stupidjewishwhiteboy

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

Black Sails and Facial Hair - Part 2, Captain Flint

Part 1 Here, in which I give a 1000 word history of the beard in Anglo culture and its place in defining masculinity and empire. Let’s start with the Pirate, Flint, and his journey of presenting Empire. Flint at his origin, or his McGraw, the absolute picture of 18th century moral appearance. His hair is long and neat, his face is clean, his clothes are correct for the story (though the English naval uniform didn’t exist until 1748). He is The Picture of English Empire In Our Collective Imaginations. The story tells us as much too. He’s had to be perfect in every way to get to where he is and that includes his physical appearance. He is, too, not conflicted about his place. Visually, he fits. Arguably he fits in place better than Thomas in the scenes by the docks. This is his space and he is comfortable in it. 

Compare that to when he returns from Nassau. His beard is overgrown. It’s not particularly cared for and is, in fact, the some of the most beard we see on him until S4. It wasn’t unusual for a sailor to grow a beard while away at sea, but barbers traveled with both the navy and army, and to return to polite society with such a set of whiskers is a conscious disregard for propriety. All his other actions and appearances are correct, but his inner criminality is showing. He is, in the language of beards, obscuring his true self. His sins (Thomas, rejecting perceived wisdom, wanting to start over in the Hinterlands) are starting to take precedence over Love of Country. 

And when we first meet him, 9 years later. His hair is tied back, not so long but still reasonably respectable. His beard and twirly mustache, however, is distinctly Jacobean. Strangely, besides his resistance to England itself, we never actually learn what Flint’s politics are, but we do know that Flint himself is a construct designed to be as frightening as possible to England and their ships. And in 1715, a visual Jacobite armed to the teeth is nothing if not a terrifying and direct rejection of King George I and the English State. But the longer hair still keeps him tethered to the idea of respectability (and Miranda, who keeps up the trappings of civilization despite their circumstances etc). He is caught between his two selves but neither is authentic, both require extensive upkeep and both are constructs that visually fit within a story that is not his own (the navy and his pirate persona). Remember too, his calling card is his Ninja Outfit which isn’t a ninja outfit, but the outfit of a Barbary Pirate, a North African, and those connections to barbarism and barbers. He is literally balancing the line between the Other (Barbary) and resistance in appearance (Jacobism)  

After Miranda dies, all bets are off. Friendship with civilization ended. His last ties of society are cut, literally, with a shorn head. Ironically, this is one of the more accurate cuts in the whole show - if a gentleman wore a wig, they did not have a nice tousled cut underneath a la Thomas or Guthrie, they shaved their heads to avoid lice, fleas, and other pests. But! A shorn head is also the signature haircut of, wait for it, Bedlam. He has literally cut Miranda and her tether to civilization and become wild, uncontained, and, like Thomas, mad by association. Maintaining a Jacobean flip in your ‘stache takes work, it’s always been part of his construct and theater and there is no more Flint Theater. There is only Flint. There is no going back. He is no longer pretending one way or another, he is and will be judged for who he is, not who is pretending to be. 

He keeps this cut through S4, which, even if it takes place over 5 months, is going to require an occasional trip to the barber (or Silver does it for him though I doubt Flint’s letting anyone put a knife to his throat even if it is his one and only). It’s a classic ‘devil’ cut, and one that speaks to the Faustian nature of the show, where the theme of trading spiritual torment for power is always an undercurrent. 

And finally, Flint returns “home” to Thomas by means of Oglethorpe’s plantation. Apart of society, it takes the outcasts, the dregs, those that cannot participate in civilization. And in doing so, there are no longer requirements to fit within a role or story. And what do we see there? Thomas with a beard. He is no longer a member of Empire, no longer concerned with propriety. He’ll kiss a man in broad daylight. He’s wearing the outward signs of a madman. Neither of them require any trappings of civilization, they are firmly apart from it, never to return. 

This show is the gift that keeps giving and I feel like the mirrors of analysis are endless and but boy am I pushing it. 

Part One - History of Beards Part Three - Long John Silver

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

public libraries are so sick. there are five books I want to read and they're all relatively new so they're only available in hardback which is so expensive but it just cost me $0 to place holds on them. five books for zero dollars. it requires nothing but clicking a button and then going to the library to pick them up when they're ready. zero dollars. that's crazy

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

The Iranian Regime is going to execute rapper Toomaj Salehi for supporting protests of Jina Amini’s murder by the regime in his songs.

Iranian activist Elica Le Bon says, “Iranians in the diaspora picked up on the fact that the regime tends not to execute people who become known to the international community. We have seen many examples of prisoners that were either released on bail or had their sentences commuted through our “say their names to save their lives” campaign on social media, using hashtags to garner attention for their causes, and even before social media existed, through getting the stories of political prisoners to international media outlets. Once reported on, and once the eyes shift to the regime and the reality of its pending brutality, realizing that the action is not worth the repercussions, we have seen them back down and not execute. For that reason, this is part of an urgent campaign for readers to talk about Toomaj as much as you can, using the hashtag #FreeToomaj or #ToomajSalehi. Every comment makes a difference, and if we were wrong, what did we lose by trying?”

