Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Why Can't Peter Pan Grow Up?

This past weekend, I took my kids to see the new live-action Peter Pan movie. In general, I've never been a big Peter Pan fan - never read the book, count it as one of my least-favorite Disney flicks, and wouldn't dream of watching any version where a young woman plays the part of Peter Pan. But, amazingly, I actually loved this movie! It was wonderful.

As I drove home, I couldn't put my finger on why I so much enjoyed it. Finally, after perusing some of the reviews on rottentomatoes.com, I figured it out. This is the first time that some semblance of romance was addressed between Peter Pan and Wendy. There was almost a raw sensuality between the two young actors playing their parts, and I was actually rooting for them to kiss. Go figure!

Now, before you think I'm some kind of pervert for enjoying sexual tension between two pre-pubescent kids, let me exonerate myself by saying that it was the innocent-first love/first kiss stuff that sent butterflies through my heart. It was all so sweet and dreamy, I could just imagine being 12 all over again and having a crush on cute Ronny Witt who sat three seats down and once aisle over from me.

Something still bothers me, though, and I'm hoping that all of you well-read and erudite people may help me come to some acceptible understanding. What I have never been able to figure out is why Peter Pan can't grow up. Is he not a real figure but simply a figment of Wendy's imagination? Is he a fairy? It all is presented in such a way that leads me to believe he chooses never to grow up - is that the simple answer? He can't grow up because he simply doesn't want to? No matter what? Cause in this version, you can see that he is seriously tempted to perhaps give growing up a try. So why doesn't he just do it?

I know that if Peter Pan actually grew up that psychologists would have to come up with a whole new term to describe men who act like they are eighteen their entire lives and won't commit to anything that lasts longer than a Monday night football game, but is there another reason? Should I just read the book? Maybe I'm just too obtuse to get this.

Anyway, if you get a chance, check out this movie. Even if you don't have a kid to take, it really is very good IMO.

Lynn

In the book, Peter heard his parents discussing what he would be when he grew up and decided he didn't want to. He actively chose not to grow up. The Lost Boys also chose not to grow up, but near the end of the book, decided to go home with Wendy and her brothers -- and to grow up. Only Peter stayed behind.

Nan

The only movie version where they addressed that was Hook. I still love that movie, because Robin Williams does such a good job. I love anything humorous that he does.

I think there's also something with Neverland that allows Peter to never grow up. After all, if someone did that here, they'd still grow up. Neverland is a place of dreams, so it's possible for Peter's decision to happen.

In Neverland, time stands. That's why Peter never grows up. That's why Wendy spent so much time in Neverland but when she came back it seemed like she was only away one night.

I grew up on the cartoon, and it was always one of my favourite kids' stories. I didn't see the new movie yet, though I'm planning to.

I already heard about the romance they put in, and it really makes me mad. I mean, I'm sure it's all sweet and nice, but the fact they made Peter and Wendy romantically involved takes out the whole innocence of the story, the magic of it. It's like taking Mary Poppins and making her marry that chimney sweep.

It seems like nothing these days can survive without romance. Romance isn't a bad thing, but sometimes it's not necessary.

Julie

Julie - I'm going to respond to this admitting openly that I have not yet read the book but also promising that I will go out tomorrow to the library and get the book and read it, and if my suppositions are incorrect, I will come back and recant my observation.

It seems that perhaps J.M. Barrie did intend for there to be a "budding romance" between these two characters, albiet one that was presented heavily in subtext. One of the aspects of "growing up" that everyone eventually must face is their own sexuality. Both Wendy and Peter are forced to face this fact - on a very surface and innocent level, mind you - with different results for each character. Wendy discovers that perhaps there are benefits to growing up whereas Peter determines that confronting these new and somewhat scary feelings is simply too much, thus choosing to return to Neverland.

I think, perhaps, that the recent portrayals of this story as a Disney animated picture and other productions where thin women were cast in the role of Peter Pan pretty much side-stepped this whole subtext completely. They chose to show Peter Pan as an almost androgynous, one-dimensional character, a child who had decided not to grow up. Never did I get the feeling from these prior movies that perhaps Peter might, for at least a few minutes, rethink his position and wonder if there were things he might miss out on if he remained a forever-child.

Seeing it presented in this new light, with a real 14-year-old boy and a real 13-year-old girl who, in real life, would indeed be discovering the attractions of the opposite sex, brings back this subtext. Peter becomes multi-dimentional, his fears of growing up based in more than simply overhearing his parents' intentions for his future. He becomes all adolescents, scared as they step toward adulthood about the new feelings they have and what these feelings might mean. And you feel much more for his plight - instead of just a mischievous kid who likes to taunt Hook, Peter becomes a person who I genuinely wonder about in terms of his reasons for staying young.

In the end, this movie is still a fabulous adventure story. And I for one do not think that the very innocent romance in this movie hurts it in any way. In fact, it really made me think. A story that I'd always blown off as just a kiddie fantasy has proven to me to have serious questions within it - that perhaps for the cost of growing up, you may gain some things that children can never experience.

I hope you decide to see it and try not to let your feelings color your perception of the movie. I would be interested to hear your opinion after you see it - if you think that the romance was a bad thing.

Lynn

If that was the case originally, it would be maybe okay, but originally they were kids. They were not adolescents. They were about 10.

And I am planning to see the movie, regardless. I've been waiting for it for a while.

Heh, besides, would you think marrying Mary Poppins to that chimney sweep would be wise? Would you want to see the 7 dwarves meet 7 female dwarves (although that's a bad example, considering originally they were knights and they all wanted to marry Snowhite )? Would you want to see all the evil stepmothers repent and become good and live happily ever after? That would be changing a given element, that would spoil the story. (I'm imagining how Snowhite would turn out...) Peter was a child, who only lived with faeries and pirates and would stay in his dreamland forever. In the next movie they make they'll probably make Peter come back (to the real world, I mean).

Julie

I absolutely loved the new Peter Pan movie! My parents and I went to see it on New Years day, and we all thought it was very well done. I am a big fan of the Disney movie (yes, I own it and many others), but I liked this version better for the same reason Lynn mentioned.

I was absolutely rooting for Peter to decide to grow up so that he and Wendy would grow up together and live happily ever after . I hoped it would go against everything I ever knew about Peter Pan. But, alas, it was not to be.

- Laura

Gee, that reminds me of some TV show I used to love ... gosh, what was its name again? It escapes me now, but it also involved tights and flying and serious issues arising in a show sometimes dismissed as "kiddie fare".

Oh, yeah, and a really awesome romance.

Kathy (who hasn't seen the movie but my older brother took my 8 year old daughter over Christmas and they both loved it. )

I loved it, too! I've seen it twice and want to go again. The first viewing, I was kind of judgmental throughout, but the second time, I just sat back and enjoyed it -- and oh boy, did I enjoy it! It's such a sweet story, and I fully want to support it at the box office. I have no problem at all with remakes and book adaptions as long as they're done well, and this was. Was anyone else just overly amused by the Aunt character? Her singing in the tub "I do believe in fairies!" had me cracking up; and her getting all paranoid after reading "War of the Worlds" -- heheh... classic.

Ems

Heh, Kathy, you have a very good point. Well, I guess I just personally see Peter Pan as a childhood hero, and I always thought of him as just a little boy who likes to hang out with Tinkerbell. Also because I was little (I was little when I was introduced to Superman, too, but the romance was already there) I never even imagined the possibility of any romance in it, and it's kind of hard for me to grasp the idea. In Return to Neverland I was kind of disappointed that he didn't say hi to Wendy, though .

Julie