The Art of Piracy

Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky

Arts, Science Fiction, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Our Flag Means Death is a hilarious anachronistic pirate comedy on HBO Max. But the backstory of its main characters is surprisingly real. I talk with pirate historian Jeremy Moss, Purdue professor Manushag Powell and Jamie Goodall, staff historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History, about how the historical figure of Blackbeard used theatricality to become a media phenomenon, and why it was an easy transition for people to believe he was a fantasy character versed in the dark arts. And we look at whether the endearing portrayal of the bumbling “gentleman pirate” Stede Bonnet in Our Flag Means Death is leaving out a crucial aspect of his backstory. To learn more, check out these books: British Pirates in Print and Performance by Manushag N. Powell The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet by Jeremy R. Moss Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: From the Colonial Era to the Oyster Wars by Jamie L.H. Goodall This episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile, Squarespace and Riverside. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by National Rail.
0:03.2	Picture it, the view of the British countryside from your window seat.
0:07.2	The excitement of knowing you're on route to see someone you love.
0:10.3	The smokers are satisfaction you get knowing that you're not stuck in traffic.
0:13.8	It's a great feeling.
0:15.6	Whether it's wild weekends, Sunday surprises, anywhere adventures, get closer to the people,
0:21.3	places and things you love with rail.
0:24.0	Nothing beats being there.
0:26.2	We're listening to Imaginary Worlds, a show about how we create them and why we suspend
0:29.9	our disbelief.
0:30.9	I'm Eric Mollinsky.
0:33.0	Today's episode is going to focus on the TV show Our Flag Means Death.
0:36.9	It's a pirate comedy on HBO Max that's been a huge hit.
0:41.6	I'm not going to give away any major spoilers in terms of the plot, but I will be discussing
0:45.8	the premise of the show and who the characters are.
0:49.6	Our flag means death is not the kind of fantasy world I typically cover.
0:53.4	The pirates on the show are not doing anything supernatural like in the Pirates of the Caribbean
0:57.4	movies.
0:58.7	But our flag means death has a feeling of magic realism.
1:02.8	Seagulls can talk if you just give them subtitles.
1:06.1	New Zealand actors are playing British characters without doing British accents.
1:11.2	And the dialogue is very inacronistic.
	...

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