Why are pirates so hot?

And I don't mean physically, I mean culturally all I hear about these days is Pirates this and Pirates that. I was in the bookstore the other day and they literally had a shelf of books just dedicated to pirates. To be fair, half of the merchandise was Pirate of the Caribbean related, but the other half was just a mix of various pirate novels and children's treasure hunts, with pop up pirates, strange blue parrots, and no real treasure other than some gold looking paper cut outs.

As a child I remember loving everything about pirates. I loved that they weren't conformists, I loved that they sailed the open waters with no cares other than stealing other peoples money, I loved that they made their own rules and hid things like treasure in places that were hard to come by. Sure, maybe I watched the Goonies too many times, but I always thought it was an interesting subject to learn about. When I watched the first of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy I felt like a child all over again. There were the swashbuckling pirates, the massive ships, the buried treasure, and the humour didn't hurt as well. I walked out of the cinema with a big smile and throughly enjoyed those two hours. And, as a massive film fan, you might much guess I simply enjoy the act of going to the movies, but no, I don't always enjoy heading to the cinema. (i.e. when my little brother forced me to go see American Pie 2, where since seeing it, I pray every day to get those two hours of my life back.) No, cinema going is not always a guaranteed satisfying escape from reality. But, not knowing too much about the film to begin with, I stumbled upon Pirates by accident, as the film I was going to see was sold out, and thankfully my childhood days of digging for treasure in the garden and making my dog walk the plank into a local pond was all brought back in an instant.

The problem however, is I think that they started to take the Pirates thing too far. For instance, the excessive shelfing of as much pirate related products as possible into one section of a bookstore in the days leading up to the release 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean, is a bit much. Now I did happen to catch the second film, liked it, but wasn't as excited as my first Pirates experience, and perhaps went into it with too much expectation. So for this 3rd installment, I'm going into it with no expectations other than the hope to see ships, swords, and sea. Who knows if it will make me feel like a kid again? I guess only time will tell!

Thanks for the read, until next time... stay true to your car! (or ship in this case)