For many years we have heard about pirates, in fact they have been seen in a popular light recently this is mainly thanks to the media. You could also say that the Disney franchise Pirates of the Caribbean has had a helping hand more recently.
This franchise was actually envisioned in the early 1950s as a walk through wax museum at Disneyland that would have featured depictions of real pirates in static scenes. But Disney Imagineers used technology that the company developed in the company's four pavilions at the 1964 – 65 world's fair to transform the attraction into a boat ride through environments filled with animated pirates ransacking a Caribbean seaport. The attraction was the last attraction that was designed by Walt Disney's input. It opened in its original form New Orleans Square at Disneyland on March 18, 1967. Since then it has been replicated in the various other Disney theme parks.
In 2002, rumours of a film inspired by the attraction started to appear. But many weren't sure about it especially as the film 'The Country Bears', which was also based on an attraction, didn't do well. But they went ahead with the plans and in July 2003, 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' opened starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. This film went onto gross $653 million, making the film one of the top twenty five box office earners ever. After this unprecedented success Disney had announced that a trilogy was in the works. Three years later, the sequel 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' came out and smashed its previous record and became the third film ever to gross over $1 billion in the worldwide box office and is currently ranked as the 4th highest grossing film of all time and is currently the highest grossing film by Walt Disney Pictures. The third film, 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' didn't gross as much the previous film but was still the most successful film in 2007 grossing $960m million.
These films made people see pirates in a different light, now more people saw them in the same light as Johnny Depp's character Captain Jack Sparrow - who made many quips and was generally a trickster. But pirates are mostly been portrayed in a positive manner in today culture; even popular superhero Batman has been shown as a swashbuckler.
But Pirates originally weren't as fun and comical as the media portrays them to be. You see, the media exaggerates what is considered the 'Golden Age of Piracy' that happened in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. They never showed the many criminal acts that they performed, such as acts of violence, detention, rape or the many attacks on other vessels on land, sea or air. For example, in the Spanish islands pirates were thriving going about looting many of the ports, it was a far cry from the ideal place with glorious Lanzarote villas days that you see today.
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