Content area
Abstract
This research explores the construction and evolution of the social myth surrounding the piratical subject, with a focus on the development of costuming and the role costuming plays in characterization. By examining the historical background of the piratical subject, the changes in perception during the nineteenth century, and the effect these changes had on the way we perceive the modern and contemporary piratical subject, this paper investigates the evolution of the pirate mythos and how it influences the costuming of the subject.
Beginning in the Golden Age of Piracy, determined to cover the years 1630-1750, this paper establishes the real-life attire of the pirate and analyzes the concurrent and future romanticization by Captain Charles Johnson, writer of A General History of the Pyrates, and writers of the romantic period, such as Lord Byron and Walter Scott. Following the romantic period, the pirate once again shifts from romantic anti-hero to swashbuckling adventurer. This shift marked a turning point in the transformation of the pirate into a culturally significant figure, laying the foundation for modern and contemporary portrayals.
Through visual and semiotic analysis of nine films, two television series, and one graphic novel, this paper traces the relationship between the reality of pirates and their clothing during the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730) and the their successive portrayals in media during the Romantic period (1814-1911), the Modern period (1926-1996), and the Contemporary period (1997-2024). Drawing on historical and material culture methodologies, the study differentiates between authentic pirate attire and its fictionalized counterparts, revealing how garments become symbolic markers of character and cultural values and continue to perpetuate the piratical subject in popular media.
