Guest blog entry - Disability and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
The following was written in email by a friend of mine. And she kindly gave me permission to post it.

This is about disability issues in the new movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", and well worth reading. If anyone wants to link to this, please do - I would love to see how it is viewed by others.

I have not seen the movie as it is not available on DVD yet, but I don't mind spoilers at all, so say anything you want. Comments are good!

I won't give away any of the plot, since I know you will probably
have to wait to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" in
video. But I would like your opinion on the disability issue. It
was the only point I didn't like.

In the first movie, as you will recall, Captain Jack Sparrow was
portrayed as perpetually wobbly. The viewer at first assumed that
he must be always tipsy, except that he remained this way through
long periods of unavoidable abstinence, and in fact was rarely ever
shown to take a drink. Eventually it came out that when his crew
mutinee'd, they tied him to a mast and left him in the broiling sun
to die. This caused brain damage.

However, in the second movie he is shown swigging from a bottle at
every turn, with the obvious intention of portraying him as
chronically drunk. This is particularly odd considering how he
mocks an old rival for having become a toss-pot in his defeat.
Have people complained about "laughing at the disabled"? No doubt,
then, others will soon complain about glorifying alcoholism!

Because that's what was really going on--the character of Jack
Sparrow glorified a disabled person. Every time he lost his
balance he recovered with such panache that it was a delight to
behold. He portrayed a man unconquerable even by the betrayals of
his own body. More than that, he took on life as a swaying dance
with his own imperfections, physical or otherwise, accepting
himself, unashamed. He made it seem feasible to consider that
anyone can be graceful!

But that, apparently, was not politically correct. They traded
that wonderful image for a mere drunk. We are all supposed to
inspire the able-bodied with earnest efforts to be as "normal" as
possible, and take it all very, very seriously. Disability
shouldn't be dashing.

But pirate tales have always portrayed the dashing disabled, from
peglegged Long John Silver to the elegantly sinister Captain Hook.
Indeed, there is a boating club for the disabled in San Francisco
whose emblem is a peglegged, hook-handed, eyepatched pirate.
Pirates are, by nature, tougher than their handicaps yet not
particularly interested in inspiring anyone. They're too busy
living to the hilt. They sneer at the blows of misfortune and
carry on outrageously in defiance of death, disability, or
damnation. Most literature and drama portray the disabled as
artificially angelic--so sweet, so virtuous from the inability to
sin, so tragic. Pirates spit in the eye of that portrayal--they'll
find a way to do what they please, and if it doesn't suit you
they'll invite you to walk the plank.

Give me back my sun-dazzled Captain Jack and lose the drunkard!