The Psychological Horror of Peter Pan

In 1904, J.M. Barrie produced a hit play about Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. Disney made it into a children's animated adventure in 1953. But the real story behind the story is anything but charming. In this video, it is told in three chapters. First, there is the tragedy of Barrie's own childhood, which left him with a serious case of arrested development. Then, it explores his relationship with the five sons of Arthur and Sylvia Davies, who inspired Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Barrie became their guardian after their parents' deaths, and they all suffered from Barrie's immature handling of the family and from the fame that Peter Pan brought them. Two of them ultimately committed suicide. Lastly, we get a deeper look into the darker side of the protagonist in the original Peter Pan stories before they were Disneyfied, and how they reflect Barrie's own psychological problems.