MASARYK UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Department of English Language and Literature
THE INFLUENCE OF TIME AND HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THE STORY OF PETER PAN IN FILMS
Bachelor Thesis Brno 2018
Supervisor Author Mgr. Barbora Kašpárková Eva Nešporová
Declaration
I hereby declare that I worked on the following thesis on my own and that I used only the sources listed in the bibliography.
Prohlášení
Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou bakalářskou práci vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních zdrojů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy university a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb. o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.
V Brně dne 30.3. 2018 ...... Eva Nešporová
Acknowledgment
I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Barbora Kašpárková for the useful comments and guidance that she provided through the writing process of this thesis.
Abstract
This bachelor thesis focuses on the story of Peter Pan, also known as “a boy who would not grow up”, and on changes that appeared during the past hundred years. The thesis analyzes three different films that were made in the past seventy years and compares them with the original story called Peter Pan by James Matthew Barrie, first published in the year 1911. The analytic part consists of Peter Pan, directed in 1953 by the Walt Disney Company, Peter Pan by Paul John Hogen, directed in 2003, and Pan by Joe Wright, the latest film made, from 2015. The analysis focuses mainly on the issue of racism and feminism that appeared in the adaptations.
Keywords
Peter Pan, fairy-tale, novel, feminism, racism, Pan, Neverland, love story
Anotace
Tato práce se zabývá analýzou příběhu Petra Pana, který je též známý jako “chlapec, který nechtěl vyrůst”, a zaměřuje se na změny, které vznikly v průběhu posledních sto let. Práce analyzuje tři filmy, které byly natočeny v průběhu posledních sedmdesáti let a porovnává je s původním příběhem Petr Pan z roku 1911, který napsal Jame Matthew Barrie. Vybrané adaptace příběhu zahrnují animovanou verzi z produkce Walta Disneyho, film z roku 2003 natočený Paul John Hogenem a zatím poslední adaptaci, kterou natočil Joe Wright. Analýzy se zaměřují převážně na problematiku rasismu a ideologii feminismu, jejichž prvky se ve filmových verzích objevily.
Klíčová slova
Petr Pan, pohádka, novela, feminismus, rasismus, Pan, Země-Nezemě, milostný příběh
Table of Contents
Introduction...... 8 1 James Matthew Barrie ...... 10 1.1 Life ...... 10 1.2 Marriage ...... 11 1.3 Importance of Llewelyn Davies family ...... 12 2 The original story of Peter Pan ...... 14 2.1 History of the book ...... 14 2.2 Style and formal characteristics ...... 15 2.3 Storyline ...... 15 2.4 Characters...... 18 2.5 Neverland ...... 20 3 Walt Disney and the Native American conflict ...... 21 3.1 Storyline ...... 22 3.2 Racism ...... 23 3.3 Differences from the original story ...... 25 4 Paul John Hogen and his vision of the Neverland ...... 27 4.1 Storyline ...... 28 4.2 Feminism ...... 30 4.3 Love story ...... 32 4.4 Differences from the original story ...... 33 5 Modern Peter Pan ...... 36 5.1 Storyline ...... 37 5.2 Love story ...... 38 5.3 Differences from the original story ...... 39 5.3.1 James Hook and Tyger Lily ...... 39 5.3.2 The Never Bird ...... 40 5.3.3 Native Americans and Smee ...... 40 5.3.4 Neverland, Peter and His Mother ...... 41 5.3 Characters...... 42
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Conclusion ...... 44 List of references ...... 46
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Introduction
The story of a young boy who did not grow up, and more importantly never wanted to grow up, is famous all around the world. James Matthew Barrie created a story that thousands of children love to hear every night before sleep, Peter Pan. This tale entertains and stimulates their imagination and gives children hope that even they can fly. And not only children love this book. Peter Pan was published as a novel in the year 1911 and it is a story not only for the small ones but also for adults. Each of us can find something fascinating and important in this story. Is it the fact that all those children, and particularly Wendy, John, and Michael, who love their family as much as they could, were able to forget their parents so quickly or is it the ability of Peter Pan to truly believe that to pretend means to really happen? Maybe it is the fascination with Captain Hook who is the same terrifying as well as well-mannered.
This bachelor thesis concentrates on its film adaptations throughout time and changes that time and history with its political ideologies caused. The thesis first focuses on the life of James Matthew Barrie, the author of the book Peter Pan. As he was a very interesting and humble person and his books were often inspired by real people, more importantly, by one particular family, it is important to know something about his life and the background. The second part of this work includes the story of Pneter Pan itself, its history, main characters and appearance of the inhabitants of Neverland. It also covers some of its film adaptations. Unfortunately, the thesis cannot include all of those for it would be too long and retentive. Therefore it will focus only on three adaptations throughout time. The first is Peter Pan by Walt Disney, made in 1953, the very first animated film and the second that was filmed, about this young boy. The second adaptation is also the most famous and well-known one called Peter Pan, from 2003, directed by Paul John Hogan. The last film adaptation that this work covers is also the last one made called Pan, directed by Joe Wright and it is a free adaptation and breaks the typical “Peter Pan image“ of a small boy that lives in the Neverland as long that no one can remember when he first came there.
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The analysis will firstly focus on the storyline itself and differences from the original story in the chapter devoted to the differences will be covered the characters, their appearance, and typical characteristic features and the Neverland itself. It is said that each child’s Neverland is different but the thesis will focus on Peter Pan’s Neverland as a little island somewhere in the universe. Then it will focus on racism and feminism as the ideologies that caused a significant change either in the storyline or in the character features of some of the main characters.
It was the fascination with this particular story and an interest in its development that made me choose this topic for a thesis. Each decade brought something else and each generation value different things. The interests of young people have changed and so has this story in order to get closer to the viewer. My motivation is to find if the main story has been kept or whether the story was changed so the viewer was satisfied.
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1 James Matthew Barrie
1.1 Life
James Matthew Barrie was born 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus in Scotland. He was a Scottish dramatist, journalist, and playwright, best known as a writer of the novel and a play Peter Pan. He was appointed 1. Baronet by the King George V. in the year 1913 and he received a title Sir. He was born into a family of the weaver and had nine siblings, two of them died at birth. When he was six years old, one of his brothers, David, died in an accident. Barrie never accepted his death and his mother did neither. David was her favorite child and she lost her mind soon after his death. She started to pretend that James was David and she started to talk to him like that. Barrie was letting her think that was true, he even dressed in his brother's clothes and he was fascinated by her mind so he wrote a biographic book about her in the year 1886, trying to save and prevent all the good memories of her before his brother died. The book was named after her – Margaret Ogilvy. She died soon after he finished the book
I suppose I was breathing hard, or perhaps I was crying, for after a time I heard a listless voice that had never been listless before say, “Is that you?” I think the tone hurt me, for I made no answer, and then the voice said more anxiously, “Is that you?” again. I thought it was the dead boy she was speaking to, and I said in a little lonely voice, “No, it's no him, it´s just me.” Then I heard a cry, and my mother turned in bed, and though it was dark I knew that she was holding out her arms. (Barrie 12)
When he was eight years old, he was sent to the Glasgow Academy where he was taken care of by his two oldest siblings, brother Alexander, and sister Mary Ann, that were teaching at there. He spent there two years after which he returned home and started attending the Forfar Academy. When he was fourteen years old, he started attending Dumfries Academy which was crucial for him. He met very good friends and spent hours playing pirates in the garden. According to Birkin (2003), this was the first impulse that inspired him to write Peter Pan. Barrie then became fascinated with the Penny Dreadfuls1 and became a passionate reader. Then he realized he wants to write. However, his family
1 Popular serial literature. The name arose from the price – each story cost one penny 10 had different plans for him, he was to attend the University of Edinburgh. His family did not believe that being a writer is a prosperous job. However, he was unhappy and one classmate described him as:
exceedingly shy and diffident, and I do not remember ever to have seen him either enter or leave a classroom with any companion. … Nor did he, I think, connect himself with any of the debating societies of the College - at least I never saw him at any. Yet I remember him distinctly, a sallow-faced, round-shouldered, slight, somewhat delicate-looking figure, who quietly went in and out amongst us, attracting but little... (Birkin 25)
He was writing drama reviews for Edinburgh newspapers. Nevertheless, he graduated in the year 1882. And even though he graduated with the title M.A., he did not lose his determination to become a writer and with this thought, he came home to Kirriemuir.
