Why We All Want to Be Jack Sparrow

When Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest grossed more than $400 million domestically and more than $1 billion worldwide in 2006, the critics who had bashed the disjointed screenplay and over-the-top comedic action sequences were hardly surprised. That the final film in the series, 2007's At World's End, would also have widespread box office appeal despite critical panning did not come as a shock either. Even the unlikelihood that actor-rebel Johnny Depp was the draw of a major blockbuster had worn off; he proved he did, in fact, have star power in the first Pirates installment back in 2003.

The original Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl had been an unexpected hit with critics and viewers alike. Even the Mouse and the film's writers were surprised. Sure, a fair share of the audience may have attended to see Orlando Bloom wielding a sword in tights. But in addition to realizing only Depp could be a sex symbol as a slightly drunken, gender-ambiguous pirate wearing eyeliner, the public at large latched on to the character. We, as movie-goers, fell head over heels for Jack Sparrow - apologies, Captain Jack Sparrow. Young children bought the action figures and everyone wanted to be a pirate. Men wanted to trade places with Sparrow, and women wanted to replace the strumpets of whom he is quite fond.

A pirate movie had not succeeded at the box office in three decades. The genre was thought to be dead by studios and critics alike. Then, with the release of the first Pirates film came a sashaying, dread-locked Depp with a slurred Cockney accent, ready to prove history wrong.