Peter Pan

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Peter Pan is the main character in some of James Matthew Barrie 's children's stories and is the only child there who will never grow up. Peter Pan lives in "Neverland" ( Engl. Neverland ), a fictional island. He is leader of the "Lost Boys" (English The Lost Boys ), a group of boys. Peter's adversary is the pirate leader, Captain Hook .

Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens , London

Peter Pan first appeared in 1902 in The Little White Bird, originally written for adults, and then became very successful in the 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up (“Peter Pan, or the boy who wouldn't wanted to grow up ”or“ did not grow up ”, premiered in London on December 27, 1904). In 1906 the section of Little White Bird was published as a separate book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens . Arthur Rackham illustrated this edition. In 1911 Barrie adapted the subject matter of the play for the short story Peter and Wendy , which is now mostly published under the title Peter Pan .

Appearance

As a boy who never grew up, Peter Pan is usually portrayed between the ages of 11 and about 13 years. There were also technical reasons for this, as small children were often not up to the high demands placed on the character, which meant that the role on stage was often played by young women. In the novel, J. M. Barrie describes him as a very dirty boy, whose body is completely covered with vines and leaves and who still has all of his baby teeth. In the films he often wears a green suit with references to Robin Hood . To emphasize his connection to the fairies, Peter gets pointed ears and fiery red hair in some versions.

action

Wendy and her younger brothers Michael and John live in London with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Darling, their nanny and the dog Nana. On his first visit to the house, Peter Pan meets the sleeping Mrs. Darling. He flies in through the window and wakes her up. She is frightened and screams, which alarms Nana, who finally chases Peter out the window. However, she bit off his shadow, which Mrs. Darling is now stowing in a drawer.

The parents attend a party on a Friday evening. The choleric father ties up Nana in the courtyard, which is why she cannot take care of the children who sleep in the nursery. Peter Pan, who wants his shadow back, flies in through the window again, accompanied by the small, winged fairy Tinkerbell (also known as the little bell or nose in German ). He finds his shadow and tries to glue it back on with soap, which doesn't work. He then begins to cry, which he wakes up with. He asks her to accompany him to Neverland, an island where one will never grow up. There he lives with the "Lost Boys" and they long for a mother, Wendy could take on this role. She agrees, but asks that her brothers can come along. Peter Pan dusts them all with fairy dust and they fly off to Neverland. Some time later they land on an island that they already know from their dreams and games. Just that all of the dangers here are real: there are Indians, pirates, mermaids, and fairies.

During the flight, Tinkerbell lures Wendy into an ambush. They split up from the rest of the group and Tinkerbell calls out to the "lost boys" down on the floor that Peter has ordered them to shoot Wendy. They follow the supposed order and discover to their horror that they probably shot the new mother that Peter Pan wanted to bring them. Fortunately she is unharmed and so they live for a few weeks in the underground house of the "Lost Boys", in which Peter and Tinkerbell also live.

Wendy takes on the role of mother, cooks, washes and teaches the children.

One evening they are sitting together at the Mermaid Lagoon. The children are asleep and Wendy forgets the time while sewing. Pirates approach them, on their boat is Tiger-Lily, the head of the Indians who have captured them. They want to drown her, but Peter uses a ruse to free her. Nevertheless, they get into a fight with the pirates, which is interrupted by a crocodile. The crocodile has been chasing Captain Hook, the pirate leader, since it bit off his hand. Fortunately, it has swallowed a clock that is ticking and striking so that it can be heard from afar. Michael, John and the "Lost Boys" save themselves on a boat. Wendy and Peter stay behind after Hook hurt Peter. However, Wendy is brought home by a kite, Peter of the Never Bird. Because of Tiger-Lily's rescue, the Indians team up with Wendy, Peter and the "Lost Boys" and protect them from now on.

