In 2003, Director P. J Hogan adapts the story to a fantasy film. Peter Pan is a film for both children and adults. Children can be attracted by the colorful fantastic images and surprising adventurous exciting story.
Adults will notice the story about grown up, love and thoughts in one’s deep heart, such as jealousy and loneliness. This essay will talk about the character, narrative, contrast, conflict and genre of the film Peter Pan (2003).The heroine of the film is Wendy and the hero is Peter Pan. Wendy is the daughter of the Darling family. She is a good story-teller.
Every night she tells fairy story to her two brothers, John and Michael, even the amazing story attracted Peter Pan, a young flying boy lives in Neverland. Wendy is also a believer in love and romance, and sees Peter as a dashing hero. When she first met Peter in her bedroom, she just falls in love with him so that she helps Peter sew the shadow of him and wants to give him her hidden kiss.Peter is a naive and mischievous boy who refuses to grow up in that he hates the hypocritical of the adults’ world.
He can fly only when he has happy thoughts, otherwise he will fall down from the air. Not like Wendy, Peter doesn’t believe in love and even the sound of the word offends him. And tinker Bell is Peter’s petulant fairy. She loves Peter and is jealous of Wendy. It’s for Peter that she tricked the lost boys into shooting Wendy as she approaches the island.
It’s also for Peter that she had the medicine with poison left by Hook and then died. Her love is selfish but is also selfishness and great.Hook is the antagonist of the film. He is a captain with extreme power. He is a man of evil, malice and jealousy. But he is also an old and lonely person who has no dare to admit it and is jealous of Peter’s happiness.
His right hand has been swallowed by the crocodile because of Peter so that he always wants to kill Peter for revenge.The film is a story of the girl, Wendy adventures to Neverland with her two young brothers. They are guided by Peter and his fairy, Tinker Bell. In Neverland, Wendy has met with fairies, mermaids, Indians, pirates and a
Wendy has falls in love with Peter at first sight, but Peter doesn’t know what love and kiss is. After the romantic “fairy dance”, Peter has realized something about love, but he considered love as the part of the adults’ world and it doesn’t belong to him. During the sword-fighting, Hook weakened him that Wendy will abandon him and eventually forget about him when she grows up. Then Peter falls and unable to flight with those thoughts.
But with a “thimble” (kiss) from Wendy, Peter recovered and finally conquered Hook. The intensity of feeling between Peter and Wendy is very naive and pure that touched many audiences.The film is of loneliness in one’s deep heart. In Hook’s opinion, with great power comes great responsibility. He is a powerful captain, but he is very lonely.
He hates Peter not only for the revenge, but also he is jealous of Peter feelings about Wendy. In the end, Hook loses his confidence and his altitude above the water, and is swallowed by the crocodile. He died in that he is afraid of old, alone, and done for. Although Peter is a happy-go-lucky boy with audacious spirit of youth, he also feels lonely because all children grow up, except him.In the film, there are many contrast using in the sequences and firstly is the character. The protagonist, Peter, is very kind, naive and friendly, while the antagonist, Captain Hook, is the symbol of evil, and revengeful.
The love of Wendy is soft and sweet, but Tinker Bell’s is hard and full of jealousy especially when Peter doesn’t believe in her and abandons her.Secondly, the contrast in the film is the color of images especially the sky. The color of the London’s night is navy blue with twinkling stars just like the velvet with diamonds. Peter’s world is very colorful seems that he always lives in spring. Everything is blossom and flourishing. The sky is quite blue and the clouds are pink and soft like the cotton candy.
While the black castle where Hook lives in is always gloomy and dark. His world is winter all the time. The sea is icy, and the weather is snowy and thundering. The obvious contrast is the images, bright vs. dark, and the
gloomy. During the sword-fighting, when Hook gains the upper hand, the image is cold and bleak. But after the kiss given by Wendy, not only Peter himself, but also the image turns pink and warm.Thirdly, the sounds of the two sides are also contrast.
The sound of Hook’s is cold and gloomy, while Peter’s is happy and sweet. The background music is the highlight of the film. It is helpful to the plot development. The first time Wendy meets Peter in the Darlings’ residence, the music is very soft, mischievous, and curious like Wendy’s feelings at that time. When they first time see Hook from the sky, the music makes audiences nervous, but then turns to be happy because Peter plays tricks on Hook.
After the scene changed, the music in the black castle is horrible because Hook may kill the children at any time. After Peter came and began to fight with Hook, the background is keyed-up and nervous. During the romantic “fairy dance” between Wendy and Peter, the music is sweet and full of happiness, and you can also hear of the vivid sound of the fairies’ wings when they fly.The lighting that uses in the film has also played an important role. At the beginning of the film in the Darlings’ house, the light is orange and not very bright, and it makes people feel warm.
On the Hook’s ship, the light is very dark and gloomy at first, and then became bright because Peter is back to Neverland. And the room of the Hook’s is also very dark. There is only a little sunshine through the porthole lightens the room. In the black castle, without the some of torch inside and the lightening outside, it will be whole dark and cannot see anything.There are many conflicting themes in the film. The conflict between Peter and Hook actually is the children’s pure and naive world contrasts the adults’ hypocritical and complicated world.
It is also the conflict of kind and evil. The different attitude of Tinker Bell towards to Peter and Wendy is also one of the conflicts. She is jealous of the love between Peter and Wendy so that she wants to kill Wendy. She also sacrificed for Peter from the poison medicine left by Hook because of love.
In the story, Peter refuses to grow up so that he comes to Neverland without worries, while Wendy thinks everyone will grow up so she finally is back home.
Another character, an animatromic parrot is also made by computer. There are many fantastic sequences made by computer such as the sword-fighting between Peter and Hook. At that time, Hook has got the secret of flying (he has got sprinkled with Tink’s fairy dust) and duels Peter in the up air. “Here, a complex harness was built by filmmakers to send the live-action actors rotating and gliding through the air for the flight sequences.
Director Hogan says that the flying scenes very difficult to accomplish, but that, "it was tougher on the kids than it was for me. They were up there on the harness 12' off the ground, having to make it look like flying is easy and fun." (From Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan)” All these special effects advancements help Peter and his cohorts pop off the screen.Although the new adaptation of the film is different from the original fiction, it tells old truth.
“Adventures in which good triumphs over evil” , so that Hook finally failed. Love is the most beautiful thing in the world which can encourage one and give him or her more power. We do believe in the persons around us because believing can save someone who is in trouble. In everyone’s heart, there is a Peter Pan who lives in Neverland. He is a shadow of our childhood and he never feels lonely because we all love him.
It is no doubt that the film Peter Pan(2003) is successful and loved by both children and adults due to the fantastic visual effects, contrasts and conflicting themes.
