Thursday, April 2, 2009

Peter Pan vs. Another Scholar

I've begun reading the latest entry into analytics of Peter Pan - Second Star to the Right: Peter Pan in the Popular Imagination by Allison Kavey (Author, Editor), Les Friedman (Editor).

That is to say I've just begun it, not even out of the Introduction yet. So far it has delighted me with the way it handles the issues. I think Sunshine just might appreciate this passage:

Wendy always made me faintly ill with her prim manners and fondness for darning socks.

Despite the fact that is she the only genuinely nice character in the entire story, I can say nothing but nasty things about Wendy. She tries not to be selfish, she takes care of other people, she has emotional range. But she trades so much for so little, and that ultimately makes me both sad and angry.


Yet I have also been quite annoyed with it. First, the title. Star? Really? (See the explanation in this post.) In its defense, yes, it does specifically state "in the Popular Imagination." Well, that might justify the use of it. But then, she goes on to have actual facts wrong. Such as [twice] dating P.J. Hogan's movie as 2001. She lists the Wendy-daughter-line as Wendy, Jane, Moira. It makes it a bit difficult to take it seriously when accuracy is just not there.



I've had it in my possession since its February release, but I have not been in an academia mood when it came to reading. But since I've finished my book of short stories, I thought I'd give it a go.

1 comment:

Danielle Filas said...

Indeed, indeed! I felt so excited by the idea of Pan, and then when I read it, I was flabbergasted by Wendy. In MY circle of friends, I was the boss. I wondered (and still do) what would have happened if I had met up with Peter Pan and told him what's what!

What an interesting idea for a book. How sad that the authors didn't spend more time and pay more attention to the source material.

(don't know why it hated me the first time I posted...)