They're Not A Villain

They're not a villain, they're not misunderstood, but they're just walking the line between good and evil.

First of all, I'm sorry for making this a series but I'm about to go see Cruella and I know I'm gonna have things to say after that. But lately there's been so many movies in Hollywood about villains specifically, and some of them are okay but some of them are just.....I can't behind them. So, you don't have to read these in order but I'm gonna publish them tagged with this series.

I digress,

Long John Silver from Treasure Island, is he a real villain?

Personally, my favorite version of this story in film version is the Muppet one. Don't judge me, I grew up in the 90's and early 2000's and I loved ALL the Muppet movies. Yes, even Muppets from Space.

Sue me.

In the Muppet version, Tim Curry, the wonderful and vastly talented Tim Curry, plays Long John Silver. That was the first movie I ever saw him in and I was in love with him. Weird, I know; but I also know I wasn't the only one. To my fellow people out there reading this, let's form a club.

Sorry, I had a lot of coffee today and getting off track a lot.

Back to the main topic: Long John Silver is not a Villain.

The story of Treasure Island is about a boy, Jim Hawkins who procures a treasure map from a tenant at an Inn he works at. He convinces a stupid rich man to fund a mission to find the treasure, the crew they get is accidentally almost all pirates. Yada yada yada. They get the treasure and Long John kinda gets away, kinda doesn't and Jim Hawkins gains the self confidence he needed all along.

That was a really shitty version of the story, just go rent Muppets Treasure Island or watch it on Disney Plus.

During the whole story, Long John has multiple chances to manipulate Jim into giving him the map and turning him into a pirate. I mean, do you know how easy it is to turn people against an authority figure?

But nope, if anything, he keeps reminding Jim that there's hope in what the Captain is doing and explains why he does what he does.

John teaches Jim about self-reliance, discipline, honesty, and honor. He teaches him how to be a proper sailor and how to navigate by the stars. He sympathizes with Jim about his past and gets him ready for his future.

Even when his crew kidnaps Jim in order to get the map and compass, they don't kill Jim. They don't need him alive, it's not like Jim has some secret special skill that none of the other pirates have. Jim stays alive purely because Long John Silver makes it so.

And when the crew turns on John, he sacrifices himself so Jim can get away.

When John escapes from the brig later on, he steals the treasure (or at least some of it) and when Jim catches him, he lets him go.

I've met a lot of people in my life, mentors who manipulated me to do things that later on I realized were wrong. So, I can recognize when someone is doing that to some other poor innocent person who doesn't know any better.

To be honest, in any version of Treasure Island, I don't see any of those actions with Long John and Jim. I see a mentor who takes a boy who is lost but ambitious under his wing and teaches him how to utilize his talents and teaches him new skills.

I don't see him as a villain. I see him as a man who sees a boy who reminds him of himself and wants to help him get on a better path than what he ended up on.

I don't understand how a lot of people just write off John as this irredeemable villain, out of all the stories I read as a kid Long John Silver never cracked the top 50 for me. I saw more fault in Ishmael in Moby Dick than I did in John. The mom from Pride and Prejudice? Yeah, there are a few scenes in that book where she was acting worse than Long John Silver.

Keep your eye out for the next installment, which will probably be about Cruella.