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Aug. 5th, 2006 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snowystingrayI don't know if I'm even going to bother to cobble together a lame-o excuse for why it's taken my so long to write up the next person on my fictional loves list. Oh, what the heck, I'll go ahead and give it a whirl. I wanted to wait until I had seen Dead Man's Chest again, which I didn't get around to until Wednesday. Then I was working all day yesterday and today, so now is the first time I've been able to sit down and work on it. Hey, now, that doesn't even sound so lame-o after all! EDIT: And now I have to add on to my list of excuses, because it's the morning after I started writing this. "Psych" came on last night when I was only halfway done. I can't help it, it's the only new summer show I have to watch! And, hello, Shawn/Lassiter is completely my new OTP, especially after last night's episode. *winkwink nudgenudge you guys should totally watch it*
It's good that I saw DMC again before writing this, as I do seem to be enjoying it more on every subsequent viewing. I think I'm just becoming more comfortable with the character developments. On the other hand, this might also turn out to be bad because I am starting to find Culter Beckett oddly hot -- there is no way that is right! Of course, there still wasn't ever any chance that this post was going to be about him. No, it belongs to my first and dearest PotC love...
3. Commodore Norrington from Pirates of the Caribbean
Three years ago, after seeing a refreshingly original movie encompassing a panorama of piratical hijinks and all sorts of exciting action and adventure, I walked out of the theatre and thought, "Huh. That Navy guy was pretty cool."
And thus was born a love to end all loves!
Actually, I suppose it might be more appropriate to classify it as a love to begin quite a lot of other loves. Norrington gets credit as my gateway drug for pretty much all of my current age of sail obsessions. He was the first, though, and as such will always have a very special place in my heart.
Ah, there are just so many things that I adore about him! There is quite a division of character between the two movies, though, so I'll take them one at a time. I've read a couple of interviews about CotBP in which the creators describe his character as the kind of honourable, duty bound man who would normally be the hero in any other movie. It's a pirate movie, though, so of course the authorities have to be the ones set up to oppose our protagonists. Rules = bad, right? Yet somehow through all that the commodore still comes across as a genuinely good and likable person. Perhaps one of my favourite things about the first film is that they didn't decide to take the predicable route with his character and make him a power-obsessed tyrant who rules in the name of the law but simply follows his own authority. Ah, but that isn't Norrington at all! "By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself," is simply the most endearing line of the entire film. There is something incredibly sexy about having a strict code of morals and ethics -- mrrrow! And still they also manage to avoid yet another cliche when instead of establishing him as a stodgy, emotionally closed off man of steel, they give him a gooey, squishy, "I am awfully in love with this girl in the most awkward sort of way" core. I'm not sure whether or not I can classify myself as a Norrington/Elizabeth shipper; I don't want them to end up together, but at the same time I really enjoy the dynamic of their relationship. I firmly believe that Norrington loves Elizabeth, and I think Elizabeth comes to respect him as the film progresses. That almost makes it worse, though, because by the end of the movie Elizabeth owes him her life and her happiness and yet she still doesn't love him and he still can't do or say anything about it. The movie may end on a happy note for Will and Elizabeth, but no matter how generous Norrington may be that had to be a heart-wrenching moment for him.
*waves arms around* I'm moving on to DMC -- here be spoilers if you haven't yet seen the movie. Please read at your own risk! I was thrilled when I heard Norrington was going to be in this movie, interested in the condition in which he would appear, and finally horrified when I read the side he decided to take. I braced myself for instant character death when I finally saw the film. Thankfully it wasn't as painful as I had built up in my head (for once I was glad that I had spoiled myself! It made this part a lot easier to get used to), and I'll have to wait and see the direction they take him in the next film to decide if it is truly "character death" or not. I can certainly say that the Norrington of the first film is gone forever, but as I'm adjusting to the new canon I'm becoming more comfortable with the new Norrington as well. This movie showcases his physical prowess -- to all those who called him a boring girly man in the first film I say, "Ha! Told you so!" Obviously as a naval officer he has plenty of experience in these matters, but all we saw of it in CotBP was him getting caught unawares by a bunch of sneaky undead pirates. Finally we get to see the man of action actually in action. I think it goes without saying that it's pretty hot. At the same time he still retains vestiges of vulnerability; the look on his face when Elizabeth pulls him out of the pig manure is such a poignant mixture of regret and self loathing. Even though it appears that he is over Elizabeth, you can see hints of it in his reaction to Elizabeth and Will's kiss, and then again in his concern for getting her in the boat as he distracts Davy Jones's crew with the chest. He can't quite let go of a relationship that never even amounted to much in the first place, which is just as romantic as it is pathetic.
James Norrington: He's cute! He's capable! He's hopelessly terrible at wooing women and yet still really wonderful when he tries his darndest anyway! And he looks pretty dashing in that uniform. He's the best.