After his return home, he submitted a piece of his writing to one newspaper in London. He used his mother stories about her birth town, called “Thrums”. The editor loved it and asked for more of these stories. This gave roots to his later novels Auld Licht Idylls, A Widow in Thurms and The Little Minister published in years 1888, 1890 and 1891 retrospectively. All those novels were popular and it provided him with a chance to become a famous writer. However, Barrie´s intention was not to write novels but to write plays so he turned to the theatre. His first play was not successful but he did not withdraw and continued with others that were more popular. In the theatre, he met a young actress Mary Ansell who later became his wife.
1.2 Marriage
He met Mary Ansell in the theatre where she performed in one of his plays, Walker, London. They got married in the year 1894. They had a small ceremony in Scotland in Barrie’s parent's house. After the wedding, Mary retired from acting and became a housewife. The marriage was not fulfilled as they did not have children. Both Mary and Barrie were not happy. Soon after the marriage, Barrie bought a house in Kensington and he enjoyed long walks in the gardens. One of his Peter Pan’s novels, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, focusing on Peter´s adventures with fairies, takes place in those
11 gardens. Barrie with his wife bought a Black Lake Cottage in the Surrey where Barrie would spend time with his cricket friends and where he spent a lot of time with the Llewelyn Davies family (Chaney, 2006). In the year 1908, Mary had an affair, taking her lover to their house in Surrey. Barrie found out a year later, demanding that she ended the relationship which Mary refused. Barrie did not want the divorce to harm his carrier and reputation so he offered her a separation which she also refused so Barrie asked for a divorce. Mary later married her lover Gilbert Cannan (Birkin, 2003).
1.3 Importance of Llewelyn Davies family
Barrie met the Llewelyn Davies family in the year 1897 on his long walks with his dog Porthos in the Kensington Gardens. He was entertaining the boys by telling them his fascinating stories. Davies family played a significant role in Barrie's life. The boys became Barrie's big inspiration for writing. He wanted to entertain George and Jack (the older brothers) by telling them that Peter, the youngest one can fly. There was created the character of Peter Pan (Birkin, 2003). The Llewelyn Davies family had five children, George, John, Peter, Michael, and Nicholas. The main characters of the Peter pan novel were named after real John, Peter, and Michael. (photo of Michael). Barrie met their parents after a long time when they invited him for dinner. Since then, he was coming there for dinner regularly. The Llewelyn Davies family first visited the Black Lake Cottage in 1901 and Barrie spent hours playing pirates with them. Boys’ father Arthur died in the year 1907 and Barrie then became even more involved with the family and became a friend to Sylvia, boys’ mother. However, Sylvia died in the year 1910, not too late after. After her death, Barrie claimed that they were engaged, even though there was no evidence of it (Birkin, 2003).
However, Sylvia wrote in her will that Barrie should become a guardian to her five sons, along with her mother and her brother. Two of the boys died when Barrie was still alive – George died in the WWI in 1915, Michael drowned in 1921. Peter committed suicide a
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few years after Barrie’s death, after completing Barrie’s work. Barrie died in 1937 of pneumonia and he is buried in his birthplace in Kirriemuir.2
2 Barrie’s life full of kindness towards other people inspired director Marc Foster to make a biographical film. It was made in the year 2004 and the information included are very similar to his own story. The film focuses mainly on the love between Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and Barrie and even though it is more intense than the real story was said to be as Birkin wrote in his book (2003), the film keeps the boundaries and Sylvia with Barrie never engage in any real relationship, despite Barrie being a guardian to all Sylvia’s sons. The film also exposes Barrie’s kindness to others and it shows the viewer a story of a man who let the children from an Orphanage go to the theatre to see his play for free. He believed in the best in people and this film is a well-made adaptation of his life.
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2 The original story of Peter Pan
2.1 History of the book
The character of Peter Pan firstly occurred in the book The Little White Bird in the year 1902. The story was about a relationship between the storyteller and a couple and their son. The storyteller tells a story about a young boy named Peter Pan to the couple’s son, David. The second time Peter Pan appeared was in the book Peter Pan in the Kensington Gardens (published in the year 1906) where he spent time with the fairies. This fact is also mentioned in the book when Peter tells Wendy about him leaving his parents:
“It was because I heard father and mother,“ he explained in a low voice, “talking about what I was to be when I became a man.“ He was extraordinarily agitated now. “I don’t want ever to be a man,” he said with passion. “I want always to be a little boy and to have fun. So I ran away to Kensington Gardens and lived a long long time among the fairies.” (Barrie 32)
In the year 1904 was first published a play called Peter Pan or the Boy Who Never Grew Up. The play became a hit and Peter Pan became very popular in the literature for children, that inspired Barrie to write the whole book about Peter’s stories. An interesting fact is that the role of Peter Pan was never played by a man or a child but always by a woman. It is said that there were two reasons to do so. One was that it was forbidden for a child to play in the theatre after nine p.m. The second was that the role was said to be too difficult to be played by a child and it could not be played by a man because of the bigger masculine posture3.
The book itself was written in 1911 and had a name, Peter and Wendy. The book was renamed to Peter Pan in the year 1924 but the story did not change. In the year 1929, Barrie donated all rights in Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Children’s hospital and it still remains (Peter Pan, title page).
3 The most famous actress who played Peter Pan was Mia Farrow (1976). 14
2.2 Style and formal characteristics
The storyteller provides a reader with a lot of inside opinions. He goes betwixt and between 4– from the Neverland to the Darling’s house and back again (Annotated Peter Pan, p.14). The storyteller also switches between the pronouns we and I which can lead to an idea that there are two storytellers – one the author, J.M. Barrie, and the other are the stars:
Oh no. We have written it so because that was the charming arrangement planned by them before we left the ship; but something must have happened since then, for it is not they who have flown in, it is Peter and Tinker Bell (Barrie 187).
The story itself also contains a few sentences about Great Britain, for example, “Sons of Britain!“, “Rule Britannia!“ (Barrie 162) which makes the reader believe that Barrie was a patriot and proud British man.
2.3 Storyline
The story begins in the house of Darling. It is quite a typical British family from the middle class. A man, an accountant, a beautiful young woman, and three little children, all with an exceptional imagination. One thing is extraordinary, their nanny is a dog. And according to the storyteller, she cares about her children more than the “real human nannies“.
The story first introduces each member of the family and his importance to the story, even his/her feeling about themselves – for example, Mr. Darling is a very insecure person. Then it focuses on the human's imagination – each of Darling’s children has visited the Neverland before. Every child has its own Neverland with things they did and saw.
The story itself starts when Peter Pan loses his shadow in the house of Darlings. He comes here to listen to the fairy tales Mrs. Darling tells her children before sleep but he is seen. And thanks to Mrs. Darling and Nanna, his shadow is ripped from him and hidden. Peter
4 Jumping from one thing to another and back (Maria Tatar, 2010). 15
Pan and his fairy friend Tinker Bell later come for his shadow and they wake up Wendy who is not surprised to see them – she saw Peter several times in her dreams about Neverland. She helps him to get his shadow back and she is completely intrigued by this young boy who, as she realizes later, can fly. He wants Wendy to come with him to the Neverland, to tell bedtime stories to his Neverland’s friends, the Lost boys who come to Neverland when their mothers leave them.
After some hesitation, she agrees and she and her brothers, John and Michael fly to the Neverland to experience magical adventure. However, with their first real visit of Neverland comes to first negative experience and they are split by the pirates' cannon. Wendy is left with Tinker Bell who is jealous of her and thinks that Peter loves her. From the first moment, she meets her she plans to kill her. She, luckily, does not succeed and their big adventure can really start. Peter explains that his biggest enemy living in Neverland is Captain Hook, a captain of a pirate boat and a very cruel man. Peter once cut his hand and since then, Captain wears a hook instead and wants revenge. However, Peter knows about the only thing that Captain Hooks fears – the Crocodile. When he lost his hand, the crocodile ate it and since then, he desired more. However, the crocodile also ate an alarm clock and since then he tics so Captain Hook can run away every time, he hears ticking.
