Class Assignments

1. Class Assignments • Short Papers • 1) Captain Kidd paper • a) TA has graded them • b) Will be handed back today • 2) Long Paper proposal • a) Due Wednesday

2. 2) Treasure Island Paper • 800- 1000 word paper based on the Robert Louis Steven’s Treasure Island and the movie Treasure Island • Due Wednesday 7th April • Can turn it in before • Compare book to movie (as before) • But ask how and why Stevenson and the Muppets have adapted history to suit their intended audiences • Consider how they have helped shaped our understanding of pirates

3. Long Paper • 2800 – 3200 word paper • Based, of course, upon your proposal • Due April 21st • I will be happy to talk with you as you progress or chat with you about draft papers

4. Piracy and Literature • Edgar Allan Poe • The Gold Bug • J.M. Barrie • Peter Pan • Gives us another of the great childhood pirate icons • Captain Hook • Action takes place in Kidd bay

5. Barrie student a Edinburgh University • friends with another well known write of the era • Arthur Conan Doyle • Best known for Sherlock Holmes • But, also wrote tales of the sea and piracy • Captain Sharkey

6. Another Edinburgh Student and friend of both Doyle and Barrie was • Robert Louis Stevenson • He and Barrie worked together on the school newspaper • And of course Stevenson was the author of Treasure Island • Which we will be watching on Wednesday

7. Treasure Island & Robert Louis Stevenson

8. Muppet Treasure Island • Cast list: • Captain Smollett – Kermit • Benjamin / Benjamina Gunn – Miss Piggy • Billy Bones – Billy Connolly • Blind Pew – Blind Pew Muppet • Black Dog – Black Dog Muppet • Dr Livesly – Dr. Bunsen Honeydew • Jim Hawkins – Kevin Bishop • Long John Silver – Tim Curry • Mr. Bimbo – A man who lives in the index finger of the Squire Trelawney Jr’s left hand • Squire Trelawney Jr. – Fozzie Bear • Big-Fat-Ugly-Bug-Face-Baby-Eating O'Brien

9. “Explodes with Wit, Weirdness and Wildly Inventive Fun” • New York Post • Not however, the first film representation of the book • Over 50 movies and numerous TV adaptations have been made • Suggest the depth of influence that the story has

10. Treasure Island movies • First I have been able to find is a 1912 version – very early • First ‘narrative’ movie Great Train Robbery in 1903 • Production Company – Edison • 1934 first ‘Hollywood’ version • 1971 Orson Welles as Long John Silver • Also co-scripted

11. 1990 • Made for TV version • Charlton Heston as Long John Silver • Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins • Oliver Reed as Capt. Billy Bones • Christopher Lee as Blind Pew

12. International • Zhiyaoweinihuoyitian (1993) • "Schatzinsel, Die" (1966) TV mini-series • Ostrovsokrovishch (1971) • "Takarajima" (1978) TV series

13. Celebrity Treasure Island And of course the list would not be complete without

14. But lets return briefly to the Muppets • Over 400 Muppet characters appeared in the film • Shot at Shepperton Studios in England • All the shots were indoors • Had a complete seaport with and 18 ton boat • Forty foot beach with palm trees and 200,000 gallons of water

15. From the movies Press Packet: • Q. This is such a physical role. How do you feel you compare to other big screen action heroes? • Kermit: • Hmmm. I would have to say that I’m shorter than Arnold, greener than Sly, and I have less hair than Mel • Q. Were you aware that traditionally Polly is played by a parrot? • Polly: • Yeah, I’ve heard. But that’s just a stereotype. I like to think we live in a forward thinking society

16. Q. Is this the first time you have had to sing while bound upside down over a cliff? • Miss Piggy: • Professionally, yes. But, frankly, it is none of your business what Kermit and moi do in our personal relationship • And finally the green man himself • “I do believe that Robert Louis Stevenson originally wrote the part of the captain as a frog” • Kermit the Frog

17. Who was Stevenson? • Born November 1850 Edinburgh, Scotland • Father an Engineer • strict and powerful man • Believed to be the cause of the lack of strong father son relationships in Stevenson’s novels

18. Treasure Island: • Father dies early in novel • Rebellious Jim Hawkins • Potential father figures in both Doctor Livesly and Squire Trelawney • Tends to gravitate more to Long John Silver • Kidnapped: • An orphan sold into indenture • Take up eventually with a Scottish Patriot against the British • Both cases unattached boy searching for an identity with a rebellious figure

19. Also see conflict in his novels • Between the upright ideals of Victorian middle class life and reckless abandon • Obvious in Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde • But also in Hawkins • Frequently turns away from the “right thing” • Leaving the ship • Running from the fort

20. The idea of turning from the straight and narrow is also evident in Stevenson’s own life • While on a visit to France met and fell in love with • Fanny Van De GriftOsbourne • A divorced women, with two small children, ten years his senior • He married her – a very risqué and rebellious thing to do in Victorian British Society

21. Stevenson’s tomb Mount Vaea • Stevenson would return to California with his new wife • Before eventually moving to the “South Seas” • Samoa in 1889 • Where he died in 1894

22. The Map • Plays a significant part in the story • For the characters • It is a treasure map! • And for the understanding of the book

23. In a review of the book W.E. Henley wrote • “Primarily it is a book for boys….But it is a book for boys which will be delightful to all grown men who have the sentiment of treasure-hunting and are touched with the true spirit of the Spanish Main” • It has been argued that it is the ‘map’ which • A) allows the involvement of adults into the novel • B) drives the novel

24. Henley wrote of another moment when one Professor Beesley was discovered by his family in his study • “his history books thrown by . . . His Herbert Spencer all forgotten, sunk to the throat in ‘Treasure Island.’ He had a magnifier at his eye, and through that magnifier he was (historian like) a-studying the map of Captain Flint” • The map links • Stevenson - the man • through • Hawkins - the boy • to • Beesley - the man

25. In addition the map is a manly not a boyish item • When the map is unfurled at Squire Trelawny’s house • Hawkins states that though the map was to him • “incomprehensible, it filled the squire and Dr Livesey with delight. ‘Livesey’ said the squire ‘ you will give up this wretched practice at once. Tomorrow I start for Bristol” • The boy unable to understand the map and is excluded from the beginning of the adventure • And of the story

26. But what of the map’s creation • The initial idea for the book came as Stevenson sat with his stepson, Lloyd, in California and they drew the map • “the future characters began to appear there among imaginary woods” • Creation of the map involved a boy • But the creation of the story was from the mind of a man • Original map was lost (stolen?) and the final map was created from points in the completed story • Not from the imagination of a boy

27. The map also leads Hawkins out of boyhood and into manhood • As the story, and hunt, progresses Hawkins matures • at the end of the story Hawkins the man has ironically (?) lost the desire for additional treasure • His nights are filled not with dreams of treasure • but nightmares of gold coins and the sound of Silver’s parrot crying • Pieces of eight, Pieces of eight

28. Wednesday Muppet Treasure Island