Nosey About the Nursery

You know how it’s Wendy’s last night in the nursery when Peter Pan comes to take her away?

I don’t.

It’s not in Barrie, folks.  Neither book nor play.

Disney seems to have concocted this wrinkle as well.

Nowhere in Barrie’s texts does it suggest Wendy is being made to grow up.  Neither Mr. Darling nor Mrs. Darling approach (or even reproach) Wendy about her time in the nursery.

But as with many other errors, it has become ingrained into popular thought.  P.J. Hogan, too, used this concept in his, the only live-action [& not silent] motion picture of Barrie’s tale.  Although I did enjoy the added* character of Aunt Millicent who wished to impart her womanly knowledge on Wendy by taking her away from the nursery, I wish Hogan had not done the “last night” shtick.

*or rather replacement for Liza the Maid

To me, the actual story makes the situation all the creepier.

Consider that in the popular skewed scenario, Wendy has cause to leave.  After all, she’s being made to do something she supposedly doesn’t want to do - become an adult.  So she retaliates by flying off with Peter Pan.  She’s afraid/angry/curious/take your pick!  For she’s not really any of those emotions.  She doesn’t go for that reason at all!

 

Think about it the other (ahem! actual) way - Wendy & her brothers leave.  Without warning.  Without being admonished.  [Unless one counts the debacle with Nana, but that’s not an incident to incite children to run/fly away.]  Wendy leaves because she wants to go be a mother and have adventures.   So she abandons her own mother to do so.  There’s no “This will show them!” or “They don’t really want me!” mindset involved.  She leaves.  Period.  Just before Xmas, mind you.  Much darker than one might first realize, no?  Just like the rest of the story.

So please let Wendy not be fearful that she’ll grow up.  It’s in her nature to do so, just as it’s in Peter’s to not.

UPDATE:  So much to recall in Barrie!  When my friend and colleague Andrea Jones (author of The Hook & Jill Saga) read this, she reminded me that Barrie does indeed have a line which tells us Wendy did not fear the fate of adulthood.  Must have sunk in to me, even if I didn't recall it specifically:  You need not be sorry for her. She was one of the kind that likes to grow up. In the end she grew up of her own free will a day quicker than other girls.

Peter Pan and Macy's

So last night Buttercup and I watched this week's episode of Teen Wolf. She's my watching partner. I don't view it until we can get together in front of my big screen. For the record, still love the show. Even this far into the season (only one episode left as of now) scenes from (or references to) the movie source material manifest in amusing ways. Bravo to all.

But the real point of this post is a commercial that aired quite a few times.  I caught it even in fast-forward.  But then, with the big glowing word 'Wendy' on the screen how could I miss it?

Apparently Macy's (yes, the store) has a forthcoming series called Wendy.  And you guessed right - it's a take on the famous Barrie tale.  Here, Peter Pan is called Pete.  It's updated, you see.  Am I enraged?  No, of course not.  Why?  As I've said before, I applaud reinterpretatons or reimaginings.  Take a spin on this amazing story.  It's only when it's meant to be contiguous to Barrie and fails that irks me.  Anyway, it looks like fun.  Kind of a Melrose Place meets Peter Pan.

I'd not been able to find much of it on the ol' interwebs.  But looking again I found all the answers posted by some nice person named Lauren on 'Yahoo! Answers' here.

Essentially it's a web series showcasing their lines loosely based on the "timeless story" (as it says.)  Macy's paired with Alloy Entertainment.  It premieres September 25th. 

Wendy? Word.

My best friend Laughter and I have been playing Words with Friends on our phones lately.  We now have three games going at once.  It's rather fun... and if you can't figure it out from the picture, it's really a knock-off of Scrabble.  It's one of those games that I've always liked but no one ever really wants to sit down and play.  Now, on the go, it's in the palm of our hands.

I bet you've already read the tiles at the bottom there.  Yeah, sure, I rearranged the letters to spell Wendy, but I didn't alter the letters which had been allotted to me.

Is the omniverse conspiring corroboratively with me?  I'll just go ahead and believe so, for it makes me happier.

Scrabble/Words with Friends isn't merely fun.  It's a way to keep one on one's toes in terms of words and vocabulary.  Maybe not to a high degree, but the tumbling around of tiles into words definitely has some beneficial affects on getting creativity flowing.  I also enjoy the words that it won't accept, as in the ones I make up and wish were real so I could utilize that Triple Word Score space.  In the game, such words are not allowed, but in the hands of an author it can indeed be brought into existence and defined.

On another note, I get a kick out of the words Laughter and I placed on the board.  I began it with "insane," he placed "ram" and, logically, then, I put down "reboot."  One could arrange those words into saying Hollywood likes to RAM an INSANE REBOOT down our throats every so often, like the new Spider-Man movie, but don't get me started.  Besides, I'm done with superheroes anyway, remember?

