September
is here at last, bringing with it (hopefully) cooler weather, quieter
households...and on the 19th of the month, the most
beloved holiday that never got its own section in a Hallmark store:
International Talk Like a Pirate Day! It's not hard to see why this
“holiday” took off the way it did—it asks so little of you. You
don't have to buy anyone a gift or a card, or spend hours decorating
your house, or sit through a long church service. All you have to do
is alter your speech patterns in accordance with a well-known
pop-cultural archetype.
But
why stop there? Talking Like a
(Hollywood) Pirate is fun and all, but maybe a little too
easy. The name hasn't changed, but for many people, Talk Like a
Pirate Day is also Dress Like a Pirate Day, Fly the Jolly Roger Like
a Pirate Day, and Watch Pirate Movies* Day.
Even...perhaps...Throw
a Pirate-Themed Party Day! And when it comes to pirate theming,
nobody has more vivid mental images than devotees of Disney parks.
This is probably because the original version of Pirates of the
Caribbean, the ride, installed at Disneyland in 1967, is
the best theme park attraction ever built.
As an iconic fantasy depiction of piracy in the Age of Sail, it's
second only to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
As a first-person experience, it's simply incomparable. It's got its
own specific imagery, its own instantly recognizable soundtrack, its
own unique smell. If
you want your Talk Like a Pirate Day party to take its cues from the
ride—and if you consider yourself a Disneyland fan, then you do,
no two ways about it—then you have plenty of material to work with
that will make your guests go “Hey...this is that ride!”
What
you don't have a lot of is convenient shortcuts.
Make no mistake—“Pirate” is one of the big themes in your
average party store, and you can even find Pirates of the Caribbean
branded items...but naturally it's all to do with the film franchise.
Use it anyway if you like; these days Jack Sparrow is on the ride,
after all. But if you really want to evoke the ride itself,
Party City and its brethren will be of very little help. And nor will
much of anything else in the retail arena. It's just that unique.
So what can you do?
You
can do what brought us the marvels of Pirates of the Caribbean to
begin with. You can Imagineer.
This isn't going to be like my other Disneyland party ideas, where I
take you through all the major facets of party planning including
ideas for food, games, and music. The food should be sumptuous, the
games should revolve around treasure maps, and if you follow this
blog but can't think of any music that reminds you of Pirates of the
Caribbean, then there's simply no help for you. Rather, this post is
going to highlight some specific things you can do to create a
Pirates of the Caribbean-style atmosphere...be it for a party or any
other reason!
Bayou
Fireflies
Ironically, the most striking scene in Disneyland's Pirates of the
Caribbean might be the one that has no evidence of pirates at all:
the opening scene in the bayou. Admit it—every time you ride, part
of your brain forgets that you're really indoors. There's not much
you can do to replicate the full effect in your own house unless you
have a 50-foot ceiling and an unlimited decorating budget,** but
perhaps the most iconic element of this iconic setting can be yours
to cherish!
For maximum authenticity, Firefly
Magic produces the actual artificial fireflies that appear on the
ride. The real deal, and very affordable!
On the other hand, maybe you'd rather get crafty and build your own
fireflies! Instructions can be found here
for the standard version, and here
for one that involves less in the way of fiddling with wires. (I
realized, looking up these links, that the website in question is
quite old, and saved the text against the possibility that it
may one day vanish down the cyber-hole. Let me know if this has
happened by the time you go a-clicking!)
However you acquire your fireflies, for best results use them
outdoors at night, or indoors with the lighting turned down low.
Cluster them around natural or artificial foliage to minimize the
appearance of the mechanisms, and if you can involve a water feature,
even better!
Thar
Be No Place Like Home
One
of the things that makes Pirates of the Caribbean so
affecting—especially the first act, before you leave the caverns—is
the way it suggests
a story without showing you the events in real time. Instead, it
shows you the aftermath***—the skeletons of long-dead pirates,
still frozen in the poses they must have often adopted in life,
mouldering away in an underground hideout that was also, ultimately,
a prison. Only after you've had a chance to absorb this image do you
hear anything about a curse...and then it's still left ambiguous. Did
the curse kill them outright? Is it a metaphor for something else,
such as greed? Am I thinking about this too hard?
