At the end of the movie, George spies Captain Hook's ship flying off in the distance and he questions what he's seeing, since he grew up into a no-nonsense, no-fluff-and-stuff practical man who believed fairy tales weren't real and could never happen.
Could it be that seeing Captain Hook's ship flying reminded him of when he was a little boy playing pirates and being told stories of Peter Pan? In the beginning of the movie, the narrator says that the story which unfolded had happened before and it will happen again. It makes me wonder if George experianced the same thing as a child, but his own father snuffed out those childhood adventures and memories as he tried so hard to do with Wendy, John and Michael, but could not. Over 40 years later, Wendy's own daughter, Jane, has her own adventures in the sequel "Return to Neverland", thus proving the narrator right in a way.
Have you ever had a moment when you've experianced something, or met someone you were sure you had met before but couldn't put your finger on where or when? It happens to me quite often, even though I can never explain it. Being the dreamer that I am, I like to chalk it to my dreams coming to life, which often puts a smile on my face when it's from a good dream! So if you feel like it happens to you, you're not alone!
Have you ever come across a "George Darling", someone who doesn't believe dreams can come true or that children should be allowed to have wild dreams or play "Peter Pan and the Pirates" or some other childhood game? I've got to admit that is the reason why George Darling is my least-liked character of the movie; I even like Hook, the villian, better than George. I think it stems from the fact that George is constantly trying to get his children to grow up too fast, even for Victorian England, and is constantly trying to squish their childish dreams and games. I've never liked people who try to get children to grow up too fast and get them to stop playing/use their imaginations.
I'm a firm believer that children should be allowed to play both indoors and out, as we used to as kids, indulging in fantasies of being a knight in a castle saving the princess or being a monkey in a jungle. Some of my favorite childhood memories came from playtime. One of my favorites was when I would babysit this one girl (who became a friend of mine) and we would pretend we were the Power Rangers. She always was Kimberly because she loved pink and her gymnastics and I was always Billy because of my glasses and being older. It didn't matter to us I was a girl and Billy was a boy; he was always my favorite, even when the heartthrob Tommy came into the picture. We spent hours down at the dried creek on her farm fighting putties, summoning the Zords, such fun times til her mom called us in for dinner. Another was when I would be at my Grammie's house, she had these felt puppets in her sunroom which was a playroom for us. I would take two chairs and stretch a blanket over them to make a stage. Then I would put on the most wonderful puppet shows for her. I pretended the puppets were visiting The Neighborhood of Make-Believe, they were characters from The Bible, they were going on the most fantastic adventures. During Christmas, my dad would sometimes build his trainset that he had when he was a child, it's 60 something years old now, and I would imagine all the townspeople going to all the little shops and the barns he has for it. Because of it's age, I was never really allowed to build it until I was in my later teens. I was always to "Look with my eyes, not with my hands". Looking back and building it myself, I fully understand why! So many little pieces. I know not every child is blessed with the wonderful childhood I had, though I wish they had.
Whenever I work, I see a lot of children, both young and old, dressed up as characters like Cinderella, Elsa, Anna and Elena or wearing character shirts like Mickey Mouse and Transformers or wearing Hogwarts attire like House Robes or Hermione's Yule Ball dress. Every chance I get I acknowledge them as the characters or Houses I see, even on their shirts, because I know from experiance how wonderful it felt as a child when an adult jumped right in with whatever adventure I was having. Sometimes from the kids I get "Im not Chase. I'm Brandon." to which I'll say "Well you must be! He's on your shirt!" which gets a giggle, or for the girls dressed as Disney Royalty "I'm not Elsa I'm Anna"; which gets "well you must be Elsa because you're wearing her dress." Though if a mom or dad says no sugary drinks or treats for them, I will side with the parent and let the kids know that mommy/daddy are buying so they set those rules, which gets a grateful look that someone's siding with them in an understanding way/voice of experiance and the kids try even harder (usually to no luck). Even I know what limits and lines to draw. Still, I want those kids to have at least one tiny memory of an adult who beleived their make-believe world is actually real. It might not seem like much to the adults, but to kids it's everything.
So until next time: indulge in imaginations and Keep Cooking with Character!
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