So, has anyone ever seen the Peter Pan movie from 1953? It’s a classic kids friendly Disney movie that I’m sure we all grew up with today. I grew up watching Peter Pan. I grew up watching Peter Pan and, frankly, I did enjoy it. I used to binge-watch it when I was a kid, even when I went on vacations with my family. But, after reading one of the many books, written by J.M. Barrie.
The introduction of the book, Peter has a desire for perpetual childhood and mortality. He refuses to grow up and evades the responsibilities of adulthood. I guess that’s why he calls it the ‘Neverland’. His eternal youth is mixed with the reality of characters like Wendy and her brothers, they understand that they have to return back home to mature into adulthood. Even if Peter wanted to refuse this. It is revealed that it is implied he dismembers kids as part of his ritualistic and sadistic pattern of violence. Not only that, it is also implied he dismembers these lost boys as they were maturing to keep their ‘innocence’ and childhood of Neverland. J.M Barrie did mention that the Lost Boys ‘are not allowed to grow up’ and if they do, Peter ‘thins them out’. It is also revealed that he lacks empathy and doesn’t give a shit about the consequences of his actions. He often forgets significant events that happen to him and the Lost Boys do as well. But to be fair, not a lot of readers find this perspective to be true, but I do. And it’s okay that you don’t believe me. I just really find it disturbing how Peter dismembers the Lost Boys as they get older, that he kidnaps these kids into Neverland.
Want to know something else? Remember Captain Hook? He is portrayed as the villain. When I was young watching the films, I thought he was the villain as did many other young audiences. In the film, Peter and Wendy however, it is revealed that Captain Hook was once a Lost Boy named James who left Neverland to grow up. And when he returned, Peter had rejected him leading to their rivalry. This could be seen as more of betrayal rather than Captain Hook being viewed as a villain. In the film, he does taunt him a lot with the crocodile since it bit off his hand and now has a hook.
Now, Barrie described Peter as ‘gay, innocent, and heartless’ . Nothing wrong being gay XD, but it is wrong being heartless. These interpretations and reading the book made me believe that Peter Pan is the villain in the story. He may look innocent, but there’s a shadow behind him that says otherwise. But, the 1953 film does a really good job hiding these since this movie is aimed for kids. This is all opinionated backed up with a few facts. So, it is entirely okay if you don’t believe this. There’s sources you can check out on YouTube to get the whole story.
Featured Image by Isaiah Fazio via Canva
