The Depiction Of Pirates In Disney's Peter Pan
The name “Peter Pan” seems to be known in households around the world. Children hear stories about him at bedtime or read his books. There have been numerous films about him; Disney has produced a cartoon version, and Hollywood has made several more, such as Hook in 1991 and Peter Pan in 2003. The story of “Peter Pan” was created by J. M. Barrie and published as a novel in 1911. Although the main character Peter has become very famous, the villain of the story, Captain Hook has become one of the most well-known pirates in the world (Phillips 2011 pg. 42). However, this is not necessarily a good thing, because the depiction of pirates within the Peter Pan franchise is entirely inaccurate. As such, it has created an unrealistic picture of the
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As punishment for their relationships with Peter, Captain Hook decides to force the children to walk the plank (Disney 1953). However, Peter arrives just in time to save Wendy as she walks off the plank and then defeats Captain Hook, freeing everyone (Disney 1953). The punishment of walking the plank is a very well-known pirate tactic for ridding themselves of their enemies. If you asked most people how pirates sentence their victims, they would most likely tell you about how pirates would force people to walk the plank - most often with their hands tied - to their death. Although this is true of most pirate stories, it is in fact not historically accurate (Leeson 2010 pg. 16). For real pirates, walking the plank would be more like child’s play (Andrews 2013). When they wanted to impose a punishment, Pirates had many different methods. One practice was to tie individuals to the bottom of their ship and then proceed to drag the people with their boat, often causing them to drown (Andrews 2013). Another faster form of punishment was just to leave people stranded on an uninhabited island (Mackie 2005 pg. 37). These are just two examples of how real pirates would eliminate their enemies, and there were also a number of other sentences, but typically walking the plank was not one of them. Therefore, although it may be more cinematically pleasing, Disney’s Peter Pan does not authentically depict real
As punishment for their relationships with Peter, Captain Hook decides to force the children to walk the plank (Disney 1953). However, Peter arrives just in time to save Wendy as she walks off the plank and then defeats Captain Hook, freeing everyone (Disney 1953). The punishment of walking the plank is a very well-known pirate tactic for ridding themselves of their enemies. If you asked most people how pirates sentence their victims, they would most likely tell you about how pirates would force people to walk the plank - most often with their hands tied - to their death. Although this is true of most pirate stories, it is in fact not historically accurate (Leeson 2010 pg. 16). For real pirates, walking the plank would be more like child’s play (Andrews 2013). When they wanted to impose a punishment, Pirates had many different methods. One practice was to tie individuals to the bottom of their ship and then proceed to drag the people with their boat, often causing them to drown (Andrews 2013). Another faster form of punishment was just to leave people stranded on an uninhabited island (Mackie 2005 pg. 37). These are just two examples of how real pirates would eliminate their enemies, and there were also a number of other sentences, but typically walking the plank was not one of them. Therefore, although it may be more cinematically pleasing, Disney’s Peter Pan does not authentically depict real