Disney’s Peter Pan Shadow/Silhouette Imagery - Part 1
Recently, I rewatched Disney’s Peter Pan and while I had noticed it to a certain extent before, I never realized just HOW MUCH the animators made use of shadows and silhouette imagery as a storytelling device.
The very first images we have of any of the characters are Mr. and Mrs. Darling getting ready to go out for the evening. While their bodies are visible to the audience, their faces are obscured behind a window shade so that we only see their profile in silhouette.
Likewise, our first image of the kids are the shadows of Michael and John playing at Peter Pan and Captain Hook in a duel.
Wendy is the first character to step directly into the frame, though we do get a brief glimpse of her shadow as the angle of the lighting changes when she steps into the hall. That she is introduced in such a way feels significant…as it should. This is really her story, after all.
Mrs. Darling’s shadow later hovers over Wendy as she is preparing to leave for the evening with George, her outline draped over the bed like one of the sheets covering her little girl.
Then, of course, we have Peter’s introduction, his silhouette stark against the moon as he lands on the Darlings’ roof…and his infamous shadow playing tricks in the nursery. (Sidenote: Shout out to the animators for managing to make this particular shadow simultaneously behave like the real thing while also appearing solid enough in some shots for Peter to tackle and filmy enough for Wendy to stitch it back on like a piece of fabric. That had to be insanely difficult!)
We also see the shadows of the children flying in a circle around Nana in the yard as she tries to figure out what in the world is going on with her tiny humans.
Interestingly, when we get to the island, Hook is NOT introduced in silhouette as one might expect of a villain. He does, however, get a really cool shadow scene at Skull Rock where we as the audience (and Wendy) can see him coming but Peter is oblivious.
Peter also obscures himself from Hook At the initiation of the final battle when everyone believes he is dead, showing up only in outline behind the sail holding Wendy in his arms. Later, he dips behind the sail a second time, his shadowy form slicing a hole in the cloth as he barrels back to cross blades again with Hook.
Finally, the story ends much as it begins, with Wendy and her parents at the window…but this time, the parents are in full view of the audience and the silhouette we see is the same one they are looking up at in the sky—the misty outline of the Jolly Roger as Peter sails her back to Neverland.
Shadows can have a variety of symbolic meaning in art and storytelling, from subconscious repressed feelings to “darkness vs light” and exactly how one ought to interpret the animators’ artistic choices here is up for debate, but I found it especially fascinating that the film relies so heavily on this sort of imagery.
While it is less prevalent, shadow imagery also shows up to a certain extent in the sequel. More on that in Part 2!
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