Peter Pan is the 119th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell and Andy Signore. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 1953 Disney animated film Peter Pan. It was published on September 22, 2015, to coincide with the theatrical release of Pan (2015). It is 3 minutes 58 seconds long. It has been viewed over 6.8 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - Peter Pan (1953) on YouTube
"A film about an immortal trickster who spies on you through your bedroom window, sprinkles you with dust that makes you feel like you're flying, then kidnaps you to a war-torn island where full-grown adults force orphans to join their ranks or die. It's like a magical Sudan." ~ Honest Trailers - Peter Pan
Script[]
You loved Hook, you think Pan looks kinda cool...?...and you laughed your butt off at NBC's live version. Now, revisit the animated classic that will make you say "This is way creepier than I remembered":
Peter Pan
Prepare for a film about an immortal trickster who spies on you through your bedroom window, sprinkles you with dust that makes you feel like you're flying, then kidnaps you to a war-torn island where full-grown adults force orphans to join their ranks or die. It's like a magical Sudan.
Leave your everyday worries behind as you travel to Neverland, and trade them in for more serious worries like being burned alive, drowned by mermaids, or having your throat slit by pirates; and join the Lost Boys, an all-male group of motherless furries who live underneath a tree that is clearly still used for hanging people. This is a kids' story, right? (Peter Pan: Wanna hear about the time I cut off Hook's hand and threw it to the crocodile?)
See this magical realm through the eyes of the Darling children, three...darling children who turned out okay even though they were raised by a dog, get left home alone, and live with this rageaholic (George Darling) who looks nothing like them. But they sure look a lot like Peter Pan, and their mom definitely believes in him (Narrator: Mrs. Darling believed that Peter Pan was the spirit of youth.). Just sayin'.
Opposing Peter Pan's fairy dictatorship is Captain James Hook, a man who's given up pirating to focus all his energy on murdering a tween, and when he fails, takes out his impotent rage on his life partner Smee, or really just anyone. (shows Hook firing a pistol at a singing pirate) Whoa, d-did he just kill that guy?
But it's not all darkness, violence, and Oedipus complexes. There's plenty of sexism to go around, too.
Peter Pan: Get on with it, girl!
Captain Hook: A jealous female can be tricked into anything.
Peter Pan: Girls talk too much.
Wendy (giggling): Yes.
But who cares about sexism, because Disney makes up for it by including lots of roles for Native Americans.
Indian Chief: How.
Whoa, I don't even remember that part. (shows Peter Pan doing a war whoop while wearing a Native American headdress) Wow, that is really bad.
John Darling, The Lost Boys (singing): We're off to fight the Injuns, the Injuns, the Injuns.
Okay, enough.
Cubby: What makes the red man red?
Enough. (shows the Indians doing a war dance) Stop.
Captain Hook: Those redskins know this island.
Just switch to another Disney movie. (shows Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit from Song of the South) Not that one. (shows Si and Am from Lady and the Tramp) No, don't show that one. Show a different one. (shows Jim Crow from Dumbo) Oh, that one's so much worse. (shows Shun Gon from The Aristocats) These are all so much worse than I remember. Go to "Starring". Go to "Starring"!
Starring Teen Mom (Kathryn Beaumont as Wendy Darling), Link (Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan), Twerkerbell (Tinker Bell), Buster Bluth (Hans Conried as Captain Hook), The Washington R- D.C. Football Team (Candy Candido as Indian Chief), Smee Zissou (Bill Thompson as Mr. Smee), and Some Little Mermaids (June Foray, Connie Hilton, Margaret Kerry, and Karen Kester as the mermaids).
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Honest title for Peter Pan (1953) - Disney's Michael Jackson. Title design by Robert Holtby.
Disney's Michael Jackson
So his name was Hook before Peter cut off his hand? And I thought "Scar" was a convenient villain name.
Trivia[]
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for several other Disney animations including Frozen, The Lion King, Cinderella, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast and Moana.
- An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - Peter Pan has a 97.6% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Many media sites, including Slash Film, The Mary Sue, and E! Online commended the Honest Trailer for pointing out how creepy, racist and sexist the film is. The Nerdist wrote "this Honest Trailer pulls no punches when it comes to Peter Pan’s many shortcomings" and praised it for highlighting the film's sexism and racism. Geeks of Doom wrote "I almost choked on my drink" after hearing the the Honest Trailer's line about "magical Sudan" and said the montage of racism in Disney movies was "strangely hilarious." Some sites, including Geeks of Doom and The Nerdist also found humor in the video's theory about the paternity of the Darling children.
Some sites used the Honest Trailer as a vehicle to discuss the historical and cultural context around the film. The Nerdist wrote, "It’s highly doubtful that Walt Disney and his animators ever came together and said,'“let’s make sure that Peter Pan is as sexist and racist as possible!' Like most Disney films, Peter Pan is a product of its time. And yet, it really is shocking to see this Honest Trailer throw the spotlight on Peter Pan‘s glaring (to us now anyway) overtones." Hypable made a similar point, writing "The obvious thing to point out about Disney’s Peter Pan is of course the institutionalized racism and sexism. It’s terrible by today’s standards, but it sort of serves as a testament to societal norms of the 1950s." In their article about the Honest Trailer, Uproxx commented, "Very few pieces of your childhood hold up under scrutiny once the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia are removed. Maybe that's why Hollywood seems to be caught in an endless Möbius strip of reboots and prequels. All we want it to relive the magic of storytelling without thinking, 'Wow, this is way more racist than I remember.'"
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - Peter Pan (1953)
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Title design by Robert Holtby
Series Created by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Dan Murrell and Andy Signore
Edited by Anthony Falleroni and Dan Murrell
External links []
- HONEST TRAILER FOR DISNEY’S PETER PAN GETS A LITTLE TOO HONEST - The Nerdist article
- Disney's Peter Pan Gets an Honest Trailer, and It's Way More Racist & Sexist Than You Remember —Watch Now - E! Online article
- ‘Peter Pan’ Honest Trailer: Creepier, More Sexist, and More Racist Than You Remembered - SlashFilm article
- Remember How Creepy Disney’s Peter Pan Really Is Thanks to This Honest Trailer - The Mary Sue article
- Honest Trailer: Peter Pan - Geeks of Doom article
- Get ready to think ‘Peter Pan is waaay creepier than I remember’ thanks to Honest Trailers - Uproxx article
- Honest Trailer for Disney’s ‘Peter Pan’ blows our minds with creepy incest theory - Hypable article