Black Sails: Should Love Always Win?
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New(ish) video out now!
I forgot to drop the link to my new video!
"Black Sails" asks a few questions about the fundamental nature of humanity: is our natural state better or worse than our 'civilized' cultural state? What really compels people to progress society forward? What responsibilities does a person have to the world, and to their own hearts? In this video essay, I answer all these questions conclusively and for all time. TimeCapsule 2024. I’m quite proud of this one, so I hope my readers will enjoy checking it out.
If you like this video, please like, comment, and share this sucker around. I really love making these videos and I want to do it way more than I currently can.
As always, here’s a preview of the transcript of this video:
Black Sails is a prequel to the novel Treasure Island, a novel which I have not read and will not read. I mean, what do I look like, a 14 year old Victorian boy?
This is kind of a bizarre show, and while I do love it, I won’t pretend it doesn’t have some problems.
I love a show that doesn’t overstay its welcome: concise storytelling keeps writers on track and moving toward a satisfying narrative goal. Too much time can also mean too many distractions and too many loose ends for the story to try to tape together.
But, there is such a thing as moving too fast and Black Sails cuts it close sometimes.
There are times when watching a relationship develop in Black Sails feels a bit like tracking a failing marriage on Facebook. You don’t get that slow, easy progression, but you see all the moments that count.
Relationships in Black Sails morph and fluctuate rapidly and it's often difficult to tell how each character actually feels. But the show also has a sneaky way of simulating deeper connections while keeping the more mundane political connections of the cast nimble and changeable. The writers tend to pile on layers of affection and allegiance and relationships of convenience one on top of another, simply allowing the many facets of each relationship to exist as though they were singular. There is no such thing in Black Sails as only loving someone for their money, for instance. Loving…