It's good that I saw DMC again before writing this, as I do seem to be enjoying it more on every subsequent viewing. I think I'm just becoming more comfortable with the character developments. On the other hand, this might also turn out to be bad because I am starting to find Culter Beckett oddly hot -- there is no way that is right! Of course, there still wasn't ever any chance that this post was going to be about him. No, it belongs to my first and dearest PotC love...
3. Commodore Norrington from Pirates of the Caribbean
Three years ago, after seeing a refreshingly original movie encompassing a panorama of piratical hijinks and all sorts of exciting action and adventure, I walked out of the theatre and thought, "Huh. That Navy guy was pretty cool."
And thus was born a love to end all loves!
Actually, I suppose it might be more appropriate to classify it as a love to begin quite a lot of other loves. Norrington gets credit as my gateway drug for pretty much all of my current age of sail obsessions. He was the first, though, and as such will always have a very special place in my heart.
Ah, there are just so many things that I adore about him! There is quite a division of character between the two movies, though, so I'll take them one at a time. I've read a couple of interviews about CotBP in which the creators describe his character as the kind of honourable, duty bound man who would normally be the hero in any other movie. It's a pirate movie, though, so of course the authorities have to be the ones set up to oppose our protagonists. Rules = bad, right? Yet somehow through all that the commodore still comes across as a genuinely good and likable person. Perhaps one of my favourite things about the first film is that they didn't decide to take the predicable route with his character and make him a power-obsessed tyrant who rules in the name of the law but simply follows his own authority. Ah, but that isn't Norrington at all! "By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself," is simply the most endearing line of the entire film. There is something incredibly sexy about having a strict code of morals and ethics -- mrrrow! And still they also manage to avoid yet another cliche when instead of establishing him as a stodgy, emotionally closed off man of steel, they give him a gooey, squishy, "I am awfully in love with this girl in the most awkward sort of way" core. I'm not sure whether or not I can classify myself as a Norrington/Elizabeth shipper; I don't want them to end up together, but at the same time I really enjoy the dynamic of their relationship. I firmly believe that Norrington loves Elizabeth, and I think Elizabeth comes to respect him as the film progresses. That almost makes it worse, though, because by the end of the movie Elizabeth owes him her life and her happiness and yet she still doesn't love him and he still can't do or say anything about it. The movie may end on a happy note for Will and Elizabeth, but no matter how generous Norrington may be that had to be a heart-wrenching moment for him.
*waves arms around* I'm moving on to DMC -- here be spoilers if you haven't yet seen the movie. Please read at your own risk! I was thrilled when I heard Norrington was going to be in this movie, interested in the condition in which he would appear, and finally horrified when I read the side he decided to take. I braced myself for instant character death when I finally saw the film. Thankfully it wasn't as painful as I had built up in my head (for once I was glad that I had spoiled myself! It made this part a lot easier to get used to), and I'll have to wait and see the direction they take him in the next film to decide if it is truly "character death" or not. I can certainly say that the Norrington of the first film is gone forever, but as I'm adjusting to the new canon I'm becoming more comfortable with the new Norrington as well. This movie showcases his physical prowess -- to all those who called him a boring girly man in the first film I say, "Ha! Told you so!" Obviously as a naval officer he has plenty of experience in these matters, but all we saw of it in CotBP was him getting caught unawares by a bunch of sneaky undead pirates. Finally we get to see the man of action actually in action. I think it goes without saying that it's pretty hot. At the same time he still retains vestiges of vulnerability; the look on his face when Elizabeth pulls him out of the pig manure is such a poignant mixture of regret and self loathing. Even though it appears that he is over Elizabeth, you can see hints of it in his reaction to Elizabeth and Will's kiss, and then again in his concern for getting her in the boat as he distracts Davy Jones's crew with the chest. He can't quite let go of a relationship that never even amounted to much in the first place, which is just as romantic as it is pathetic.
James Norrington: He's cute! He's capable! He's hopelessly terrible at wooing women and yet still really wonderful when he tries his darndest anyway! And he looks pretty dashing in that uniform. He's the best.
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Date: 2006-08-12 06:33 pm (UTC)And any other movie he would have been the good guy. It's just he's having to compete with a gorgeous, sweet blacksmith (and I LOVE Will, btw) and a clever, roguish pirate. I admit to liking Norrington more in DMC, as he's snarky and bitter but still has the moral integrity. He just wants his life back, and unfortunately that requires him to deal with the bad guys.
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Date: 2006-08-12 09:50 pm (UTC)I know what you mean, I'm just concerned about how far they will carry it. It seems to me that by the time he finally recovers his past life, he'll realize that he simply isn't the same person that he used to be. I'm not sure if he'll be content with returning to "normal."