Wendy and her brothers become homesick and decide they want to go back home. Just as they are about to leave, they are attacked by the pirates. Some Indians do not survive the fight. Wendy, her brothers and the "Lost Boys" are kidnapped by the pirates. Meanwhile, Captain Hook tries to poison Peter, which Tinkerbell prevents. Peter swears revenge. Captain Hook and the pirates are on their way with their prisoners on their ship JOLLY ROGER. Now the prisoners are supposed to die by walking over the plank. Peter approaches them unseen, imitating the ticking of the crocodile, frightening the pirates. He sneaks into the ship and kills some pirates. Then he frees the children, who arm themselves and kill the rest of the crew, except for Captain Hook and two of his followers. Peter and Hook engage in a bitter sword fight. Eventually, Hook falls over the railing and is eaten by a crocodile.

The two remaining pirates are captured by the Indians and Peter, Wendy, Michael, John and the "Lost Boys" make their way back to London, where Mr. Darling has since spent the days in Nana's dog house to see his children disappear to atone. The joy of reunion is great on all sides. Peter and Tinkerbell fly back to Neverland, while the "Lost Boys" are adopted by the Darling family and lead a normal life from now on.

Neverland

The Neverland ( Neverland ) is a fictional island and the main setting of Barrie's story, a place where children never grow up. The hero of the play, Peter Pan, also lives here. There are elves , pirates , Indians , mermaids and of course children. In Neverland, you just have to believe in something to make it happen.

Similar to other invented islands, e.g. B. Utopia by Thomas More or Atlantis by Plato , the events and possibilities on this island reflect the ideas and the program of its inventor in a parable form. Neverland can be seen as a metaphor for eternal childhood and youth, immortality, but also for childliness, being childish and escapism .

In the first drafts of Barrie's play, the island was called “Peter's Never Never Land”, when it was first performed this was shortened to “Never Never Land”; in the published version of the play there was talk of "Neverland". Only in the later published novella Peter and Wendy was the name of the island written in a single word: Neverland. When the play is performed today, some directors still use the name “Never Never Land”. The subject of Peter Pan, the boy who never gets older, and the island "Neverland" has often been filmed.

Performances, adaptations, further developments

On the stage, the role of Peter Pan is mostly cast with young female actors, as in 1984 in the Theater des Westens in Berlin with Ute Lemper .

theatre

Movie and TV

Peter Pan has been adapted into cartoons and live action films several times , including:

Literary adaptations

In 1987, the British writer and literary critic Gilbert Adair published a sequel under the title Peter Pan and the Only Children . The book was published in German under the title Peter Pan and the Only Children in the Phantasia Edition . In 2004 the foundation, which administers the estate and the rights to Peter Pan, decided to hold a competition on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Barrie's death in order to come to an "official" and further story about Neverland and Peter Pan. Over 200 authors applied, and children's author Geraldine McCaughrean made the running. The book Peter Pan in Scarlet was published on October 5, 2006 in 31 countries simultaneously, the illustrations come from Brian Froud (who was responsible for the artistic equipment in the film The Dark Crystal ) and are said to be based on the original drawings by Arthur Rackham orientate. In Germany the volume was published under the title Peter Pan and the Red Pirate by cbj ( ISBN 3-570-13206-4 ).

In 1994, Gail Bowen developed The Tree , based on the Peter Pan theme , which premiered at the Globe Theater in Regina , Saskatchewan .

Based on the idea of ​​a non-aging child named Peter who lives on an island with "lost children", the American author Brom published the novel The Child Thief in 2010 , in which the main character follows a plot that is based on the fantasy and horror genre .

Comic adaptations

An adaptation of the subject “Peter Pan” in comic form by Régis Loisel was awarded the Max and Moritz Prize in 1992 . The six-volume series is published in German by Ehapa-Verlag .

In the French comic series La Légende du Changeling ( Die Legende vom Changeling ; German by Piredda Verlag ), which was published at the end of the 19th century. plays, author Pierre Dubois and draftsman Xavier Fourquemin let their protagonist Scrubby stumble into a theater performance by Peter Pan in the second volume Le croque-mitaine ( The Black Man ) . The boy “who never grew up” appears here as Scrubby's parallel figure.

