Last Christmas I attended a music event titled ‘Disney in Concert Around the World’. A symphony orchestra played songs from famous Disney’s classics such as The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and the Lion King. For the grand finale, the orchestra chose the Pirates of the Carribean theme song. It was an undeniable proof of the Pirates’ special place in the Popular Culture Hall of Fame.

So there I was with a smile on my face, among many middle-class families, enjoying myself and celebrating Captain Jack Sparrow and his adventures. And then it hit me. The fact that a crowd of conformists (including me) were celebrating a fictional character who stood for rejecting, disrespecting, and challenging any form of authority. In other words, an anarchist.

I assume that in real life, the specific audience would probably be terrified by anarchists. But for some reason, the same people find them attractive as long as they sail in the sea, wear an eyepatch and drink rum. They will pay to watch their stories in movies, read their adventures in books, dress like them in costume parties, and sing pirate songs with their kids in pirate theme parks.

Today, most of us would characterize someone who is ready to defy law and convention to get what he wants as immoral. So how can an anti-authoritarian political philosophy that rejects hierarchies become palatable to a conformist audience when presented as an attribute of the pirate culture? Writers, movie producers, video game developers, and merchants who provide us with products inspired by the pirate lore know the answer. Pirates symbolize something we all value highly and don’t have. Freedom. And a life of freedom, even if it is a virtual one, is attractive. It feels good.

Photo by Marek Brzóska on Unsplash

Our reality is a different story. It is a mirror image of a pirate. We are not ready to defy laws and conventions. Instead, we are ready to conform to them even if they are opposing our values. We do that to ‘fit in’ or ‘go along’ with the people around us. We might not treat others as a mere means -like a pirate would- but we do it to ourselves. Many times we will shallow our objections, even allow ourselves and others to be stepped on because we don’t want any trouble.

Despite most of us conform, we admire people who live up to their ideals and don’t barter freedom for security. We celebrate the lives and actions of revolutionaries because our natural craving for liberty and happiness makes us identify with them and justify lawlessness with the cause of individual freedom.

We keep finding pirates attractive because, in contrast with us, they got to do what they enjoy. Despite the suffering, they lived their lives on their own terms. After over three hundred years, we keep paying and consuming pirate-related entertainment products because, deep inside, we are pirate wannabes craving for more freedom. Unfortunately, the temporary enjoyment those products offer will never satisfy those who truly feel called to the pirate’s life.