This isn’t really a problem on an individual level; it’s the trend as a whole I’m tired of. Like, there are some decent Peter Pan retellings where Peter is the villain.
But. Like. Why is that everyone’s go-to.
I have read the original book. Peter is manipulative, Peter is selfish, Peter is so fundamentally a child that it hurts. But he’s not evil. He flatters Wendy into going to Neverland with him because he’s convinced that she would love it there, because he loves it there, and she just needs a push. He is the kind of child who thinks that what makes him happy would make everyone else happy too.
(And he’s right, Wendy loved Neverland.)
He kills pirates, yes. He also goes out of his way to make it sporting and is horrified at the idea of attacking one who was sleeping. He and Wendy get trapped, about to drown, and when a chance of rescue arrives he sacrifices himself to save Wendy without a single hesitation. He thinks playing schoolboy is an awesome game. He cries for his best friend, Tinker Bell, and frantically begs the world at large to save her from poison.
He’s bossy and kind and always wants to be in charge of the game and is really bad at considering that other people have their own opinions. He makes friends with mermaids and has horrific nightmares and invents the “Second to the right and straight on till morning!” off the top of his head because he’s embarrassed he doesn’t have an address (which the narrator then notes is nonsense and you would never get to Neverland that way).
Everything always has to go his way because he is nine years old and that is the point of the book.
Meanwhile Tinker Bell’s main plot in the book is trying to kill an eight year old girl for daring to look at Peter. Why don’t the retellings ever make her the villain?
*No, the ages are not explicit in text. Peter and Wendy are old enough to read, young enough to be before puberty. ** Yes, Peter can't read. But that's not related to his age.
One of the biggest irony is Wendy was never manipulated to go to Neverland. She chose to go to Neverland and she chose to leave on her own accord. She didn't even learn any lessons in Neverland in the book (contrary to what Disney and the 2003 film may lead you to believe) because she already decided to grow up even before leaving to Neverland. Neverland was just a place where she can be a kid and do anything she wants before she inevitability can longer return back.
Peter tried to keep her forever, yes. But seeing the sad face of Mrs. Darling broke his heart? He couldn't do it. He couldn't bear to separate Mrs. Darling from Wendy forever even if it would make him happy. That's what separate him from true sociopaths.
That's what people forget with all these dark interpretations of Peter Pan. You can always trust Peter to do the right thing in the end because that's who he is deep down.
And honestly, I'm more surprised there weren't darker interpretations of Wendy since nearly ever adaptations went for "Wendy goes to Neverland to avoid growing up, then learns a lesson that growing up isn't so bad because Neverland isn't what she thought."
Wendy wanting to be a mother even as child is the major reason why she is able to grow up without issue. Without that aspect, well, it'll be hard to believe that Wendy would love to be stuck in an Edwardian society.
