Modern Epic

One example of a modern day epic would be the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” which launched the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy. Curse of the Black Pearl is a movie about pirates that takes place in the 1700s and has many characteristics of a classic epic. In the movie, one of the main characters, Elizabeth Swan is taken capture by evil pirates and it is up to her lover and one of the main heroes Will Turner to save her. He teams up with the other main character and epic hero Jack Sparrow, who has goals of his own which include taking back his ship which was stolen from him. Like classic epics, there are Heroes in this movie who have big goals and have to go up against impossible situations to complete these goals but due to there knowledge, innovation, and sometimes help from outsiders, they accomplish their goals. Jack Sparrow and Will Turner are the two epic heroes; Elizabeth Swan is the damsel in distress (as most females tend to be in epics). The two must rescue Elizabeth from Cursed Pirates who sail the fastest and most deadly ship known to man while in the mean time avoid the British Royal Navy who are Hunting them down as criminals. Also, like Virgil’s Aeneid, this epic takes place at sea so on top of the Royal navy and Cursed Pirates the two main heroes much face other challenges like storms and lack of wind.