The treasure takes on the attributes of the Wagnerian Rhine Gold, everyone wanting it, none ever benefiting from it. The pirates organize against the return of British rule and recruit the maroon and slave communities to help them. Neither actual bit of history has the melodrama of plots and counterplots so common to soap operas that have made their way into many “historical” television series. I’ve already written a bit about this in my post on “Calico” Jack Rackam, one of the pirates of the era. And there was a major Spanish treasure loose in the Caribbean, though it was from a treasure fleet wrecked during a storm off the coast of Florida. The British had indeed lost control of the Bahamas during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13), and sent out Woodes Rogers as governor to reassert their control in 1718. The plot of Black Sails revolves around two stories: the British attempt to reimpose their rule in the Bahamas and the pirates’ resistance to that and the capture of a Spanish treasure galleon and the subsequent fate of the treasure in it. While it has its points, and improves on how pirates have been depicted in movies and on television, it’s best watched as a rousing adventure story. “Pretends,” sadly, is the operative term, never more so than in the final season. Black Sails pretends to tell the story of the pirates of Nassau in the Bahamas in the Golden Age of piracy, apparently taking place around 1715-20. Since I’m teaching my “Pirates!” course soon, it seemed time to go finish watching the fourth and last season of Black Sails, which only concluded its four year run in 2017.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |