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Over a century after its first stage performance, Peter Pan has become deeply embedded in Western popular culture, as an enduring part of childhood memories, in every part of popular media, and in commercial enterprises.Since 2003 the characters from this story have had a highly visible presence in nearly every genre of popular culture: two major films, a literary sequel to the original adventures, a graphic novel featuring a grown-up Wendy Darling, and an Argentinean novel about a children's book writer inspired by J. M. Barrie. Simultaneously, Barrie surfaced as the subject of two major biographies and a feature film. The engaging essays in Second Star to the Right approach Pan from literary, dramatic, film, television, and sociological perspectives and, in the process, analyze his emergence and preservation in the cultural imagination.
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Second Star to the Right
Second Star to the Right Pete r Pan i n th e Pop ular I mag i nat i on
Edited by
A llison B. Kavey L e ste r D. Frie dman
Rutge r s Unive r s ity Pre s s New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Second star to the right : Peter Pan in the popular imagination / edited by Allison B. Kavey and Lester D. Friedman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8135-4436-6 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8135-4437-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew), 1860–1937. Peter Pan. 2. Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew), 1860–1937—Adaptations. 3. Children’s stories, English—History and criticism. 4. Peter Pan (Fictitious character) 5. Barrie, J.M. (James Matthew), 1860–1937—Characters. I. Kavey, Allison, 1977– II. Friedman, Lester D. PR4074.P33S43 2009 822'.912—dc22 2008011254 A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. This collection copyright © 2009 by Rutgers, The State University Individual chapters copyright © 2009 in the names of their authors All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099.The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law. Visit our Web site: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu Manufactured in the United States of America
For Rae-Ellen Kavey, who always leaves the light on and the window open
C onte nts
Acknowledgments Peter Pan Chronology
ix xi
Introduction: From Peanut Butter Jars to the Silver Screen
1
A l l is on B. K avey
1
Tinker Bell, the Fairy of Electricity
13
M urray Pom e rance
2
“To die will be an awfully big adventure”: Peter Pan in World War I
50
L inda Rob e rt s on
3
“I do believe in fairies, I do, I do”: The History and Epistemology of Peter Pan
75
A l l is on B. K avey
4
“Shadow of [a] girl”: An Examination of Peter Pan in Performance
105
Pat rick B. Tu ite
5
Peter Pan and the Possibilities of Child Literature
132
M artha Stoddard Hol m e s
6
Disney’s Peter Pan: Gender, Fantasy, and Industrial Production
151
S u san O h m e r
7
Hooked on Pan: Barrie’s Immortal Pirate in Fiction and Film
188
L e ste r D. Frie dman
8
“Gay, Innocent, and Heartless”: Peter Pan and the Queering of Popular Culture
219
David P. D. M unn s
vii
viii
9
Contents
Peter and Me (or How I Learned to Fly): Networ