the entire movie even it is nearly unrecognicable because it has been through a lot. :-)
It's fun to mull over what this might mean. could mean that he still has a strong sense of honour and duty underneath it all. Or it could foreshadow that he goes back to his old position.
- The opening scene:
One of my favorite scenes. Love the cinematography here. Good acting all around. And things are moving so quickly and I adore that all the main characters are affected by their actions in CotBP.
If you are completely unspoiled, there's a good chance you'll think the man with the wig is Norrington. Only when he turns around, you see he's not.
- Tia Dalma:
I cannot see Tia Dalma as one of Jack's former lovers. At all. He doesn't flirt with her! And while she touches him, I didn't see this as a seductive gesture per se more as a caring gesture, a way to reconnect.
So my theory is that Tia Dalma is Jack's mother.
They definitely share the tendency to be both attractive and repulsive.
We also see Tia Dalma mutter to herself while searching through her things for something to help Jack - and I find her way of behaving her strongly reminiscent of Jack's mannerism.
The way they talk about the jar with dirt feels very mother-son to me as well. Especially the 'well, if you don't want it' exchange and her gentle words "It helps."
Tia Dalma as Jack's mother also works with Jack's statement that they go way back. :-)
- There will be another post about my second viewing soon. Simply don't have the time to type more right now.
Elizabeth's dress features several times by itself in DMC and actually gets some of the nicest shots. Interestingly, one shot matches a shot in CotB:
In CotBP, Elizabeth sinks into the water, because her new dress with its corsett has been suffocating her. We see how she slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
This time around, we get a shot of her dress first floating in the water and later on sinking down. This second shot is definitely a parallel to Elizabeth's drowning scene in CotBP.
This parallel got my wondering if her dress might have any symbolic meaning. My take on it: Elizabeth's dress stands for her role in society.
In CotBP, her role in society is stifling her. She wants adventure which is hinted at early on by her being curious about pirates, keeping the coin and reading pirate novels in secret. Instead of being able to live her dreams, she's supposed to married the Commodore, however.
Her father who's in favour of this match gives her a beautiful dress for Norrington's commission ceremony. Unfortunately, this new dress is suffocating her and eventually causes her to faint. The dress is a sign of her father's love, nevertheless, the dress represents a golden cage for her.
Elizabeth's fainting coincides with Norrington's proposal. Elizabeth is scared of being trapped all her life in the role of a good wife who patiently waits for her husband when he's at sea, organizes his estate and bears his children.
Elizabeth's toppling from the parapet is the event that starts all other events in CotBP. When she is drowning, the coin she's still wearing around her neck calls out to the cursed pirates. It's all the event, the triggers the meetings between Jack and Elizabeth and Jack and Norrington.
Amazingly, Jack does something selfless here: He saves Elizabeth's life and cuts open her corsett. When we see this scene on a symbolic level, I interpret is as Jack giving Elizabeth a way out of the restraints of her life.
Let's take a look at what else Elizabeth wears during the course of CoTBP:
- When the pirates attack, Elizabeth is only in her nightshirt.
Here she has her first chance to stand up for herself. She can prove that she is not only pretty, but also smart and courageous.
- Barbossa then gives her a voluminous dress that never quite fits her.
Once again Elizabeth becomes fairly passive. One scene that's still stuck in my mind is Elizabeth cowering in fear on the floor of the Captain's cabin when she realises that the entire crew is cursed.
- Elizabeth strips of this dress before she jumps into the water and is marooned together with Jack on an island. Once again, she shedding a dress makes her more piratical. Foreshadowing the events of DMC, she flirts a bit with Jack, yet doesn't give in to him: Ultimately she even burns his beloved rum.
- Next she's is rescued by Norrington and given man's clothes. The script even contained a scene with Elizabeth asking Norrington for clothing and her giving her one of the uniforms.
Elizabeth in man's clothing is very active. Amongst other things, she escapes from her room, steals a boat, tries to persuade the crew of the Pearl to help her rescue Will and fights together with Will against the undead pirates.
