AHOY YE MATIES!
I’m gonna be honest with you all, I am writing this little intro after I watched the movie because I forgot about it (Obvious by the opening sentence that will soon clearly relate to the movie)! But my trusty number generated picked 1936 for the next movie, and the movie that won Best Picture in the EIGTH (!) Academy Awards ever was titled Mutiny on the Bounty. I had never heard of this film before, but I think it’s fairly obvious what it’s going to be about just based on the title alone. A mutiny…on the bounty…a pirate movie! I LOVE PIRATES! I’ve been watching Our Flag Means Death (which is great btw) and some of my favorite movies are the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, just too good. Based on the fact that I like pirates, I thought I was going to like this movie a fair amount! Let’s watch (and pretend I haven’t watched it yet)!
*132 Minutes Later*
Okay, yes, I once again enjoyed a very unrealistic and odd interpretation of pirates! Sue me!
1. This movie takes place in 1787 and the goal of the British Naval ship, The Bounty, is to travel to the South Pacific Ocean and acquire goods to take to the West Indies. The plot of the movie revolves mainly around British Navy Lieutenant Fletcher Christian as he conflicts with an overbearing and abusive captain, Captain William Bligh, on board The Bounty. Christian is tasked in recruiting more individuals to
work on The Bounty, so he travels to a tavern in which a lot of convicts hang around, and enlists many of them into service for the British Navy. Here, we’re introduced to Tommy Ellison, a newly enlisted crewmember that Christian takes a liking to due to his status as a husband and father to a young child. In another scene, we see Roger Byam, who comes from a well-to-do family and is enlisted to work as a midshipman to Captain Bligh, which is basically a low rank officer. These two men, plus Christian, are seen all aboard The Bounty in the coming days, and Christian and Byam strike up a friendship very quickly. Captain Bligh is formally introduced, and our first opinions of him are based on the fact that he is tasked with punishing a former crew member for hitting his previous Captain. The punishment consists of flogging (whipping) the individual a certain number of times based on their crime. His very first scene, Captain Bligh and the crew are witnessing the flogging and the man who is doing the flogging tells Captain Bligh that the punished man is dead from his wounds. Despite the death, Captain Bligh tells the administrator to carry out the punishment to the dead body. This is the first of many cruel punishments brought about by Bligh. Early on in the journey, Byam butts heads with another midshipman named Stewart Hayword, and the next brutal punishment by Bligh comes when Hayword and Byam get into a little physical altercation, but Bligh saw that Byam started it, so he’s ordered to sit at the top of the mast pole. While he’s up there, a storm starts and he is expected to continue his punishment despite winds and rain nearly knocking him down. Christian thought it was inhumane, and eventually helps Byam down, but Bligh believed Christian was trying to undermine him so he orders Byam back up the mast. 
He survives, but it was cruel. This cycle of vicious punishments for the tiniest reasons continue, including more floggings and reducing food and water supply, but eventually the men make it to the South Pacific Ocean and land at the island of Tahiti. Here, Byam and Christian both fall in love with Tahitian women and are extremely upset when they have to leave the island. However, the crew gather a ton of Tahitian plants and are on their way within a few weeks. Before they leave, two of the crew members get caught trying to abandon ship on the island, and get sent to the lower decks in chains. After they leave, Christian
work on The Bounty, so he travels to a tavern in which a lot of convicts hang around, and enlists many of them into service for the British Navy. Here, we’re introduced to Tommy Ellison, a newly enlisted crewmember that Christian takes a liking to due to his status as a husband and father to a young child. In another scene, we see Roger Byam, who comes from a well-to-do family and is enlisted to work as a midshipman to Captain Bligh, which is basically a low rank officer. These two men, plus Christian, are seen all aboard The Bounty in the coming days, and Christian and Byam strike up a friendship very quickly. Captain Bligh is formally introduced, and our first opinions of him are based on the fact that he is tasked with punishing a former crew member for hitting his previous Captain. The punishment consists of flogging (whipping) the individual a certain number of times based on their crime. His very first scene, Captain Bligh and the crew are witnessing the flogging and the man who is doing the flogging tells Captain Bligh that the punished man is dead from his wounds. Despite the death, Captain Bligh tells the administrator to carry out the punishment to the dead body. This is the first of many cruel punishments brought about by Bligh. Early on in the journey, Byam butts heads with another midshipman named Stewart Hayword, and the next brutal punishment by Bligh comes when Hayword and Byam get into a little physical altercation, but Bligh saw that Byam started it, so he’s ordered to sit at the top of the mast pole. While he’s up there, a storm starts and he is expected to continue his punishment despite winds and rain nearly knocking him down. Christian thought it was inhumane, and eventually helps Byam down, but Bligh believed Christian was trying to undermine him so he orders Byam back up the mast. He survives, but it was cruel. This cycle of vicious punishments for the tiniest reasons continue, including more floggings and reducing food and water supply, but eventually the men make it to the South Pacific Ocean and land at the island of Tahiti. Here, Byam and Christian both fall in love with Tahitian women and are extremely upset when they have to leave the island. However, the crew gather a ton of Tahitian plants and are on their way within a few weeks. Before they leave, two of the crew members get caught trying to abandon ship on the island, and get sent to the lower decks in chains. After they leave, Christian witnesses Hayword abusing the captive men and it was the straw that broke the camels back. Christian introduces the idea of a mutiny to the crew, and many of them follow suite. They manage to wrangle Captain Bligh, and he has no choice but to submit. Christian does not want to stoop to Bligh’s level, though, and let’s him take one of the smaller side boats and figure his way back home with food, water and a compass. Some of the crew choose to go with Bligh and remain loyal to their captain, but most stay on the ship. Bligh leaves, and Byam eventually comes out from under deck or wherever he was and is shocked to hear of a mutiny, and there is now a rift in Christian’s and Byam’s friendship. Christian’s plan was to sail back to Tahiti so he and Byam could stay with the women they love, and he does just that. 
