recognizing The Beauty in Growing Up.

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We often view childhood like the simpler time in our lives. Less responsibility, no pressure to pay bills, more fun and more time to make mistakes with less consequences. But think about it, if you had the ability to never grow up and be a child forever, how long do you think you would last until you got tired of all things childish, before you started wondering about all the experiences waiting in adulthood…alongside all the crappy ones.

today we’re going to be looking at one of the greatest Peter Pan adaptations ever made! We’ll be taking a special exploration through Wendy’s coming of age journey, as she goes from wanting to be a child forever, to recognizing The Beauty in Growing Up.

When we meet Wendy she’s standing on the rocky bridge between girlhood and becoming a young woman. She’s a pre-teen and only small steps away from dipping her toe into a harsh world filled with expectations. Wendy has begun to notice that as a woman, the bar has been placed so high you can literally spot the American flag on the moon from it, yet she’ll still be expected to try and reach it. After she draws a picture of a boy floating above her bed, which turns out to be Peter’s creepy ass,  she gets into trouble at school and end ups causing a huge embarrassing scene at her father’s work place. Her father yells at her immaturity and demands that it’s time for her to grow up. We also hate him for yelling at the dog but we won’t go down that road.

On the same night, Wendy’s mother explains that although their father doesn’t sport the same bravery they would normally see in their stories, he is very brave because he has put aside his own childish dreams in order to take on the responsibility of caring for a family, but Wendy doesn’t truly understand this point until later in the movie. So, whilst their parents have gone out, Peter Pan shows up and gives Wendy this enticing  pitch, listing off all the wonderful things she’ll find in Neverland and promises that she’ll never have to worry about growing up again. And with all of that sounding perfect in Wendy’s head, she leaps out the windows and follows the cute blonde magical boy all the way to the land of Childhood dreams.

Wendy’s awakening starts happening once she gets to Neverland and she begins developing new feelings for the first time. The first strange thing to note is that Peter Pan is in a lifelong beef with a grown ass man with a hook for a hand, the second thing that pops up is that the Lost Boys and Peter enjoy playing house a bit too much. With Wendy being the only maternal figure amongst the children, she slides right into the ‘Mother’ role, whilst Peter assumes the ‘Father’ position, and the two start subconsciously peaking behind the curtain of adult relationships.  With these new developing feelings, it’s clear that Wendy is more keen to continue taking those next steps forward, whereas Peter is keen to put a stop to any hint of romantic feelings that resemble the adult world.

Wendy starts to outgrow Peter very quickly, despite previously not wanting to grow up at all. The idea of telling stories to children, the idea of being a ‘Mother’ and experiencing love with someone special, all of which Peter has given her a taste of for the first time, within these new experiences she starts to question whether there’s another kind of magic that she can only access when she grows up.

In hindsight, Peter did clearly let Wendy know that the plan was to have fun and not worry about boring grown folks business in Neverland, and he has held up his side of the bargains. But beneath his childish view of the world , it’s clear that Peter is tempted by the idea of growing up, and the awfully big adventure it could be if only he wasn’t so afraid of the burden of adulthood and responsibility .

You can literally see those key moments where he fluctuates from a child, to a boy tip toeing on that bridge to becoming a young man.  It’s clear he enjoys stories of love, he enjoys pretending to be a ‘Father’ with the Lost Boy, and his time with Wendy has opened the door to romance and a special kind of magic, all of which he isn’t willing to evolve for.

Wendy calls Peter out for being unwilling to evolve and unwilling to admit that he secretly does want all those grown up experiences he pretends to reject. Wendy even goes so far to call him ‘insufficient’, because he’s made a conscious decision to never go pass a certain level and this makes him permanently incomplete, and she refuses to stay stuck with him when she knows she wants more from life.

In the Climax of the movie, Peter is down bad and Hook harshly reminds him of all his short comings that has caused Wendy to make her decision to leave him. Seconds away from death, Wendy intervenes and gives Peter a gift, a hidden kiss represented the ending of childhood and a token marking the time they’ve spent together.

It’s a bittersweet ending, Peter has chosen to continue being the only child that has the luxury of never growing up. Although we can see he’s remorseful, it’s also clear that he still has some work to do on himself and this means that his path with Wendy are no longer aligned the way there were at the beginning of the film. Wendy tearfully says goodbye to the childhood that Peter represents, but you can sense that she has matured and she’s now sitting comfortable on that bridge towards becoming a young woman, she no longer doubts the reason why this transition must happen, and she seems content with the new adventure meeting Peter has kick started off for her.

Another movie that has a similar message about growing up is Toy Story 3. The moment when Andy has to finally say goodbye to all his toys and he thanks them for all the time and memories they’ve given him. It shows that growing up can be hard and stressful, but it’s also beautiful and wondrous as we get ready to experience the full breath of the world and the many beautiful parts of being an adult, like going away to college, building a career, getting married or having children.  We mustn’t be burdened by the fear and the weight of responsibility, as it’s a privilege to grow up and get the opportunity to experience the full magic of the world.

Wendy’s decision to go back home feels almost empowering, she shows the same level of bravery that her mother spoke about at the beginning of the movie. When Wendy smiles and tearfully says goodbye to Peter, and to her childhood, it feels as if she is taking their memories and storing it in a time capsule to keep it as a special moment in her life, but she’s also content knowing that she’ll have plenty more in the future as well.

Saying goodbye is always going to be sad, as all good things must come to an end, but this movie teaches us the beauty within coming of age, and the magical way that most endings mark the start of another awfully big adventure.  

Thank you for reading. Keep having those adventures and stay different