Disney thinks it has pirates figured out. A peg leg, a hook for a hand, a flashy moustache that swirls at the tips, and a parrot attached to their shoulder that you can tell is evil because it has angled eyebrows – all a necessary part of the uniform. That is about as far as Disney can take its pirate representation without being slammed with lawsuits by concerned parents, because the real pirates were more than just clumsy crew members who were always tripping over their own feet and bickering with children. They were violent and cruel. But most of all, they were clever. Their behaviours were not a result of unchecked impulses and potential undiagnosed psychopathy, but rather a result of calculated thinking and appliance of strategic acts that can be analysed today using modern economic theories.