Peter Pan Day!!!

Peter Pan Day

A day to celebrate and learn about the classic figure of childhood known as Peter Pan. Disney has done multiple movies about this figure including a live action film with Robin Williams playing a grown up Peter. But who as Peter really? What is the real story behind Peter Pan? Here is a link to discover Peter's origin. 

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11201283.htm

http://www.peterpantruestory.com/

The story of Peter Pan as we know it today started with J.M. Barrie writing a fantasy novel, The Little White Bird, and from there he spun off into a play about a boy who never grew up. He named the boy, Peter Pan. The play was eventually adapted into a novel, Peter Pan and Wendy. Since then, the character has been seen in many other adaptations. 

The adaptations range from cartoons to live action movies. The way that Peter is portrayed is being constantly changed and new aspects of his personality are being shown to children, who for the first time are seeing Peter or to adults who are comparing it to the figure that they knew growing up. 

Other characters have been loosely based off of Peter Pan's character in other works. Such as, Lewis Carroll's Alice and A.A. Milne's Christopher Robin are examples of this being done. 

J.M. Barrie's own life seemed to be the inspiration for Peter Pan. His brother, David, died at the age of thirteen. David was the favorite of their Mother's so she took his death especially hard. This prompted him to start to dress and act in the same way that his brother would. In other words, he became the boy who never grew up. In the late 1800s, he became friends with the Llewelyn Davies family. They had five sons: George, John, Peter, Michael, and Nico. Playing with these boys gave him inspiration for the "Lost Boys" that would later appear in his works. Their games also inspired him to create the layout for Neverland. Several of his characters were named after these boys. 

There have been many spin offs. The most recent being, Once Upon A Time, when Peter Pan is revealed as being a villain who is seeking eternal life and childhood. 

 Peter Pan has become an iconic figure in literature and children's childhoods.