Peter Pan Movie vs Book free essay sample

The Barrie book and the Disney film present a big number of elements that match and of facets that are completely distinct. Firstly, the 1953 movie respects the narrative lines and the main personal characteristics. Peter Pan, for example, is as cocky, courageous and forgetful as he is in the book, just as Tinker Bell is as jealous, but possibly in a slightly less sexual way. The most important moral values followed by the book are also maintained by the Disney feature, such as the pricelessness of youth and the importance of family. In terms of the elements that separate the two art forms in their treatment of the story, two main kinds can be distinguished: those that are totally irrelevant for the narrative (and that only suit technical and prosaic impositions), and those that alter significantly the general purpose and aspect of the work. In the first group can be included changes in names or re- definitions of lesser physical and psychological features of some characteristics. We will write a custom essay sample on Peter Pan Movie vs Book or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Disney producers, for example, changed the name of Neverland in NeverNeverland and, although in Barrie’s text Hook lost his right hand, the Disney artists relocated his hook to the left hand, because otherwise it would limit his actions too much. The bigger differences are more related to other kind of constrictions. In fact, two main reasons are behind the most significant variations between the film and the book. First, the Disney Studios had to deal with budget and time limitations, which were naturally absent from the creation of the novel. This impeded the adaptation of many elements that remain, to this day, exclusive to Barrie’s work. Secondly, the film producers had to ensure that the film could be seen by younger audiences, which evidently implied a reshaping of content of the text. Consequently, the most violent parts of the book are softened in the movie. For example, whereas in the play and the novel Tinker Bell gets knocked out by a poison, in the animated film she gets hurt by a bomb. Besides, the picture rejects a certain humour developed by Barrie that was intended for adults. The most well-known case is that of a brilliant conversation between the Darling couple, discussing whether it would be possible to have Wendy or not: â€Å"I have one pound seventeen here, and two and six at the office; I can cut off my coffee at the office, say ten shillings, making two nine and six, with your eighteen and three makes three nine seven, with five naught naught in my cheque-book makes eight nine seven – who is that moving? This linearity is also reflected in broader terms: the second layer of analysis is somewhat lost in the adaptation. While James Barrie created a work that would have one meaning for youths and another for adults, the Disney picture merely focuses on the adventurous side of the story and gives only slight hints about the importance of family. Moreover, the film finishes, in narrative terms, earlier than the book, not only because of time limitations, but because the Disney studios did not want to give Barrie’s more complex ending to their young viewers10. In fact, the author of Peter Pan ends his novel in a much less hermetic way than the movie. He writes a chapter that incorporates Nietzsche’s â€Å"eternal return† concept and that attributes an allegoric status to the novella: generation after generation, children will dream of overcoming their physical and social limitations to live adventures in their minds. This is not only impossible to avoid but is essential for a harmonious and healthy growth: â€Å"As you look at Wendy you may see her hair becoming white, and her figure little again, for all this happened long ago. Jane is now a common grown-up, with a daughter called Margaret; and every spring-cleaning time, except when he forgets, Peter comes for Margaret and takes her to the Neverland, where she tells him stories about himself, to which he listens eagerly. When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter’s mother in turn; and thus it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.