Peter Pan/Fridge

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


General

Fridge Brilliance

  • The fact that the Darling Children break out in their nightgowns seemed an impediment to their adventures - but ironically, for Wendy it was a blessing: regular female clothing for upperclass girls back then was way too constricting to do anything useful, so for her the nightgown was the only appropriate choice - SS 13.
    • The Darling family was actually middle-class. The reason they had Nana was because they couldn't afford a "real" nursemaid.

Fridge Horror

  • Think about it: since the Lost Boys don't really age in Neverland, that implies that they're from Earth. This means that the parents of those kids never knew where their kids disappeared. Now consider the fact that this might mean that the Lost Boys may be hundreds of years old, so their families are long dead by then...
    • The original book is both better and worse, though at least it avoids the trip to the fridge being necessary: the Lost Boys do age. It's just Peter Pan who doesn't. When one gets too old... well... let's just say it'd have been nicer for Pete Pan to merely kick them out, okay?
      • Hook actually addressed an aspect of that Fridge Horror rather nicely. Look at his relationship with Wendy. Though that may merely be a case of Who Wants to Live Forever??
  • In the book, it's stated that mothers read their childrens` minds every night and "tidy" them up like drawers. "When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on." It is supposed to be cute and portray mothers as deeply caring, but for older readers the idea of someone knowing every thought you ever had can seem unsettling

Disney version

Fridge Brilliance

  • When I was a little kid watching Disney's Peter Pan, I didn't really notice the glaring stereotypical portrayal of the Native Americans. Then, not too long ago, a Cracked article reminded me that, yes, the way the film handled the Native Americans was inaccurate. Today, however, I realized that, duh, of course the Native Americans are portrayed stereotypically--Neverland is the average 1900s English kid's fantasy world, and the average kid's idea of the Native Americans is pretty much what's portrayed in the film. -Chutney Prophet
    • Except that in the original play, the Indians were a) Barely used (except for Tigerlily), and b) Fairly well treated. So the Indians in Disney's Peter Pan were really just an adult movie producer's idea of what a child thinks indians are, at best.
  • An extremely subtle Mythology Gag in Return to Neverland--when Tinker Bell gets sick, Slightly dresses up as a doctor and takes her temperature with a thermometer. In the original book and play, when Wendy was unconscious after being shot down from the sky, Slightly acted as doctor and "put a glass thing in her mouth" to "cure" her.

Fridge Horror

  • Quite a bit, notably in that scene where Hook casually kills one of his crew members for singing while he was planning-just how many times has he done that? And where does he get new crew members from when he goes through them so fast? Plus, while he was listing off methods of loosening Tigerlily's tongue, he spoke horrific tortures such as boiling in hot oil and such in a casual tone, with Smee nodding along calmly, as if such things are commonplace to them. Just what have they been doing?
    • Thea are pirates after all. Doing horrific things is what they do.

The Musical

Fridge Brilliance

  • I was in a production of Peter Pan. In it, Wendy mentioned that she couldn't hear any fairies; all she could hear was a quiet sound that sounded like the "tinkling of bells." TINKLING OF BELLS- TINKERBELL! A whole new meaning. --Lulamorashi
    • Her named initially came from her being a blacksmith type of fairy.. one who "tinkered" on bells. It's probably a double meaning, like the above posted mentioned. - Gallows

2003 Live Film version

Fridge Horror

  • It is heavily implied that Hook is an Alter Ego of Wendy's father (for example in the end where he tries he cheer himself with "banks" and "stock operations"; they are both called James and played by the same actor). This makes the fact that he was ready to kill Wendy (and her siblings) extremely disturbing. Worse yet, it even makes sense, as Mr. Darling did notice that he is inconvenienced by his children earlier (of course he repents at the end, but still).
    • Actually I think the father's name is George