Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the White Pearl

First, check out this picture of Penelope Cruz's character (Angelica Melon) from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Then, check out this picture of Johnny Depp's character (Captain Jack Sparrow). Now, if you didn't look at this part of each picture the first time, look again, and focus your attention on each person's teeth.

I saw the film yesterday, and while I found the film generally entertaining, I couldn't help but notice a difference in the teeth between the two lead characters. For Depp, it's kind of hard not to notice this, as the film introduces us to his character initially by his teeth. When we see the stained teeth and gold fillings, we're supposed to know it's Captain Jack Sparrow. And, while, in reality, the kind of lifestyle in the 1700s led by a character like Sparrow would have likely produced teeth even worse than these, at least some attempt is being made here to represent some lack of oral care. For Cruz, whose character I would assume has also led a lifestyle that would not be particularly conducive to effective dental hygiene, even that attempt is gone. Rather, her teeth look quite solid, quite intact, and quite white.

Immediately upon noticing this, I reacted through the lens of gender performance. There are certainly many types of masculine identities that call for a full set of solid, white teeth. (Just look, for instance, at Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon's reconstructed mouth.) However, I would surmise that there is more room for embodying forms of attractive masculinity with broken, stained, or crooked teeth than there is for embodying forms of attractive femininity. The differences between Depp's teeth and Cruz's teeth in this film would appear to support that assertion. Both have been characterized routinely as attractive. (Indeed, Depp was chosen in 2009 as People's Sexiest Man Alive.) Both occupy the lead roles in the film (with Depp first and Cruz second). Yet, the dental differences between their characters are striking.

Among other things, the study of gender asks people to look at the many various everyday and specific practices that reinforce differences between men and women and that, in the process, reinforce male privilege. In this case, the film reflects more rigid standards for women's teeth than men. When women are held to more rigid standards in regard to their teeth than men, it means more time and money for women spent in the care and presentation of their teeth, along with more judgment being levelled against women for the appearance of their teeth. At the everyday level, while men are not free of this concern, they don't have to worry as much about the brightness, straightness, and fullness of their teeth as women do in order to gain acceptance and opportunity. It is, then, one more on the long list of gender differences that perpetuate male privilege--one that, among others, is reinforced in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

R.I.P. R.T.M.M.S.

Let's play a game. In this game, I'm going to give you a set of initials and you need to identify the wrestler whose name matches these initials.

Here's an easy one: ATG. And another easy one: HH (Note: There's actually two answers: one very easy, the other not so much). And now: BTHH Or: JSS. How about PMWO, or RRR, or CBO? ... I could go on ...

And in the mid- to late 1980s, my brothers and I would go on. We all watched professional wrestling, and we made up this game as a way of passing time on long car trips, weekend and summer afternoons, and any other time we might be bored. I even made a master list at one point--probably around 1987 or 1988--that has long since been long lost. The funny thing is, I could easily start making a new one, and occasionally one of my brothers and I talk about doing exactly that, after we've played a few minutes of the old wrestling initials game. We could even add newer wrestlers to the list and have more available choices for the game.

Of course, if we add newer wrestlers, I'm not going to know very many names since I don't watch anymore, and I haven't paid much attention in about two decades. But, at one time, I would have known most of the names because I was a WWF fan.

I don't remember when I became a WWF fan. It had to have been around 1984 or 1985 or so ... maybe as early as 1983. I joined a number of close friends as wrestling fans who, like many of the boys at school, talked about the latest developments we witnessed on USA coverage of WWF (now WWE) wrestling on Sunday mornings (before Kung Fu Theatre) and on Monday nights, or alternately on TBS coverage of WCW wrestling when that league rivalled the WWF. I watched the Saturday morning Hulk Hogan cartoon in the mid-1980s. I still pull out my Jesse "The Body" Ventura toy figure sometimes when we talk about his successful 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial campaign in my political communication class. I went with a friend and his dad to a pay-per-view screen in Lima, Ohio, to see Wrestlemania II. A year later, another friend hosted a party for a bunch of us at which we watched Wrestlemania III via pay per view at his house. Again, I could go on, just as I could with the wrestler initials game. (And, by the way, here are your answers to the initials above: ATG = Andre The Giant, HH = Hulk Hogan and Hercules Hernandez, BTHH = Bret "The Hitman" Hart, JSS = Jimmy "Supefly" Snuka, PMWO = Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff, RRR = "Ravishing" Rick Rude; and CBO = Cowboy Bob Orton).

And, so, I join numerous folks around the country and the world who were saddened to learn the news the other day that Randy "The Macho Man" Savage (that's RTMMS in the wrestler initials game) died in an automobile accident at the age of 58. I don't know that I have a lot to add to the many things I've heard and read in eulogizing The Macho Man over the last few days. Perhaps ESPN's Bill Simmons sums it up the best in a piece posted today, though I will note that, unlike Simmons, Macho Man was not my favorite wrestler. Rather, in what is probably a sign that I took everything way too seriously as a kid just as I do as an adult, my favorite wrestler was the other guy (the winner, I might add) in Macho Man's classic match from Wrestlemania III, which until the last few days I hadn't realized was more than just my favorite match of all time. My favorite wrestler was Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat ... or, alternately, RTDS, for those playing along.

The Macho Man and The Dragon shared more than just that epic match. They also shared a space in the wrestling game that my brothers and I created. You see, you could do variations on names, including names without nicknames, to create another layer to the game. And, so, "RS" could be given, with two possible answers: Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat (unfortunately, my name didn't count ...).

And, as Simmons notes about Savage, The Macho Man and the Dragon also shared the good fortune of having the height of their success coinciding with the height of the WWF's popularity. The Macho Man was able to sustain and build upon that success more, even becoming known beyond wrestling audiences in later years for his Slim Jim advertisements, like the one featured above.

In that commercial, Savage asks, "Art thou bored?" and "Need a little excitement?" Indeed, I was, and I did, and for a while in the mid- to late 1980s, Randy "The Macho Man" Savage (or, RTMMS, that is ...) helped my brothers and I remedy that situation. For that, I remember him fondly.