Flutterby™! : Peter Pan 2004-06-02 15:44:00.345518+00

Peter Pan

2004-06-02 15:44:00.345518+00 by Dan Lyke 9 comments

After hearing a number of men describe themselves as "Peter Pan", Bunni explores the darkness of J.M. Barrie's original. Well worth a read.

thanks for the heads up about peter pan. i've been trying to give my students stories about fairy tales and fables. their home education is sadly lacking when it comes to reading. the majority had no idea what the "billy goats gruff" story was about or the gingerbread man.

the original pan story is a LOT different from what disney has created or the broadway play with sandy duncan. i even remember the one with the other woman who played pan, can't remember her name, way back when. sounds like the orginal story would give stephen king and anne rice a run for their money in movie rights, lol.

Mary Martin, who will always be Peter Pan for me, as inaccurate as that version of the story is from the original.

(PS: It suddenly dawns on me that those without fairy tale awareness are likely to miss a lot of nuances and funny parts in Shrek 2.)

#Comment Re: made: 2004-06-03 02:38:37.124482+00 by: Shawn [edit history]

Fairy tale, or Disney

? It seemed to me there were far more of the latter than the generic former. In fact, at the moment, I can't think of a single nuatical (I claim poetic licence - pthbbbbbttt) generic fairy tale reference. But then maybe I'm too steeped in Faerie to consciously note such things.

If we go into the darkness of fairy tales and fables, what about Baba Yaga and Bluebeard? Although many of the Brother's Grimm stories are pretty damned grim too; Hansel & Gretel head off into the forest expecting that they're going to be abandoned by their father.

Ya know, I hadn't even considered that people might not have the background to get the in-jokes in Shrek 2. Wow, is my sense of cultural literacy that far out of touch?

Shawn, were your questions directed to me? Pinocchio. Three blind mice. Little Red Riding Hood's wolf. Hansel and Gretel. The three little pigs (and their own lung-enabled wolf). The muffin man ("Sure I know him, he's over on Drury Lane.") Thumbelina, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Prince Charming... There were surely Disney references in there too (incl. warped updated versions of images from those early Disney animations), but large numbers of referencs to fairy tales. We won't even start with the pop music, classic film, and cultural references... Lots of very clever laughs there, if you had the background.

Dan, I think your sense of cultural literacy is somewhat out of touch, yes. (For much of the country anyway...)

grmm's fairy tales and the such were violent, abusive, sick stories from that time. if they were written today, i'm sure the authors would have been arrested as pedophiles or lunatics, lol. if the stories were true accountings, the parents would have been arrested for child abuse/abandonment (hansel & gretel, snow white)

today's fairy tales for kids? i'm not talking about what you find at barnes&noble on the shelf for adults, i'm referring to what parents read to their kids...most of the modern tales for children under 10 are sweet happy stories. for the olders we've got lord of the rings, harry potter...with the underlying theme of good v evil. certainly nothing like grimm's parental abuse and abandonment.

#Comment Re: made: 2004-06-03 14:05:00.375749+00 by: Shawn [edit history]

Diane; yeah, generically directed at you, or anyone else who wanted to answer. I'll give you the muffin man references (I know I've heard of Drury Lane, but I don't know the specifics - just knew it was a fairy tale thing), but I don't consider named characters as nuances. Show me a cat wearing boots, without actually calling him Puss in Boots (or just call him P.B.) and I'll agree we've got an inside joke/nuance/not-so-obscure reference. (In which case, I guess I'll have to give you the three blind mice as well then ;-)

We were generally disappointed with the new Potter flick. K's read the books (again) more recently, and she was upset about several modifications to the storyline. For myself, the actors are getting a bit too old. And we both were bothered by the drastic changes in scenic layout for the school.