I didn’t ask for my workday to be suddenly derailed by a surge of desperate, unsuppressable wonder at how Black Sails portrays queerness, yet here I am, drowning in my love for this uneblievable show
like I’ll probably ramble about this more fully later, but I have never encountered a piece of media that wasn’t explicitly queer-centric that made me feel as much like these experiences are important, that fans like me *matter*, as much as Black Sails does
this show has THREE main queer female characters, and three seasons in NONE of them has been killed off. in fact, the only queer character that *has* died has one of the most respectfully written deaths I’ve ever seen. Thomas doesn’t die for the straight audience to coo sadly at, or to motivate some great change of heart in a straight person. the villains don’t target him to torture the hero. he was murdered because of the political crusade he’d committed himself to, because he’d stood his ground against a corrupt civilization and expected it to show him a fraction of the decency and mercy he afforded it.
just!! Thomas’s actual death is *never even even shown*, because the tragedy and horror of it isn’t established by the gruesome display of his body, it’s made clear by every second of the show that follows. because Black Sails wouldn’t *happen* without Thomas. And not just because his tragedy is what birthed Captain Flint–the changes he wrought on Flint in life were *just as important* to setting the foundation of Flint’s motivations. his love and hope for Nassau drive the show–BOTH sides of the war we see begin during season three are inspired, in part, by his ideals!
the queer characters on this show aren’t ever reduced to just their queerness. their ambitions, their hopes, their foibles and flaws are all laid out for us. they direct their own fates, fight for their futures, sacrifice for their causes. but at the same time their queerness is still always important to who they are and what they prioritize!!! Black Sails manages what so few stories do, and allows queerness to be a fundamental part of its characters while still treating them like complex people
and that just means a lot to me
also, as an addendum: one of the reasons Black Sails has ended up meaning so much to me is because of how hard it course-corrected from its rocky start. like, it had a lot of potential, and there are plenty of things I adore about season one, but I hated how it handled Max’s assault– hated that it decided to tell that story at all. if I’d been watching it as it first aired (and not binging three seasons over as a many days), I probably wouldn’t have even stuck out the entire season because of how much it bothered me.
but then season two hit and the show found its feet, and a big part of that was that it actually started to treat Max’s character with respect. she became not just the director of not just her own story, but one of the key drivers of the show’s plot. the show went from focusing on how other people reacted to her trauma to focusing on how she was going to get what she wanted.
add in the revelation of Flint’s backstory and the unexpected payoff of Anne’s storyline, and this show literally took itself from okay-ish pirate drama to genuinely amazing television through the power of treating its queer characters with respect