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Peter Pan: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''Second to the right, and then straight on till morning.'' |'''The original directions Peter gives to Neverland''' (although it turns out there isn't really a 'direction' as such. He just gets there. He only gives these directions to sound clever to Wendy.)}}
James M. Barrie was a prolific writer at the turn of the 20th century, but his most-beloved works are his 1904 play and novels about '''Peter Pan''', the boy who refused to grow up and lives in Neverland, a [[Magical Land]]. He has a feisty fairy [[Sidekick]] in Tinker Bell.
One spring evening, Peter follows his wayward shadow into a young girl's bedroom. When Wendy Darling fastens his shadow back on, Peter invites her to come and look after his Lost Boys, similarly ageless kids who (like him) lack a mother.
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Wendy and her brothers, John and Michael, fly away to Neverland, where the boys have many adventures while Wendy mothers them. Finally, after a climactic battle with Peter's [[Big Bad|archenemy]], the [[Pirate]] Captain Hook, Wendy decides she's had enough of Neverland. Peter agrees to let her go, and to let her take her brothers and the Lost Boys with her. Twenty years later, Peter Pan returns for Wendy's daughter Jane, and the adventures begin anew.
Peter Pan is a [[Trickster]], only nominally human. In ''[[Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens]]'', Peter is alluded to as being half bird; as all children in fact come from birds, but only Peter is close enough to his youth to remember ''being'' a bird. In Neverland, he is more like a playful demigod, with aspects of Puck and Pan. The character has become something of a cultural symbol for youthful exuberance and innocence, especially if it persists into adulthood; it also evokes the poignant flip side - never becoming truly mature. [[Michael Jackson]] identified with the character so much he named his estate (with an amusement park, et. al. on the grounds) "Neverland Ranch". The darker implications of eternal youth and perpetual irresponsibility is likely why a well-remembered 1987 film about teen vampires was called ''[[The Lost Boys]]''.
Also in the 1950s, a successful Broadway musical version of the story was launched; live TV broadcasts of it with Mary Martin as Peter were ratings winners, and this version is frequently staged in US theaters great and small to this day. An unusual quirk of most stagings of the play and musical, going back to its original productions, is that Peter is traditionally [[Crosscast Role|played by a young woman instead of a preteen male actor]].
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** Played straight with Peter's lifespan in comparison to those of mortals; he'll probably be picking up Wendy's descendants and taking them to Neverland until the world ends.
* [[Westminster Chimes]]: In the play, quoted in "Tender Shepherd".
* [[
** Somewhat [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that Tink is a fairy, and thus too small to experience more than one emotion at a time. She's either a perfect angel or an utter demon, and when she's jealous, well...
* [[You No Take Candle]]: The Piccaninnies talk this way.
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* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: Averted with Fireflyer, who's mostly in the story as a replacement for Tinkerbell, but beyond being the "token fairy" he's almost nothing like her, being an [[Keet|over-enthusiastic,]] [[Big Eater|gluttonous]] [[Motor Mouth]] and [[Self-Proclaimed Liar|liar]] who befriends Slightly rather than Peter.
* [[Took a Level In Kindness]]: Bratty, vain Slightly became ''extremely'' sensitive during the time skip. [[Justified Trope|It's possible to infer]] that he was softened out by misfortune, as Tootles was in the original; the book and play imply that he was taken down a peg or two after the boys left Neverland, and by the events of ''Peter Pan In Scarlet'' {{spoiler|his wife has died, leaving him with no children}}.
* [[The Villain Must Be Punished]]: Normally the selfish and heartless Peter sees fighting Hook as a game. Then Hook nearly kills Tinkerbell with a poison meant for Peter, and kidnaps the Lost Boys as well as the Darlings. Peter, in his coldest voice, whispers, "Hook or me this time" and goes for one final showdown.
{{reflist}}
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