Peter and other lost boys are happy to have Wendy there, they start to call her “Mummy” and they start to pretend she is their real mom and Peter their father. And soon even the young Darling siblings start to forget their parents that they left only a few days ago. Wendy is the only one careful and she reminds her brothers as often as possible who their real parents are. However, even she starts to forget later in the story. She takes care of all the lost boys, she cooks to them and makes laundry, all the things that real moms do. But she is concerned with Peter. He is always looking for some trouble and he fights a lot. When he saves a daughter of the chief of Native Americans, Tiger Lily, he almost dies when fighting Captain Hook. But since the young lady was saved, the Native Americans start to help Peter to protect their underground house against Hook and his pirates- since that day, they sit in front of the Lost boys' home and guard it. Wendy, her brothers, and the Lost boys experience together a lot of adventure. And they still manage to run from
16 the pirates who do not know how to get inside their underground house – they have holes in the trees that only fit their small bodies.
One day Wendy finally realize she is starting to forget her parents also and it is time to go home. She offers the Lost boys to come with her and her brothers, their family will take care of them. And they agree. All but Peter will come with them but he sends Tinker Bell with them to guard them a guide them. When they want to leave and fly to England, they hear a fight outside. Pirates and Native Americans. The Lost boys think that the Native Americans won so they pack all their things and say goodbye to Peter who stays in the house. But when they come to the ground, they are caught by the pirates who tricked them to believe they lost. They take them to the pirate's boat. The only one not taken away was Peter who stayed in the house and fell asleep, not knowing what is happening above him.
Captain Hook sees this as an opportunity to finally kill his arch enemy and he finds a way to get to the house. He sees Peter sleeping and he realizes that he had not drunk his water. He drops a poison to his mug and leaves, being sure that Peter will drink it in the morning and will be dead. However, Tinker Bell who was not caught by the pirates sees Hook and finds out about his plan so she flies to Peter to tell him. But he does not believe her and wants to drink his water. Tinker Bell fears that she will lose her friend so she flies towards him and drinks it herself so Peter can live. Peter finally realizes that Tinker Bell did not lie and he saves her with the belief of many children visiting Neverland in their dreams – the fairies live as long as children believe in their existence.
When Tinker Bell is saved, Peter knows the pirates took his friends on their boat so he comes to save them. Meanwhile on the boat pirates wants to kill all the children. They want only Wendy so she could tell them the bedtime stories. Peter gets on the boat by trick and he kills half of the pirate crew. He overthrows the rest with the help of the Lost Boys and Wendy and he comes for Hook. However, he is not the only one waiting for him but that Hook does not know. He jumps from the boat believing that the sea will save him but he jumps right into the Crocodile’s open mouth. When Hook is dead, they fly back to London, back home. Wendy believes that her parents are still waiting for them, leaving the door open. And they are right. Both their parents are every night sleeping in
17 their room waiting for their children to come back. And Nana waits for them too. When they finally get home, John and Michael have trouble remembering their mother and father, but with a hug, it all starts to come back. Even though Peter Pan does not stay with the Darlings, all the Lost Boys do and they start living normal lives. Peter comes back to the Neverland, promising that he will come every year on the spring break for Wendy and they will fly to the Neverland together. However, he lives so adventurous life that he forgets. When he finally comes back for Wendy, she is already married, having two children. And she is too old to come to the Neverland again.
2.4 Characters
Wendy is the main female protagonist of the story. Although she really enjoyed the role of mom, she also enjoyed the adventure. She was the only one who did not forget her parents, although she started to. She was in love with Peter and she was heartbroken when he decided to stay in Neverland but she never said to him that and he never realized. She always wanted to experience some adventure but she also knew she should not as a mother. She was annoyed by Peter’s arrogance and she never understood his urge to never grow up. In a way, she was forced to grow up in her young age because she knew she is the only person who can take care of the Lost Boys.
Peter is a young boy, about eight years old, maybe younger – we know this only because he is described to still have all his milk teeth. He is very arrogant, egoistic and cocky. His best friend is Tinker Bell, a fairy that is in love with him but he does not know. He loves adventure and he seeks for it every time possible. He has an unexceptionally great imagination and he cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy. What he believes that happened, happened. He is a leader of the Lost Boys because he is the only boy who never grows, others grow even in Neverland. It is thanks to his devotion to staying forever a little boy who does not need to go to school or work. I believe he loved Wendy, however, there is nothing about this in the book. He never expresses his feeling and he is blind about hers, yet he comes for her even after years, he never forgets her.
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John and Michael are Wendy’s younger brothers. Both enjoy adventure and even though they are homesick at the first moment, they soon adapt to life in Neverland and become members of the Lost Boys. They start forgetting their real parents quickly. They show a lot of courage during the story and exceptional strength, as all the Lost Boys. Michael, the youngest, soon forget completely and he believes that Wendy is his true mother. However, he remembers his mother as soon as she hugs him.
Captain James Hook is a very interesting character in the book. There is not much written about his past, only that he was attending a prestige school and he was taught good manners – and he never acted differently. Even when killing, he is always very polite. He lost his hand in one fight with Peter Pan and the Crocodile ate it so he is very afraid of the crocodile, running from him every time. His desire to kill Peter Pan comes Peter’s behavior. He hates Peter’s arrogance.
Mr. Darling is an accountant, a typical middle-classed man. He is not poor but not rich. He is aware of the expenses that come with three kids and he has not much sense of humor. When the children disappear, he believes it is only his fault and he punishes himself – he sleeps in a kennel. However, he believes that his children will come back and he sleeps in their room, waiting for them. Even though he does not show it too often, he loves them.
Mrs. Darling is a loving mom. She takes care of her children and would give all her life for them. She reads them bedtime stories every night, even when they are gone, she is sitting in the rocking chair with a book, waiting for them.
There live seven boys on the island. Besides Peter Pan who is a leader of them, there are six boys on the island. Tootles is the humblest of all the Lost Boys. He is clumsy and sometimes silly but very loveable. But he tends to believe to everyone. When Wendy was coming to the Neverland, Tinker Bell tricked him into killing Wendy. He shot her with his arrow, luckily he did not kill her. Nibs is described as the bravest Lost Boy, after Peter Pan. Slightly believes that he remembers his life before becoming the Lost Boy. Curly got his name because of his curly hair and Barrie describes him as “a pickle“ – a person who gets into pickles. He is not very intelligent. The Twins do not know much about
19 themselves and they seem to not know who is who, they are called First and Second Twins.
2.5 Neverland
Neverland is described as an island. Every child in the world has one on his own. It is the same island but with different characters, different places, and magical creatures. It is a small place, Barrie describes that one can go around it in a few hours. The island is on the earth but it is hidden and only the island itself can reveal to others. Peter with the Darling’s children traveled for almost a week before the island allowed them to land there. The ocean that surrounds the Neverland is home of mermaids. But they are not friendly creatures but hateful and cruel. They like only Peter because he pays them attention and shows affection to them. The Island is also a place of Native Americans, with their chief Great Big Little Panther and his daughter Tiger Lily who was saved by Peter in one of the adventures.
The island is described almost like a jungle. It is covered by trees and flowers and one side of the island is occupied by the Lost Boys and fairies and the other by the Native Americans. The sea belongs to the pirates and the mermaids. And all over the island, there are animals. Crocodiles, tigers, lions. The house of the Lost Boys is underground so the pirates would not find them and it is in the middle of the meadow. The entrance to the house is hidden, the meadow is surrounded by seven trees, each has a hole in the trunk in the size of a particular boy so no one else can fit there. The house itself is small. It is one room that changes to a bedroom in the night and to the kitchen during the day. All the Lost Boys share one bed and use a door as a table.
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3 Walt Disney and the Native American conflict
The first Peter Pan film was produced by the Walt Disney company, however, as it is being often misunderstood, the film was directed by different people, particularly Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson and Clyde Geronimi in the year 1953. The film was not very successful and was often criticized for the elimination of the magical elements from the story.
Mr. Disney has completely eliminated from his film the spirit of guileless credulity in fairy magic that prevails in the play. He gets into his story of the English children who are wafted away to the Never Land by the eternally youthful Peter and his companion Tinker Bell, by making it very obvious that the whole adventure is a dream and offering a helpful suggestion that adults take it as a toke of a spirit of youth... Perhaps these eliminations were prompted by a belief that present-day adults and children are more literate than they were in Barrie’s time (Crafton, “The Last Night in the Nursery: Walt Disney's Peter Pan”).
