Of all the rehashed history of the Peter and Wendy epic, and all repeated cycles of growing up and moving on, the greatest tragedy of their particular story was never Wendy Darling losing her childhood. It has always been, and always will be, Peter Pan losing Wendy.
Recycled and retold; the story of a boy who never grows up has been said and done before. Of the world of Neverland, of the pirates and lost children, and adventures far beyond human imagination. From the 1959 animated classic; the plays and live-action films; to the dark and eerie television adaptations. One thing remains the same in this tale by J. M. Barrie. It’s that Wendy leaves Neverland in exchange for the life of adulthood and love. The cycle is so prominent, a detail so mainstay in all the different versions of the story, that it even bleeds into their actors; whether in their performance or personal lives.
P. J. Hogan’s Peter Pan saw chaste and romantic chemistry in Jeremy Sumpter and Rachel Hurd-Wood. They played their parts so well, it was almost a wonder how such young individuals could exude such a soft and tender dynamic. As Sumpter would later admit somewhere down the line, it was not all just smoke and mirrors. “Rachel and I fell in love on set,” he once told Mega Magazine. “She was my first love; I was her first love. And it is great to know that we will always have that”. It’s such a fantastic little thing to think about; how parallel the lives of these actors have become with their onscreen characters. But what makes this story so addicting isn’t just because of the actors. That’s just one aspect of it. Peter and Wendy are so intoxicating because of the unrequitedness of it all.
Perhaps it’s just fair for Barrie to never give in to the two as a couple. Maybe it’s better that Peter never grows up after all. Because their story is more interesting that way. It’s fun to wonder what could have happened, and what did happen; the glamor of how things are versus how they should be. That’s why every retelling never loses its intrigue. Because there’s no resolution. We’re always chasing after a happy ending, but no one ever knows what to do once we get there. The prospect of ‘what if’ is always better than what’s already there. Taylor Swift herself put it best when she said, “I know you tried to change the ending; Peter losing Wendy”.
Feelings of the unrequited aside, there is a metaphorical purpose for why Peter and Wendy can never be. First of all, Wendy is destined to outgrow Peter; it’s what her character is written for. Ever heard of the ‘angel in the house’ trope? That’s exactly what Wendy is. She’s the pretty, innocent, and wholesome figure of the story whose purpose is to be a sentimental form of romantic love, and nothing more. Wendy is essentially the crux of Peter’s ‘manic pixie dream boy’. Peter shows Wendy a world beyond her bedroom window; Wendy sees her vocation in motherhood through her relationship with Peter. This clash of purpose is the first tell why these two would never work out. Because to Peter, Wendy is the key to becoming a man which he deeply abhors. To Wendy, however, Peter is a regression from her development.
With both characters’ roles established, it’s clear why the Peter and Wendy remain stagnant within the early stages of love. Because stepping beyond that is lurking along the lines of sexuality. Which in all honesty, is not ideal for these characters. Peter is a boy so he should never grow up to experience such attraction; Wendy is a ‘angel in the house’, stripped of all erotic desires. Their romantic story hovers along the epoch of moving towards something more. But they stay trapped in the roles they play within the story. If they can’t grow to move forward and become something beyond puppy love, then they are destined to break—to be unrequited.
But the most important reason why Peter and Wendy will never be, is because Peter is not meant to have a happy ending. It’s the price he pays for never growing up. “He had ecstasies innumerable that other children can never know. But he was looking through the window at the one joy from which he must be for ever barred,” as said in the Peter and Wendy novel. Every adventure has a sacrifice of equivalent value. For Peter who is constantly on that continuous loop of looking for new stories and journeys to have – the cycle of everyone else outgrowing him, and the concept of love and family, is the exchange for these adventures.
The unrequited cycle of Peter and Wendy can never change. Their purpose is to showcase sacrifice. It’s the price of growth, and how the inability to move forward can cripple desires and development. As much as a lot of people want to see the ending change for these two, it’s just not happening. Because Peter not losing Wendy is not how the story goes.
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