Peter Pan

Finding Neverland:

An Intersectional Approach to Disney’s “Peter Pan”

 

Disney’s 1953 portrayal of J.M Barrie’s fantasy tale, “Peter Pan,” tells the story of Peter and the Darling family’s children escaping the troubles of the real-world by going to the place where all responsibilities can be cast aside and childhood dreams pursued – Neverland. With an unequal segregation of power according to one’s gender, race and body-type, Neverland proves to be far from utopian. This essay will, therefore, serve to examine the relationship between gender, race and able-bodiedness as exhibited in the film and the danger of spreading these false ideologies to Disney’s target audience – youth.

 

Firstly, despite sporting a variety of female characters from diverse socio-economic and cultural upbringings, Disney’s “Peter Pan” depicts two types of femininity under which every female character is categorised: the responsible mother-like figure and the jealous, promiscuous figure. Wendy’s character embodies the mother-like archetype, as she cleans, mends clothing, and cares for the Lost Boys, whilst consistently looking for the approval of the group’s father-figure, Peter, who admits that his feelings for her are only those of a devoted son (Peter Pan, 1953). Wendy’s agency and power is compromised by her timid sexuality as she is often taken advantage of by the stronger, more sexually-comfortable female characters.

 

 Contrastingly, Tinkerbell and the mermaids are overly-sexualized, in both appearance and carriage, challenging feminine gender roles by demanding more power and agency. Both the mermaid’s shell-bras and Tinkerbell’s tiny green dress flaunt the women’s bodies and demonstrate the women’s confidence in their sexuality. The women compete with Wendy for Peter’s attention by insulting her conservative clothing, injuring her, and attempting kill her. These women, however comfortable with their sexuality they may be, do not utilize their sexuality to win over Peter, rather, they are depicted as respectful in waiting for Peter to choose them, first. Thus, by waiting for men to pick them, even these powerful female characters fail to challenge the ideology that a female’s power is negotiated at the expense of a male’s power and priority in choosing a partner.

 

Furthermore, Tigerlily’s character attempts to bridge the gap between the white, affluent Lost Boys and her own Indigenous community of Neverland – who are characterized as “redskins” or “Piccaninny Indians” speaking in gibberish and threatening to burn the Lost Boys alive (00:40:26 – 00:42:24). She, unlike the other Indigenous characters who are illustrated with red skin, wearing feathers and loin cloth, bears a similar semblance to the other female characters in her physical features. Unlike the other females, however, she demands full attention and power by kissing Peter first – to all the other characters’ surprise, including Peter’s. If one of the white female characters would have done this, such as Wendy or Tinkerbell, the reaction would be a congratulatory one, since she is challenging existing gender ideologies. Instead, the fact that Tigerlily’s presence in the film is defined by her sexuality and kiss with Peter speaks volumes about the way women of colour are recognized in films – as being more aggressive and pushy with their sexuality. If, as Becca Grecken points out in her article, Indian identities established in media “play out on the bodies of real people” (171), then it is no wonder that Indigenous women are more prone to violence and sexual assault than their white counterparts, since they are depicted and interpreted as more sexually hostile. This, as outlined by Stuart Hall’s “Encoding/Decoding” (156), is both the fault of Disney, and the viewers for feeling threatened by Tigerlily’s sexual agency rather than celebrating it. Milestone and Meyer’s “Representing Women” (93) advocates for the “diversification of femininity”, whereby women are given more freedom of identity and do not feel inclined to label themselves as a certain type of feminist. The danger that comes with a binary model of femininity, such as the one in this film, is that it often provokes young girls to categorise themselves and blatantly tells all viewers, in general, that only two types of girls exist. 

 

Furthermore, the film promotes troubling ideas about disability, depicting Captain Hook – the film’s antagonist – as an amputee. Paul Longmore, in his novel “Why I burned my book and other essays on disability”, discusses the problems that arise from giving disabilities to villainous characters (112). He argues that it reinforces and exaggerates existing prejudices against people with disabilities, portraying disability as a punishment for evil and presenting individuals with disabilities as “embittered by their fate” (ibid). Since every aspect of Hook’s being – even his name – alludes to his amputated limb, and therefore, so does his evilness and bitterness, children viewing the film will have a difficult time separating the disability from the villain, himself. As Rosemarie Garland-Thomson explained in her article “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory”, the ideology surrounding people of disability focuses too heavily on changing the bodies imagined as abnormal rather than changing the abnormal, exclusionary attitudinal and environmental barriers surrounding these individuals (23). Rather than promoting tolerance of variation, the film represents Hook’s disability as the centre of his being, and even makes it a weapon of evil, in and of itself. In terms of power and masculinity, the film consistently shows Captain Hook as inferior to Peter and the Lost Boys, grouping the pirates with the Indigenous people – both subordinate to the white, able-bodied children. Consequently, children watching the film can only conclude that being an amputee is directly associated with being evil, villainous, and sparks a murderous hatred for the able-bodied.

 

Disney’s “Peter Pan” spreads false ideologies about the negotiation of power based on one’s gender, race, and body-type to its viewers – young children whose vulnerability provokes them to embody the ideas presented to them. Whether it be young girls who are scared to embody sexual confidence and agency in fear of appearing too forward, or children who will never feel truly masculine or powerful because of their disability, this film is dangerous in that it creates a very limited axis of power, on which many children do not fall.

By: Helen Kosc – 20008580

Word Count: 1004 words

References:

 

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory.” NWSA Journal 14.3 (2002): 1-32. Web.

 

Grecken, Becca. “Marketing Authenticity: “Real Indians” As Coming Attractons in Contemporary Hollywood.” Race/Gender/ Class/ Media 3.0: Considering Diversity across Audiences, Content, and Producers, 3rd ed. Ed. Rebecca Ann Lind. New Jersey: Pearson. Print. [CP] (2013): 167-72. Web.

 

Longmore, Paul K. Why I burned my book and other essays on disability. Philadelphia: Temple U Press, 2003. Print.

 

Milestone, Katie, and Anneke Meyer. Gender and popular culture. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2012. p. 99.

 

Milestone, Katie, and Anneke Meyer. Consuming Popular Culture: The Role of Gender. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2012. p. 156.

 

Peter Pan. Prod. Walt Disney. N.p., n.d. Web

 

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