The story was shortened and cut to only one day of the Darlings being in Neverland. The text above suggests that this whole adventure was just a dream that happened during the hour that the Darlings were at the ball. Despite this fact, they experience almost every adventure written in the book. The story was cut off some things for it was made especially for the young viewers and the story as such would be too difficult.
However, the real Native Americans were annoyed by the film as well. According to them, not only the film but also the original story was racist. The visualization of the native Americans as an archetype with their ear put on the ground and their paintings on their faces. Apparently, the Native Americans understood that Barrie did not mock them on purpose, that it was just a common image of them that made him picture the characters as he did. However, almost fifty years later when Walt Disney decided to make this film, (Yuhas, “What's up, Tiger Lily?“) their visualization of the Native Americans was not that common anymore. Walt Disney’s version works with the typical stereotypes that can occur when speaking about Native Americans. Dark skin, big noses, painting on their faces, feather headbands. But only their appearance but also their behavior was taken as being mocked. Native Americans did not appreciate them being visualized as people putting their ears to the ground to listen to whether someone is coming.
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This chapter, therefore, focuses on the racism for the Indians were very unhappy about this situation. However, they never sued Walt Disney’s Company because this problem appeared already in the book and the Company only followed its inspiration.
3.1 Storyline
The story starts with the Darlings, dressing up for the ball. Mr. Darling is nervous and he is angry with the dog, Nana. Instead of letting her watch the children in the night, he ties her outside. When Mrs. Darling wishes goodnight to her children, Wendy tells her that there was Peter Pan in the house the night before and that he left there his shadow. However, both she and her husband think this is caused by the stories that Wendy tells her brothers. When they leave the house, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell fly to the room, looking for Pan’s shadow. When they finally find it, Peter wakes Wendy up by mistake. Wendy watches him struggle with the shadow and she helps him sew the shadow to his feet and when he asks her to come with him to the Neverland, she agrees. She wakes her brothers up and they all learn to fly.
Together they fly to Neverland. There, meanwhile, are the pirates already bored with doing nothing and they seek some action. Pan and the Darlings are coming in time for that. When they see them, Hook immediately orders to fire from a cannon to kill Pan. However, he misses. Pan sends Wendy and her brothers with Tinker Bell to the secret underground house of the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell is jealous of Wendy so she plans to get rid of her. She leaves the group and quickly flies to the boys to tell them that Peter orders them to kill Wendy. They try to shoot her but they miss. She is scared and she forgets to think about something nice (this is how they can fly) and falls down. She is saved from a sure death by Peter who is then very angry at Tinker Bell and he banishes her.
As Wendy is very interested in the mermaids, Peter decides to take her to the Mermaid Lagoon and he orders the Lost Boys and John with Michael to find and capture an Indian. As they do not pay attention to the surroundings, it is them who is captured by the Indians and brought to the Indian Chief who think that they imprisoned his daughter Tiger Lily.
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Peter and Wendy are meanwhile in the lagoon where they meet the Mermaids and they see Hook and his helper Smee tying up Tiger Lily to a rock where she will drown if she won’t tell them everything she knows about Pan. Pan uses his voice to imitate Hook and he orders Smee to release her. Then he makes fun of the real Hook and he starts fighting with him. The fight ends with the arrival of hungry Crocodile who wants to eat Hook. Pan, Wendy, and Tiger Lily escape and go to the Native Americans.
The Indians are grateful that Pan saved Tiger Lily and they name him Big Heap Chief Flying Eagle. Then the Indians dance and sing a song about their origin. The Lost Boys along with the Darlings return to their house and they talk about mothers. They all start to feel homesick. They decide that they will return home to their mother and father and that the Lost Boys will come with them. Peter is angry and he does not understand why would anyone want to grow up so he lets them leave without saying goodbye. When the children come out from the house, they are captured by the pirates who used Tinker Bell to find out where their house is. They tie them up and they take them on the boat.
Hook then sends a package to the house for Peter to find with a bomb to kill him. Tinker Bell finds out and she flies quickly to Pan to tell him but he does not believe her. To save him, she takes the package that blows up and she saves him. Together they fly to the pirate ship where Hook is about to kill all the children. Peter saves Wendy from drowning and he saves even the rest of the children. Then he fights with Hook and he tricks him to fall down from the boat right to an opened Crocodile’s mouth. The children then sail on the boat back to the London where they arrive sooner than their parents come back from the ball. Wendy tells them about their adventure and both Mr. and Mrs. Darling realize that they met Peter Pan before when they were children.
3.2 Racism
Garner in his book Racism: An Introduction works with many definitions of the racism. He believes that giving a definition of such a huge political and social problem is very difficult. However, he stated that it can be described as a belief that one race, the white
23 one, is superior to the other. It is usually bond with discrimination and prejudice towards people of different race or ethnicity.
Racism is a multifaceted social phenomenon, with different levels and overlapping forms. It involves attitudes, actions, processes, and unequal power relations. It is based on the interpretations of the idea of ‘race’, hierarchical social relations and the forms of discrimination that flow from this. Racism is not confined to extreme cases but is present in a whole continuum of social relations. (Garner 18)
Racism is a big part of the history of the world as it always played a significant role in major military conflicts. In the nineteen century the Africans and Afro-Americans fought for an equal role and equal opportunities in this world, the Jews were killed during WWII only for being of a different religion. And, most importantly for this thesis, the Native Americans fought against new inhabitants of America, against the immigrants, for the ground that had always belonged to them. They have stolen their property and pushed to live in reservations.
The story itself does not dishonor or disgrace the Native Americans but their book description and later their film visualization is what they find offensive. In the story, Tiger Lily puts her ear to the earth, she breaks out a peace pipe, and speak with her cohorts in a guttural gibberish“ (Yuhas, “What’s up, Tiger Lily”). Barrie also used in his work a word “redskin” which is very offending. Native Americans also did not appreciate that Peter Pan was named an Indian Chief after saving Tiger Lily’s life. “He turns Tiger Lily into a hero but makes sure she is subservient to Peter” (Yuhas). The book stated that since then, the Native Americans bend their knees before Pan and they helped him for they were very grateful. The film even suggested a possibility of a future marriage of Pan and Tiger Lily. Even there, the Indians danced for him and they worshiped him which also suggest a superiority of a white race. However, Pan treated them not very kindly. In the book, they helped him fight against his enemy but he never helped them (besides saving Tiger Lily), nor was he kind to them.
Ruth Hopkins, a Native American activist, and writer said she struggled “to find a way that Peter Pan could be ‘fixed’ so as not to offend Native peoples”. Hopkins told the Guardian the portrayals of Native Americans in Peter Pan vacillate wildly between “practically cavemen” and “the hipster version where we’re naked, sexy and wearing little more than a headdress.” (Yuhas, “What’s up, Tiger Lily”)
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Native Americans were also offended by the song “What Makes the Red Man Red“ that occurred in the film. The song is very controversial because of its lyrics and its racial stereotypes.5 Not only these words, but also the dance caused an anger wave from the side of the Native Americans. This is a part of the original song:
When did he first say, "Ugh!" When did he first say, "Ugh!" In the Injun book it say When first brave married squaw He gave out with heap big ugh When he saw his mother-in-law. (Peter Pan, 51:13 min – 51:28 min)
The whole song together with the visualization suggest many not so positive stereotypes that may insult the Native Americans. The most marginal one could be considered the strophe “...he gave out with heap big ugh, when he saw his mother-in-law”. This suggest the presumption that the woman might be beautiful when young but she is predestined to become very ugly when she will grow old. This assumption is based on the experience from the history and the pictures and stories then told. The old Indian woman was typically pictured as fat, ugly and always frowned. The real Indian women were, however, skinny, kind and carrying individuals (Rose, “Native American women”).
Native Americans, however, never conducted any legal action against the Walt Disney company and they used only passive-aggressive defiance that led to the elimination of this song in the story.
3.3 Differences from the original story
This story contains, as it was mentioned in the subchapter above, also some mistakes. The first important is that the whole story took place only in one day, and in real time in about
5 It was replaced in the later versions by the song "What Makes the Brave Man Brave". 25 one or two hours. They were home before the Darlings got back from the ball. All of the adventures were cut and put into a one-day adventure.
