Pirates of the Caribbean

The first Pirates of the Caribbean film, The Curse of the Black Pearl, was released in July 2003. It was based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland and was directed by Gore Verbinski. The movie mixed realistic drama, comedy, cliché pirate movie tropes, and supernatural elements to tell the story of a pirate (Captain Jack Sparrow--Johnny Depp), a blacksmith (Will Turner--Orlando Bloom), the Governor's daughter (Elizabeth Swann--Keira Knightley), a British Navy officer (Commodore James Norrington--Jack Davenport) and the man at the helm of the cursed Black Pearl (Hector Barbossa--Geoffrey Rush). 
After commercial success,IMDb summary of box office. Accessed 3 October 2008. Disney expanded the franchise to two more movies, Dead Man's Chest, (released 2006) and At World's End (released 2007). The fourth film, On Stranger Tides, was released in May 2011 and featured Jack Sparrow but not Will Turner or Elizabeth Swan.IMDB page for On Stranger Tides (contains spoilers), accessed April 4, 2010 It introduced Angelica (played by Penelope Cruz) as Captain Jack's love interest.
A fifth film, Dead Men Tell No Tales, was released in May 2017 and saw the return of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan and the introduction of their son, Henry Turner. Former Bond villain and Cruz's real-life husband Javier Bardem appears as the film's villain. (Christoph Waltz had previously been rumored, but instead he became Bardem's successor as the next Bond villain.)
==Fandom==
The fandom began before the release of the first movie; the LiveJournal community pirategasm was founded 1 April 2003 by leggyslove, and leggyslove posted an NC-17 fic the same day.
A notable early challenge in this fandom was Aztec Gold posted by Circe_Tigana on Livejournal on December 19th 2003, calling for 882 Drabbles, one for each piece of Aztec gold in the original movie, by January 1st. The target was reached in only three days.Circe_Tigana's Aztec Gold challenge.
The fandom has both slash and het pairings (including the canon Will/Elizabeth pairing) which are very popular, as well as polyamorous threesomes (Jack/Elizabeth/Will) and foursomes, which have been quite popular. fabu provided a brief history of the popularity of different parings within the fandom in March 2006:
In the interim between the release of the second and third films, a ship war raged between fans of Will/Elizabeth, or "Willabeth", and fans of Jack/Elizabeth, or "Sparrabeth", with both pairings played up and openly teased in the marketing for Dead Man's Chest. (See Willabeth vs Sparrabeth for more details).
 
