Fuck Yeah! Peter Pan!

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If, once upon a time, one flew from London towards the second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning, one would find oneself in Neverland, home to the cunning, charming, and perpetually young Peter Pan, one of pop culture’s most beloved and timeless characters. Peter’s ability to remain youthful forever is a quality that has attracted and fascinated people from the time the character was originally developed in the early 1900s by J. M. Barrie for novels and the stage. Most notable in Peter Pan’s journey through time and culture might be Walt Disney’s animated feature film adaption in the year 1953, which opened to immense success, and has since been seen by millions of people around the world, young and old alike. Why the appeal for such a seemingly simple children’s story? The answer is easy: the magic of childhood. Who doesn’t want to stay young forever? Frozen at the stage of life when everything is simple and life is nothing more than a wonderful, beautiful adventure, full of possibilities. But why is it that adults cannot indulge in the same pleasures as kids? Many people do not believe that such fantasies are appropriate for adults, and it can be said that Peter Pan agrees. Through its use of young characters, a dream-like setting and plot, and a tragic outlook on adulthood, Disney’s Peter Pan conveys the message that the wonder of being a child is a form of magic that is lost in the inevitable transition into adulthood.

The many young characters in Peter Pan, in their own ways, have struggles with growing up and accepting their transition into adulthood. Wendy Darling, for example, is an adventurous girl with a knack for telling fantastic stories of faraway lands. She loves her brothers and enjoys spending time with them. Her, father, however, feels that she needs to start accepting that she is not a little child anymore:

MR. DARLING: Mary, the child’s growing up. It’s high time she had a room of her own. 

WENDY: Father!

MRS. DARLING: George!

JOHN: What?

MICHAEL: No!

MR. DARLING: I mean it! Young lady, this is your last night in the nursery! And that’s my last word on the matter! No! No! (Peter Pan)

Wendy is being forced to grow up instead of living as a child, fantasizing about the fairytales she tells. She hates the idea fully: “But, Mother, I don’t want to grow up!” (Peter Pan). Wendy wishes for her father to let her grow up on her own time and not force her to become something she doesn’t want to be. Peter himself also obviously detests the idea of growing up. This led him to find Neverland, a place where he can live out adventures and never grow up. Both kids feel as if adults do not understand them (Peter Pan). Kids like Peter and Wendy have the chance to live and figure out who they are for themselves. They have few inhibitions and can take risks without fear of making disastrous mistakes. Adults, as shown in Peter Pan, don’t understand that forcing children into adulthood damages them. Wendy and Peter run off to Neverland to escape pressures to be more mature. They don’t want to lose the adventurous spirit that keeps their lives exciting, and they fear that becoming adults will take that away from them.

            Neverland in it of itself is the embodiment of youth.  There, every dream has a chance to come true, every quest and story has a chance to be lived out, and every child can be exactly what he or she wants to be, forever. This setting and the actions that occur there all seem to be a figment of a child’s imagination, something kids could only dream about. To the Darling children, one of the most exciting of the magical land’s qualities is the absence of adults, with the exception of the wise Indian tribe elders and the intruding pirates (Peter Pan). Whether Neverland itself keeps them out is an unanswered question. Perhaps it is not a question of permission to enter the dream world, but rather the incapability for adults to use their imaginations in a way that makes them able to believe in the magic that surrounds life in Neverland. It is easier for people, as children, to dream about lands full of fairies, mermaids, and pirates, things that adults come to consider nonsense (Peter Pan). Peter Pan’s discrimination against adults in Neverland demonstrates how people lose the courage to believe as they grow older. As they become more focused on common sense and real world problems, they make no time for childish ambitions and fantastic dreams, which are necessities in Neverland. They lose their ability to understand the magic of thinking like a child, and cannot bring themselves to see the wonder of Neverland.

            The negative way adults are portrayed in Peter Pan expresses a tragic view on growing up. Kids look at adulthood as terrible punishment and wish to put it off for as long as possible:

PETER PAN: No! I won’t have it! Come on.

WENDY: But where are we going?

PETER PAN: To Neverland.

WENDY: Neverland!

PETER PAN: You’ll never grow up there.

WENDY: Oh, Peter, it would be so wonderful. (Peter Pan).

Wendy will do anything to get away from growing up, and goes to Neverland to escape the inevitable. Adult life is shown as boring, when only sensibility and practicality matter. This is evidenced when Mr. Darling says, “Oh Mary, of all the impossible childish fiddle-faddle, Peter Pan, indeed. How can we expect the children grow up and be practical?” (Peter Pan). Mr. Darling only worries about the future and how his kids will learn to be good and respectable people. While this is a fair thought to worry about, Mr. Darling should be letting his kids express their ideas and discover themselves while they still have the chance to be who they want to be. Wendy and her brothers often try to entertain their father, but he thinks their efforts are foolish (Peter Pan). He looks at his children as creatures that must be contained and taught how to live properly instead of discovering the world for themselves. The tightly-wound character of Mr. Darling shows that adults lose their imagination as they grow older, as well as the captivating creativity they once held within them. This makes children opposed to growing up, because they wish to keep hold of the adventures and aspirations that are alive inside them.

            Disney’s Peter Pan shows its audience how much can be lost as one becomes an adult. It depicts adults who have become too focused on the world and its problems to let themselves remember the fantasies they put their whole selves into as children. Adults lose their courage to believe in magic. A child’s innocent adventures within their own imaginations are a wonder people soon forget as they age. Whether this is avoidable or not can only be seen in time; but if these things hold true, here’s to never growing up.