A few weeks ago, it was announced that Disney would be changing the auction scene in Pirates of the Caribbean, with it resembling the concept art below:
Natually, the internet has gotten up in arms because to them it looks like Disney is trying to make the ride politically correct by removing human trafficking and “removing the redhead”.
But if anything, this is an example of Disney doing something right and making it more historically accurate, as well as making Scarlet the main character of the scene.
Now to be fair, this is actually the second time that Disney has done this to an existing scene in the ride. Remember the Chase scene prior to 1997?
Here the pirates were chasing after the women of Port Royale, with all the implications of rape thrown in, as well as our old pal the Pooped Pirate getting a good look up a woman’s skirt and getting her slip.
Post-1997 the chase scene has Pirates making after the food that the women were holding, although the fat lady is now chasing one successful “hamburglar”. The Pooped Pirate was made into a glutton before that idea was changed to him looking for the treasure and getting it before Jack did in the 2007 refurbishment. Jason Surell referred to this change as “Boyscouts of the Caribbean” since it softened up the pirates, but in actuality, it made the pirates more historically accurate.
You need to put your mind into the scurvy sea dogs for a bit, are you going to go after women and give them STDs after you ship out? Or are you going to get food for the long voyages across Neptune’s domain? History points to the latter.
Now referring to applying historical accuracy to the auctions, it’s not so much that pirates did human trafficking (and if you recall, Jack was against it in the events prior to Curse of the Black Pearl), but it’s the importance of women pirates. Scarlet is just the tip of the iceberg.
And yes, Marc Davis always had it in mind to make her much more important than just a sex object, going off of the painting in the caves.
Concept art for the ride, while it was still going to be a walkthrough, shows that Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two of the most well known female pirates in Western history, were going to have a role to play. The scene shows them splitting the loot between their crews 80-20. They were also planned to appear in the caves standing among the skeletons on the beach before being cut out entirely and relegated to frescoes in the queue.
And if that wasn’t enough, an actual historical pirate appears in the films:
Mistress Ching Shih was one of the more prominent pirates in the Pacific, not only amassing a fleet of 300 ships with 40,000 pirates onboard, but she had also made a name of herself among the Portuguese traders making contact with the Far East and the British Empire.
So what are my overall thoughts on the change?
MAKE IT HAPPEN
Take a Look Through My Eyes 