Lightning has just struck my brain.
It's funny how the smallest thing can lead to a very random train of thought, ultimately ending up at a life-changing revelation. On a seemingly normal day, I was passing by the break room across the hall from mine, and I caught a glimpse of their TV screen for a fraction of a second. They were watching Hook. For the brief moment that I could see the screen, it was a shot of Dustin Hoffman as Captain James Hook, standing in the Captain's Quarters in all his piratical glory. So why my thoughts immediately drifted to Peter Pan himself, I haven't the slightest clue. Whatever the reason, this is what went through my mind:
For anyone watching Hook, especially children, it's easy to get the impression that Peter Banning is a bad person. From what we can tell, he is a terrible husband, a neglectful father, and kind of a jerk in general. He is consumed with work, and cares little about anything or anyone else. He has even forgotten Neverland and his entire identity as Peter Pan, which is, arguably, symbolic of his having left behind every shred of childlike innocence that he once possessed. It's enough to make anyone shudder at the idea of becoming an adult, so it's not surprising in the least that so many people nowadays, (men, most commonly), tend to cling so ferociously to their childhoods. It's so prevalent that "Peter Pan Syndrome" is an official condition diagnosed by psychological professionals.
Hook isn't the only culprit. Most of us are used to versions of the Peter Pan story where young Peter is portrayed as a hero. Eternal youth and perpetual freedom from responsibility are utterly glorified, while the ugly side of never-ending childhood is ignored. However, J.M. Barrie, (who once described children as "innocent and heartless"), never intended for Peter to be an absolute role model. He has an endearing enthusiasm and a delightful thirst for adventure, certainly, but right along with those, there is flightiness, (no pun intended), immaturity, selfishness, and an errant disregard for the welfare of others. He stubbornly refuses to grow up, and even tries to trick Wendy into thinking that her mother has forgotten her so that she and the Lost Boys won't leave him to return to England. He promises to come back for Wendy, but forgets to do so until she is grown up with a child of her own. In this light, Peter Pan doesn't come out looking like much of a hero at all.
I admit I didn't realize this until I had my huge epiphany, but even Hook doesn't present Peter Pan as a purely noble character. There is a moment near the end of the movie that I always used to gloss over, probably because the scene is pretty awkward, but my profound train of thought led me back to it and I suddenly understood how significant it really is. After a couple of days in Neverland, Peter regains his memories and becomes Peter Pan again. By that, I don't just mean that he remembers how to fly, fight, and crow, but I mean he reverts completely back to a childish state. In the scene where he visits Tinker Bell, he refers to everything as a game, his logic when it comes to curing illnesses is juvenile and silly, and he momentarily forgets about his children, who are supposed to be the whole reason behind his return to Neverland. Then Tink gets human-sized and they kiss, and I think that's where this scene lost the audience and everyone missed the point. But the important thing is that Hook has now shown us the downfalls of both adulthood and childhood, and therein lies the genius of it all.
It's not a terrible thing to be a kid, nor is growing up some kind of unspeakable evil. What Hook does is warn us against the dangers of going too far to either end of the spectrum. It's a fantastic thing to be childlike, and to hold on to your imagination and sense of wonder as long as you can. It only becomes harmful when you cross the line into being childish. Becoming an adult means discovering your potential, having a family, and getting the chance to explore the world again through the eyes of your own children. Like many people out there, Peter Banning presumably took on his job with good intentions at first, wanting to provide for the family he loved. The problem is that people forget that they are allowed to enjoy the fruits of their labors. They drown themselves in their careers and daily stress, so much so that everything they started working for in the first place gets unintentionally placed on the back-burner.
We don't see much beyond Peter, Jack, and Maggie's return to England, but after a lot of rumination on the subject, I like to think that the end result, and the true point of Hook, was that Peter found a perfect balance between Pan and Banning, Rather than drifting between two unhealthy extremes, I believe Peter finally learned to merge the best parts of childhood and adulthood, to be responsible for his family and his career, (in that order), while still appreciating his life as the awfully big adventure that it should be.
CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: "Presenting The Hook" - John Williams (Hook - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
