What does Peter Pan mean to you?

[Dr. Pan]

To all who visit this space freqently I need you advice and insight. I am going to be directing the original play Peter Pan this summer. I have done lots and lots of research on Pan and Barrie, which is why some of my posts may have sounded a little too "smarty pants", I wasn't trying to show off, more just to share all the cool stuff I've learned. I get overly excited about it. But what I've learned, at least in part, from your posts is how Peter Pan make you feel. In looking over old posts from the past couple of years, there have been those who have said, "I need a Peter Pan" and "I want him to come take me away". I'm not sure I understand, what does Peter Pan mean to you, what is the strong appeal that has drawn a century of fans to him. Is it Peter himself or what he offers, never having to grow up? Or is it something else? If I can understand that my production will be a sucess. That emotional piece is much more important than all the strange things I've learned (like Tink's original name was "Tippy Toes" and who the pirates were named after) I would appreciate any and all ideas. And if anyone has any questions about the play or novel on the "smarty pants" level I would be happy to share thoughts. If that is all I can offer. Thank you in advace to any who may choose to share their thoughts and feelings.

[Makaira]

Dr. Pan - i would love to see your smarty pants stuff - i too have done lot of research on Barrie and Peter Pan. would love to see where the pirates come from - I thought it was just the Stevenson influence on Barrie's young life.
anyway - to me emotionally Peter Pan is just as he says he is. "I am joy, I am a fledgling bird... " To me he is unequivicolly the blissful ignorance of youth! That is why he is so cocky - because he is enveloped in a protective cape of ignorance. Such as not knowing what a kiss is and not knowing fear of one's own mortality. Just like a child he impresses himself with each new achievement "ahhh the cleverness of me" Though I am guilty of that pleasure in my mind now and again!

To people he must symbolize that yearning to be young and simple again. I personally think of Neverland that way too...it's that place in our childhood that we recall with such love and longing, yet if we were to venture back to it, the naked truth of our adult minds would wash away the brilliance of our childhood memories.

On a smarty pants note - to me Barrie is the personification of Peter and Hook. Two edges of the same sword you might say.
peter is the representation of that lost innocense in Barries life when death came into his childhood through the loss of his brother. To his mother, David, James' brother was that lost child, the boy who in her memory would never grow up. At the same time, Hook, the personification of Barrie's adult life was wrathful due to his inability to "capture" his lost childhood. The cutting of his right hand is only the tip of the iceberg, there is an underlying jealousy within Hook of Peter.

The romantic mind of James Barrie also conjured this boy who could not understand the physical (if not sexual) attraction of Wendy towards Peter. he states quite plainly he sees Wendy only as a mother and adds, "you are so queer...Tiger Lily is the same, ther is something she wants me to be..." So there we also see in Tiger Lily a yearning for soemthing more from Peter but impossible for him to provide. To me this was the represnetation of Barie's own sexual struggles as he was known to be impotent..though I am unsure if it was just in the manner that he could not have children, or that he could never satisfy his wife's, Mary's desires for physical love. was that too smarty pants????

I would love to continue the character discussion at anytime - I am a fianncial analyst as the name sugest I love to analyze and understand where charachters come from and thier motivation.

Good luck on the play - hope it helped! sory for the mispelings

[Dr. Pan]

Makaia, thank you for an insightful response. I had never caught some of the images you mentioned, Pan leaving a piece of himself at the Darlings (in an other post) or the cutting off of his own hand (in a sense). I agree David's was the seed of Pan on many levels, his mother referred to David as the boy who would never grow up. But I also think that is when Barrie stopped growing emotionally. He hid in his fantasy world, he observed from outside the window, and was a great observer of human behavior, he had wonderful insight into all other's just not himself. Barrie wanted a mother, he loved beautiful actresses and married one, but kept her on a rediculous pedestal (you will note I too am a horendous speller) I doubt he ever had sex with his wife, or was ever interested in it, like Pan that was not the relationship he wanted. He gives Pan the same strugle of all the women (including Tink) who want more from he, he doesn't understand, and it angers him that it is not enough for them.

As far as the pirates, a couple refer to Treasure Island pirates as you suggested but most are named after children of friends of his. Except Whibbles who in the play has no lines and is the first to be killed by Peter, he was named after a theatre critic.

I guess my "smarty pants"-ness is my way of saying "oh the cleverness of me".

