Sad story behind the original story of JM Barry

Tonight M6 airs one of the most iconic films from Disney Studios: Peter Pan. An animated version, which departs in many ways from the work that inspired it, written by Scottish author James Matthew Barry.

Who was not one day, alone or with family, dreaming of the incredible or frightening adventures of Peter Pan, the famous Epinem animated film by the Disney firm released in theaters in 1953? One of the studio’s best feature films, equivalent to snow White And others sleeping Beauty. A classic among the classics, the work takes it through the fate of this flying orphan, who refuses to grow up a timeless fictitious story about a difficult path to adulthood. This childhood imagination and power of imagination occupies a special place in popular culture. But the eternal youth of this mischievous and careless child, who takes Wendy, Jean, and Michelle to the magical world of Neverland, draws on a dark history. Author M. M. The terrible sadness experienced by Barry, when he was still a child.

Big brother’s impossible mourning

In 1886, 6-year-old James Barry witnessed the fatal accident of his elder brother David, who died of an ice skate on a pond in Scotland on the eve of his fourteenth birthday. His mother sinks into a deep depression, which James is rarely seen helpless. After the death of his elder brother, the child attempts to take his place to alleviate the parental pain and still bears the weight of being alive. He dresses like her, imitating her voice and the way she whistles. When he turns 14, David’s age of death, his growth stops. James shall not exceed 1.50 m. The child who did not want to grow up was him. This idea would affect all his literary production. Because the youth compensates for this restlessness with a great artistic sensibility and fertile imagination. He succeeded in writing columns in the London Press, but also novels and plays.

Birth of a myth

Around 1897, J.M. Barry, a man-child trapped in an unhappy marriage, set his sights on the children of the Llewellyn Davis family, whom he had met in a park. The five boys, John, Peter, George, Michael and Nicholas, have only their mother, Sylvia. James becomes his confidant and child-player, with whom he invites pirate tales. James Barry created Peter Pan’s character in 1902 in “Little White Bird”. But this Peter Pan is nothing of the happy and careless boy one imagines. This character is deeply hated by adults and loses children as they grow up. But with exposure to the children Llewelyn Davies, the author turns to his Peter Pan, a truly “cheerful child, innocent and without heart”, an orphan lacking the love of a mother who seeks refuge in adventure. His play “Peter Pan” was shown in London on December 27, 1904, and was a real victory. Behind the scenes of a production which Mark Forster’s beautiful film describes very well, Neverland (2004) as Johnny Depp dressed as JM Barry.