Dissertation Information for Paula Silverman Berger NAME: - Paula Silverman Berger
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- University of Chicago (USA) (1994)
ADVISORS: - Betsy G. Hearne
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty - Lisa Cole Ruddick
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Peter Pan as a mythical figure
Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is to examine James M. Barrie's play, Peter Pan, in order to determine how Barrie uses the themes, motifs, and characters of Greek mythology to create a magical, imaginary world in which his contemporary counterparts of the gods reenact the Greek myths in contemporary guise. Barrie creates not only mythical figures, but a mythical world and a mythology and places Peter Pan on a continuum with the traditional and classical myths.
Barrie uses the Oedipal struggle to deal with fundamental issues of early sexuality in the Victorian and Edwardian family. Not only the Freudian perspective, but also "self psychology" as propounded by Heinz Kohut and his followers and "object relations theory" as propounded by D. W. Winnicott and others, will be applied to the play. Barrie dealt with basic human needs, emotions, feelings and attitudes and all these theories shed important light on how fulfillment of or unfulfillment of basic human needs and desires affect psychosexual and psychosocial development.
Barrie expresses in Peter Pan the idea that childhood is a special, magical time in an individual's life. This study will illustrate how, in their writings for adults and children, two of Barrie's contemporaries, Kenneth Grahame and Edith Nesbit, also idealized and glorified childhood and children's imagination.
The most recent reshaping and incarnation of the play is Steven Spielberg's movie Hook. An analysis of the movie will demonstrate how effectively Spielberg explicates with modern symbols and images the themes and motifs that are embedded in Peter Pan. The basic theme of Peter Pan is one that has been widely explored by numerous artists in western civilization, namely, the rite of human passage from childhood to adulthood. A look at four great works of art, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker, Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute and Strauss's opera, Die Frau ohne Schatten shows parallels that help explain Peter Pan's success and endurance. From these analyses it will become clear why Barrie's Edwardian audiences and future generations found Peter Pan such an endearing, appealing figure.
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MPACT Scores for Paula Silverman Berger A = 0
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calculated 2008-01-31 06:15:26
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