Caribbean

For all the time that I have watched Pirates of the Caribbean, it's one of those movies for me that is so connected to you as a person that every time you watch it, you find something different. And when you watch it at different stages of life, your perspective on that piece of art changes.

Earlier, I just loved how funny, carefree and witty Jack Sparrow, the seemingly protagonist, was.

Then I grew up and thought maybe it's about Will Turner, who is just a common man but will go to heights and depths to save this girl he admires and respects. No questions asked. He will go and save her even though she might go back and have a completely different life afterwards.

Then Elizabeth would go as an imposter and meet all the people she hates just to save Will. And when she gets so brave, her entire walk of life changes because of it.

Later, I thought, oh, but in the fourth movie it's centred around Jack again. But in the end he didn't end up with her. And I thought, but the hero always gets the girl. (Sorry The Amazing Spider-Man, pun not intended.)

But after all these years, I realised something else.

Not that any of those perspectives were wrong, but that I was seeing a larger and larger part of the same story every time I came back to it.

The protagonist was the Caribbean.

It's about the pirates in and around the Caribbean. Jack is one of those pirates, but so is Barbossa. Davy Jones is too. And for that matter, the way Will and Elizabeth become pirates, they are also Pirates of the Caribbean.

And when the line between pirates and trading companies starts to thin, they're all still part of the greater narrative of the Caribbean.

It will always amaze me how the story changes with me. Or maybe the story doesn't change at all. Maybe I just keep finding a different part of it every time I return.