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pirates!
I have, for the first time since the pandemic started, successfully Watched A Show.
It was Our Flag Means Death, a comedy (more or less) about pirates (more or less), based (more or less) on a real historical figure, Stede Bonnet, known as the Gentleman Pirate because he was a member of the landed gentry who took to sea for reasons unknown. Fair warning, though: this is not a show that cares about historical accuracy, and it deliberately plays with anachronism in some ways, especially costuming.
At first I wasn't sure I was going to like it, because some of the comedy hit my embarrassment squick a lot. But the show quickly did two things I love: it developed all the characters and made them human even when they're ridiculous, and it was gentle. Things I initially feared were going to be laughed at cruelly (e.g. one very obviously gay supporting character, or Stede getting his crew to sew) were laughed at kindly instead, and valued in a clear and amazing way. Meanwhile, the show turns a much steelier eye on toxic masculinity and all the damage it does.
It's also a very queer show, with onscreen queer relationships. There's a nonbinary character, played by a nonbinary actor. There are a lot of characters (and actors) of color. The pirate setting means there aren't a huge number of women characters, but the women who do appear, very much have their own stories and their own agency.
There is a fair amount of violence, not super graphic, some of it comedic and some not. But if, like me, you bounced hard off of Black Sails because of its brutality, this may be the queer pirate show for you. (And if you liked Black Sails, it may be another queer pirate show for you!)
Also one of the stars is Taika Waititi and he is amazing. And beautiful.
Our Flag Means Death can be seen on HBO Max in the US, and is also available through more swashbuckling methods.
Now I'm going to start re-watching it.
It was Our Flag Means Death, a comedy (more or less) about pirates (more or less), based (more or less) on a real historical figure, Stede Bonnet, known as the Gentleman Pirate because he was a member of the landed gentry who took to sea for reasons unknown. Fair warning, though: this is not a show that cares about historical accuracy, and it deliberately plays with anachronism in some ways, especially costuming.
At first I wasn't sure I was going to like it, because some of the comedy hit my embarrassment squick a lot. But the show quickly did two things I love: it developed all the characters and made them human even when they're ridiculous, and it was gentle. Things I initially feared were going to be laughed at cruelly (e.g. one very obviously gay supporting character, or Stede getting his crew to sew) were laughed at kindly instead, and valued in a clear and amazing way. Meanwhile, the show turns a much steelier eye on toxic masculinity and all the damage it does.
It's also a very queer show, with onscreen queer relationships. There's a nonbinary character, played by a nonbinary actor. There are a lot of characters (and actors) of color. The pirate setting means there aren't a huge number of women characters, but the women who do appear, very much have their own stories and their own agency.
There is a fair amount of violence, not super graphic, some of it comedic and some not. But if, like me, you bounced hard off of Black Sails because of its brutality, this may be the queer pirate show for you. (And if you liked Black Sails, it may be another queer pirate show for you!)
Also one of the stars is Taika Waititi and he is amazing. And beautiful.
Our Flag Means Death can be seen on HBO Max in the US, and is also available through more swashbuckling methods.
Now I'm going to start re-watching it.