Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4047879-20130517155027

I have just finished re-reading J M Barrie's Peter Pan, complete and unabridged, and I had forgotten just how dark it really is in places. The Disney cartoon, which I love, had really glossed over, as they do with a lot of the fairytales, the grittier and darker elements of the book. I have read some peoples comments on other sites saying how much they hate how dark they have made the story, and how they have messed up Peter, but to me I love the OUaT twist and take on their portayal of the Neverland and Peter Pan, it is so fresh and also makes a lot of sense to me. This is a long post and sorry if these have been raised else where.

Firstly this part really struck me as showing a really dark Peter:

''"The boys on the island vary, of course, in numbers, according as they get killed and so on; and when they seem to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out..." ''

Neverland is no childs game, you can die and be killed not just by pirates and indians, but by as it would appear Peter himself if you "grow up". Now to me that sounds like a troubled child. In fact there are several times in the book where people are actually killed, pirates, lost boys and indians. In every version I have seen it has always been a "game", no one really dies or if they do its only the villains who are killed by the heroes, but in the novel, you actually die, death is very real and present.

Secondly, another reason why I can see why they went with a dark Peter Pan is for this reason. When Peter is choosing you a tree in which to enter the home underground:

"...Peter measures you for your tree as carefully as for a suit of clothes: the only difference being that the clothes are made to fit you, while you have to be made to fit the tree [....] if you are bumpy in awkward places [....] Peter does something to you to make you fit."

Sounds sinister to me physically altering someone, why not just choose a bigger tree? Also Peter regularly forgot who Wendy John and Michael are when taking then to Neverland, he would fly off and leave them alone and when he would return he forgot who they where. He hates adults, especially mothers, infact in one bit he imagines "killing them off vindictively as fast as possible" because he doesn't like them ruining his fun. He also doesn't always feed the lost boys, he play pretends to eat and doesn't allow the others real meals if he doesnt want to. He sounds messed up and disturbed in the book, the lines between real life and imagination are a blur to him.

In reference to his shadow, a little section of the story struck me, I don't know if it is of real significance:

"Such a deliciously creepy song it was, in which they pretended to be frightened of their own shadows; little witting that so soon shadows would close in upon them, from whom they would shrink in real fear."

So what about Tinker Bell? That little fairy tried to get Wendy murdered by tricking the Lost Boys into killing her!! She showed no remorse for her actions, she is implied to swear through out the story, bullies, pinches and bites Wendy and generally acts like a spoilt stroppy madame. When Tink is shown in OUaT I think she will be given a dark twist too.

Now as for other people who may inhabit Neverland besides the obvious lost boys, Peter, indians, pirates, fairies and mermaids, some other inhabitants are mentioned in passing. "Gnomes who are mostly tailors [...] Princes with six elder brothers [...] and one very small old lady with a hooked nose."

The mention of princes made me think that with the furture addition of Ariel, if the princes appear will one be Eric? As for the little old lady, we have already seen Regina take on that disguise before, and she has had a run in with a "certain mermaid".

Sorry it is a long post, but I felt like raising these points to highlight why I can see why they have taken the dark route, it was already there in the book and it just needed fleshing out. Peter Pan does have a very dark side to him and I can not wait to see how the Peter story is developed, which parts will they use from the novel and also how Neverland will actually be portrayed when shown properly. 