Trevor Thornton
PHIL 1000-006
Pirates of the Caribbean and Philosophy
The film I have chosen to write on is Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black
Pearl. I chose this movie because of all movies I have ever seen, I know this movie the best. I
thought, since I know the movie so well, I could find philosophy pretty easy. Well, that wasn’t
the case. It still took some time and effort to find philosophy in the movie.
The aspect of philosophy I have chosen to focus on is Existentialism. Looking through
the lens of Existentialism, I will focus on the choices that Jack Sparrow makes during the movie
as the choices Jack makes, define him throughout the movie.
This paper will discuss the movie and certain points in the film that I am focusing on. I
will also discuss Existentialism in detail and focus on the points that connect to the movie. The
paper will then focus on the philosophy in the movie and show how they connect.
Film Summary
Jack Sparrow is the main character of the movie. While the characters of Will Turner
and Elizabeth Swan play a significant role, they are more ‘supporting roles’ compared to Jack.
Jack Sparrow used to be captain of a ship called the “Black Pearl”. It is a black ship with black
sails and is said to be the fastest ship in the Caribbean. About a year into his time as captain, he
was mutinied upon by his first mate, Hector Barbosa, and the rest of the crew. He was marooned
on an island that no one thought was possible to escape. He was able to get off the island and
from that point forward has been in pursuit of getting his precious ship back. Jack ends up in
prison in the town of Port Royall. It is at this point that he meets Will Turner. Will comes to him
seeking his help to rescue Elizabeth Swan who had been taken prisoner by the pirates on the
Pearl. This moment in the movie is the first time a significant choice is made by Jack that starts
to define him as a character. Jack is hesitant to help Will because he sees no profit in it for him.
After talking to him briefly he seems to recognize Will and asks him his origins and who his
father was. When he discovers that his father’s name is also William Turner, he agrees to help
Will. We learn later in the film that the pirates on the Black Pearl are cursed and the only way to
break that curse requires the blood of Will’s father, who had been part of the crew before being
cast overboard. Jack knows this and agrees to help Will because he considers him to be the
proper “leverage” he needs to get his ship back.
Jack’s main goal is that of ‘freedom’. He sees the Black Pearl as his freedom.
Throughout the movie we are led to believe that Jack’s choices are all made with a selfish
motive. In one of the last scenes, Captain Barbosa has Will captive in the pirates cave and is set
to kill him and end the curse. At the same time the Royal Navy is waiting outside in their ships,
ready to kill the pirates as soon as they come back out. Because of the curse, they cannot die.
Jack convinces the Pirates to go attack the Navy while he waits in the cave with Barbosa.
Without anyone knowing, Jack takes a cursed piece of treasure, becoming cursed himself. Jack
and Barbosa end up fighting, both immortal. Jack ends up tossing his coin to Will who cuts his
hand and drops the coin back into the chest. As the curse is lifted, Jack fires a single shot killing
Barbosa. At the same time, the pirates on fighting the Navy start to die. They realize the curse is
lifted and surrender. The significance of Jack’s choice is that he has left himself no escape. To
kill Barbosa and have the rest of the Pirates captured, he is stuck on the island with nowhere to
go but back to jail. Jack is later rescued by Will at the end of the movie after nearly being hung.
He escapes and swims out to meet his crew who are waiting off shore with his beloved Pearl.
Philosophical Summary
The subject matter I am focusing on is that of Existentialism. Existentialism is
the philosophical view that refers primarily to a way of thinking about the world. According to
our textbook, it “emphasizes fundamental questions of meaning and choice as they affect
existing individuals.” . These include choice, identity, freedom, alienation, authenticity and
inauthenticity, despair, and awareness of our own mortality. For this paper I will focus on a
couple of them.
The first I will discuss is that of Choice. One main question in existentialism is ‘What
am I to do?’ or ‘How am I to exist?’ This is different from asking, “What should I believe? Or
think?” The question focuses more on how you should live. We are free to choose how to live
our lives. We are not forced to live a certain way. Animals and plants do not have the same
freedoms we as human beings have. A tree cannot get up and move to a different spot where
there is more sun. The tree is planted and it is stuck unless moved by an outside force. We as
humans can move around, choose what we eat, choose who we associate with. Because of this,
we as humans create our own ‘nature’. Existentialists use the phrase, “existence precedes
essence.” This basically means that we are thought of and created first, and then by our choices,
we become who we are or our ‘nature’.
The second theme I will discuss is Authenticity. Authenticity in existentialism is defined
as the “subjective condition of an individual living honestly and courageously in the moment,
refusing to make excuses, and not relying on groups or institutions for meaning and purpose”.
(Archetypes of Wisdom, by Douglas J. Soccio, 7th Edition, page 397) The opposite of this is
Inauthenticity, which is when the individual is ignored or made less important than groups or
institutions. To be authentic, as Soren Kierkegaard stated, is to find something, a truth or belief
or idea that you can live and die for. We are authentic when we are living for what we believe
and ourselves. For example, say you are brought up to believe in a certain religion. Maybe your
parents or guardians are of that religion and as a child, they made you attend meetings and
practice the beliefs and traditions they had. Are your beliefs authentic? As you grow older and
move on and have a family of your own, are you raising them in that same religion? If you are,
is it because you were told to and you don’t know differently? Or are those beliefs truly what
YOU as the individual believe? Do they define you as a person and become part of your nature?
Or are you just going through the motions? These are questions that can be asked to help
determine an individuals “authenticity”.
Philosophical Argument
The reason I chose to connect Pirates of the Caribbean to Existentialism is because of the
choices Jack makes throughout the film and how those choices define him and define his
authenticity. The first scene I described was of Jack’s decision in prison to help Will Turner find
the Black Pearl. As I mentioned, it wasn’t until after Jack learned his name (which Will shares
with his father) that Jack finally agreed to help. Later in the movie we learned that this was key
to Jack’s plan of getting the Black Pearl back. Jack chose to help Will because it helped him.
He is quoted as saying to Will “I see no profit in it for me” when Will first comes to him for
help. After he learns his name, suddenly there was something in it for him. Jack’s main goal is
to get his ship back. To him, the Black Pearl is freedom. This is what drives him and crates his
‘nature’. He believes that the Black Pearl will bring him the freedom he seeks to live the life he
wants. This is what makes him authentic. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with the
institutions or groups around him. Yes, he has a Pirate crew (or group), but they are his crew.
He is the Captain and they follow him. He doesn’t need them to accomplish his purpose. The
first scene of the movie is evidence of this as he sails into Port Royall on a ship that he crewed
by himself.
The second scene I discussed is when Jack chose to end the curse and kill Captain
Barbosa while in effect imprisoning himself with no way to escape the island other than in
handcuffs. He chose to stop the Pirates from wiping out the Navy, but while doing this he left
himself with no way out. Had he not taken this course of action, both Will and Elizabeth Swan
would have ended up dead at the hands of the Pirates and he would have been left with out his
ship, as Barbosa would have ended up killing him as well. He knew that he could possibly die
by allowing himself to be captured but he was dedicated to his cause enough that he was willing
to do so. This goes back to what Kierkegaard said about finding a belief or idea that you are
willing to live and die for it. He also chose to do what he felt was right in that moment and acted
with courage.
Conclusion