lesbianoscarwilde:

“Butch-femme relationships, as I experienced them, were complex erotic and social statements, not phony heterosexual replicas. They were filled with a deeply lesbian language of stance, dress, gesture, love, courage, and autonomy. In the 1950s particularly, butch-femme couples were the front-line warriors against sexual bigotry. Because they were so visible, they suffered the brunt of street violence. The irony of social change has made a radical, sexual, political statement of the 1950s appear today a reactionary, nonfeminist experience.”

— Joan Nestle, “The femme question”, The Persistent Desire.

medusinestories:

SilverflintDOW 12.11.18: Rock, blade, record

“Have I ever told you about the time I was stuck between a rock and
a hard place?”

“I don’t believe so,” Miranda said, stretched languidly in
Silver’s arms.

“I was in the wrecks, running from murderous pirates, and suddenly
I find myself pinned to the rocks by Flint, his blade to my throat
and his cock against my hip. I didn’t know whether to be aroused or
terrified.”

Flint snorted against Silver’s throat. “For the record, that was my
pistol.”

“Oh, is that what we’re calling it now?”

Silver’s fingers seized said pistol, and Miranda’s mouth stifled
Flint’s moans.

owlsofstarlight:

ravencharm:

75% of writing is convincing yourself that your story is worth it

It is. In case you were wondering. Your story is worth the effort you are putting into it. It’s an amazing thing because you are writing it.

Ditto

urcadelimabean:

“For that is the single most dangerous weapon they possess…the one they tempt. Give us your submission and we will give you the comfort you need.”

There’s something really interesting about this quote. I think Chaz is mostly right here, except the thing that “tempts” people to remain in civilization isn’t always comfort–in fact Black Sails argues that for many people it’s love.

A lot of Black Sails characters who end the war do so explicitly because of the temptation civilization offers to keep their loved ones alive. Jack is content to fight and maybe die in the war avenging Charles Vane’s death until Max appeals to his concern for Anne’s safety and points out that the war has already killed Eleanor. Jack switches sides and focuses all his attention on creating an outcome that will keep Anne (and Max) safe. Silver goes behind Madi’s back to make the same deal with the other Maroons.

And although Flint seems to be disagreeing with Charles Vane in that scene in Miranda’s house, he actually comes pretty close to having the same ideology as him. Because for him the things that were the greatest sources of comfort – Miranda and Thomas – are gone. Before he lost Miranda he even personally removed another source of comfort in the form of Gates, his only other friend and ally at that point, in order to continue his war. So by season 4 there is very little left to “tempt” Flint to stop pursuing the war, even though he came to trust and care for Silver during the process and gained a friend in Madi. This is not to say that there was nothing noble in his effort to fight England, but there was also self-destructiveness and hopeless rage behind it as suggested at many points during the series. He has simply lost too much.

This also makes me think maybe Charles wasn’t as tempted by protecting the people he loves because let’s face it, in season 3 his and Eleanor’s love had completely withered and died. If she had (in an extremely out of character manner) left Rogers to ally herself with him I don’t think he would have been so willing to die, because suddenly he would have had something to lose again. And I’m not suggesting that he was willing to become a martyr because he was heartbroken, because I do think he was driven primarily by ideology, but the removal of those close personal relationships and attachments, be it Eleanor or Miranda or Thomas, allows both Charles Vane and Flint to be more reckless with their lives and put themselves in more danger in a way that they were not capable of doing before.

Even though we can all see how deeply Silver hurt Madi by lying to her and how deeply he hurt Flint by betraying him, I honestly think most of us would have made the same choice–end the war and avoid the continuation of bloodshed. Maybe in a better way than Silver did, but for the same reasons. It’s human to want to live a safer and more peaceful life. Very few of us are willing to die in an effort we aren’t even sure will change civilization. We do not have Charles Vane’s recklessness/destructive tendencies/stupidity/ bravery/whatever you want to call it. Most of us who like Black Sails, assuming we didn’t completely miss what the entire show was about, see huge injustices in the world and want to change them. But the temptation to try to keep ourselves and our loved ones alive is what makes us decide to do this from within civilization as opposed to doing it from without.

It’s also always struck me as a very hypermasculine and overly simplistic idea that the best and ONLY way to change civilization is through violence and that anything less is the act of a coward. Again this is not to say there isn’t something fucking tempting and satisfying about waging war against England, but as usual in Black Sails there isn’t always one right way and one wrong way, but multiple paths which all have negative and positive consequences.

For a lot of the characters it’s less about right vs wrong (we all know the cause of the war is just) and more about weighing costs vs benefit. It’s interesting that some of the characters who are the most vehemently against the war in the end – Max and Silver – are themselves survivors of violence both on screen and in their backstories. They are done living lives of sacrifice. To them, the costs of war greatly outweigh the benefits.

When Silver said “I don’t care” I think he was – wait for it – lying. (Shocking I know. Silver, lying?) I believe he does care that they will be seen as monsters. He cares deeply, painfully so, and is trying to remove himself from the narrative as he has so many times before. When he says “I don’t care,” he is saying the costs of war outweigh the benefits. They may control the narrative but we will be alive.

So while I think Charles Vane was right that civilization “tempts” us, I don’t think it’s wrong to be tempted. It makes us human and it means we’re thinking of our futures and the futures of our loved ones and trying against all odds to survive. It is also a HUGE oversimplification to say that not waging war on civilization = submission. Max’s story arc proves this and I think that’s really interesting considering both she and Charles were formerly slaves but had such insanely different philosophies about how the world can be changed.

Charles Vane’s death was brave, to be fair, and I loved his speech before he was hanged, but the fact of the matter is you can do a whole lot more to fight civilization when you’re still alive and working from within it than you can if you’re dead. Even Anne, the quickest to want to stab anyone, bless her angry heart, prioritized survival for herself and her loved ones over any war or ideology. “It ain’t fear to want to do a hard thing smart.”

I know in some ways it’s open-ended whether Flint’s war could have succeed or not. What’s inevitable and what isn’t? In some ways we can’t know, and Flint’s words about inevitability are extremely powerful. I know it’s not necessary to use historical parallels because Black Sails is fiction and not history. But at least for me when having discussions about the moral choices these characters make I look at the context of what happened to slave communities in the Caribbean that were able to secure peace treaties and what happened to Haiti after their rebellion.

There are so many possible types of resistance here, from all out war, to some piracy being tolerated in the Bahamas, to attacks on slave ships, to creating an underground railroad like I think many fans imagine Max and Madi would be involved in after the war. Not all types of resistance would bring the same response from colonial powers or the same degree of risk to the people involved. And the degree of risk is hugely important when calculating the chances of success and ability to continue the operation.

So even as part of me wishes Flint’s war could continue, I resent the idea that ending it was wrong specifically because victory was assured, or the idea that anything short of full-fledged war = submission to England.

freudhood:

Thank you my friend!!! 💙💙

I second that. Warmest wishes from Melbourne.