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

me writing: i am a god and reality bends to my whims

me proofreading: im too stupid to be alive

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

ok since you put me in the Black Sails pit I figure you'd know best of anyone- is there a novelization? I want to get into Flint's head in a way only novels can do

God, that would be amazing, wouldn't it? Sadly, nothing like that exists in any official capacity (I mean, obviously, Treasure Island exists but in terms of the show, fanfic on AO3 is really as close you're going to get). However, the actor who plays Jack (Toby Schmitz) did write a short graphic novel about Jack's backstory if you're into that sort of thing!

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

Dmitry Kokh

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

(flight intercom) this is the pilot speaking. yeah we expect todays flight to be normal. um if you look out your window you shouldnt see the skull

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

This is just as relevant for tumblr as for twitter, so I share it here. Fully agree

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

doomscrolling is not activism

doomscrolling is not activism

doomscrolling is not activism

"don't look away" is a meaningless phrase. who are you benefiting by inundating yourself with misery porn?

DO something about things you care about. Go to a protest for something you believe in, if you can. Donate money to a cause if you have it to spare. Volunteer your time to help people if you have the energy. Write a letter to your political representatives if that's something you can do. These are meaningful ways to try to make change in the world.

And then? don't feel bad about insulating yourself from horrible news. Don't make yourself look at images that make you feel sick. Don't read endless things that depress you. Because frankly it gets harder to actually do the more you doomscroll. Reading constantly about things you can't change because they're happening at a systemic level or on the other side of the world is paralyzing. It makes you less able to help where you can.

I'm not saying be willfully ignorant. I'm not saying pretend horrible things aren't happening. I'm saying don't destroy your mental health going in-depth and cycling through horror after horror on your phone. I'm saying there is no virtue in making yourself experience other people's traumas because mere awareness is not activism. you inflicting suffering on yourself is not activism.

doomscrolling is literally sapping your energy and focus away from doing anything useful to help other people. you can burn yourself out without ever lifting a finger by exposing yourself to all the bad news in the world and who does that help? no one.

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

Oh yeah that’s Elijah. Yeah he’s a ghost. Don’t worry about him he won’t cause any trouble. Yeah we invite him every year.

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

Dumb question maybe but i gotta ask. I saw a girl post about being born to a Jewish family, fully ashkenazi, and converting to Christianity later on. What does that make her? Is she still considered Jewish?

Girl you can't convert your ethnicity away....religiously she would be whatever she converted to, ethnically she's still jewish...if a Japanese person converts to Christianity he doesn't magically turn mayo colored and his facial features don't mutate...

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

How do you make tofu delicious?

I feel like a fail Asian for this, but I cannot for the life of me cook tofu well. It always comes out super dry or squishy. I love tofu when I get it from somewhere else, and wanna make it at home. Help 😭

CORNSTARCH.

Gf taught me this trick - before doing anything with it, dip it in a bowl with cornstarch and mix it so its all covered. Then fry it a bit in canola oil (or any veggies oil idk), not too much though just until it's a bit brownish. Take it out the pan then add it to whatever saucy dish ur making (if ur making any) like I usually add it to stir fried veggies and rice in soy sauce and sesame oil, and fry them all together for a min or so.

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

Tomorrow is errand boy day which means I must take the Ancient CoinsTM and jewelry to the eastern part of the country, the bones to the north, the ceramics to the west and the glass to the south, and I got just the ol reliable 8hr long Merican country music Playlist ready

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

A Columbia protestor arrested, murdered 2 people in a car crash and got away with it after her parents intervened

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2024/04/21/us-news/columbia-protester-who-killed-elderly-vermont-couple-in-crash-should-be-in-jail-not-on-campus-furious-family-says/amp/

told yall these fuckers are bratty nepobabies with no regard to anyone but themselves

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

It’s maddening to find out that the scholar who first developed the idea that “Zionism is Settler Colonialism”, Fayez Sayegh, was a member of the Syrian Nazi Party during and immediately after the Holocaust, was an active participant in the Red Scare, using it to demonize Israel as a manifestation of a Global Communist Threat™️ through the height of the Cold War (true to his Nazi roots, accusing Israel of Judeo-Bolshevism) before switching to a Colonialism narrative when Post-Colonialism came in vogue in the 60s. And yet, the people I hear parroting the talking points of this anti-Communist, Ultranationalist Fascist-turned-scholar are the people who are constantly talking about how Liberal Progressives aren’t Communist enough and actually enemies because “Liberals will always side with Fascists”. Maddening.

If you’ve ever noticed how the “Zionism = Settler Colonialism” narrative eerily shares the core components of the far right’s Replacement Theory (that there are 1. Jews 2. conspiring to invade a given place and 3. replace the population with Jews), this is why; it’s because the idea that Zionism is Settler Colonialism came from a literal Nazi.

It is very literally Nazi propaganda.

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]