The fandom has also produced considerable amounts of gen works.
POTC is part of the Age of Sail umbrella fandom. The newsletter despatches includes POTC stories, and many crossovers with other Age of Sail fandoms have been written.
:See also: List of Pirates of the Caribbean Pairing Names, for more information on popular pairings and pairing-specific communities
==Notable Works==
===Fanfiction===
*First Night in Tortuga by Kapunua -- Jack character study
*First Warning by Rave -- Will/Jack
*Hurricane Jack by Shrift -- Will/Jack
*A Pirate's Life by Elspethdixon -- an early and influential Jack/Elizabeth/Will OT3 story in the fandom
*A Sea Change by Ladybee -- fantastic Jack backstory
*Sailing Over the Wine-dark Sea -- by emmaephemeral
===Vids===
* Maid on the Shore, Elizabeth character study
==Recs==
*Carmarthen's Recommendations: Pirates of the Caribbean -- by Carmarthen
*Erin's Pirates of the Caribbean fan fiction recommendations page -- gen & het recs by ErinRua
*Espresso Recommendations: Pirates of the Caribbean -- by Espresso Addict
*Pirates of the Caribbean - The Early Days - 24 Recs -- recs from the early fandom, plus some interesting history, by fairestcat
==Fanzines==
===Gen===
*The Cat in the Tricorne Hat
*Pirates of the Caribbean and the Fountain of Youth
*Bring Me That Horizon
===Het===
*Why England Lost the Colonies - P.S. Nim
*L-ee-verage - P.S. Nim
*An Opportune Moment - P.S. Nim
* Tales from the Black Pearl
===Slash===
*Kentucky Sons
*Matelotage
*Parley
*Pirate's Passions
*Savvy?
===Doujinshi===
Yaoi:
*Burning Blue
*Destiny
*Each Avarice
*Excellent Discover
*F
*Hush-Hush
*Jentleman of Fortune
*King of Paradise
*The Legendary Man
*Merge
*Narouze Pirates
*On the Road to Freedom
*P
*Sweet Son Wasn't Savvy
*Turner Jack
Non-Yaoi:
*Apple Lovers
*As You Like It
==Fanart==
Some examples:
File:Legendaryinside.jpg|inside art of the doujinshi The Legendary Man
File:Excellent.jpg|alt=illustration of of Jack and Will standing shoulder to shoulder, but Will is facing the left. Jack is holding a cane and Will has a sword resting on his shoulder, text reads "Excellent Discover"|cover of the doujinshi Excellent Discover (2004)
File:Kingofparadise.jpg|cover of the doujinshi King of Paradise (2004)
File:Jerrysboys2.jpg|cover of gen zine Jerry's Boys #2 (2006)
File:Matelotage.jpg|alt=illustration of Will and Jack, behind them is a pirate flag and lightning streaking across a red sky, at the bottom is a pirate ship on the ocean, in the center is an unfurled scoll, text reads "Matelotage by Glow & Moonshine, a POTC Slash Novel"|sample of the slash novel cover Matelotage, art by Suzan Lovett (2006)
File:Parley2.jpg|cover of the slash novel Parley (2005)
File:Tad More to the Right, Luv.jpg|alt=illustration of Will helping Jack adjust the bandana on his head|by Suzan Lovett, titled "Tad More to the Right, Luv"
File:The Flight of the Sparrow.jpg|by Suzan Lovett: "Flight of the Sparrow"
==Mailing Lists==
*Black Pearl Fanfic2 - het
*The Black Pearl Library - gen and het (defunct)
*The Black Pearl Sails FanFiction - gen and het
*FictionPiracy - slash, het and gen (defunct) 
*PiratesoftheCaribbean Slash - slash (defunct)
*PotCSlash JustFic - slash (defunct)
* SparrowandNorrington (rooting for you) archive link "A slash group dedicated to Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, specifically the relationship between Jack Sparrow and Commodore [James] Norrington. There is a lot of sexual tension there - and quite a bit of flirting. Discussion of the movie and fan fiction allowed. If you want to feature other characters that's great - but the main focus of the story should be the Jack/Norrington dynamic."
* Strong Spirited offline "A group for femmeslash between Anamaria and Elizabeth, two characters from The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Discussion, fanwork, and anything else related to the two and a possible relationship between them is welcome and encouraged."
* JackXWill archive link "A group for slash involving Jack Sparrow and Will Turner from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie trilogy. All slash-related topics, including fanart, fanfiction, and general discussion, are welcome. This list may have some mature conversations, adult language, etc. So please, no members below the age of 17. Please note that ANY and all spoilers for the third POTC movie should be posted with a SPOILER warning in the message subject line, in effect until July 2007. Note: All stories posted to the JackXWill Yahoogroup will automatically be assumed as eligible for archiving unless the author indicates otherwise."
	
* Commodore And Castaway archive link "This is a group dedicated to the idea of a slash relationship between the Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl characters (Lt./Cpt./)Commodore Norrington and Will Turner. There's a lot of tension between those two in the movie, and a relationship isn't as crazy as it may seem.or at least that's what we're out to prove."
==Archives==
*POTC at Archive of Our Own
*Bella Donna (adult POTC archive; part of the Noire Sensus index)
*Black Pearl Tales (POTC fanfiction archive) (defunct)
*BP Archive (slash archive for the fansite The Blacksmith's Pirate)
*Bring Me That Horizon (a fanworks site offering slash fiction, art and "other distractions")
*POTC at fanfiction.net - where there are over 17,000 stories
*JackXWill Archive‎‎ (Jack Sparrow/William Turner slash-oriented archive)
*Pirates of the Caribbean Fan Fiction Archive (archive for the now defunct POTCfic list)
*Pirates of the Caribbean Slash Fiction (indexed by author)
*Savvy? The POTC Sparrington Archive (Jack Sparrow/James Norrington slash/RPS)
*POTC at skyhawke dot com website. Has around 200 stories.
*Pirategasm at livejournal (fanart and fanfiction)
*Parley Archive slash and RPS (defunct)
*High Seas slash fanfiction archive (defunct)
*The Official Pirates of the Caribbean Fanfiction Archive (defunct)
==Communities==
* potc 100 - for drabbles
* potc_fic - for all types of fic (no RPF)
* potc - for discussion and low-rated fanworks (defunct, archive link)
* potcicons - icons
* potc_stamping - a Stamping Community
* potc_art - for fanart
* age_of_sail - multifandom
* Pirate Hunters - a fic finding community
* - a fanblog on Tumblr
==Meta/Further Reading==
* by Melusina (2004)
* by Amata (2005)
==References==
Category:Pirates of the Caribbean