| Created by James Matthew Barrie in the early 1900s, Peter Pan is a fictional character endowed with supernatural powers and blessed with eternal childhood. Living on a small island known as “Neverland”, Peter Pan is the leader of a gang known as the Lost Boys. The dominant theme in the Peter Pan stories is the boy’s refusal to grow up, leave childhood and, thus, avoid the responsibilities that adulthood brings with it. He is always embroiled in some adventure or the other with his gang and appears in three stories: The Little White Bird, The Boy Who Could Not Grow Up, and Peter and Wendy. The author, J. M. Barrie, had a friend by the name of Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies. Both were married and had their own respective families. However, a very special relationship developed between the two. Barrie used to narrate stories about Peter Pan to Davies’ sons, the youngest of whom was named Peter. The name of the “eternal boy” is reportedly an amalgamation of Peter and Pan, the mischievous Greek God of the woodlands. Barrie establishes a close relationship between his fictional Peter Pan and the real lives of Davies’ sons. The Peter Pan stories also have some romantic angles, such as when Wendy wishes to kiss Peter Pan or the boy’s longing for a motherly figure. However, the movie adaptations either underplayed or omitted it completely. Peter Pan has been adapted for the silver screen as well as stage and is also followed up by several sequels. DVDs were released in 2000; the first DVD comprised two versions of the 1954 Peter Pan movies. The DVD of the 2003 P.J. Hogan film is also available. L Limited version DVDs of Disney’s animation of the character released in 1999. Special editions were released in 2002, while a platinum version is scheduled for release in 2008. |