[Makaira]

Love your insights as well! like Barrie, Pan provides his leading ladies an infinite amount of adventures, but never the intimacy they yearn from him. he shows in his females thier sexual agressiveness, Wendy ofers the kiss first, tiger lIly mentions in the lIttle white bird that she is wiling to allow Peter to catch her though she runs faster than him. Tink's possesiveness...and what about the mermaids who lazily comb thier hair while Wendy looks on irritated by the. Was she irritated perhaps because they possesed fully womanly figures and Peter was enthralled by them?

So wha't is your take on Captain Hook another inrtiguing and enthralling charachter? or shall we start another thread for the enigmatic Captain James Hook? Curiously enough james means supplanter as in James supplanted his for his brother to console his mom.

By th way Makaira is Latin for a species of marlin or blue fish. She is a charachter in my project...hint hint...

[Charm162]

Hi Dr. Pan!
I was wondering, since you said that you have done extensive research on both Barrie and Peter pan, if you could refer me to some of your sources, especially any online. i'm doing a project on peter pan and most especially on the universal appeal of neverland for school and any help you could give me would be MUCH appreciated.

Thank you so much!

[romaniboheme]

Dear Dr. Pan,

I have just registered, and this is my first post (ever) so I hope it is useful!

When I read Peter Pan for the first time, I was in the third grade, and I remember it lucidly. The first time I touched the book on the squat shelves of the grade school library, a chill ran through my fingers and spread throughout my entire body. I knew, as I cradled it in my arms, that this book was special! In my little third grade mind, I was held in awe of what this new book might hold. (I have always held books in a special reverence, and this masterpiece was no exception.) I was even hesitant to begin to read it, for fear that it wouldn't last long enough for my tastes! But I did, and the thing I remember most was the pure fantasy of the piece. I was thrilled by the dastardly pirates--- they came alive in my eyes. I could actually see the vicious bearded faces, criscrossed with scars and with evil looks in their beady eyes as they pursued dear Peter. If I could have one suggestion for your performance, it would be to make the pirates on the Jolly Roger exciting! I've seen a few performances of Peter Pan, (once with Cathy Rigby, joy!) but none of their pirates have really entranced me. Also, I remember the slight dislike I had for Peter, because of his cockiness and childish ego. I hope that you would accentuate that too! It's all part of Barrie's great work! Tinkerbell is a tart, Wendy a dear, Peter a rakish tease, and the lost boys merry! I hope that you'll preserve those models in your play! That's all i have! sorry if its not a lot, and i know that it's not too deep or intelligent, but I just remember it as i read it the first time, and that's the way i felt then and the way I feel now.

Good luck with your play, Dr. Pan!

Olivia

[Thorwench]

Dear Dr. Pan, who is your audience going to be? Is it children or adults or youngsters? I am asking because my experience of PP is all through one of my daughters who loved it since she was 3. It is her favourite story and she likes it to be read to her as much as she enjoys any PP-movie, including all the Disney productions of course. Although she is a girl she has never ever identified with any of the female characters but is, in her mind, sometimes Peter, sometimes Hook. I was deeply moved and fascinated about what this story seems to mean to her, it is almost everything. She actually wants to be a boy really and sees her chance in becoming Peter. For her, Neverland isn't that appealing because I guess she still is in Neverland herself. What fascinates her is the strength, the cheekiness, the rakishness, Peter's physical skill and the sheer power to do what he wants. What's so odd about the character is that almost all children I know think that PP is a real child. He is not perceived as a fictitious character but they accept him as one of their crowd. Normally, even small children are quite good in distinguishing reality from make-belief, with PP they are just not willing (and I mean "willing") to make this distinction. Smaller children in my experience are not particularly interested in Tiger or Wendy or Tinker or kissing or not kissing, this, for them, is all peripheral and some necessary nuisance to bring the main character out.
On the other hand, PP seems also to be more than a child. Although they accept that he is like them he is an empowered "them". He seems to be a child equipped with the powers of an adult. ("When I'm grown up I'm going to be Peter Pan") Whereas as adulthood has an element of longing for childhood lost, childhood, as I remember, is very much about longing for adulthood not yet achieved and which seems so far, far away. So many years still to come where you still have to be a child. Children normally don't believe that childhood is something nice and something to be cherished and never understand any adults who think so. Perhaps that's part of PP's fascination for them, he makes their childhood much more promissing in that, while a child, you could perhaps be Peter Pan.
- I admit this is not even slightly scientific, but perhaps not entirely useless from an audience's point of view. - Good luck with the play anyway, toi toi toi.