Peter Pan in Music

interpretation

This section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
Peter Pan and Wendy ,
cover from 1915

Peter Pan embodies the innocence and carelessness of childhood, the lust for imaginary and often violent adventures, without concern or understanding for real dangers and real suffering. While all other children leave this world of experience (embodied by Never Land ) at some point and grow up, Peter Pan does not grow up and never changes.

The end of the novel clearly shows an ambivalence: Peter can only preserve his childlike nature, only remain unchanged, by soon forgetting everything else that is changeable, even if it was once very important to him. When he met Wendy again after a year, he no longer remembers Captain Hook and not even Tinkerbell, who, as the reader learns, has probably died in the meantime. He soon forgets Wendy too, and when he finally does return, Wendy is an adult and has a daughter of her own who takes her place as Peter's "mother".

Even if topics such as “Indians” and “Pirates” can be assigned to a specific era, Peter Pan is a relatively timeless novel that unites children from all over the world. Peter's selfish behaviors and “adventures” are also typical behavior patterns of children - gender does not matter. Peter will continue to kidnap children to Neverland because, to put it in the narrator's words: “All children will one day leave their Neverland, come home and grow up. Just not a child. "

Another possible interpretation: the lost boys do not grow up because they died in childhood. They have come to “Children's Heaven” (= Neverland) and Peter Pan is interpreted as an angel who picks up the children in Neverland after they have died.

Peter Pan in Psychoanalysis

Peter Pan is also an allegory of infantility , of refusal to grow up and mature. Instead, it finds itself in a peculiar, unreal and floating lightness. This transition problem from childhood to youth is therefore also a topic in psychoanalysis , v. a. in child and youth psychotherapy . This phenomenon is also known as Peter Pan Syndrome , so named by psychotherapist Dan Kiley.

“Peter Pan is the child who never grows up and lives on a fictional island, Neverland. In this place the children remain children, the island stands for eternal childhood and immortality. The passage of time is denied, just as there is no sexuality. Superficially this leads to a paradisiacal state of complete freedom ... The denied instinctual wishes and lost objects return in bizarre form: Captain Hook appears as a caricature of the phallic father ... In parallel, the crocodile is the caricature of a devouring mother ... "

- Michael Günter : Shame and Sexuality in Adolescence

Copyright and royalty entitlement

The creator of Peter Pan bequeathed all rights to the books, films and plays to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children , a London children's hospital.

According to an English law (Section 301, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ), royalties must be paid in favor of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children even after the copyright has expired , unless otherwise agreed with the royalty holder .

literature

  • Michael Günter: Shame and Sexuality in Adolescence. Transitional spaces and fixations. In: Susanne Hauser, Franz Schambeck (Ed.): Transitional Adolescence. Development, dynamics and treatment technique of adolescents and young adults. Brandes & Apsel, Frankfurt 2010, ISBN 978-3-86099-682-9 . Pp. 55-78

Web links

Commons : Peter Pan  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • German translation as a free online version; Petar Skunca; Illingen; 2014, not in the public domain

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JM Barrie: Peter Hollindale (Introduction and Notes) (Ed.): Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens and Peter and Wendy . Oxford Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0192839299 , p. Xix.
  2. ↑ In the original Neverland , Never Never Land or Never Never Never Land .
  3. ↑ PETER PAN | Hallenberg open-air stage. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287870/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl
  5. ↑ Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0349880/
  6. ↑ Source: http://www.fernsehserien.de/peter-pan-neue-ablebnis
  7. ↑ Egmont Ehapa Verlag with all title covers
  8. ^ Piredda Verlag with title cover, review and reading samples
  9. ^ Günter, in: Hauser, 2010, 56
  10. ↑ http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880048_en_28.htm