PotC: Brief Norrington Musing and a Fan Art Rec

[bimo]

Selenak wrote an interesting essay called The Insignificant Other, in which she analyzes the role and frequent abuse of the romantic rival as a plot device "solely inserted to heighten the angst between the movie's/show's leading couple, and inevitably [ending] up either revealed as evil or dismissed as unworthy

Comments

[ex_galadhir]

Do you think they made him into Scruffington in order to actually try to make him more sympathetic (non-safe and non-boring) then? Or in order to turn him into the evil alternative? As I don't really feel the appeal of the 'dangerous' hero, I can't tell which one it's meant to be (maybe both?)

[bimo]

Do you think they made him into Scruffington in order to actually try to make him more sympathetic (non-safe and non-boring) then?Hmmm, difficult question

[ex_galadhir]

LOL! But I don't think we could possibly end up with Will as the morally ambiguous one, Jack as the trustworthy one and Norrington as the soulmate. (Though I would squee mightily if that happened, simply because of the total unexpectedness of it.)

But yes, the appeal of the bad boy does seem to have made Norrington more popular, or at least woken up a great many people to the fact that he's sexy. Which I admit baffles me, since I don't find dirt or despiration sexy myself - but I always knew I was wierd :) But strangely, none of these new Norrington fans seem siezed with the desire to write about him. I wonder why that is?

[bimo]

especially compared to the way similar characters are handled in other texts. . .

Just think of Rose's fiance in Titanic, who was nothing but a blank cardboard villain displaying every negative personality trait under the sun...

Norrington is a decent, likeable character, it's just his bad luck that Elizabeth fell in love with Will instead of him

Tell that to poor papa Swann ;-)

Watching how he and Norrington interact over the course of CotBP I always get the feeling that wanting Norrington as his son in law wasn't half as much about choosing a socially acceptable parter for Elizabeth as it was about liking Norrington as a person and honestly believing that Elizabeth could actually become very happy with him in the long run.

I really should get my act together and revise that Swann-heavy NorriBeth story that I wrote *g*

[ladylavinia]

It's interesting on how Norrington's fate ended in the saga. Despite betraying the Black Pearl crew in order to regain his position in the Royal Navy (he was not alone for Jack, Will and Elizabeth all proved that they were capable of betrayal and backstabbing, as well), he apparently seemed to regret his actions in AWE. Which led him to help free Elizabeth and her new crew from the Flying Dutchman's brig. And this action, along with his feelings for Elizabeth, led to his death.