Dear Little Raven,
I have talked about Neil Geimanās The Sandman, and Coraline. I have brought up Jim Hensonās The Labyrinthā what I havenāt talked about is Peter Pan. And I donāt mean any Peter Pan I mean, the Peter Pan.
P.J Hoganās Peter Pan was released December 25th, 2003ā which means that I am almost as old as this movie. Wild. It came out before I was born and Iām glad that it did. In my opinion, this movie is incomparable to the original Peter Pan by Paramount, and any other remake. You cannot sway me; I am so, so firm on this.
And I could go on a tangent about this for eons, until my last dying breath.
It has to be one of my favorite āComing of Ageāish stories, and little Rownan had her bi awakening multiple times.
I used to have the biggest crush on Jeremy Sumpter and Rachel Hurd-Wood (who was also in 2009ās Dorian Gray as Sibyl Vane alongside Ben Barnes), and thanks to rewatching the film sometime last year with my ex-boyfriendā Jason Isaacs.
Also, hats off to said ex-boyfriend (who will probably never read this, woohoo for no contact) for just blatantly being like āheās hot,ā because I wouldnāt have said it out loudā I wouldāve remained in denial until I was like thirty-two. But then again, I have a crush on Hugh Dancy.
First of all, if you have ever watched Cinema Sins on Youtube, you know that one of the sins right off the bat, would be narrationā and the beautiful thing about this movie that we experience right off the bat, is exactly that.
Peter Pan is narrated by one of the main characters, Wendy Darling, a young girl with a wild imagination, who wants nothing more than to tell her stories, all of which end with happily ever after. The narration isnāt constant, itās every so often, and what has me is that Wendy sort of sounds like her mother, and at the end of the movie, in one of the shorts, looks like her, too.
I think whatās timeless about the movie, is not only the visuals and the music, but also the characters and the graphics. The indigenous representation isnāt so inflamed like the original movieā Tiger Lily isnāt a completely silent figure, she isnāt entirely a damsel in distress, and in the poster of the Paramount film, Peter Pan and the indigenous people of the island are pictured seemingly at war, for whatever reason (we know the reason, James M. Barrie is racist).
Peter isnāt as much of a dick as he is in the original movie, either. He doesnāt let the sirens drown her, whereas in the og, Peter just about lets the mermaids drown Wendy, and he also laughs at her.
There also isnāt the whole, āGirls talk too much,ā between Peter and Wendy. I loved thatā and the fact that Wendy isnāt entirely girlish. Her hair is frizzy, she likes sword fighting and playing dirty with her brothers, she craves adventure, which is what makes it a more than beautiful story.
I also enjoy the encouragement to continue to believe in the whimsyā like faeries. I think our belief in āimaginaryā things, are the reason why those things actually exist in some respect, and why for some of us, our belief in those things have produced stellar stories.
Another topic, letās talk about how important childhood movies are and how the media we absorb impacts us creatively because who knows, I could log onto twitter and drop hella Peter Pan coded mood boards one winter.
The Labyrinth birthed Labyrinth wip which I unsurprisingly havenāt touched since last year. We also have Project TSA, which is influenced my the mythos of Aphrodite and other gods set in New Orleans, which I also havenāt touched, and probably some more stories that I donāt remember the working/definitive titles of.
The point is, ābrain rotā and hyper-fixations, in some capacity are important. And Iām not saying that you need to park your butt in front of the TV and absorb extreme amounts of media, but what I am saying is that you should look back on those movies you enjoyed as a kidā like Peter Pan, The Swan Princess, fuck, religiously, I turn on Ratatouille, Iāve memorized the script to Coraline the way people can recite The Bee Movie, and every goddamn Shrek movie.
I bet if we didnāt have movies like Peter Pan, Hook, Dorian Gray, ect, we wouldnāt have the movies and shows and other pieces of media that we have today. Some of those pieces Iāve not read, like Hooked, some I have watched, like Once Upon A Time.
If I hadnāt have watched Peter Pan and every Tinkerbell movie when I was growing up (my mom got upset with us that we watched the Tinkerbell and The Legend of The Neverbeast, Iām sorry momma!) I probably wouldnāt have any interest in the fae, writing about fae.
Thank you for coming to my TedTalk. I like having a space where I can talk endlessly about absolutely nothing, nothing being the things I love. Eventually, I will rant and rave about Coraline and The Labyrinth, and Sweeny Tood: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (the musical fucking bangs). I will see you all on Mars Day!
Believe in faeries,
Rownan