When the children left the house, flying away with Peter, Michael, the smallest child, uses a little of fairy dust on Nanna so she can also fly. In the original story Nanna tears the rope she is tied to her kennel with and she runs for the darlings. Here she just waits for the Darlings to come home.
When the children got to the Neverland and they were shot at by the pirates, Wendy was almost killed by one of the Lost Boys. Here they were shooting at her but they never hit her. She, however, starts falling down as she is surprised, and Peter catches her before she can hurt herself with the fall. Also, the appearance of the Lost Boys is different. The book suggests that they are clothed in the same way as Peter – all in green clothes made from the tree leaves. They are, however, clothed as animals in this adaptation. The research did not prove that there was any reason for it but it might be because they lived in the forest and it was a way to be masked so they would not be visible to everyone. It could be also according to their character and their similarities to each animal but this idea was not confirmed, nor refuted.
A big difference was also a way of “killing“ Peter Pan. The book is very clear about this – Hook brings a deadly poison that he drops to Pan’s water and he almost drinks it. Instead of him, the poition is drunk by Tinker Bell who dies. In the film, probably for being more entertaining, Hook gives Pan a gift with a bomb inside. The bomb is supposed to kill him. However, Tinker Bell saves Peter and she takes the bomb away so Peter would live. Nevertheless, she is not killed but only buried under the rest of the Lost Boys' house.
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4 Paul John Hogen and his vision of the Neverland
Peter Pan by Paul John Hogen was made in the year 2003. The story did not go through many changes, moreover, it used as many features from the original story as possible. However, it was directed almost 100 years later after the book was written and that means that there are features that Barrie would probably never used in his play. One of these elements is sexuality. None of the versions directed before used this theme and neither did Barrie. In the original story, there is no sign of any appreciation from the side of Peter towards Wendy or any other girl. A big difference is, also, that both characters are older than they are supposed to be in the book. Barrie wrote that Pan still has all his milk teeth, that suggests that Pan is about six years old. The readers are however not that naive as the character features do not correspond to this age and the reader can suppose that he might be about nine years old. In this adaptation, Peter is an about 13-year-old boy and both he and Wendy are aware of sexual tension between them and to quote what Roger Ebert wrote in one of his reviews, “...beautiful Wendy, is aware of the latent sexuality between the two characters, and Peter is a little scared of that.”
Nevertheless, this chapter does not focus only on the theme of sexuality that appears in this story for the first time, but also on changes that Wendy’s character went through. The research proved that there is quite an important change in the character of Wendy. In the original story, she is always taking care of someone. Mostly her brothers but also all the Lost Boys that she becomes a mother to. She usually does not attend the adventures because a woman should stay at home and take care of things that need to be done. However, Wendy as Hogen pictured her is more self-reliant and more adventurous. Wendy enlights this story with feminism, being able to stand up for herself and she becomes aware of her power over Pan. Even though he never says it, she knows he loves her and it is only her love that saves all of them at the end of the story.
The film does not have an extraordinary rating in the film databases, however, the film is very similar to the original story and that should be appreciated. It is also the only film that stuck to the frame of a storyteller, the stars on the sky, that tells the story to the viewer.
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It is also important to mention that this was the first film where Pan is touched by Wendy’s words about growing up. It seems like he secretly wishes to grow up but he does not want to look weak to his friends. As Ebert writes, “...to never grow up is unspeakably sad, and this is the first "Peter Pan" where Peter's final flight seems not like a victory but an escape” (Ebert, “Peter Pan”).
4.1 Storyline
The story starts with the introduction of the Darlings family, as it is in the book. To the house arrives aunt Milicent that should help raise Wendy into a woman. They all gather in the living room and talk about Wendy being old enough to find a boy she will marry. Wendy, however, does not want to grow up yet, she enjoys her adventures with her brothers. That night comes to their room Peter and loses his shadow. When the Darlings go the next day to the ball and leave the children alone with aunt Milicent, Peter comes back for his shadow. He struggles to buckle his shadow to his body and wakes up Wendy. She is not very surprised to see him and she helps him sew his shadow to his body. She also meets Tinker Bell and she is excited about the whole world in Neverland. When Peter offers her to come with him to tell the bedtime stories to his friends in Neverland, she decides to go but only with her brothers. Peter agrees and he teaches them how to fly with only a happy thought and a little fairy dust.
Nana, their dog nurse feels there is something wrong and she runs off for the parents. They, however, do not get in the nursery in time and find only an empty room with an open window. They fly to the Neverland and they get there by flying through the universe. In the meantime, Peter tells them about the pirates, native Americans and about Hook. When they get to the Neverland, it is cold and snowy there. But with Peter’s arrival, everything starts blooming and the spring comes. The children are split when the pirates fire on them. Wendy flies right on the Lost Boys that were ordered by Tinker Bell to kill her, John and Michael fall somewhere to the water and they struggle to find their way from there and Peter flies to find Wendy. When he reaches the Lost Boys, Wendy is already shot and he is angry. Soon he realizes that she is not dead and they build her a house from trees and leaves.
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John and Michael meet Tiger Lily and they all are trapped by the pirates and tied to a rock where they will drown. Wendy makes Peter look for them and soon they find up that Hook is holding them in the cave. Peter and Wendy go there to save the children and to kill Hook. By imitating Hook’s voice makes Peter the pirates set the children free and he is making fun of the real Hook who does not understand what happened. When Hook finds Pan’s hiding place, he almost kills him and the only thing why he does not is that the Crocodile felt Hook and he is coming here to find him and kill him. Peter flies away with the children and Tiger Lily. The tribe is grateful that Pan saved the daughter of their chief and they celebrate together.
That night Peter and Wendy dance together in the forest and it is visible they have feelings for each other. Banished Tinker Bell and Hook both watch them hidden in the forest and they make a pact. Tinker Bell helps them kidnap Wendy. When Wendy wakes up in the morning, she is not in the forest but on the pirate ship where she meets Hook. She believes that he is a kind man and she is heartbroken by Peter so she decides to join the pirates. The only condition is that she wishes to see her brothers once more. The pirates agree but they follow her to the Lost Boy’s house so they can find the secret door. Wendy tells Peter she joins the pirates because she is annoyed by his behavior and they argue and fight with swords. She finally realizes that she had almost forgotten her parents and that she must return to England with her brothers. The Lost Boys wishes to go with them and Peter is left alone. When Wendy says goodbye to him, she leaves him medicine on the table to drink.
Wendy walks from the house only to find out that she is betrayed by Hook and all the Lost Boys together with Wendy are kidnaped to the pirate’s boat. In the meantime, Hook sneaks into the tree house and he poisons Peter’s medicine that Hook knows Pan will drink right after he wakes up. When Peter does wake up, he really wants to drink his medicine but Tinker Bell who finally got to him saves his life and drinks the poison instead of him. She dies immediately. Pan is broken because he lost his oldest friend and he tries to resurrect her. He uses his power to visit children in their Neverlands and he makes everybody say they believe in fairies. With this help, Tinker Bell wakes up. The pirates meanwhile decide that they will sacrifice Wendy first and they made her “walk
29 the plank“ and they push her to the sea. They, however, do not know that she is saved by Pan waiting under the boat on her.
He gets on the boat with a trick pretending there is a Crocodile coming for the rest of Hook and Pan, along with other Lost Boys and Wendy fights against the crew. When it looks that Peter will win and will finally kill Hook, Hook uses his guile to defeat Pan and he tells him that he is alone and no one will ever love him. Pan falls defeated on his back. It looks that there is no way from this situation and that the Neverland will be ruled by Hook. However, to give him strength, Wendy kisses Pan to show him that she loves him and she is there for him and Peter gains back his strength and kills Hook. All the Darlings along with the Lost Boys fly to England to come back to their parents. Peter stays in the Neverland for he wishes to never grow up.
