May 9, 2004

Peter Pan the boy-man

Watched "Peter Pan" yesterday with Laurie. Actually, we started on the movie the day before but stopped half-way since there were other things to watch on the telly :p Anyway, it has been a long time since I read the original book and I’d forgotten most parts and in the interim, the image that had stayed with me had mostly been the Disney version and not the original. Now that I’ve seen the movie, I actually saw the story in a new light – not sure if the original book had the same perspective or if the movie maker had given the story a new twist or if it’s just me …

Whatever the case may be, this time around I saw the tale of Peter Pan more as a parable or an allegory. Peter Pan seemed to symbolize all males – never wanting to grow up, always eager to have fun but not ready to have feelings, to be hurt. And Wendy seemed to epitomize womanhood, always wanting a man instead of a boy, somebody who would love her and not just be a playmate 🙂 One of my favourite lines from the movie was Peter saying "I taught you to fight and to fly. What more do you want?" And sometimes I find myself echoing his words, "what more indeed?"

I don’t know about everybody – whether all males never want to grow up and to be honest, I’m not really certain that what most of the world calls growing up is really growing up. It’s all in the perspective. Is becoming hard, mercenary, cynical and suspicious growing up? Some people seem to think so. Is being selfish and thinking of oneself before others growing up? Some people seem to think that too. If that is growing up, I’d rather retain the innocence of childhood. However, I believe that some of us are lucky enough to retain a part of ourselves from our childhood and yet be able to adapt to the so called adult world as well, while there are others who never grow up at all and then again, there are a lot of people who seem to completely grow up and forget all about their childhood. But even this, is all in the perspective of each person since "grown up" is such a subjective term :p

2 Responses to Peter Pan the boy-man

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#1
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Janine 15 May 2004 at 7:29 am

You may want to check out “Hook.” It’s live action (with Robin Williams as Peter, Dustin Hoffman as Hook) and tells the story of what happened to Peter Pan when he did grow up. Great premise and definitely has its moments.

#2
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Kim 13 October 2005 at 4:36 am

Whoever you are, Fahim, you certainly seem to fit the quintessential man who isn’t interested in growing up. While I’m all for maintaining a sense of fun and wonder throughout life, believing it very important to be able to laugh at life, self, others (in the sense of “sitting light” to those things), I also understand what it means to take on adult responsibilities, and it’s not all fun and games. Why do you assume that to “grow up” means to be hard, mercenary, and cynical? I don’t think that has to follow. I don’t think that’s what Wendy is looking for either. It’s not what I want in a man. In fact, what can make a woman feel frustrated and overwhelmed in dealing with a man-child is the sense that she can’t play, as well, because the responsibilities aren’t being shared and therefore the joy is not spread either. Wendy’s of the world want full partners and what’s wrong with wanting love, by the way. Don’t you want that too?

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