Aging Peter- Analysis of Peter Pan
I clearly remember my first experience of going to a movie theatre with someone else
other then my mother. The movie I watched with my babysitter and other friends was
Steven Spielberg’s, Hook. Of course, the movie, itself, was fun but the only thing that
filled my mind was the absence of my mother. I guess to a little, five year old girl, all the
excitement and adventures couldn’t mean as much as her mother. The film, Hook, is
relatively a recent version of J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan, which was first introduced in 1902
novel, The Little white bird. There have been many other versions created, including
Peter and Wendy, which was published in1911 and Walt Disney’s 1953 animation, Peter
Pan. There are few unchanging elements, which are responsible for the story’s worldwide
reputation and its survival. However, most people have tendency to identify the story
with only one aspect of it. Generally, Peter’s everlasting youth is considered to be the
dominant essence in the story of Peter Pan; however, this notion is severely distorted as
most children do wish to grow up, and the real, ageless defining elements are Neverland
and the motherhood, imbedded in the story.
Oxford English dictionary states, “True fairy tales concern a ‘class of supernatural
beings of diminutive size, who in popular belief are said to possess magical powers and
to have great influence for good or evil over the affairs of humans’”(qtd. in Behrens 594).
According to this definition, Peter Pan qualifies as a fairy tale because Tinkerbell exists
in the story as a fairy that is small in size and has the ability to perform magic. The story
of Peter Pan, both the original and other retellings of it, have elements, which are
required for children’s literature. However, Barrie’s original fairy tale had been written
for adults and it is rather complex in terms of presenting emotional components. On the
contrary, most versions of the story
other then my mother. The movie I watched with my babysitter and other friends was
Steven Spielberg’s, Hook. Of course, the movie, itself, was fun but the only thing that
filled my mind was the absence of my mother. I guess to a little, five year old girl, all the
excitement and adventures couldn’t mean as much as her mother. The film, Hook, is
relatively a recent version of J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan, which was first introduced in 1902
novel, The Little white bird. There have been many other versions created, including
Peter and Wendy, which was published in1911 and Walt Disney’s 1953 animation, Peter
Pan. There are few unchanging elements, which are responsible for the story’s worldwide
reputation and its survival. However, most people have tendency to identify the story
with only one aspect of it. Generally, Peter’s everlasting youth is considered to be the
dominant essence in the story of Peter Pan; however, this notion is severely distorted as
most children do wish to grow up, and the real, ageless defining elements are Neverland
and the motherhood, imbedded in the story.
Oxford English dictionary states, “True fairy tales concern a ‘class of supernatural
beings of diminutive size, who in popular belief are said to possess magical powers and
to have great influence for good or evil over the affairs of humans’”(qtd. in Behrens 594).
According to this definition, Peter Pan qualifies as a fairy tale because Tinkerbell exists
in the story as a fairy that is small in size and has the ability to perform magic. The story
of Peter Pan, both the original and other retellings of it, have elements, which are
required for children’s literature. However, Barrie’s original fairy tale had been written
for adults and it is rather complex in terms of presenting emotional components. On the
contrary, most versions of the story
Cited: Barrie, James M. Peter and Wendy. London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1911. Barrie, James M. The little white bird. London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1902. Behrens, Laurence, et al. ed. Reading and writing across the curriculum. Toronto: Longman, 2003. Columbia, 1991. Issue 1 (Mar 2001): 57-74. Vol.18 issue 2 (Fall 1985): 47- 63.