I thought a question about Book Hook and Disney Hook, regarding what may possibly a difference between them; As we know, Book Hook isn't actually angry about the loss of his hand, as he quite likes having a hook, and is angry because of the crocodile, but later on, JM Barrie reveals that even beyond the crocodile, his true reason for hating Peter is that he can't stand his arrogance, and maybe feels even jealous that despite Peter being forever a child and thus remaining immature, bratty and self-absorbed for eternity, in his innocence he's managed to gain good form;
Instead for Disney Hook, while he too seems to agree with Mr Smee that Peter cutting off his hand was "merely a childish plank" (Which, boy, he really needs to get some of his priorities straight. I know that he's a pirate, and mutilations are kinda of a given for duels, if the brutal chopping of his hand is just 'a childish prank' for them, i shiver to think how they see other and worse injuries š
; Also i know this isn't exactly on-topic, but i've always found it interesting that while the pirates himself seem to see it as 'a childish prank', Peter himself, when he's trying to tell the stories to the mermaids, instead seems to view it as a situation where he was desperate, "sorrounded" as he says, but then again, he could be just dramatizing on purpose), he does seem to be genuinely and rightfully angry that Peter, either intentionally or not (and what i mean by that is that Peter may have not foreseen that the predator he gave the hand to would have started to chase Hook forever), sicced a giant crocodile on him, with no other feelings about it.
Regarding the claw itself, do you think Hook is fine with it as much as his original theatrical/literary counterpart is, or does he have more complications with it? I'm thinking of that scene during the final fight where he gets it stuck on the mast by accident, and angrily growls "Blast this hook!" as he struggles to get free. But then there's also the matter that JATNP, while probably set to be more of an AU than actually canon, does show that Hook actually possesses a wide variety of prosphetics for different uses that are quite useful to him. And related to this, what do you think Disney Hook's relationship with good form is compared to his original counterpart's obsessiveness?
I've always thought that Disney Hook always gave more of a "fop vibe" rather an "earnestly gentlemanly person" feeling, especially given his "blast good form!!" line to Mr Smee, and that is somewhat official, as appearently him being a fop was an intention of some of the animators that worked on the original '53 film, but fop or not, Disney Hook is still definetly far more cultured than most of his unlucky crew, so for example, could he still have gone to Eton (given that James does actually mention it in the Pirate Fairy even if, again, that's probably non-canon)? I know i'm asking way too much this time and i'm sorry for that, but i'm really curious on your stance on all of this š!
Honestly, while the hand loss may not be Hookās primary issue with Pan, I think any version of Hook who pretends it doesnāt bother him is lying. Losing a hand in battle is a traumatic experience, even if it was more common for sailors and soldiers back in the day than it is now. If you didnāt die from the blood loss alone, there was still a good chance youād die from infection prior to antibiotics. And usually your āsurgeonā was just a cook or barber who sorta kinda might have some very basic first aid knowledge but mostly was just capable of cutting off infected body parts with a saw or sewing wounds back together. Add in phantom pains (and not really knowing the explanation behind it like we do now) and a giant crocodile that follows you everywhere now andā¦yeahā¦. Plusā¦Hook is a musician. He plays the harpsichord and/or piano in many versions and I believe it was the Hook at Eton speech where Barrie also suggested he played the flute. There are some things heās seriously going to have to relearn (especially assuming whichever hand he lost was his dominant one) and some things heāll justā¦never be able to play again. At all. Ever. He probably had to relearn how to fight with the sword in the other hand, too. And how to write againā¦
My boss recently had an incident where she had to have the tip of a finger on her dominant hand surgically reattached. There was A LOT of blood even just for that little accident. She threw up. She almost passed out. And this lady is not squeamish. I work at a vet clinic and sheās our main vet so sheās regularly working around blood, vomit, feces, etc. For a long time afterwards, she couldnāt even do basic things like draw up a vaccine by herself because she couldnāt quite make her āwrongā hand do things the right way. And anything that required fine motor skills like her performing surgeries was something she couldnāt do for weeks. She may never totally get all the feeling back in the end of that finger. And thatās just a finger. With modern medicine onboard (and modern pain meds!) to help her heal.
So yeah, Hook brushing off the hand loss as no big deal? I donāt buy it. Sure, he adjusts eventually and probably likes the confidence it gives him that people will listen when he talks because of the fear thatās there when someone perpetually has a sharp weapon at their disposalā¦but that doesnāt mean he doesnāt mentally, emotionally, and physically still struggle with it sometimes.
I actually wrote a fic awhile back about how I envision things happening (Disney-verse) from Hookās perspective that you can read here. In my own personal headcanon, Peter didnāt actually intend to take the hand off. He was trying to knock a weapon out of Hookās hand and ended up taking the hand off by mistake. He threw it away in disgust and horror when he realized what happened and the crocodile just happened to be there. He later made up/embellished the story that it was all on purpose to make himself look brave/confident when telling othersā¦and so he doesnāt have to really think about how queasy it made him. By the time Hook is actually conscious enough to know what was going several days later, the story has made its way around the island and if Peter says it was on purpose, why would he question that? He doesnāt find out the truth until much, MUCH later.
I do think with the Jake series Disney did a great job of making disability more relatable for the kids. It took Hook and instead of āscary amputee villainā he became ālovable grump with the cool toolbox of changeable hooks.ā In the show, itās so much a part of his character that nobody questions it or makes fun of it or whatever. The hook (and all the fun, silly alternate hooks) is justā¦accepted as something normal. And thatās the way it should be in very young childrenās media, I think. I did a couple of posts about Hook and disability and more specifically about various actual prosthetics that would be available for him here and here.
