I’ve seen it said quite a number of times now that in OFMD piracy is a metaphor for freedom, especially freedom from societal oppression, and, honestly, I’m not a fan. There is some merit in that analysis but as is, it’s so broad it actually undermines the real metaphor the show is going for.
The core issue here is when we talk about piracy in OFMD, there are actually two separate subtypes of piracy that fall under that label. The first is the way piracy is practiced by the broader pirate culture within the universe of the show — best represented by Izzy, Calico Jack, and Spanish Jackie and her husbands — and the second is the type of piracy that Stede is trying to create and which the rest of the crew of the Revenge eventually adopts. For brevity going forward I’ll refer to the second group as just the crew of the Revenge (or sometimes just Stede, as appropriate) and the first group will be the “real” pirates, as that group spends a large amount of their screen time telling us the crew of the Revenge aren’t real pirates.
Both of these types of piracy can offer escape from the dominant power structures, especially for people of marginalized groups. Every pirate we see in the show either is confirmed or implied to be at least one of POC, queer, disabled, neurodivergent, or from a low economic status. We see these people are able to flee from the society that oppressed them and potentially gain success as a pirate. It’s certainly worth calling out that one of the people we see at the top within the world of the real pirates is Spanish Jackie, a polyamorous disabled black woman.
But that is itself the problem. While it’s great that Spanish Jackie was able to find success, the fact that she is at the top necessarily implies that there is a top to be at. The real pirates still have a hierarchical structure that is maintained through violence. Spanish Jackie has a jar full of noses that she’s cut off people who have crossed her. We see one person who she decided to inflict this punishment on, Stede, who was guilty of accidentally knocking over and breaking the nose jar. Despite our escape into piracy, the property of those with power is still more important than the well-being of those without.
And it’s not just that they’ve copied over the idea of a violence-enforced hierarchy. Some of the oppressive structures they’ve just copied over wholesale. Izzy Hands is a racist, homophobic, misogynistic poster boy for toxic masculinity. And on the poster right next to his would be Calico Jack, toxic masculinity: frat boy edition. Even our one woman in power — because it is just the one — is complimented by her husband Geraldo by saying she has “the biggest balls of all.”
By maintaining these power hierarchies rather than gaining freedom from the oppressive structures of the dominate culture, the real pirates just end up feeding back into it. This is even played out literally when it’s Izzy’s toxic attitudes and beliefs that cause him to make a deal with the English Navy which in turn leads to the pirates Stede and the famed Blackbeard himself being forced to join the Navy. There is no freedom from oppression here; some of the rules may have changed, but the game is still the same.
Let’s turn our attention now to the crew of the Revenge. Here is where we start to see the true freedom from oppression begin to form. Stede stated mission statement for the Revenge in the very first episode is “Piracy is a culture of violence and abuse. But what if it wasn’t?” He is trying to create a place where people of all marginalized groups are welcomed and respected and have their unique talents & skills appreciated, where everyone can express themselves and be supported, where everyone gets a say in the decisions, where violence is eschewed except as a way of protecting oneself and others from violence, including violent words & systems, and where everyone can be assured of their basic needs being met plus having access to some luxuries.
Now, that’s not to say Stede is perfect in his attempts to build this community. He has his flaws, most notably that he is self-centered (not selfish as in prioritizing himself over others, but self-centered as in often forgets that others have different perspectives and experiences than he does), which combined with the way his past privilege sheltered him means he’s ignorant of many of the different ways systemic oppression has affected those without his same privilege. And beyond just ignorant, he is often ignorant of his ignorance, which leads to overconfidence. Still, in spite of the learning he still has to do, it’s clear that his intentions are on the right track. Significantly this is why the two crew members we see on his side from the first episode are Oluwande, the dark-skinned black man, and Lucius, the most outwardly and visibly queer member of the crew.