They arrive back, and presumably spend a long, long time there because Christian now has a child with the woman, Maimiti. Byam and Christian reconcile and the spend their days lounging around without a care in the world. However, miraculously, Bligh was able to sail to another island, and he eventually made it back to England. There, he desired to capture Christian and put him to death for the mutiny. One day, the Tahitians see a British Naval ship in the distance, and Christian believes that they’re coming back for them. He takes his wife, child, and some of the other Tahitians and some of the crew and they take The Bounty and escape to another island before the ship can get to them. Byam and some of the crew refuse to leave with Christian, though, because they want to go back home to England. Bligh eventually finds the remaining crew and captures them, making them all out to be pirates and traitors to the crown, especially Byam because he will not inform Bligh as to where Christian went. Bligh and the crew make it back to England, and they all have trials in front of a royal court. Most of the men are found guilty, even Byam after he had a lengthy monologue about the mistreatment on the ship at Bligh’s hand, and they are all presumably hung for their crimes. However, since Byam comes from a wealthy and respected family, his friend Sir Joseph Banks pleads to let him live, and they oblige as long as Byam continues to serve in the Royal Navy. Finally, the movie ends with a scene of Christian and everyone on The Bounty arriving at a new, uncharted island, burning the boat so there is no evidence of them being there, and Byam joining a new crew as midshipman again. Overall, I thought the plot was great. A little too much of Captain Bligh, though. He was truly insufferable. Needed more mutiny. I think many things that occurred were highly unrealistic, but hey, it’s a pirate movie. What do you expect?
2. For this movie, the character’s I’m going to be analyzing are Roger Byam, Fletcher Christian, and William Bligh. While I can recognize that the other characters do contribute to the story, I feel as if they are there to further the characterization of the three aforementioned main characters. Specifically, I think the side characters of the crew really only serve a purpose to make little mistakes so the audience can see how cruel Captain Bligh is, and the Tahitians provided a reason for Christian wanting to stay on Tahiti, for an example. As for the three main characters, I believe they vaguely represent three aspects of human nature; “good”, “evil” and the balance between the two. Fletcher Christian, to start off, would represent the “good” side of humans because he was the voice of reason and compassion when everyone else on the ship was being treated horrifically. He was constantly saying that he didn’t approve of the way Bligh was running his ship, and that Bligh
was essentially a horrible captain, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He attempted to defend the crew, refused to sign the captain’s log because Bligh had lied about the stock of cheese and stolen some himself, but then punished the crew for it, and more. And on Tahiti, Christian was very respectful of the culture and the people, and genuinely appreciated the way that they live. Even once the mutiny was succeeding, Christian still wanted to spare Captain Bligh’s life and treat him with human decency by giving him a chance to live. It’s possible that he acted selfishly by proposing the mutiny and immediately acting upon it, letting Bligh go, and then returning to Tahiti (since Tommy Ellison, for example, wanted to return back to England because he has a wife and child), but I don’t think any of those make him a bad person. He wanted to live a life not dedicated to the British Navy, and I can’t blame him. All in all, I think Christian started off as simply being a man who had compassion for his fellow Navy men, but evolved into being someone who wanted more to his life than just abuse and loyalty to said abuser. I respect him for it and I’m glad he was able to escape to a different island. Next, we can talk about Captain Bligh. He was a piece of work, obviously representing the “evil” aspect of life. He was a well-respected captain, but I don’t know how that’s possible 
when his methods of punishment are so harsh. I don’t really know what his problem was. Like, he had it good, but was obviously aristocratic and power hungry. Is it like a power thing? He lovedddd to be in control. Gotta hand it to him, though. He was able to survive for at least two months with a crew on a tiny boat to travel to an island where there weren’t cannibals. And he did. He got to England eventually, didn’t get punished, and is presumably continued to torture people all across the seven seas – maybe dreaming of Fletcher Christian? Well…anyway…absolutely no character development at all. Finally, we have Roger Byam! My man! Well, at first. He is the balance between the two extreme sides, as he had a friendship with Christian, but also remained loyal to his captain and the British Navy. Christian and Byam sparked a friendship almost immediately, through some practical jokes Byam was doing to Hayword. Christian was the only person to defend Byam when Captain Bligh forced him atop the mast for a punishment. Byam and Christian were both sympathetic to the crew (since they were higher ranks, they didn’t suffer the same abuse from Bligh, only the crew did really). The pair got even closer once on Tahiti, as they both fell in love with the Tahitian women and essentially went on several “double-dates” together. Very sweet. But when the mutiny