Disney Sundays: Peter Pan (1953)

There’s something wonderfully innocent and magical to the story of Peter Pan. It’s probably the first great childrens’ fantasy, the first celebration and acknowledgement of the power of imagination; certainly the first many of us were exposed to. J.M. Barrie’s play delighted in all that kind of whimsy, and thus seemed made for an adaptation by Disney.

Of all the Disney movies my family didn’t own, Peter Pan is the one I wound up seeing the most. It had a compelling world, enjoyable characters, pirates, fairies, flight, action, adventure, everything kids want in a magical story. A fantasy about never growing up, what kid wouldn’t like that? But it turns out, this is a film that’s a lot more grown-up than you’d think.

While their parents are out for the evening, three children Wendy, John, and Michael Darling are visited by Peter Pan the magical boy who never grows up, in search of his shadow. He finds it in their nursery, and after learning that Wendy is to move out of the nursery as part of her more grown-up responsibilities beginning the next day, Peter decides to save them from growing up. He gives them some pixie dust from his diminutive companion Tinker Bell and they fly off into the night, “the second star to the right and straight on till morning” and end up in Neverland where they get caught up in Peter’s conflicts with his nemesis the pirate Captain Hook, whose hand was lost to a crocodile during a previous skirmish with Peter.

I think what appeals most about this story particularly to kids, is the escapism. Neverland is really a world without rules, and you can have whatever adventures you like which is pretty much exactly the attitude John and Michael take once they get there. Compared to the general dullness of real life, there’s so many avenues of escape and excitement in Neverland. You can fight pirates, join a tribe, hang out with mermaids, and many other things this movie implied but didn’t touch on. There’s a reason Neverland has been chosen as the setting for a number of Disney Junior TV series or all those direct-to-DVD Tinkerbell movies. It’s such an imaginative world with no limits on possibility, and I know that’s one of the reasons I returned to it as often as I did.

Peter Pan was the kid we all wanted to be: clever, confident, courageous, adventurous, and more than a little bit cocky. Voiced by Bobby Driscoll who you may remember from Melody Time, he always seemed in control and in charge, this world seeming to revolve around his whims. He was always chasing fun and rarely was on the defensive. But what I admire now is how realistic he is. Despite all of these other qualities, he’s also irresponsible. He bores easily, takes things and people for granted, is sometimes insensitive, and only acts on his own terms. You get the feeling he’s only heroic because he enjoys heroism. And have you ever noticed it’s never enough to beat Hook, Peter always has to humiliate him? That’s kind of cruel, especially considering he’s already the reason the poor pirate doesn’t have a hand. He actually represents the impulsiveness, irresponsibility, and general immaturity of most children fairly well. So does Tinker Bell though with an added jealousy. She has less screen-time than I remember but is still a unique and memorable presence. Though her actions against Wendy are very aggressive, you still feel for her. As for the kids, I like how they each approach Neverland from different sensibilities. Wendy who’s voiced by Kathryn Beaumont (also the voice of Alice) is just the right amount of mature, in that she’s responsible and morally developed but still engrossed in fantasy enough to marvel at Peter and Neverland. I don’t really like her being the mother figure to all the lost boys but it is important in relating a major theme, so I can let it slide. Michael is more or less just the cute one, but he’s the most instantly invested in the fantasy and like the Lost boys is willing to do anything that’s fun. And yeah, let’s talk about John. When I was a kid, John Darling was one of my favourite Disney characters. I liked him probably because not only did I look like him, but he was so unabashedly British. He was classy, smart, but not above having fun and may have been one of the catalysts of my anglophilia. Watching the movie now I realize how much the embodiment of British Imperialism he is and he’s still enjoyable to me for the nostalgia factor (I remember really wanting that top hat and umbrella!) but he is way too posh and will probably grow up to be the David Cameron type!

Also this is a surprisingly funny movie! We get a taste of it early on with Mr. Darling and Nana, but then the scenes of slapstick between Hook, Smee, and the crocodile are hilarious, just as good as some of the best that the Looney Tunes were giving us at the time. Smee (White Rabbit Bill Thompson) is just a well done bumbling imbecile, a great henchman, but Captain Hook despite all these comedic scenes, is actually a pretty decent villain. He’s harsh and dangerous, cruel and conniving. Which makes it more fun when he’s screaming for his life as the crocodile comes after him. Particularly that scene in the cave with Tiger Lily really demonstrates this.

And speaking of Tiger Lily, I think we need to address the one thing that really does hold this film back: the racism. Yeah, unlike Dumbo the portrayal of Natives here can’t be defended. They’re skin is beat red, for the most part there’s no variance in individual design, and multiple times they’re referred to as Injuns and Savages. The fact the Chief is the biggest and ugliest while the “princess” Tiger Lily is the only one who actually looks Native American because she’s a princess and has to look pretty, is awful. And the colonial attitudes by the Lost Boys and especially John, really doesn’t help. They’re probably the worst racial depiction in Disney, not least because of the song “What Made the Red Man Red”.

But while Dumbo is remembered for its racial controversy, Peter Pan isn’t. Because Peter Pan is memorable for so many other things. Like the importance of growing up. While Peter and the Lost Boys are fun they definitely need to mature. There is an inherent sadness in the stuntedness of their existence as well as the fact they including Peter, are all kids who ran away from home and family. Which is why it was such a good idea to portray Wendy as on the cusp of growing up. It’s how she’s able to convince the Lost Boys there’s worth in the real world. Neverland IS just a fantasy and she more or less knows it. There’s an ambiguity as to whether the Darling children actually went to Neverland or if it was just imagined. But unlike Alice in Wonderland this film leaves it ambiguous, because at the end of the day the reality of Peter Pan and Neverland isn’t as important as the message. Like in the play, both Hook and Mr. Darling are played by the same actor, in this case Hans Conreid. The characters are also wonderfully paralleled, as they’re both under-appreciated authority figures and the butt of the slapstick. I love the idea that Hook is a projection of the way the children feel about their father. And watching the film as an adult, his is a role I think about more, especially when it comes to the ending. The final scene of the film has a poignancy I never noticed when I was young, and suggests the bittersweet notion that while it’s important to grow up, it’s just as important to retain even a spark of childhood.

And I think it’s moments like this that make Peter Pan one of Disney’s finest. It gives us a wonderful world and characters, actions and songs (it’ll take a while to get both “You Can Fly” and “The Second Star to the Right” out of my head) and it has a great story for the ages, one that’s been redone and revisited numerous times, most fascinatingly in Hook, but this was the iteration that endeared us the most. Even as an adult I can’t find myself NOT enjoying Peter Pan. For some it may be hard to ignore the racism but I think very much like with Gone With the Wind the power of the rest of the film overcomes it. While not quite to the degree of Bambi or even Fantasia, this is one of those Disney films that exudes magic. And if you want to experience that magic, watch the film again and take flight for Neverland -where all your happy dreams come true!                         
Next Week: The Lady and the Tramp (1955)