Content warning: This piece contains spoilers for Our Flag Means Death and Black Sails
When it comes to history, one must expect that the textbooks will skip some details, especially if those details include any mention of queerness. Granted, it might not always be the fault of the historians, as many people hid their marginalised identities in fear of being excluded. However, there would be others who tried their best to live their lives authentically, which has often been hard within the extremely heteronormative hegemonic culture.
As a result, many marginalised people turned to a life of crime to support themselves. If the society at large didn’t accept them, it could feel alienating, leading them to look for acceptance elsewhere, sometimes with the other people who did not “fit in.” As such, in the Age of Enlightenment queerness was very present in the pirate lifestyle, so much so that one could even become “legally married” to a person of the same gender. While the context of these partnerships was not always romantic, that aspect was extremely common. Truly, it should be expected that the reasons for escaping Atlantic and European civilizations and its restrictions to live in a predominantly male society would include being gay.
With the release of the new HBO Max series Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) this notion has been acknowledged by the general public, however this is not the first time gay pirates have appeared in visual media. A few years back another show called Black Sails was released on Starz, which while different in genre, covered a lot of the same topics, especially when portraying queerness.
OFMD, which can be best described as a romantic comedy, follows the story of Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), an aristocrat who got tired of a life of privilege and ran away to become a pirate. In contrast, Black Sails is an almost Shakespearean tragedy, a prequel to the classic R. L. Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island, whose main character Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) sets out to exact revenge against England and civilization in general for the loss of his lover Thomas (Rupert Penry-Jones).
What both shows do exceptionally well is openly portray their protagonists’ sexualities. Queer characters are not put in the background, on the contrary their stories are central to the plot. With Our Flag Means Death the romantic aspect of Stede’s relationship with pirate Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard (Taika Waititi), is obvious from their first meeting. It takes six episodes for Stede to fully realise his feelings for Edward, but the lack of rush makes it feel more precise and gradual. Often, producers would use characters’ queerness as a means to earn some karmic points and establish one’s “progressiveness,” the most infamous exmple of this being Disney with the company coming up with a new “first gay character” every other year. In OFMD characters are gay just because; at its core the series is a pirate love story, it doesn’t try to make a statement but rather allows characters to exist and express themselves authentically.
In Black Sails, the theme of love is similarly central. While it doesn’t save the world in the end it’s the one thing worth fighting for. Despite Flint being the main character, the central romantic relationship of the series is not his and Thomas’, but the one between a brothel’s madam Max (Jessica Parker Kennedy) and pirate Anne Bonny (Clara Paget). The viewer sees the full development of their relationship, with all its hardships, choices, and learning.
For Bonny specifically, her character arc centres a lot around self-discovery. She struggles with her femininity and self-image, unable to see herself as an individual. It takes her leaving both her partner Jack Rackham (Toby Schmitz) and Max to find confidence and define herself. In this search of self she resembles Jim (Vico Ortiz) from OFMD. They start off the show wearing a fake beard and nose, hiding their true identity, but when they no longer need to do it Jim discovers that they still prefer to present more androgynous, with the show making a point to specify that the character is non-binary.
Moreover, both series include multiple characters who do not conform to expected gender norms, which is also true to the historical image of pirates. While this lifestyle was far from easy, pirates had an opportunity to express themselves more freely. This might be one of the reasons why they resonate so much with queer audiences, as not just these shows but the setting itself allows a lot of freedom for non-conforming identity expression.
Another familiar theme of these shows is the topic of shame. Both Stede and Flint abandon their lives in high society because they would never be able to be fully themselves in it. They do not fit in, and while the consequences of it differ (for Flint they are far more tragic, due to the tone of the series) they deal with them in similar ways. The desire for self-expression is essential to human experience, but it is interesting what people are ready to sacrifice for it. For characters of these shows, constant shame and repression happen to be worse than a life of crime and poverty.
This position is definitely one of privilege, so it’s important to mention the other side of the coin. For Max, the dream of aristocratic life was something which motivated her throughout the whole series of Black Sails, as she seemed to be ready to go to great lengths to achieve it. However eventually even she chooses love. “There’s nothing important that does not include you,” Max tells Anne, as she rejects marrying a man to secure her position in the pirate island and port Nassau, since this decision might lead to them being forever apart. In the end she still gets her “throne” becoming the shadow governor of the port with Anne by her side, which would’ve felt “unrealistic” if not for Max’s strength and pragmaticism.
Ultimately, there is indisputable power in security and wealth, but neither guarantees happiness. Civilization gives one the chance to reach those, but for many marginalised people it asks to sacrifice their authenticity in return. Perhaps that’s what makes the pirate genre so appealing for modern queer people. There is an undeniable appeal in the opportunity to define oneself without conforming to heteronormativity. People wish to be seen and understood, and Our Flag Means Death and Black Sails give their viewers this opportunity. Even then in the finale of the latter series, protagonists are faced with the reality of their situation, as they realise that though they can’t change the world there is still hope. Maybe there is no grand victory or absolute “happily ever after,” but there is love and possibility and meaning in winning even the small battles, which is something queer people have been fighting for this whole time.