occurred, Byam was somewhere else on the ship. He was stripped of the choice of whether he wanted to stay on The Bounty, with Christian, or go with Captain Bligh on his little rescue boat aimlessly wandering at sea. Christian basically told him to suck it up and that it’s too late. When Christian explains to the remaining crew on deck that they’ll be returning to Tahiti, Byam is adamantly against it. They have a little lovers quarrel, but soon make up once back on Tahiti. But when Captain Bligh came back for them, Byam was so insistent that Bligh couldn’t be mad at him because he had no part in the mutiny. So, he re-joined Bligh and GUESS WHAT! Bligh treated him like garbage and he became a prisoner, surprise surprise. He especially treated Byam poorly because he claimed to have no clue as to where Christian went, which was kinda true. Once back in England for the trial, Byam, for some reason refused to talk ill of Bligh. He wouldn’t tell the court
what Bligh was doing to the crew and such. Maybe he thought if he said something bad about Bligh, they were for sure convict him? But then he gave this big old speech alluding to some of the things Bligh did but really just defending himself and saying how he remained loyal to the captain and the king and whatever. They still found him guilty, but then his rich and important friend pleaded for him, and Byam was let go! Crazy. But yeah, Byam is no better than Bligh in terms of character development. He’s pretty wishy-washy and honestly, now that I’m thinking about it, pretty selfish. Overall, I think Christian had some pretty good character development while the other two were stagnant. Good characters, though, in the way that they were all entertaining to a certain extent.
was essentially a horrible captain, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He attempted to defend the crew, refused to sign the captain’s log because Bligh had lied about the stock of cheese and stolen some himself, but then punished the crew for it, and more. And on Tahiti, Christian was very respectful of the culture and the people, and genuinely appreciated the way that they live. Even once the mutiny was succeeding, Christian still wanted to spare Captain Bligh’s life and treat him with human decency by giving him a chance to live. It’s possible that he acted selfishly by proposing the mutiny and immediately acting upon it, letting Bligh go, and then returning to Tahiti (since Tommy Ellison, for example, wanted to return back to England because he has a wife and child), but I don’t think any of those make him a bad person. He wanted to live a life not dedicated to the British Navy, and I can’t blame him. All in all, I think Christian started off as simply being a man who had compassion for his fellow Navy men, but evolved into being someone who wanted more to his life than just abuse and loyalty to said abuser. I respect him for it and I’m glad he was able to escape to a different island. Next, we can talk about Captain Bligh. He was a piece of work, obviously representing the “evil” aspect of life. He was a well-respected captain, but I don’t know how that’s possible what Bligh was doing to the crew and such. Maybe he thought if he said something bad about Bligh, they were for sure convict him? But then he gave this big old speech alluding to some of the things Bligh did but really just defending himself and saying how he remained loyal to the captain and the king and whatever. They still found him guilty, but then his rich and important friend pleaded for him, and Byam was let go! Crazy. But yeah, Byam is no better than Bligh in terms of character development. He’s pretty wishy-washy and honestly, now that I’m thinking about it, pretty selfish. Overall, I think Christian had some pretty good character development while the other two were stagnant. Good characters, though, in the way that they were all entertaining to a certain extent.3. For a movie made in the 1930s, I thought the acting was fairly decent! Well, decent for the time I guess. There are some scenes I remember where it seems like some of the actors “overact” and like, dramatize moments that don’t need to be dramatic, if that makes sense. But honestly, I think that’s kinda just how acting was in the 30s. It was good enough. I actually was surprisingly engrossed with the movie!
4. Okay, so, this movie is not that offensive! I don’t remember there being any “iffy” scenes besides one.
Captain Bligh described the Tahitian women he spotted with Christian as “that native woman” which was a lot, but Christian immediately stood up for her and implied that what he said was offensive and such. Yasss feminist king! Anyway, speaking of feminism, does this movie bass the Bechdel test….Nope! There are two, female character who are named who do talk to each other, the two women from Tahiti that Byam and Christian fall in love with. However, these women only were seen talking about men. Soooo, nope. Doesn’t pass. But hey, overall, the movie was very tame. Good for the time period especially.
5. Finally, did I enjoy the movie? Well, I’d say yes! I thought it was fairly entertaining, and I was definitely invested in the plot. The mutiny happened so far into the movie, that it almost made it better when the mutiny finally did happen. They were, like, building up suspense kinda. I liked that. I gave the movie a 3 1/2 stars on Letterboxd! There was a couple of other movie’s I’d heard of that were nominated that year, but I think this movie was probably good enough to win, you know! Worth watching! Always love a good pirate flick.
Well, that’s all for me! I’ll be heading out now. Thanks for reading.
~
Amelia