Peter Pan (1953)
Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Jack Kinney
Writers: J.M. Barrie (play) (as Sir James M. Barrie), Ted Sears (story)
Stars: Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont, Hans Conried
In Peter Pan (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Jack Kinney, 1953), flight is directly connected to imagination and dreams. J. M. Barrie originally published the play in 1904 and it was later adapted into an animation for Disney. “Peter Pan plays with the children’s fantasies, with their dreams. In the film, the ability to fly represents the desire they have to leave the real world in which they live,” explains film critic Vitor Búrigo.[1] Steven Spielberg says in an interview that the most alluring trope of Peter Pan “. . . [is] flying. To me, anytime anything flies, whether it [is] Superman, Batman, or E.T., it [is] going to be a tip of the hat to Peter Pan. Peter Pan was the first time I ever saw anybody fly. Before I saw Superman, before I saw Batman, and of course before I saw any superheroes, my first memory of anybody flying is in Peter Pan” (Audissino, 108).
[1] Cited in 12 MOVIES ABOUT THE MAGIC OF FLIGHT. South Seas Aviation SSA. February 15, 2019.