Abstract
As a social construct, the view towards childhood remains to change over time. Literary works, such as films or novels from different periods of time which feature children's characters as the protagonists can be the right medium to identify those shifts. This article analyzes Wendy (2020) film as the latest adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s classic children's novel Peter Pan (1911). This film has made some transformations from the original novel to make the story more relevant in today’s context, including how it showcases childhood that is experienced by the children’s characters. Using textual and comparative analysis, this study attempts to see the transformations in the film adaptation and how it shows a different childhood construction from the one appearing in the source novel. Referring to the concept of postmodern childhood, Linda Hutcheon’s adaptation theory, and Bordwell and Thompson’s elements of film analysis, this study reveals how Wendy (2020) has exemplified the concept of postmodern childhood through the portrayal of children’s roles, children’s agency, and children-adults relationship.
Highlights
The way we perceive childhood remains to change over time
This article will explore the transformation from Peter Pan (1911) to Wendy (2020) to see how it portrays postmodern childhood
One day the Darling children escape their home and follow a boy, who later is known as Peter Pan, to a volcanic island that he considers the land of freedom
Summary
The way we perceive childhood remains to change over time. The study and development of the concept of childhood started to rise when Philippe Ariès (1960) published The Centuries of Childhood. Some characteristics of modern childhood are that children need to be safe and protected, dependent on adults, and often viewed as innocent human beings These characteristics are reflected in literary works that were published in that era. The postmodern concept of childhood, which challenges the regularity and universality of modern childhood characteristics, began to develop in the late 20th century in Europe and North America. It was powered by World War II and the invention of electronic media that leads to the shift of family structure in the post-industrialist society (Mook, 2007, p.145)
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