Poll of the Day > The general consensus is that Jack Sparrow isnt the main character in PotC right

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PK_Spam
02/19/18 11:19:08 PM
#1:


BTW spoilers for Pirates 1 below, so... yeah. It's been 15 years. If you haven't seen Pirates of the Caribbean by now, that's totally your problem. Say what you want about how meh part 2 was or... whatever the hell 3 was, but Pirates 1 still holds up as a genuinely well-written show that everyone should watch once in a while. It's good. Genuinely good.

Will and Elizabeth are the main characters. Jack Sparrow is the foil. Barbosa is the antagonist (of course).

Will and Elizabeth are the first characters we see. But that doesn't matter in conventional storytelling. We see some of Hogwarts' teachers before we even see Harry. "But that's not the same thing, PK_Spam! The people from Hogwarts are there to set the story up. We're supposed to already know that Harry Potter is the main character in Harry Potter."

Yeah, okay, but titles aren't necessarily everything. Frodo was the main character in Lord of the Rings and he wasn't the lord of anything, much less Sauron's thingamajig. Lord of the Rings spoilers: The Lord of the Rings was the friends we made all the way

Anyway, Will and Grace...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYD7v4wJ4Ro


Sorry.

Will and Elizebeth are the first characters we see, but they're also the first characters whose narrative arcs we're introduced to. And the story is predicated on them and only them. Jack Sparrow helps out and uses them to satisfy his own ends, but he ultimately does what he does because he genuinely likes the two of them, and without their help anyway, Jack wouldn't have been able to even make it half as far as he did, but that's a whole thing.

It's ultimately Will and Elizabeth's actions that resolve the plot. Will's able to lift the curse, and Elizabeth comes in with a save, twice, in the end of the movie. Once in the grotto and once again at the very end when she helps JS escape. Jack actually isn't really a super prominent driving force throughout the movie. It's Will that gets Jack back in the ocean. It's Will that breaks the curse. It's Elizabeth that drives Jack to initially enter everyone's lives. And it's Elizabeth who uses her smarts to escape the deserted island after Jack gives up and resolves himself to die there while he gets drunk on liquor.

Yeah, Jack is the driving force that lets them get shit done.. but so was Han Solo... and nobody thinks he's the main character, because he doesn't have as complex a narrative arc as Luke and Leia..
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MrMelodramatic
02/19/18 11:22:59 PM
#2:


sure
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helIy
02/19/18 11:26:13 PM
#3:


jack is the main character though
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Zeus
02/19/18 11:26:20 PM
#4:


Jack has always kinda been a supporting character. The original trilogy was really dominated by Will & Elizabeth, the fourth movie was more about Jack although the missionary played a large role later on, and then the fifth film was again about a boy & girl requesting Jack's help.

Granted, the first and fifth movies are the only ones where it's pretty clear he's really just a supporting character. His role in 2 & 3 occasionally put him on even ground with Will and Elizabeth, and then the fourth film his character arc is the only one you really see for a long time.

That said, as the most recognizable character and being played by arguably the franchise's most famous actor, he tends to take a lot of space in the promotional material.
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LittleRoyal
02/19/18 11:27:24 PM
#5:


Not for the first three.
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Sensual_T_Rex
02/19/18 11:28:55 PM
#6:


Jack is the main character like Mad Max is the main character. They may not be the focus but they're definitely crucial to the main plot.
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PMarth2002
02/20/18 1:49:06 AM
#7:


He's not in the first one. He gets a larger role the further you go into the series.
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rexcrk
02/20/18 5:02:15 AM
#8:


Yeah no hes definitely the main character.
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Nightengale
02/20/18 5:07:26 AM
#9:


He's an unreliable narrator
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Kyuubi4269
02/20/18 5:10:37 AM
#10:


He's a major Pirate of the Caribbean, he's a main character.
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RIP_Supa posted...
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EvilMegas
02/20/18 6:23:57 AM
#11:


Sensual_T_Rex posted...
Jack is the main character like Mad Max is the main character. They may not be the focus but they're definitely crucial to the main plot.

This. Obviously.
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