In
any case, it's evident that the pirates lived in the caverns for
quite some time before their sticky end, inasmuch as they went to
some lengths to furnish and decorate the spaces with items already in
their possession. As it happens, “nautical” home décor is a
thing, so it's not difficult to find mock ship's wheels, oars, and
rough-finished planks to use as the starting points for your own
kitbashed projects. Some specific items to try:
- Wood-burn a plank to make a “Stow Yer Weapons” sign. One would hope that your party guests aren't bringing any real weapons with them, but if they're in pirate costume, they might like having an obvious place to stash their plastic cutlasses so they don't have to carry them around the whole time. Alternately, put the sign near your umbrella stand, or the place where you have people leave their car keys before they start drinking.
- As long as you've got your planks and your wood-burning kit out, you might as well make a “Thar Be No Place Like Home” sign as well. Here's the best reference photo I could find:
- While y'all are gawking at the endless stream of rum pouring down a skeletal throat, or maybe the chess players who ran out the clock on their lives before they ran it out on their next move, my eye is always drawn to this thing:
In
case you can't tell, that's a chandelier constructed out of a ship's
wheel. The candles are just stuck on the rim. You could make that at
home! (Make sure to practice candle safety!)
- If you have the space, you could set up an entire scene of pirate skeletons at home. You'll need at least one full-sized or nearly full-sized prop skeleton, of course (available anywhere Halloween decorations are sold), plus some piratical rags to dress it in. Arrange some weathered, busted-up wooden furniture, include a few small barrels and lots of bottles, drape a Jolly Roger along the backdrop...you get the idea.
Treasure
Hoards
The
bayou may be the part of Pirates of the Caribbean that is easiest to
mistake for real, but we all know which part we wish
were real: the massive treasure hoard in the caverns! Cursed or not,
you'd be set for life if you could dip your hands in just once! In my
Mardi
Gras post, I suggested setting up a treasure chest as a nod to
the ride amongst the more generic New Orleans Square décor. When
your entire theme is Pirates of the Caribbean, of course, there is no
need to be so restrained. Pick a nice corner or surface and go for
broke heaping up fake coins and jewels, costume jewelry, swatches of
shiny fabric, interesting bric-a-brac...anything you have that
suggests treasure and won't be at risk of damage being on display
like that. Use chests, boxes, and baskets to keep it reined in if
necessary, but some spillover is not only inevitable but desirable.
In
an outdoor setting, try this fun little touch: leave a shovel
conspicuously on or near the pile, suggesting that you intend to bury
your treasure but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Town
on Fire
Unfortunately,
once you exit the caverns, the central feature of the ride's
technology is its large cast of sophisticated audio-animatronic
figures—not exactly something the average person can throw together
in their garage or craft room. But there is one excellent practical
effect late in the ride that you can replicate fairly easily, and
best of all, you can re-use it for all kinds of scenarios, not just
pirates. The effect in question is the flickering fire in the Burning
Town scene. Once again, Backyard
Imagineering has our backs (and once again, I have saved the text
in case the day comes when they no longer do).
For
a less raging inferno, the “flaming cauldron” type of Halloween
decoration operates along similar lines, and now is the time of year
when it starts to become plentiful in various retail establishments.
However
you decide to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day, stay safe. Go easy on
the rum, definitely don't try to sail drunk, and no copying treasure
maps without the owner's permission!
*
Which may also be Pirated Movies, although we hope not.
** Do
you have a 50-foot ceiling and an unlimited decorating budget? If
so...can I move in with you? I'll buy my own groceries.
***
Blogger Ian Kay refers to these setups as “Forensic Stories.”
You should read his
blog. It's quite good.
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