Okay, back to happier thoughts.  So glad Wendy appeared in my life in such a wordful and wonderful way.

A Wacky Wendy Tale

Just found out about this a minute or two ago from Twitter.

An author named Barbara Silkstone is using the story of Peter Pan as a springboard. However, it is not in the sense of a continuation to Barrie’s narratives, so it doesn’t raise a flag from me, the purist.

She’s using Barrie in a parody fashion, and it’s the second in a series of “Fractured Fairy Tales.” The first tackled Alice, from Wonderland/Looking-Glass fame, The Secret Diary of Alice in Wonderland, Age 42 and Three-Quarters

The one using the famous young mother of Barrie is called Wendy and the Lost Boys and here’s the description on Amazon:

When a deathbed promise to one of her agents leaves Wendy Darlin, feisty Miami real estate broker for billionaires, trapped on a super-yacht with Ponzi-king, Charlie Hook, she’s forced to join him on a quest to recover his hidden treasure. Along for the danger-filled adventure are an undercover SEC Investigator, who kindles a spark in Wendy with his ‘Johnny Depp’ eyes and Hook’s young female helicopter pilot who befriends Wendy as they sail the high seas, one step ahead of modern day ruthless pirates. A laugh out loud whodunit… kidnapping, revenge, and a little murder on the side. The second book in the Fractured Fairy Tales by Silkstone series of criminally funny fables, this comedy mystery is set in Miami and the Caribbean.


This is a modern morality tale that takes the reader on an action-filled ride with memorable characters and lots of laughs along the way. It’s Indiana Jones meets Romancing the Stone while still remaining faithful to the original Peter Pan and Wendy.
~ Consuelo Saah Baehr, author of Best Friends

It’s available on Kindle from Amazon for just 99¢ here, Alice is here also at 99¢.

She has many stellar reviews for the Alice book.
Best wishes to you, Ms. Silkstone!

Wendy? Yes!--Why not!

Madeline Zima (not) as Wendy

Can it be--yes--no--it is--the fair Wendy!
- Chapter 11, "Wendy's Story" Peter and Wendy

No, actually.
But couldn't it be?
It's Grace, the youngest girl on The Nanny.
It's one of Bart's favorite shows.
And watching an episode,
he said this reminded him of Wendy.
I'm inclined to agree.

In a Barrie related picture of another sort, both Andrea Jones and Anon* have seen my initial illustration for Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between.  Andrea says Yes! and Anon remarked I don't know why not! to the question of whether I should continue making the pictures along this line.  Good to know.  Got a thumbs up from Bart, too.

So I guess I'll proceed!

* Barrie enthusiast and my faithful reader and #1 fan

What Would Wendy Say?

Last night I decided to treat myself like a child.

Let me explain.

After having had such a wonderful weekend, I could finally return to the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series. BUT - I wouldn’t let myself. Nope... not until I took care of some stuff first. You see, a few things around my place were really bothering me...or to be more accurate, the fact that I still had not done certain things around my place such as putting away the clean laundry (in which case it cluttered up part of the living area) really bothered me.

So I decided I would not be allowed to read Scott Pilgrim until I took care of it. And I really wanted to read Scott Pilgrim! Hence, I treated myself like a child. It worked. After accomplishing putting away the clothes and even a few other small tasks that I’d been negligent on, I enjoyed Volume 2 of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s world.

I’ll have to try this more often... if I can pretend that Wendy won’t let me have the adventure I want until some chore is done, I might actually wind up not hating myself for being lazy when it comes to them.

Silbling Removalry?

Just had this thought.

Don’t worry...
I do not intend to do anything with it story-wise other than ponder it.

It can be argued that John and Michael Darling are sort of extraneous to the story of Peter Pan.

Argued, yes. Won, I don’t think so. For as “tag along” as they are, they do serve a very important function in the tale. Among other things, it is their forgetfulness of their old life in London (such as not putting down the right answers about it on Wendy’s quizzes and thinking Wendy is in fact their mother) which prompts Wendy to realize they had been in the Neverland too long. Thus, the journey home begins.

But -

What if John and Michael weren’t in the Neverland? What if Pan had said “no” when she asked if they could come… and he forced (either by “roughhousing” or pure charm) Wendy to come on her own? Would she have stayed with him then, with no sounding board, so to speak?

Something to ponder.

Wendy's Story?

Here’s another all-new musical variation on Peter Pan called Wendy.
It’s done by Jigsaw Theatre Company in Australia.
Not much info is available as of now, for the production is "coming soon." But you can read a little more about it here.
I really like this image of theirs.

The focus here is that Wendy is more of a modern young lady.
Pan with a feminist twist.

Amy Alexis Richards knows this variation quite well. ;)

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.