The story appears on

Page A5

October 7, 2015

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeWorld

鈥楶an鈥 taps into Peter Pan鈥檚 pop culture exploits

In the century since Scottish author JM Barrie created Peter Pan, the Neverland universe has inspired movies, books, TV shows, plays, videogames and even a pop psychology syndrome describing emotionally immature men.

Now Warner Bros鈥 鈥淧an鈥 arrives in US movie theaters on Friday, a live-action 3D feature aimed at children that imagines the beginnings of Peter鈥檚 story: how he got to Neverland and learned to fly.

鈥淚 think Peter Pan has taken on a life of its own in the same way that Sherlock Holmes has,鈥 said director Joe Wright, referring to Arthur Conan Doyle鈥檚 crime-solving British literary phenomenon. 鈥淧eter has incredible courage and fun and so I think that reminds us of childhood in an honest and beautiful way. It鈥檚 no surprise that Barrie was writing at the same time as Freud. His story is somehow deeply psychologically accurate and acute,鈥 Wright said.

For Wright, the appeal of Peter Pan had little to do with a reluctance to grow up 鈥 a complex embodied by the late singer Michael Jackson and his Neverland ranch in California with its carousel, animals and Peter Pan references.

鈥淚 always wanted to grow up. I hated childhood. I found it a really difficult period of life. I was bullied and I was quite scared a lot of the time. So Peter Pan offered an escape from all of that,鈥 he said.

The theme of 鈥淧an鈥 is of a boy with a powerful imagination who is looking for the mother who abandoned him at birth just before World War II.


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend