Society for the Protection of Swanns.

No, that’s not a typo. Swanns, with the extra n. Also: spoilers ahead for the POTC trilogy.

This all sort of began in a thread on the new POTC fanfiction messageboard The Cove, where Elaine (who has already ranted on this, sort of) and I got into a bit of a discussion as to the complete and utter hatred of Elizabeth Swann.

Now, I am not saying that you have to like Elizabeth - that’s fine. As with disliking anything, so long as your reasons are valid/proveable, that’s fine by me. Right now I will say that I don’t like Will Turner because “he doesn’t appeal to me, and really, I’m rather ambivalent about Orlando Bloom, so that does not help”. She doesn’t have to be a character you ‘love to hate’ (like, for example, Bellatrix Lestrange, or another villain), but there is a difference between stating your reasonable and valid reasons, and something like this:

Yeah, she’s basically the whore that doesn’t stop whoring even when she’s all whored out. She’s sort of remarkable in that sense, but none of us find that all too admirable. Lizzie is the girl, who us haters proclaim as the character who became “a lot more whorey, a lot less ashamed” as the series progressed.

That, by the way, is from the index page of the Elizabeth Swann hatelisting. And that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to “intelligent arguments” about why they dislike Miss Swann. Look at these two “essays” explaining how Miss Swann is a whore and a skanky beast.

Worst of all, she takes the coward’s way out by “drowning her guilt” (as so many fans chose to dub Elizabeth’s murder). She doesn’t want to face the fact she’s a dirty whore. She just wipes away the existence of her temptation. The fact she was ‘saving’ young William and the crew was just a coincidence.

… I… whut? So, because she is attracted to someone other than her partner, she chose to deal with the problem by killing him? When I first saw the phrase drowning her guilt, I thought they were referring to the scene where Tia Dalma hands out drinks, and they all (except Elizabeth, if you pay attention/listen to the commentary) drink to Jack, and that they were all OHNOESALCOHOLICLIZ! No, they’re referring to the boat scene, turning Elizabeth’s difficult choice and act of killing one to save many into… that abomination.

And it may just be me (I shall check by watching again this afternoon) but did Jack actually drown? I don’t think he ended up hitting the water - due to the whole “now he dead from kraken” thing.

Lastly, I’m not the only one to notice this.

Posted at 17 July 2007 in Fandom, Ranting.

2 Comments »

  1. Elaine said on 17 July 2007 at 11:41 am Reply to this comment

    Bleh, I’ve edited and purged my entry, and added a bunch of other comments/observations after I made that post. Looks much prettier now.

    Dear God, those essays are not essays at all. I’d love to get into a word-for-word analysis of these two - because I clearly love nothing more than to crush the hopes and dreams of aspiring young essayists - when I get the time. Because equating Elizabeth thinking the food is poisoned = h0r is just classic in itself.

    And seriously: did these girls delete the scene in At World’s End where Elizabeth said “you thought I loved him” to Will from their heads?

    … I thought they were referring to the scene where Tia Dalma hands out drinks, and they all (except Elizabeth, if you pay attention/listen to the commentary) drink to Jack, and that they were all OHNOESALCOHOLICLIZ! No, they’re referring to the boat scene, turning Elizabeth’s difficult choice and act of killing one to save many into… that abomination.

    I… I’m going to lie on my bed for a while before my brain explodes with the mind-boggling ignoramuses.

  2. Catherine said on 20 July 2007 at 8:20 am Reply to this comment

    Well, if you need any help, I’m here.

    In my corner of the Internet, afraid of the haters and the zoon-to-be-crazed Potterfen.

Leave a Comment