Maybe because Hollywood is captivated by the idea of never growing up but possibly because Barrie's story simply allows those who have to stop the clock for a space, there seems to be a steady rehashing of the Peter Pan myth in modern cinema. This seems particularly appropriate to me since the story began as a play and grew from there and thus must at least in some ways be exempt from the purist's everpresent need for 'accuracy to the book.' Each of the films I want to discuss in this post have captivated me in a different way yet with certain common elements imagined in a way that, at least to me, has felt fresh each time.
I feel that I must frame this blog within the history of my Pan experiences: I was first introduced to (although not quite yet captivated by) the Peter Pan story as many folks my age, to the musical Disney version of the story. As catchy as "You Can Fly" or "Following the Leader" may have been I felt that the campy goofiness of Hook seemed to downplay something more potentially sinister in his character than The Mouse felt it could portray. Though I have to admit I may have clapped a bit during Mary Martin's performance of the character I still wasn't hooked (pun intended).
I can probably say that my experience of Peter Pan lore was somewhat backward since the first experience to really fascinate me was Speielberg's otherwise panned film Hook. Now here was a Captain with all the folly of hubris but the sinister visage of a true 'bad guy.' Sure there were many overproduced and campy moments in the film; maybe the fact that it was the only recent movie my sisters and I had on VHS and our subsequent repeat viewings allowed us to overlook these things. But as I watch the film now (which I still do on occasion) I find new things that tickle my fancy especially the care that Spielberg took in imagining a post-Pan Neverland. The dreamlike island had all the remnants of the stories of the Darling children but modified and mutated by the power vacuum left by Neverland's muse. For me this presentation mystified the tales that came before despite my more passing awareness of them. This made it particularly exciting when I finally obtained and read Barrie's original story in high school.
It was around that time that, like a Harry Potter fan with a more refined aesthetic (yes I went there, and will again!) I jumped for joy upon discovering the release of a new full length feature film of Peter Pan. My experience of this film was less intriguing and more of a simple satisfaction at seeing the original story (albiet with some slight but, for me, forgiveable alterations) on the big screen. My reaction to this film was more in line with that of a satisfied fanboy than a developing literary critic. It was a few years later that this inquiry would be satisfied in film form.
I first saw Finding Neverland while on a weekend trip to Cardiff Wales during a semester abroad in England in 2004 and I have to admit that I did not leave the theatre with dry eyes. Again, I had to accept the liberties taken with the story; in the previous films changes had been made to Barrie's novel to bring it to the screen and here changes had been made to Barrie's own biography in order to dramatize it for the film's viewers. A professor of mine at the time balked at these changes which I thought odd since an accurate perception of Barrie's biography or that of his lady friend, Sylvia Lewellyn Davies does little more than ruin our experience of the film which, though it contained historical elements, cannot be seen as an attempt to portray them with accuracy. A film is still a work of fiction and since none of us know J.M. Barrie (may he rest in peace) how he is portrayed in the film must be met with the usual suspension of disbelief which we accept when we attend the theatre or the cinema. Only then can we leave that experience with the sense of wonder that makes us doubt if it had really been a dream.
This brings me to my most significant reaction to these three films in particular. I would have to go back and check (which I won't do for lack of time) but if I remember correctly neither the Disney nor the Mary Martin versions of Peter Pan emphasized that sense of doubt with which I believe Barrie intended his story to carry. There is something about the concept of Neverland; possibly its existence in a semi-dream world or the sense of awakening we seem to get upon returning from it, that allows the story to capture our imaginations. If I want to take a step back and look at the film as a product of Hollywood or the book as a bunch of paper I will no doubt realize, rather sadly, that these things cannot happen. But that is the point, isn't it? When we read about Peter Pan or watch him alight on a bedroom window we choose to believe that the page or the window has become a portal into another world where dreams take form and shoot cannonballs at us and we whirl around them with the help of a little fairy dust. Each of these films contains such a blurring of lines between those two worlds that everyday life forces us to draw a firm line between. This is a sense that I hope all subsequent Pan films can maintain, especially the upcoming Peter Pan in Scarlet, based on Geraldine McCoughrean's official sequel to Barrie's story (which you can read about when I get to 'M' haha)
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Finding Neverland. Dir. Marc Forster. Perfs. Johny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, and Dustin Hoffman. Miramax, 2004.
Hook. Dir. Stephen Spielberg. Perfs. Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, and Bob Hoskins. Amblin, 1991.
Peter Pan. Dir. P.J. Hogan. Universal, 2003.
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