For our last and final blog post, we have been assigned the task of analyzing a type of person presented in a particular “text.” I chose to analyze the movie “Hook”, a film directed by Steven Speilberg, one of my all-time favorite movies. Since the movie’s debut in December of 1991, I’ve watched it numerous times. In the film, Robin Williams plays a grown-up Peter Pan who must return to Neverland to save his children. In the process he reunites with the Lost Boys, a group of misfit kids who live in Neverland, and battles his long-time enemy, Captain Hook. A twist in the movie is that Peter is a successful lawyer and has no recollection of his past as Peter Pan or even his battles with Captain Hook as a child. The juxtaposition of Captain Hook to the children shows that grown-ups no longer appreciate the simple things in life, whereas children do. In my opinion, “Hook” sends a helpful message to adults by showing them that they can enrich their lives not living within traditional, rigid constraints of being an adult.
I chose to qualify my analysis in the way Bonnie Dow (1996) qualifies her own, in the book “Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women’s Movement Since 1970”, by not pushing my viewpoints on to others, I merely hope for others to consider my argument when coming up with their own opinion. I encourage people to interpret this “text” in any way they please.
The film opens with the work-obsessed Peter Banning (Robin Williams) who struggles to balance his career and his family. He fails to do so and becomes a father who is missing out on his children’s lives. At one point Peter says to his son Jack, “What the hell’s the matter with you? When are you going to stop acting like a child?” Jack simply replies, “I am a child.” Then Peter snaps, “Grow up.” In the beginning of the movie, it almost seems bad to be a child, but after they are taken to Neverland being a kid is marvelous. This is not necessarily a critique of all fathers in the world; however it can help people recognize the joy children get out of the simple things in life, such as when the Lost Boys showed how much fun dinner could be with a food fight.
The children in Neverland are free from parents; they are able to do what ever they want. Adults are portrayed as the enemy, the head Lost Boy once says, “All grown-ups are pirates!” Because adults are seen as the enemy, Peter finds himself held back by his own adult paradigm. He is trapped by what he sees as appropriate adult behavior. With help from the Lost Boys, Peter is once again able to find his inner child, which then allows him to take his place as leader of the Lost Boys. He can then save his children from the evil Captain Hook.
It was only when he thought and “acted like a child” that he was finally able to defeat Captain Hook. With his new state of mind Peter was able to return to his life in the real world with a better understanding of the important things in life. Peter clearly learned a lesson and aspires to apply his new found inner child in his everyday life. Peter proves his altered mindset when Wendy says, “So… your adventures are over.” and Peter replies, “Oh, no. To live… to live would be an awfully big adventure.”
References
Dow, B. (1996). Prime-time feminism: Television, media culture, and the women’s movement since 1970. Philadelphia: University Press.
Hart, J.V. (Executive Producer), & Speilberg, S. (Director). (1991). Hook [Motion Picture]. United States: TriStar