4.2 Feminism
For this chapter deals with feminism and its influence on this story, it is important to state what feminism is. There are many definitions and they do not differ much. Jane Freedman wrote in her book Feminism that it
concern themselves with women’s inferior position in society and with discrimination encountered by women because of their sex. Furthermore, one could argue that all feminists call for changes in the social, economic, political or cultural order, to reduce and eventually overcome this discrimination against women. (Freedman 1)
Bell Hooks in her Feminism is for Everybody wrote that “…feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” (Hooks 1). They both agree that feminism in its nature is not a radical movement but a way to balance the world to be a place with equal opportunities and rights. Feminism is distinguished in two waves and Freedman classifies it as first wave being mostly in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century and was concerned mostly with gaining equal rights to women, “…particulary the right of suffrage“ (Freedman 4). She classifies the second-wave feminism as a resurgence of feminist activity in the late 1960s and 1970s and it mainly
30 focused on the certain women’s inequality. But in this movement, the focus was not on equal political rights but on their role in families, at work and on the sexuality.
‘Second-wave’ feminism refers to the resurgence of feminist activity in the late 1960s and 1970s, when protest again centered around women’s inequality, although this time not only in terms of women’s lack of equal political rights but in the areas of family, sexuality, and work. (Freedman 4)
As Wendy’s character proved changes in the area of sexuality, family, and work (although in this case in her preferences), the analysis, therefore, focuses on the second-wave feminism changes.
The research proved that the film is completely different in only one area and that is a character of Wendy. Wendy Darling as Barrie had written her is a caring person, a little adventurous but mostly a typical Victorian girl living in the typical Victorian family. Her mother is the typical “Angel in the House” and she takes care of the family and Wendy is raised to be the same. To marry a wealthy man and to be at home, taking care of the house. She quite enjoys her role of caretaker of the Lost Boys, even though she cannot go outside and fight along with the other children. Even at home, there is no sign of her being a rebellious child. In the film, however, she rebels since the first moment. She dreams about this boy who can fly, she does not understand why she is being punished by her teacher and she destroys her father’s only chance to make progress in his occupation when running in his office covered with mud and she tries to steal a letter from the teacher for her parents. This is the first sign of rebellion throughout this story.
Only one thing is the same as in the book. When she sewed the shadow back to Pan’s body, Pan says that it is only due to him that he is reunited with his shadow. She is offended and she asks him whether he is serious and is mad at him until he admits he was wrong.
As was mentioned above, she loves adventures in this film. She comes to save her siblings and she fights with a sword to do that. She even utters “ Who be you to call me girly?” (48:33 min) which is a sign of fight against the sexism.
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She says that she had always wanted to become a pirate and when Peter makes fun of her for joining the pirates and calling herself Red-handed Jill, she stands up for herself and says: “ She might be a wonderful swordsman!” (1:04:50 min) which is again a sign of a fight against the sexism. She stands up and says that a woman can be as good as a man.
Later in this particular scene, she tells Peter what she thinks about him when saying “Sir, you are both ungallant and deficient”. And they fight with swords so she would prove to him that she is right.
And the most important sign of feminism is that she is aware of that only she can save the Neverland because she is the only one who can make Pan fight. She is aware of the power she possesses. This is a big evolvement from the “Wendy who stitches socks” to the “Wendy who stands up for herself”, and she uses her power to save the whole Neverland.
4.3 Love story
The original story is very clear about the love between Wendy and Peter. All of those three girls love Peter as much as they can. However, he never thought about anything slightly similar to love or any kind of appreciation. He enjoys his style of life and the idea of having a loved one never occurred to him. However, even though Barrie did not plan to make Pan and Wendy a couple, Hogen had this idea. His reasons are debatable, probably so the film would enjoy every age group, so the film presents something eye- catching.
Let us make clear that in the book they did not even kiss. Peter was blind about Wendy’s feelings. The film offers a different scenario. Since the complete beginning, they both seem to be tempted to kiss, they almost do after Wendy helped him to sew his shadow back to him. However, Tinker Bell who is also in love with him stopped them. That is, nevertheless, not the end of this story. Wendy is the only person he still remembers. Even though he forgot John after about five minutes of traveling to the Neverland, he still remembers Wendy. They play “mother and father”, they dance together in the forest after watching a fairy wedding. They almost kiss, however, Peter is stubborn and he is afraid
32 of showing he has feelings and this beautiful moment ends with crying and screaming. There was a moment of dancing in the book also, but it was not this romantic as Hogan visualized it. And there is a big contrast between the book and this movie. Whilst in the book Peter really does not seem to understand why Wendy is so often desperate when it comes to kisses and feelings, we can see something completely different here. Pan shows that he does care and he does love Wendy, however, he is trapped in his vision of him, being alone.
And this was the reason why Pan almost died at the end. Because of his stubborn attitude, he never experienced what it is like to be loved and love and he was not able to admit that there is someone that cares for him. Hook sensed this and he was able to use this against Pan himself. He made him believe that no one like him and that Wendy would rather come back to England than to be in the Neverland with him. And that struck him right to his heart.
Luckily Wendy was aware of her power in this situation and she used it. She knew that she is the only person who can give Pan the will to live and to fight. So she kissed him. And at that moment Pan finally realizes that someone cares about him and that he is not alone. This story, however, does not end happily. They never lived happily ever after as it was in the stories that Wendy told them. Wendy, her brothers, and all the Lost Boys returned to England to live with the Darlings, while Peter stayed alone with Tinker Bell. The book was a little more positive in this matter. Peter was visiting Wendy now and then and they were experiencing some adventure for several years. Until Pan forgot about Wendy. He came back after many years only to find out that Wendy had married and she has a daughter. Even though this is not a happy end either, at least Pan forgot about her at the end and she did not break his heart as in this film.
4.4 Differences from the original story
As was already mentioned above, the film is very similar to the original book, it uses many sentences from the book and more or fewer copies of the story, however, there are
33 also some differences. Those, however, are not marginal and they do not change the story entirely so the viewer would be confused.
Unlike from the book, Michael and John are lost and not together with the Lost Boys and Wendy realizes this after already being “Mom“ for some time. Here they fell from the clouds to the water and when trying to find their way out, they find the Crocodile. They meet Tiger Lily who caught them in her trap and by an accident, she together with John and Michael, is kidnapped by the pirates (in the book there is nothing about how had she been kidnapped). However, they used a part of the original story because they decided to leave all three children on the rock to drown, and they are saved by Peter and Wendy. Peter then saves them exactly as in the book – by imitation of Hook’s voice. In the original story, John and Michael are since the beginning with the Lost Boys and the only one left on the rock to die is Tiger Lily. When Peter saves her, Native Americans promise to help him fight against the pirates. In this film, there was no such thing but it did not leave the story with questions and it did not interrupt its flow. However, Tiger Lily should be in love with Peter but in this case, she kisses John for saving her from a pirate.
There is a parrot in the film and it is highly probable that this was to be the Never Bird. The bird was very ugly, only with half of his feathers, seemed a little deadly. The Never Bird does not play an important role in the story, however, it saved Pan’s life when he was let to die in the sea. In this case, it never saved anyone’s life but its appearance is similar to what we know about from the book. It is important to mention also the flight to the Neverland. In the book they never left the Earth, there is mentioned a tower, a church, a clock that they were flying around but they never left our world. However, in this story they travel to the land of imagination through the universe, they circle around the planets and they get to the Neverland through a big burst of light.
It is very important to mention also the similarities with the story because it is visible that the director made sure the story would be almost the same. Peter is supposed to be easily distracted and he forgets people he met not a long time ago. The example is travel to Neverland. They traveled for a long time and Peter was inside his own head enjoying the adventure that he had forgotten that someone is traveling with him so he was a little
34 confused when seeing Michael and John along with him. “Indeed, sometimes when he returned he did not remember them, at least not well.“ (Barrie 48)
Also when leaving for the ball, Mrs. Darling lits the lights for the children and they ask her if something can happen to them when those lights are lit.
“Can anything harm us, mother, after the night-lights are lit?“ “Nothing, precious,“ she said; “they are the eyes a mother leaves behind her to guard her children.“ (Barrie 24)
And all in all the whole dialog when Peter asks the children to come with him to the Neverland is the same. Hogen used the exact words to bring the viewer into the story. The last similarity that should be mentioned is in the cave when Hook fights with Pan and is almost killed it that the only thing that saved Pan was the Crocodile’s ticking. Hook was so terrified of being eaten that he rather runs of that risk staying. The film went further and it let the Crocodile physically appear in this scene.
