From the many stories that we learn in our childhood, very
few stand out and stay with us for the rest of our lives. We forget most
stories as other things take the front seat in our lives and we put seemingly
less important thoughts and ideas on the back burner until the point that we
forget about them or they hold no precedence at all. But the stories that do
get stamped in our memory forever leave us with a sense of fondness every time
we think of them again. One such story was that of Peter Pan which was
materialised into a film by Walt Disney in the year 1953.
Wendy Darling lives in a beautiful home in London where she
is well taken care of by her parents as are her two younger brothers, John and
Michael. Wendy has a maternal instinct to take care of her brothers and
occasionally boss them around which they do not mind at all especially since
she tells them bedtime stories about their favourite hero Peter Pan. As
described by Wendy, Peter lives on the island of Never Land with his gang of
Lost Boys, all of whom are constantly at war with the pirates headed by Captain
Hook. The captain is so named because his left hand was replaced by a hook
after Peter cut it off and fed it to a crocodile. One night John and Michael
get their father riled up which leads him to decide that it is time for Wendy
to forget her foolishness and grow up. Wendy pleads with her father that she doesn’t
want to forget about Peter Pan because she is in possession of his shadow and
must return it to him. Later that night Peter pays Wendy and her brothers a
visit in order to retrieve his shadow and decides to take them with him to
Never Land to meet his Lost Boys, the pirates, native Americans, mermaids and
the lot.
Of the many films that Walt Disney commissioned in his time,
Peter Pan is one of the most important as it tells the tale of a boy who
refuses to grow up because of his love for youth and desire to remain a child;
not unlike Disney’s own affection for children which led him to build his
massive empire. The title character Peter Pan has a balance between innocence –
which is shown in his lack of knowledge about a mother but desire to have one –
and a naughty persona which is evident since he cuts off Captain Hook’s hand
and feds it to a crocodile which sparks off a rivalry between the two. The most
important factor of Peter’s character is his desire to stay a child forever and
reluctance to grow up. As the narrator points out at the start of the film, it
is a tale which has happened before and will happen again because Peter is the
constant fixation in the story that never changes and always remains the same.
He is a child who loves adventure and has a fascination for being independent
but also wants to be cared for.
The protagonist of the film in truth is the character of
Wendy who has a wide range of imagination but strong maternal instincts which
leads her to not only care for her own brothers but also take on the role of
being a mother for the Lost Boys. She is realistic and responsible as she
prevents Peter from getting into too much mischief and mistreating Captain
Hook. She is also capable of being stern when it is required as she shows when
she commands her brothers and the Lost Boys to behave appropriately.
Peter Pan is the fantasy that everyone hopes to be when
growing up. The ability to be careless about the rest of the world and live how
one wants to live is lost once the process of ‘growing up’ is initiated. The
problem with living a Peter Pan kind of life is that sooner or later reality
has a tendency of catching up and we have to be responsible for ourselves and
our actions.
It is difficult to find fault with a story that we have
grown up learning and hold dear to heart. Even if there may be one or two flaws
with this particular film adaptation, they are sooner or later overlooked
considering it is a children’s tale based on imagination. It is a classic
without a doubt.
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