Thread by @wolfinsheeps

It's not difficult to understand why “Our Flag Means Death” is such a successful show. It’s character driven.

A thread from a character designer's perspective🏴‍☠️:

Despite common belief, this is an oft misunderstood and ill-applied concept in a lot of media today, especially comedy, and *especially* comedy television. Character forward shows always resonate with an audience better than nearly every other type of show. 2/

Better than nostalgia, better than “clever/witty” comedy writing, better than a lot of naval gazing that contemporary shows seem to lean on. Instant gratification in the form of entertainment, if you will. It's usually pretty laid out for audiences. Less thinking necessary. 3/

For myself, being a character designer means understanding who a character is at their core; their desires, their wants, their flaws, what makes them squirm, what makes them excited. 4/

You can design a character with strong shapes, or cool clothes, or funny poses, or incredible colors, but if you only approach your design from one singular perspective, your characters will most likely fall flat. Walt Disney said it best: 5/

“Until a character becomes a personality, it cannot be believed. Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify themselves with the character, its actions will seem unreal. 6/

- And without personality, a story cannot ring true to the audience.” 7/

It’s just as much part of figuring out their design as what color shoes they wear, or the style of their hair. It’s all connected. The characters in OFMD are deep, and deeply flawed, and we know exactly who they are nearly instantly. That's how well they're designed. 8/

The most magical thing about this show is how well rounded and likable every character is. Mary Bonnet, who could have easily been easily boiled down to the boring “jilted wife” trope, filled with hate for Stede. Easy. Two dimensional. Instead, we love her. 9/

Izzy, who could have been a one note villain, is an aggressive, obsessive, and emotionally damaged man. His relationship with Blackbeard is toxic, and complex. You kind of feel bad for him. He's in love with the idea of Blackbeard, but that Blackbeard doesn't really exist. 10/

The only character that’s easy to dislike is Calico Jack, because he represents someone who just… doesn’t get these people. He is a black and white kind of guy, with little depth. A one track mind. 11/

Nuance is lost on him, and he mistakes the concept of nostalgia and jokes or fast paced games as his idea of a good time and a way to get results, which is… not unlike a studio executive trying to figure out how to cater to the widest audience possible. 12/

Then, when they mess it up, they blame the audience, or in Jack's case, the rest of the crew, for not understanding or liking the end product. 13/

The Muppet comparison is an apt one. Nearly universally loved for their earnestness, there is a special heart to the Muppets that is present in the motley crew of the Revenge: they are all, at their core, very silly. Their commitment to the bit makes us root for them. 14/

@papertiki likes to say that the reason they’re comedy gold is because they do silly things in a serious way. They are, at their core, ridiculous, because in real life, people themselves are ridiculous. 15/

It's hard to connect to someone emotionally when they're as serious as a heart attack all the time, and then when someone like that tries to crack a joke it's awkward and unfunny. Committing to who you are is a serious concept, but it doesn't mean you are a serious person. 16/

The opposite feels hollow - serious things done in a silly way feels like a joke - a surface level application of humor with zero depth done for a quick chuckle. All retch and no vomit. 17/

Stede has every physical desire he could ever want, and chooses to give it all up to become, of all things, a pirate. He's a silly man with silly idiosyncrasies and a completely out of touch view of the violent world of the seas, but he wants this more than anything. 18/

Blackbeard rules the seas - to the point where he doesn’t even have to be on a ship to overtake it, and yet he’s willing to give all that up to be able to experience what it’s like to properly use a snail fork and wear cashmere, and, it turns out, to love someone. 19/

It also means the writers fundamentally understood who each of these characters were. Very rarely do you see a show with such consistent writing done so well. It's strong and clear the whole way through. 20/

The fact that this is all wrapped up in a gay story is wonderful, but it means it was considered at the start. The relationship between Ed and Stede wasn't a snap judgement to get views. It's the core of the story. It was baked into their characters from the very beginning. 21/

It's why it doesn't feel forced. Nothing in this show feels forced. We relate to these characters because they feel like real people, because the story was crafted with the characters in mind always, not just the wacky situations you can put them in. 22/

And character driven stories always win.

/end thread

(now #renewourflagmeansdeath !) 🏴‍☠️