Is Peter Pan Captain Hook?

[Bilgemunky]

I must have way too much time on my hands lately, because yesterday a thought occured to me and I haven't been able to shake it since.

Having seen the the new Peter Pan movie, I'm starting to wonder if on some (metaphoric) level Peter is a child version and Hook is the adult version of the same person.

Think about it - Peter hangs out with the lost boys and refuses to grow up. He wants to play all day and romp around with fairies. Fair enough.

But in time, the lost boys decide "enough of this," it's time to go home to a family and start growing up again. But Peter refuses, insisting instead to cling to his perpetual childhood. But what happens then? His friends have moved on, and sooner or later Peter will start to get bored. And eventually, whether we want it or not, we all become adults. But what often happens to those adults who have spent their whole lives running from responsibility and commitment? Quite often, too late, they realize that somewhere along the lines they shifted from being a freedom loving youngster into being old and alone.

Captain Hook envies and hates Peter - envies him his freedom, and hates him because he recognizes his younger self - the younger self that made him the miserable old man he is today. Hook no longer believes in fairies, yet he can't let go of the past and create a new, fairy-free life for himself. So he's doomed to stagnate in his own past, captaining a ship of men he bitterly despises. He feels superior to them while at the same time knowing he, like them, has gone nowhere and done nothing with his own life. He looks around himself and sees what happens to lost boys who refuse to grow up - as men they become increasingly less cute and much more pathetic.

It seems to me that Hook is an icon for the bitter old man who had a chance at happiness once but ran from it for fear of being tied down. And so now he spends the rest of his days hating himself and those around him - and especially hating his own past.

Or maybe I'm reading too much into this

[HarborMaster]

Deep Thought...., however you may have something there., I never thought about it in that way., however its not that far out.

HarborMaster

[endkaos]

You need to drink more rum.

[skots13]

Hmmmmmmm......

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......

Hmmmmmmm.......

Arrrrrrrrrrrr........

Yea.

[imadrunkenpirate]

You need to drink more rum.

lol,... true

But ye may have a point! Look inte it!

Cabinlass Maggie

[Captain Tito]

Why not!!

There have been so many stories that have had these deep kind of messages, themes, psychological explanations etc.... to them, why not this one??

Many of the "fairy tales" and other stories of the vintage of Peter Pan had all kinds of things in them, in their original written forms.

We've been peeled away from so much of the intense deepness in today's presentations of these stories that so much of that has been forgotten.

I'm not saying that this is a correct theory about Pan n Hook, but it COULD BE!!

[Saskia]

Yeah, why not? Besides, you know how it is with lit etc... whatever you can prove is true - doesn't matter if that's what the author thought. But if so... poor Hook! You've made me feel all sorry for him now!

[Lady Elaina]

Well.. I read someone that Hook was actually screwed over by the love of his life.. (when he was 19) which made his final decision to run away and become a pirate. So with that in mind it shifts this point a little. But some of the metaphors fit still.

Gabby

[LadyLeigh]

(Lady Leigh enters and sits on a bench with a 2 plastic figurines, one of Peter and the other of Hook. She looks at them a while then bashes them together.)

No I just don't see it...hasn't anyone ever seen 'Hook' the movie with Robin Williams?

Or maybe I'm just bitter...I don't wanna grow up...I wanna be a pirate forever.

[Captain Tito]

Well.. I read someone that Hook was actually screwed over by the love of his life.. (when he was 19) which made his final decision to run away and become a pirate. So with that in mind it shifts this point a little. But some of the metaphors fit still.

Well hey, this is one ta be thinkin about too.

Our "childrens stories" have more in them than just the simple plot used for a movie or 2. It keeps ya thinkin.

Here's to ye Gabby!!

[Bilgemunky]

No I just don't see it...hasn't anyone ever seen 'Hook' the movie with Robin Williams?

I wasn't really considering "Hook" in all this - my impression was always that it was more inspired by the original Peter Pan than actually based on it. Certainly Robin Williams' Peter would take some considerable stretching to be considered the same person as Captain Hook.

But I think the metaphor holds in "Peter Pan". I've even thought up several more bits of evidence, but I'll spare you the details

I used to write essay after essay on this sort of stuff back in college - everything from Dawn of the Dead to City of Lost Children. Guess a part of me's just itching for old times... unable to escape the past... surrounded by a crew of misfit pirates... OH MY GOD, now I'M CAPTAIN HOOK!!!

[LadyLeigh]

But in time, the lost boys decide "enough of this," it's time to go home to a family and start growing up again. But Peter refuses, insisting instead to cling to his perpetual childhood. But what happens then? His friends have moved on, and sooner or later Peter will start to get bored. And eventually, whether we want it or not, we all become adults.

Perhaps the lost boys are his crew of misfit pirates? And they all grew up and became bitter?

[Bilgemunky]

Perhaps the lost boys are his crew of misfit pirates? And they all grew up and became bitter?

That occured to me too. The pirate crew was clearly intended to represent adult sized children (wanting a mother, listening to stories, etc.) To me they bear a striking resemblance to a bunch of 40 year olds living in their parents' basements. And maybe Hook is the one who "coulda been a contender," but somehow never got around to making the effort.