Bonifacia “Jim” Jimenez from Our Flag Means Death
If you have spent any time on this blog, you’ll know that one of my favourite storytelling devices is what TV Tropes calls Seamus Is a Girl or Sweet Polly Oliver. I’ve no idea who Seamus or Polly are, but they involve a character (usually a woman) donning a disguise that hides their gender, something the audience may or may not know about beforehand. Think Mulan, Penthesilea, Eowyn, Arya Stark, Alanna of Trebond, Enfys Nest, Djaq from the BBC’s Robin Hood, Morgause in Merlin, Shakespeare’s Portia, Rosalind and Viola... the list goes on. Even Leia disguising herself as a bounty hunter at the beginning of The Return of the Jedi or the teaser trailer for The White Queen counts.
Going in, I was vaguely aware that a character like this existed in Our Flag Means Death, though I ended up idiotically blind to the fact that the mute, heavily bearded pirate called “Jim” who constantly wears a low-brimmed hat over his face was not what he seemed. Originally known as Bonifacia Jimenez, their true identity is revealed when the huge beard and the large prosthetic nose come off so they can enjoy a dip in the ocean.
Turns out that Jim isn’t in disguise just because it’s easier to be a pirate if you’re a man, but because they’re wanted for murder. As a child, they were taken in by nuns after their family was slaughtered by bandits, and raised to be a lethal killing machine who could wreck bloody vengeance once they were old enough.
This they dutifully did – only to discover that the chief bandit was one of the fearsome Spanish Jackie’s nineteen husbands... and now she’s laid a bounty on Jim’s head. Thus, the male disguise.
But also, Jim just kind of likes the way they are. Once the truth comes out to the crew, there are a couple of “Jim’s a girl?” comments, after which everyone sticks to they/them pronouns for the rest of the season. In-universe it’s because no one is quite sure what to make of them, though from a Doylist perspective it’s clearly because the actor is themselves nonbinary/genderfluid (which leads to some amusing commentary at times – you’ve probably already seen the meme about how it’s a win for diversity that a bad guy will use the correct pronouns while he’s busy marooning you on a deserted island).
But as actor Vico Ortiz said in an interview: “it feels like we’re reclaiming the trans and nonbinary stories that oftentimes get overlooked in history books,” which seems like a reference to the likes of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, clearly the inspiration for Jim for having also disguised themselves as men in order to enter the world of piracy during its Golden Age (the jury is out on whether they’ll turn up in season two).
But the most important thing about Jim is that their gender identity isn’t the most interesting thing about them. Their history with the nuns and the bandits, their place on the crew of the Revenge, their relationship with love interest Oluwande and unfinished business with Spanish Jackie – this is what makes up their meaty subplot, one that unfolds right under the noses of the more central love story between Stede and Blackbeard.
Obviously a lot of the commentary surrounding characters like Jim is to do with the show’s queer representation, identity politics, correct use of pronouns, and the positive effect it’s all had on LGBTQIA+ viewers, and the enthusiasm and excitement with which Our Flag Means Death has been met with has been heart-warming. While acknowledging the importance of this, the part of me that has enjoyed the concept of characters dressing up as men since childhood is based on a simpler joy: sometimes it’s just fun to watch characters wearing disguises, hiding who they truly are, experimenting with their identity and how other people perceive them... it’s a both a type of freedom and concealment that’s clearly intrigued audiences since the concept of “gender norms” first began.