At this point we don’t know what Olu’s backstory is, but just based on his name, Oluwande Boodhari, it seems very likely that he knows where he comes from. His name implies he is of mixed Somali and Yoruba descent, and that he had at least one parent around that knew that and was able to give him a name that reflected that heritage. A parent who could have also taught him about the history and the culture of his people. That means that Olu is the one person on the crew most likely to be familiar with what a society that was initially built without the influence of colonialism might look like. And he is in turn the one person who is onboard with what Stede is doing from the beginning. Granted, he doesn’t have a lot of faith in Stede’s ability to actually pull it off (it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism colonialism), but he wants to give Stede a chance to give it his best shot.
Lucius takes a little longer to come around, which is appropriate as he frequently serves as our audience surrogate. He initially sees Stede as we might, a mediocre rich white man inserting himself into a culture he doesn’t understand, assuming that he knows better than everyone there, and expecting everyone else to just accommodate him. Of course Lucius wants to mutiny against that guy; he sounds like a jerk. But then we get tea with Nigel Badminton. And we watch Badminton subject Stede to homophobic (and ableist, but the homophobia is what’s relevant here) bullying, and Lucius sees red. So when Stede later calls for help after having gone off alone with Badminton, Lucius is the person in addition to Olu who responds. Then at the end of the episode Lucius stands in solidarity with Olu, both of them lying to protect Stede’s ability to captain the ship for as long as he can.
It’s important to understand that this change of mind from Lucius is not simply a moment of pity and queer solidarity. Seeing Nigel Badminton’s treatment of him has fundamentally changed Lucius’s understanding of Stede as a person. Stede is a wealthy white man, yes, but that privilege ultimate was not enough to protect him. Stede has suffered oppression, the very same kind of oppression Lucius himself has faced, and has known pain. Stede’s venture here is not then the whim of an ignorant rich man, but the deliberate efforts of someone who has experienced hurt to create a place where no one else has to go through that. While Lucius may not have any more faith in Stede than Olu does, he does understand what Stede’s trying to do now and see the value in it.
Somehow, despite the odds and our complete lack of faith in him, the stupid fucking puppet manages to pull it off. If we compare episodes 1 & 9 we can see how the crew has rallied around Stede and transformed into the community he wanted to build. During the firing squad scene we again see Lucius and Olu protecting Stede (with the journal entry and plant respectively), but rather than protecting him from the crew, the are protecting him from the machinations of Admiral Badminton (dominate societal structures) and Izzy Hands (real pirates) with the crew standing in solidarity behind them. The aforementioned plant is the half-dead one Stede “plundered” in the first episode which is now green and thriving. And of course this time when Stede says “talk it through” we get the reply “as a crew” despite Stede not even appearing to be trying to do a call and response at the moment.
Perhaps even more significant is the comparison of the two mutinies from episodes 1 & 9. In the first episode, the crew plans to mutiny against Stede because they want a real pirate for a captain. This is clear both from the general way they discuss it and from the two candidates they suggest for the new captain: Jim, whose personality is the closest to the real pirate ideal, and Pete, who is the most invested in the real pirate ideal of all of them. By episode 9 they have a real pirate for a captain — Izzy is the most prominent representation of real pirates in the show — and they have realized that isn’t what they want actually. This time Oluwande is unanimously chosen as the new captain explicitly because he will be concerned with everyone’s wellbeing and because he doesn’t want to be captain, which is presumably meant to be commentary on him not being interested in acquiring power. It also should not be lost on us that Olu was the first one to understand and support what Stede was trying to build and that in a show where our major oppressive structures are patriarchy and colonialism our choice for new captain is a emotionally intelligent, soft, queer, black man with a native African name.
So what happens when you say “piracy is a metaphor for freedom” you turn the world of Our Flag Means Death into a dichotomy of the English (and French and Spanish, etc.) vs pirates where one side is oppression and the other freedom. And in fairness, that does seem to be how many of the characters in the show perceive it. Even Stede doesn’t seem to realize the false dichotomy here as he is actively taking a third option. The reality of the situation is the English et al. are the oppressive mainstream society. Then we have the real pirates as a counterculture, but a flawed one that has recognized the problems of the mainstream culture, but incorrectly believes the solution is to have different people at the top. And then we have the Revenge as true revolution. It’s the the ideal world, or at least the first fumbling but earnest steps toward the ideal world, where things are just and fair and there is freedom from oppression.