In a small way, we also get to see what Norrington is like: He doesn't cage Elizabeth, e.g. by ordering her to stay in her room until she is wearing respectable clothing again. Instead he allows her to run around in man's clothing. This suggests to me that he is willing to respect her desire for freedom. It also foreshadows that he respects her so much that he sets her free in the end and so gives her the chance to marry Will.
- In the final CotBP scene, Elizabeth is once again dressed up in an elegant dress.
She doesn't actively fight here. Instead she uses the options society allows her: She pretends to faint in order to distract Norrington and her father from Will's rescue attempt.
By the end of CotBP, has more freedom than in the beginning of the movie and is allowed to marry the man of her choice. Despite this, she is still part of society with all the expectations this includes.
During Dead Man's Chest, we only see Elizabeth in two major outfits: Her wedding dress and the man's clothing she acquires.
- Once again her dress stands for her official role in society. Her wedding dress is supposed to be a dress for a happy occasion, yet nothing cheerful happens while she is wearing it: Both she and her future husband are arrested and she is imprisoned. When her father tries to rescue her, the plan goes wrong and her father is imprisoned as well.
This time, Elizabeth is more assertive, however, even when wearing a dress. She has tasted freedom once and she knows what she wants. So she escapes and successfully pressures Cutler Beckett into giving her the letters of Marque.
- After this scene, we only ever see Elizabeth in man's clothing.
In all these scenes, she is setting her own rules. She fights like a man, but she also uses tricks and her charms to get what she wants. Not that her charms always work. Norrington appears rather unimpressed by her in one scene on board of the ship mocking her about not getting what Jack did to her "latest fiancee". Fainting to gain the attention of "her" men no longer does the trick either.
(After receiving some feedback from selenak I'll try to clarify my take on Elizabeth using her charms: She only uses it on Jack and then it's really her playing exactly the same game he does. The other time she tries to act lady like is when she does her fainting routine.)
What I find intriguing is that at the same time, her dress is still playing a part.
E.g. Elizabeth uses it in order to scare the crew of a merchant vessel and manipulate them into sailing to Tortuga. The crew of this ship believe that the dress belongs to a virgin bride who is looking for her husband she lost at sea. Ironically, this is indeed Elizabeth's story at the time.
The dress is finally discovered by Will and lost - it sinks slowly to the bottom of the ocean - after the ship is destroyed by the Kraken.
When I view the loss of Elizabeth's dress as symbolic, I see it as a metaphor for drifting outside society's boundaries. She has so much freedom now that she doesn't always know how to use it responsibly. She makes some choices she then deeply regrets. The question if her actions are justifiable, is tricky and I won't go into right now. Just want to say that Elizabeth might well have saved the rest of the crew from the Kraken when she chained Jack to his ship.
Another side note regarding clothing:
Norrington is wearing the jacket of his commodore uniform during the entire movie even it is nearly unrecognicable because it has been through a lot. :-)
It's fun to mull over what this might mean. could mean that he still has a strong sense of honour and duty underneath it all. Or it could foreshadow that he goes back to his old position.
- The opening scene:
One of my favorite scenes. Love the cinematography here. Good acting all around. And things are moving so quickly and I adore that all the main characters are affected by their actions in CotBP.
If you are completely unspoiled, there's a good chance you'll think the man with the wig is Norrington. Only when he turns around, you see he's not.
- Tia Dalma:
I cannot see Tia Dalma as one of Jack's former lovers. At all. He doesn't flirt with her! And while she touches him, I didn't see this as a seductive gesture per se more as a caring gesture, a way to reconnect.
So my theory is that Tia Dalma is Jack's mother.
They definitely share the tendency to be both attractive and repulsive.
We also see Tia Dalma mutter to herself while searching through her things for something to help Jack - and I find her way of behaving her strongly reminiscent of Jack's mannerism.
The way they talk about the jar with dirt feels very mother-son to me as well. Especially the 'well, if you don't want it' exchange and her gentle words "It helps."
Tia Dalma as Jack's mother also works with Jack's statement that they go way back. :-)
- There will be another post about my second viewing soon. Simply don't have the time to type more right now.