Watching Peter Pan
Peter Pan is one of my favorite stories of all time. The idea of flying, fighting pirates, and being a kid forever, well they have innate appeal to just about everyone. Okay, not Bianca, she was waiting impatiently for the day she could become an adult and saddle herself with lots of responsibility. But for the rest of us Neverland is pretty close to paradise.
So when the weather got nasty over Christmas break, down into the snowy single digits, we decided to make a fire and watch a movie. Thumbing through a bunch of choices I saw that Peter Pan was available on iTunes. I wasn't sure if Isaac was ready for the movie, but I put it on and he was instantly engaged.
Peter Pan is a really great story and the Disney version is especially awesome, as it was the last movie all of the uber-animators from Disney worked on (the so-called Nine Old Men). Peter Pan's intro scene in the nursery is particularly beautiful and I am convinced that kids like quality as that was the thing that locked I-man in.
From there he enjoyed the Lost Boys, the mermaids, the pirates, and especially the clock-bellied crocodile. We have re-enacted the scene where Michael and John sword fight on their bed and we have talked quite a bit about Captain Hook as the ultimate bad guy. As cool as it was to watch the movie as a kid, it is even better to watch it WITH your kid. Isaac has taken to saying, like John, "Aye, Aye Captain" to requests and we have had lots of simulations of flying recently.
But like all great movies, Peter Pan works on multiple levels. Isaac is engaged by the animation and the imagination capturing idea of Neverland and kids fighting pirates, while I am impressed by the animation and J.M. Barrie's ability to sneak in Nietzsche's Eternal Return of the Same into a children's story, as the narrator starts the tale by saying: "All of this has happened before and it will all happen again." There are other hints, such as the father's remembrance of the pirate ship and the mother's knowing smile when Wendy tells her of Peter Pan. There is a lot going on in Peter Pan and I am glad Disney did not brush over it.
My fondness for childhood classics only grows when we share them with I-man, as does my fondness for anything I share with Isaac.
So when the weather got nasty over Christmas break, down into the snowy single digits, we decided to make a fire and watch a movie. Thumbing through a bunch of choices I saw that Peter Pan was available on iTunes. I wasn't sure if Isaac was ready for the movie, but I put it on and he was instantly engaged.
Peter Pan is a really great story and the Disney version is especially awesome, as it was the last movie all of the uber-animators from Disney worked on (the so-called Nine Old Men). Peter Pan's intro scene in the nursery is particularly beautiful and I am convinced that kids like quality as that was the thing that locked I-man in.
From there he enjoyed the Lost Boys, the mermaids, the pirates, and especially the clock-bellied crocodile. We have re-enacted the scene where Michael and John sword fight on their bed and we have talked quite a bit about Captain Hook as the ultimate bad guy. As cool as it was to watch the movie as a kid, it is even better to watch it WITH your kid. Isaac has taken to saying, like John, "Aye, Aye Captain" to requests and we have had lots of simulations of flying recently.
But like all great movies, Peter Pan works on multiple levels. Isaac is engaged by the animation and the imagination capturing idea of Neverland and kids fighting pirates, while I am impressed by the animation and J.M. Barrie's ability to sneak in Nietzsche's Eternal Return of the Same into a children's story, as the narrator starts the tale by saying: "All of this has happened before and it will all happen again." There are other hints, such as the father's remembrance of the pirate ship and the mother's knowing smile when Wendy tells her of Peter Pan. There is a lot going on in Peter Pan and I am glad Disney did not brush over it.
My fondness for childhood classics only grows when we share them with I-man, as does my fondness for anything I share with Isaac.