Designed as a Christmas present, Peter Pan, will be released on December 25 (Christ's Mass Day; and the gift giver raised me off my seat when his credit took the screen. It is Mohamed Al Fayed, a Muslim — Peter Pan's Executive Producer. Mohamed, born in Alexandria, Egypt of poor school teachers, is the 70 year old father of Dodi Fayed who was killed with Princess Diana. (Dodi, also a Muslim, was one of the Executive Producers for Chariots of Fire.) Being the Executive Producer means Mohamed put up, or arranged for the $100,000,000 it cost to make Peter Pan. Mohamed also Executive Produced the mostly morally sound Love Actually with an all star cast headed by U.K.'s Hugh Grant.
For years Mohamed has been a controversial figure in the U.K. as he has fought for but never received British citizenship, although he owns a British sport team, Harrods (a famous department store) and consequently employs thousands of Brits. I guess a name like Mohamed Al Fayed doesn't sound British enough, and then again, it was his body guards that were supposed to be protecting Di the night she died…albeit with his son. And it doesn't help that Mohamed believes the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Phillip) masterminded a conspiracy to kill the Princess of Wales (Di) and his son (Dodi) because of the rumors, now partially confirmed, that Di, at the time of her death, was pregnant with Dodi's child. There's a queasy similarity between those two names, isn't there? — Di and DoDi.
All of this is sounds like Never, Never Land, and one of the reasons Mohamed has finally decided to leave Britain and take up residency in Switzerland, which isn't a bad place to retire and count one's coin.
Now, back to the movie.
They tell me this was the first time Peter Pan was played by a real boy (Jeremy Sumpter) instead of a woman. I remember Mary Martin, my generations first Peter Pan, and a real sweet heart. I think Jeremy does a great job of being the confident and yet vulnerable boy who needs a mother and a friend, once he finds his shadow…yeah for special effects, it works wonderfully. And the object of Pan's need, the captivating Wendy Darling (Rachel Hurd-Wood). Yeah, it's trite but true, but the casting of whole family is just well…darling.
Wendy's mother played by Olivia Williams has been in a dozen or so films and a guest on Friends, but with Peter Pan I expect we'll see more of her…she lights up the screen with her beauty as much as Tink (Ludivine Sagnier) does with her irascibility. In short the casting is wonderful and complete.
The moral premise of this Christmas present is nothing less than the recurring theme each Christmas — the hope of every man, woman, boy and girl to belong to a family. For that is what Christmas is about. We look forward to Christ's coming to Earth as we celebrate his nativity. But when Christ comes into a family he makes it whole. The family here, of course, not only refers to the completeness in the family of Mary and Joseph, but also to the family of humanity…God joins with his creation in humanity. We are part of God's family through Christ, that without the miracle of his coming we are lost orphans. The lost boys of Never, Never Land would be lost forever, if it wasn't for a young man's special coming to find that one, special girl that believes in him. As Wendy believes in Peter, so Mary believed in Jesus. Peter Pan is looking for a mother for the lost boys, and it is in the end that Peter returns to where he belongs, (as Christ returned to heaven) and leaves the lost boys with their new family and Wendy as their surrogate mother. Much like Jesus left us Mary as our mother. Since the first century, Mary has been called the mother of the Church, the family that Jesus led us into. Thus, if Peter Pan is about anything, it's about every man, woman, girl and boys' need, desire, and passion for a whole and inviolate family. The lost boys found that family through Wendy and the Darling family, and lost men find that family through Mary and the Church family.
Peter Pan's name is also significant. For Peter is the name of the man that Christ trusts with his new family, the Church, and Peter's role is to gather the lost and lead them to the truth of family. Peter has a pipe that plays enchanting tunes that those that are lost can hear, and follow, and be led to a new and complete family. Jesus calls his own, and his own recognize his voice and follow him into a new and complete heavenly family.
But it doesn't stop there. Wendy and her brothers John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie Popplewell) cannot fly miraculously into the special world of Peter Pan without two very special ingredients. One is their belief in Peter and the importance of happy thoughts, and the second is the fairy dust that Tink supplies and Peter scatters over them. Likewise, we cannot fly miraculously into that special world of Christ without faith and the hopeful thoughts that such faith brings, and we also need the special grace that only the Holy Spirit can supply which Christ imbues into and upon our lives. Tolkien would say none of this is analogous, but such similarities between Peter Pan and Christianity have the making of a myth, a story that conveys truth.
Peter Pan is a fictional myth that conveys truth, just as the story of Christ is a true myth that conveys truth.
So, this Christmas, the story of Peter Pan, opening on December 25, has special significance. As you watch it, think of yourself as one of those lost boys, found by Peter who defends you against the evil of the day (Captain Hook) and leads you to a home, a mother, a father and a family that you never thought you could have, but one that you long and hope for.
Stan Williams, Ph.D. is Executive Producer of SWC Films of Northville, MI. You may reach him by e-mail at
Stan43635@StanWilliams.com or on the web at http://www.StanWilliams.com.
