Peter Pan was one of my favorite Disney cartoons growing up. I wore my VHS copy of that movie out. But even as I was enjoying it, Elementary School-Age Teresa was also made hugely uncomfortable by the “What Makes the Red Man Red?” song, as well as by how catty Tinkerbell was. What I didn’t realize until much later, however, was that in addition to the racism and sexism in the film, how creepy Peter Pan as a concept is to begin with. Thankfully, this Honest Trailer is here to clear things up.
Peter Pan basically lures children to Neverland, and keeps them from leaving. Creepy. Rather than being a parent to the Lost Boys himself and guiding them into adulthood, he finds “a girl” to be their mother – whose duties are limited to telling them stories, singing to them, then staying out of their way. Sexist. Oh, and then there are the Native Americans in the film. Yeeeeah. One of the few things that Once Upon a Time did right before it went irredeemably downhill was that it made Peter Pan a villain, and we got to see his behavior for what it really is – controlling, stalkerish, and sociopathic.
What do you think? Is there still value in Peter Pan as “the spirit of youth?” Or should we all just grow the fuck up already?
(via Hit Fix)
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