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5 Modern Peter Pan
Pan by Joe Wright is the last Peter Pan film that has been made. The original story stayed very popular during times, even though it went through many changes in each adaptation. This film is not supposed to be the same as the book as it is a prequel to the original story by James Matthew Barrie. Even though the storyline is not the same, it should keep at least the main elements the same in order to succeed in its aim – to show what happened and how Peter had become the famous boy who never grew up. It was directed in the year 2015 by Joe Wright, famous for directing Pride and Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007) and Anna Karenina (2012). His previous work indicated that Pan would be a big success and it probably would be if he kept the most important things in the story and if he focused on connections. In this case, it was not very surprising that the reviews were not very positive and the story itself contained quite a lot of mistakes that only make the viewer think how could the relationship between the main characters change so much in not that long time.
The film is full of special effects and more, the costumes. To please a modern viewer, they used colorful and pompous costumes making the characters more visually interesting. Wright also used a famous song probably so the viewers would recognize something familiar and enjoy the scene even more. The less demanding viewer would also appreciate a colorful scene of dying Indians and adventurous teenagers might enjoy the scenes with deadly Never Birds coming from the darkness and fog.
As for the film as such, the rate was not very high. Jordan Hoffman, a film critic for The Guardian was very strict about this work. “It is not worth watching“ (Hoffman) is the message that he spreads. Hoffman in his review appreciates that the film adaptation used at least some things from the original novel, unfortunately, not many. Hoffman also mentioned the darkness of the film. As was mentioned above, for example, the Never Bird is very terrifying and his first appearance in the story was connected with darkness and fog. It is, however, not the only time when darkness appeared in the film. The story starts in the night and ends in the night as well. This along with the storyline and killing
36 makes it no longer a story for children but more for teenagers and adults who would, however, according to Mr. Hoffman, not enjoy it.
The research also focused on whether there was omitted something very important or whether the story was changed in order to fit into some ideology. Because the research did not prove any particular change due to some ideology, this chapter focuses on the story altogether and compares it to the original story as much as possible.
5.1 Storyline
The story starts completely different from the book. It tells us what happened before Peter Pan decided to not leave the Neverland. Peter is a little baby and his mom leaves him at the door of the orphan house lead by cruel nuns. Peter is unhappy and still waits for his mother to come back for him. But she never comes. As time goes by, Peter becomes suspicious that the nuns are hiding something. And he is right. They are selling children to the pirates from the Neverland. Peter and his friends are abducted and taken against their will to this land where they must work in a mine with other orphans from the world. Instead of happy moments of realizing they survived, they are forced to sing a pirate song, a hymn based on a song by Nirvana 6– Smells Like Teen Spirit. The children then get a pickaxe and go to mine to find fairy dust. When Peter finds fairy dust, one other miner steals it from him and accuse Peter of lying. He is then sentenced to death. However, when pushing peter from the boat, he does not fall but realizes he can fly.
Captain Blackbeard puts him into prison because he is afraid of the prophecy. One day a son of an elf prince will return to the Neverland and will lead a rebellion against Blackbeard. Because Pan is the only person who can fly, Blackbeard fears it is Peter who will destroy him. However, with the help of a young man, James Hook, Peter escapes from the prison and from the mine. He is then imprisoned by the Native Americans living in the Neverland and he has to prove that he really is Peter Pan as he says – he has three days after which he has to show that he can fly, otherwise him, Hook and a pirate Smee
6 American Grunge Band, 1987-1994.
37 who helped them run away from the pirate’s mine will die. He is also told the story about the Elf prince who fell in love with his mother and he saved him from Captain Blackbeard. He reveals more about his past. However, the Native Americans are attacked by the pirates and almost half of them are killed.
Hook with Tiger Lily fights as much as they can but it is Peter Pan who rescues them, flying on the Never bird. Pan then continues on his journey to find something about himself and his mother. Tiger Lily takes him and Hook to the cave where all fairies wait in hibernation for their prince to come. However, they are almost killed by the crocodiles on their way there and Peter is saved by the mermaids. When they finally get to the cave, Blackbeard and other pirates are already waiting for them, stealing their key to the secret door. When the door opens and they finally see the fairy kingdom, Blackbeard gives the order to kill all the fairies. They start burning down the kingdom and Peter knows that it is his time to save them. With believing in himself, he learns how to fly and he saves Hook from falling in a deep pit. When learning how to fly he also asks the fairies for help with Blackbeard. All remaining fairies help to keep Blackbeard still so they could turn the boat against the cliff. When Blackbeard can finally move, he does not have time to save himself and he dies.
After the battle is finished, Peter starts crying that his mother is still dead and he will never see her again. On this occasion, the fairies form into a shape of his mother, giving him the last message from her, that he should believe himself and she will always love him.
5.2 Love story
This adaptation, as well as the one from the year 2003, contains a love story. In this case, it is not a love story of Wendy and Peter, but of James Hook and Tiger Lily. The desire is not fulfilled in the story but there is a visible tension between the two of them and it is important to mention that Tiger Lily was the reason why Hook decided to stay in Never Land. Considering the fact that they hate each other in the books and Hook orders his crew to leave her on the rock waiting for the tide to kill her, it does not fit into this story
38 of love. It is also important to mention that Tiger Lily should be about Pan’s age so any love story between the two of them is strictly unimaginable. However, as the story does not obey the book and Tiger Lily is a grown woman, the love story could happen. However, even if we excepted that Tiger Lily is a grown woman, it is very hard to imagine that this strong love that convinced Hook to not to come back to London, would become as quickly forgotten and worthless.
5.3 Differences from the original story
The idea of sharing the story of Peter’s youth before becoming the boy who did not grow up is very valuable. Pan could have given valuable insight into the whole Neverland world and all in all, the story is not bad. However, the story also contains quite a lot of mistakes and this chapter focuses on the marginal ones that do not cohere in the context of the whole Peter Pan story.
5.3.1 James Hook and Tyger Lily
Nevertheless, this story provides the viewer with a few information from the original book. First worth mentioning is the Crocodile story when Tiger Lily, Peter and Hook sail on the “boat” to the fairy cave and they meet the crocodiles. There was a moment when Hook had his right hand in the water, trying to save Peter and a viewer, knowing the original story, would wait for it to happen – Hook loses his hand. Luckily, the screenwriters did not experiment and Hook did not lose his hand. Another thing worth mentioning is the last sentence of the whole film. When giving directions to the Neverland, Peter tells Wendy in the original story that Neverland is “Second (star) to the right, and straight on till morning.” The Pan film used this sentence at the end when Hook, in this particular moment becoming Captain Hook, gives directions where to go with the ship.
Another mistake is the ending of this film when Peter, Hook and Tiger Lily flying on their boat back to England, coming for the rest of orphans that stayed in the orphanage,
39 rescuing them from the evil Nuns. They get all the “Lost Boys” on the boat and return to Neverland, living the story as we know from the book. However, the Lost boys say that they came to Neverland at the moment they fell down from their pram and their nannies or mothers do not notice. Nevertheless, this not as big mistake as those mentioned above.
5.3.2 The Never Bird
This is the only film adaptation from the chosen ones where the Never Bird appears. Even though there is mentioned only one creature in the book, a female, we can presume that there are more of them on the Neverland. While in books Peter is saved by the Never Bird from an inescapable situation and inevitable death, here Never Birds save not only Peter but also the remaining members of the Indian tribe.
The Never Bird is, however, not a very pretty creature. Peter meets them first when he runs off from Blackbeard’s mine with Hook and Smee. They land in the jungle and soon after starts their struggle for surviving. The Never Bird is not alive and not dead, I suppose that Wright used its name as a pun for being not alive and not dead. The creature has its bones and skull seen however, it can still fly. Barrie does not talk much about the Never Bird in the book, only that she saves Pan from drowning. He does not even describe her, only mentions that it is a big scary creature.
5.3.3 Native Americans and Smee
In the book, Peter fights against the Native Americans and he does not know Smee (the right hand of Hook). According to the original story, the inhabitants of Neverland do not get along and they never talked to each other unless fighting. Their first real interaction is on the cliff when Peter saves Tiger Lily and since then, they do not become friends but only allies, fighting against the same enemy – Hook and his pirates. This story, however, tells us a different story. Peter knows Tiger Lily since his first visit to Neverland and they became allies, and more, they become friends. Peter is the chosen one who should save
40 the Neverland from Captain Blackbeard so the whole Indian tribe considers him the savior.
