#14: Peter Pan (1953) 🧚 #DisneyVaultChallenge

“Go on! Go back and grow up! But I’m warning you, once you’re grown up you can never come back.” -Peter Pan (it's true, but I try anyway)

Initial thoughts before viewing: I always had a fondness for Peter Pan. Something about the theme of growing up (or not going up) really resonated with me as a kid. I am also a fan of the Peter Pan dark ride at Disneyland, infamous for its long lines and breathtaking visuals of London and Neverland from above. 👀 And have you ever seen Peter Pan roaming around Fantasyland at Disneyland? Watch his interactions with people, they're HILARIOUS!

There are a ton of works in the stratosphere about or around Peter Pan. These include straight adaptations of the original play, darker retellings, and sort of sequels. My personal favorite is the 2004 movie Finding Neverland with Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet which tells the story of how J.M. Barrie created the play. 💗

If you've never seen Disney's Peter Pan or need a refresher, here is a link to the movie's Disney Wiki page where you can read the plot summary.

Highlights:

-The Music 🎵 "The Second Star to the Right" is one of my favorite Disney songs ever. It's a simple but beautiful song played in the opening of the film. It's sung by an offscreen chorus and refers to the entrance of Neverland. I also really like the "You Can Fly" song and sequence where Peter and the Darling children soar around London and off into the sky towards Neverland. It's the most iconic part of the movie (with good reason).

- The story is cyclical. “All this has happened before, and it will all happen again.”

This line opens Peter Pan, though I never really thought about what it meant. At the end of the movie, George Darling says "You know, I have the strangest feeling I've seen that ship before... a long time ago, when I was very young.” Whoa...does this mean that Wendy's father was once a Lost Boy?! I love this idea! 💖

-An honorable mention goes to Nana, the goodest girl who takes care of everyone. She da real MVP. 💋

Disliked:

-Are we just going to ignore the fact that there's a song called "What Made the Red Man Red?"🤔 Oh boy. I'm betting most of you (like me) have not seen this movie since you were a child. I guarantee that if you watch this musical sequence as an adult, you'll be embarrassed and repulsed by the depictions of Native Americans. [Side note: We're talking about people in Neverland, which is a fictional place, so these can't possibly be actual "Native Americans" as we know them, right? My head hurts.]

It's really bad, guys. These characters have big noses, literal red skin, and say "HOW." Sample song lyrics: “Once the Injun didn’t know / All the things that he know now. / But the Injun he sure learn a lot / And it’s all from asking, ‘How?’”

There's also the fact that the beautiful princess Tiger Lily has significantly lighter skin than all the other members of her tribe. Another subtle reinforcement to audiences that lighter skin = better.

-Problematic female roles. ❌ First of all, why are all the female characters crushing so hard on Peter? Tinker Bell is jealous of Wendy, the mermaids are jealous of Wendy, then Wendy is jealous of Tiger Lily. Tinker Bell even tries to get Wendy killed, and then the mermaids try to drown her (poor Wendy). It's 100% problematic that in a children's tale, the only significant female characters all fight over a single boy-man who is totally oblivious with the dynamics at play. And let's not forget when Captain Hook says this gem: "Ah, yes, a jealous female can be tricked into anything." Mic drop. I can't.

Then there is also the issue of Wendy being taken to Neverland to play "mother" to all the motherless boys. Why can't Wendy be a Lost Boy too? Why does she always have to take care of everyone else? In the infamous "What Made the Red Man Red?" sequence, Wendy is stopped from celebrating with all the boys and is told "Squaw no dance. Squaw get'em firewood" by a disapproving older woman of the tribe. WTF. Neverland is supposed to be a place where you can be a kid forever, but Wendy, as the lone girl, is assigned a set of domestic responsibilities simply because of her sex. THIS IS BULLSHIT.

Random thoughts I had while Watching:

-Captain Hook is okay. He's not my favorite villain (his antics are a little too foolish). I much prefer this eyeliner wearing version of Captain Hook:

-Hook got punk'd ✋ It's mentioned a few times in the movie that Peter Pan cut off Captain Hook's hand as a "a childish prank." SAY WHAT? That's a pretty aggressive prank.

-Was I the only kid that was terrified of this shot? 😨 Peter looks demented!

Closing Thoughts:

-Peter Pan is problematic AF 💔

It's not surprising that there are so many problematic elements here. Peter Pan came out in 1953 and was created by a studio comprised of nearly 100% white males. Disney+ does have a disclaimer on this title that says, "This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions." Hmm.

In researching this movie, I came across this article called "Grappling With Disney's 'Peter Pan' on it's 65th Anniversary" which identifies Peter Pan as a "broken classic." "It is, perhaps, more convenient" author Josh Spiegel writes, "to pretend that the other parts of [Peter Pan] don’t exist, or that those parts which are nothing short of embarrassing can just be rewritten." As the article goes on to say, it's the allure of Disney nostalgia and fantasy that "draws people to look past the flaws of a movie like this, when it taps into something almost primal, the sensory appeal of becoming a child again and not having to worry about anything but happy thoughts and a shadow that won’t stay still." I know that I'm guilty of this. I barely remembered that there were Native Americans at all in this story, let alone such screwed up depictions of them. Did I choose to overlook these problematic elements purposely because I was eager to live in the world of Peter Pan and Neverland? It's a legitimate question that I struggle with answering.

On an emotional level, it's disappointing to see such serious flaws in something I was so fond of. This is not the first time I've found problematic representations, messages, or themes in works I've once loved, whether it be in work itself or from the people responsible for producing it.

-So how do I rate this "broken classic"? 📉

I was not expecting Peter Pan to cause the emotional whirlwind that it did. I struggled a lot with what to rate it after identifying all of its f-ed up elements as an adult. In the end, I did knock off a few points because I CAN'T GET OVER how problematic it is. Plus the fact that NO ONE TALKS ABOUT HOW SCREWED UP IT IS makes my blood boil.

My Rating: 5.5/10

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My Rating Scale/System:

10 - Masterpiece / Award Worthy 🤩

9 - Almost perfect / Exceptional 🥰

8 - Great / Well-crafted 😁

7 - Good / Noteworthy 😊

6 - Above average / Memorable 🙂

5 - Solidly average 😐

4 - Mixed feelings / Mediocre 😕

3 - Uninteresting / Struggle bus 🥱

2 - Barely watchable 😡

1 - Failure / Why is this a thing? 💩