Weez Blog

Peter Pan

Last night the family (along with a good number of my colleagues) went to see Peter Pan.

Aidan, Disney video-fed urchin that he is, asked if this was "the beloved classic"?

This isn't Disney's version by a long shot. It's sumptuous, textural, and layered. One of the most satisfying visual feasts I've had in a long while - likely at least a two viewer, and one I recommend you see at the theater on a large screen.

There are a lot of well crafted themes- the nature of growing old, first love in all its innocence and passion...the father also plays Hook (the Jumanjii thang). Now that I think about it, these are not disparate ideas. They all feed together nicely.

This is not the spoiler - this is the lesson. A kiss is just the beginning of a larger connection. Love, and it suggests, physical communion, is the rite of passage to becoming a grown-up...along with the attendant responsibilities (financial, social, emotional). There is hope for the father -- who unlike his Neverland counterpart is not old, alone and done-for -- who is able to let go of his fear of poverty and what the the neighbors think to embrace and become the father to the lost boys.

As to the boy who refuses to grow up? We know the type.

He never does come back, and he'll treasure Wendy's kiss forever. I have no doubt. I also wonder if part of his never growing up means that there are collections of other kisses from other little girls for whom he'll never accept the mantle of responsibility nor admit the love he desires (and does feel). But he'll have great adventures of different sorts. It ends as it should, each being true to their nature. Wendy will go on, grow up and tell the story. Pan will be forever the incorrigible unattainable love that we all remember without anger, though with a certain amount of longing.

*Update: Things I Thought but I may not write about

Captain Hook and Peter are alike, and as Hook says, Peter will be just like him - alone in the end. Like Batman and Joker being flip sides of a psychotic coin, Peter and Hook are of the same ilk.

Wendy is pivotal in this. She is the center of revelation...and not a mamby pamby take it like a girl version. So different than Disney where all the girls are two-dimensional creatures; either angel-mothers or murderous bitches.

The rift between childhood and adulthood is where one starts considering others, laying aside dreams for the ones you love.

And just a great line.
John : Sir, you offend my reason.

Posted by weez at December 17, 2003 07:55 AM | TrackBack