As I mentioned above, Peter should not know Smee in the book. Smee is the right hand of Captain Hook in the original story. He is, however, the exact copy of his book’s character which is very appreciated. Nevertheless, in the film Smee helps Hook and Pan with their escape from the mine, companioning them throughout the whole story.
The last mistake, even though a marginal one, is that the Native American’s chief Great Big Little Panther was killed in this story, even though he still lives in the book. If we should consider this film as a prequel to the book, this fact would be very confusing.
5.3.4 Neverland, Peter and His Mother
A very important thing is traveling to Neverland. In the book, people can get to the Neverland only by flying. The film offers a different possibility. People get to the Neverland by floating on the boat that flies through the Earth’s atmosphere (not burning down) to the universe, there being for quite a few moments and then again falling down right to the Neverland.
The Neverland is described in the book as an island. And so is in the film. However, as was mentioned above, the children get there not by flying but by the pirate ship. The first view of Neverland is not as described in the book, though. The pirate ship takes the whole tour around the island, passing by the water bubbles flying in the air, filled with animals and creatures. The story itself starts in the mine that is not mentioned in the book. The mine is, however, that big that it should be about one-third of the Neverland island itself. That means that this big place would be mentioned in the book if it ever been there. The film focuses quite a lot on the Native American tribe as one of the main characters is Tiger Lily. The tribe lives in the tee-pees, however, everything dazzles with colors. According to the books, the Indians wear a “typical” native American clothes – beige with fringes and white and red stripes. The tribe in this story wear colorful clothes, living
41 in colorful tents. And when being killed, the Indians themselves turned into color instead of dying as others.
However, a more important thing is the character of Peter’s mother. She is not mentioned much in the original story. Only that he ran away from his parents when he heard them talking about his future and that Peter does not like talking about her. Nevertheless, we know that she was an ordinary woman living in England with her husband. This story suggests that Peter’s mother was a beautiful woman, a warrior that the Elf Prince fell in love with. They should have run together from Blackbeard who imprisoned her and they should have conceived Peter. Therefore, Peter is a half-blood prince and he should be the chosen one to save the whole Neverland from Blackbeard. However, even the book Peter Pan in the Kensington Gardens does not suggest and support this story. Peter left his mother after his adventures with the fairies.
Not to be only negative, a positive element is the rescue of the fairies that explains why is Peter that beloved by fairies and why he helps people to save them by believing. He also meets Tinker Bell in this story and that explains how the two of them met in the first place.
5.3 Characters
Captain Blackbeard is a very interesting character. He was also mentioned in the book a few times, only when saying that he was afraid of Hook. Blackbeard, however, is not afraid of him, only of Peter’s heritage. He is very cruel and very old and he is looking for the fairy dust for his magical quality of keeping him young. He is obsessed with being the world’s ruler. He wears a pompous black dress, however, fitting into the typical pirate clothes style.
The character of James Hook before being the pirate’s captain is completely different from the book. He is selfish and at the beginning, he cares mostly about himself, however, during the story he falls in love and he starts caring about other people, finishing with
42 returning to the Neverland to be with people he loves. This character goes through a big evolvement.
Peter Pan is a young boy from England’s orphanage that believes that his mother will come to save him. Unlike in the books, he is a humble young man, trying to save everyone. Even though he is quite insecure about his abilities at the beginning, he finds a way to save the whole Neverland. Because he does not live on the island permanently yet, he is not wearing the typical leaf clothes.
Tiger Lily is the daughter of a Native American’s chief does not get much space in the original story. In Peter Pan is Tiger Lily a minor character. She is a person that Peter saves and he in return gets protection by the tribe. However, she is one of the main characters in this story. She wears quite interesting clothes. She wears pink clothes with colorful elements on them, not the beige native American's clothes as in the book.
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Conclusion
The research did not prove that any of the changes being made because of the historical events or by political ideologies caused omitting of important parts from the story. However, there were found clear connections between ideologies that changed it in some important way. One of those was the ideology of racism that influenced the first animated adaptation made in the year 1953 by the Walt Disney Company and the second one the feminism that influenced the second film analyzed, directed in the year 2003.
The first analyzed film from the year 1953 was specific in a way that the story took place in only one day. The research did not explain why Disney chose this strategy but one article suggested that it was probably that the film was made mostly for young viewers and that the whole adventure was only a dream. And more, the research connected this film with the racism for many Native Americans were not pleased with the appearance and role of Indians in the film. The research also proved that Peter Pan directed in the year 2003 was influenced by the second-wave feminism as Wendy had changed her behavior and some character features and she showed evidence of development in her perception of herself. The research also proved that the last film Pan from the year 2015 could not be connected with any ideology or historical event, even though the film is diametrally different from the previous ones and the story went through many changes that caused that the original story almost disappeared from it. Those changes were made by time and by experimentation with the story, but not by any particular ideology.
Two of the three adaptations contained a love story between two of the main characters. The first film analyzed did not contain such thing and was strictly obeying what Barrie had written. The research did not prove such thing but in my opinion, what caused that was the first film being made primarily for young children, while the other two included romance and sexuality into their stories so they would be more attractive for older viewers. The research proved the same as the first travel to Neverland. In the first film, the story stuck to the original version and the children never leave the Earth, in the rest of the analyzed adaptations, the children along with Pan leave the Earth and travel to
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Neverland through the Universe. The research also presumes that this part was changed due to being more tempting for the viewers.
The only film that stuck to the frame of a storyteller was the second, Peter Pan from 2003. Even though this film did not break the ratings, it was the most similar one to the book and its story used many references from the original story and kept the plot and the main part of the story there.
This all confirmed the assumption made at the beginning of the thesis, that some changes were not made by history but by the development of people themselves. It was visible how the values of society changed since the first film to the others. The first film did not include any of the sexuality and neither the love story itself, but the later films did both of those. And as it was already mentioned above, it was probably for being more interesting to the teenagers and adults.
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List of references
Barrie, James Matthew. Peter Pan. Penguin Books. 2008.
Barrie, James Matthew. Peter and Wendy. Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. 2015.
Barrie, James Matthew. Peter Pan in the Kensington Gardens. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2012.
Barrie, James Matthew. Margaret Ogilvy. Echo Library. 2007.
Birkin, Andrew. J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys. Yale University Press. 2003.
Chaney, Lisa. Hide-and-Seek with Angels. St. Martin's Press. 2006.
Crafton, Donald. “The Last Night in the Nursery: Walt Disney's Peter Pan.” The Velvet Light Trap, vol. 24, 1989, p 33.
Ebert, Roger. “Peter Pan”. Roger Ebert, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/peter-pan- 2003. Accessed 12 March 2019. Freedman, Jane. Feminism. Buckingham: Open University Press. 2001.
French, Philip. “Fly away, Peter.” The Guardian, 28 December 2003, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/dec/28/philipfrench. Accessed 15 February 2019. Garner, Steve. Racism: An Introduction. SAGE Publications Ltd. 2010. Hammerton, John Alexander. Barrie: The Story of a Genius. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. 1929.
Hoffman, Jordan. “Pan review – a return to Neverland that should never have been made.“ The Guardian, 12 October 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/ oct/12/pan-review-joe-wright-hugh-jackman-rooney-mara. Accessed 4 February 2019.
Hogan, Paul John, director. Peter Pan. Universal Studios, 2003.
Hooks, Bell. Feminism is for everybody. Cambridge: South End Press. 2000.
Mackail, Denis. Barrie, the Story of J. M. B. Books for Libraries. 1972.
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Luske, Hamilton, Jackson, Wilfred and Geronimi, Clyde, directors. Peter Pan. Walt Disney, 1953.
Rose, Michael. “Native American Women.” The Important Role of Native American Women, http://indians.org/articles/native-american-women.html. Accessed 25 March 2019.
Tatar, Maria. The Annotated Peter Pan. W. W. Norton & Company Ltd. 2010.
Wright, Joe, director. Pan. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2015.
Yuhas, Alan. “What's up, Tiger Lily? Peter Pan and the Native American stereotype that has certainly grown old.“ The Guardian, 7 December 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/07/tiger-lily-peter-pan-native-american- stereotype. Accessed 15 February 2019.
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