Disney Heroines: A World Called Never Land

Since 1935 Walt Disney had been trying to buy the film rights to the theatrical story of the boy who never grew up. It was only four years later (after an arrangement was met) that he received them from the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. (Who J. M. Barrie had given the rights to) And in the early 1940’s his studio began story development and character designs.

They intended Peter Pan to make a follow up of Bambi, but WWII forced the project to be put on hold. The post war design for the film was quite different than what we actually know it to be. It was darker, and actually had Nana go to Never Land with the Darling children. It wasn’t till after the war that the actual production of the film begin, and later it was released in 1953.

Also, contrary to the popular rumor that Marilyn Monroe was the live-action reference model for Tinkerbell, it was actually Margaret Kerry.

In the world of Peter Pan there are three heroines that I’d like to address. The main heroine of the first movie, Wendy; the second main heroine of the first and second movies, Tinkerbell; and the main heroine of the second movie, Jane (Wendy’s daughter).

This page will focus on the first of these three characters.

Wendy (Peter Pan):

1.       Children are precious.

2.       Care for everyone.

3.       Hope for the best for others.

4.       Grudge no one.

5.       Remember where you’re needed.

6.       Think of others and not just yourself.

7.       Forgive and forget.

Wendy (Peter Pan 2: Return to Never Land):

1.       Moving on: Just because you disliked what happened in the past doesn’t mean you linger on it forever.

2.       Put other’s needs over your own.

3.       Just because you grow up doesn’t mean you have to change.

Like Alice, Wendy isn’t necessarily the one targeted in the themes I’ve seen. The main one that I’ve noticed is that the movie is full of racist notions. In looking on this I can see how that is true, and I won’t say that it’s false. I know that this statement is true, but please allow me to clear something up.

We forget that in the 1900’s racism was different that was know it today. The play Othello states this just about perfectly. Racism was more of a foreigner thought than skin color. (Though it had a major role.) For example, the British have always hated the French just because they’re French, and the French have always hated the British because they’re British.

This gives way to a new light on this theme. True, it’s there. But if we look at the bad the bad is all we’ll see, and if the bad is all we see then we’ll never see the good, which is the only thing worth seeing in the first place.