Critical Analysis

In ‘Parallel Romantic Fantasies: Barrie’s Peter Pan and Spielberg’s E.T.: The

Extraterrestrial’ by Patricia Read Russell, readers are informed on the many similarities within

the two beloved childhood performances, as well as their differences. This article describes the

scene in E.T. which displays Mary reading Peter Pan to her three children, which is no

coincidence as in Peter Pan the magic of believing is what keeps his power as well as himself

alive, E.T. Is also nurtured back to life when Elliot declares that he will believe in E.T all his

life.

Russell displays to readers how the two performances both display the romanticism that

most all children are drawn to, as well as the lack of belief that is said to come with adulthood.

The performances also display several different stereotypes within adulthood including the

negative perception of growing old, which is especially highlighted to come within male

adulthood.

The author also introduces the ignorance from society regarding the intuitive wisdom

displayed from the youth, which is said to often be helpless beneath adult authority and systems,

which our discourse shows the changes that child and youth workers are trying to accomplish

that include giving children more agency and taking their thoughts and ideas into consideration

when it comes to transforming society’s view on children being ‘below’ adults, as we are now

coming to realize children have so much to offer within the world and removing societies

ignorance on the wisdom of youth will move us one step closer to giving children the voice they

should have.
 Moving forward, this piece written by Russell acknowledges the issue of adulthood being

represented as something scary within the childhood entertainment industry as they are often

shown as strict, unhappy and often have doubt in their child’s imagination. Even more specific,

these traits are often alongside a male adult figure who is typically the father within the story.

This can cause the issue of fearing growing up and even children fearing their parent(s) in

general. These characters often create a toxic strain between the child and parent as their voices

are dismissed and creating again the issue of children being able to think for themselves or use

their own voices. Although these films are non-fiction, this is a large issue within the world to

this day, mentioned here “Society ignores almost entirely the intuitive wisdom of youth, which

is, for the most part, helpless under adult authority and adult systems.” (Russell, pg. 28) In other

words, children are often dismissed due to the view that they lack knowledge and adults are

superior. Russell does a very good job at connecting this issue within the two films and the real

world.

Although Russell’s article does a good job at displaying the consistent barrier’s between

childhood and adulthood, the author is missing a few other assumptions that the discourses

display. For example the puritan discourse which states that all children are born evil. The article

looks past this discourse, and focuses mainly on the romantic discourse of childhood which

states that all children are innocent and are only ruined by the outside world. Looking at the two

performances from Russell’s point of view, readers can see how the romantic discourse is

extremely prominent within E.T and Peter Pan, as the two movies focus on the children’s

imagination and ability to “create, as it were, an aura of a world in which the strange is rather to

be expected than not,” (Russell, Pg. 28) fitting perfectly with the idea of innocence that the

romantic discourse offers, but if readers look at it from a different perspective that children are
born evil, they may see this level of imagination as something that fulfills a greater sense of

darkness, like scary aliens and hallucinations of fairy’s. Although the romantic discourse is a

decent fit for this article, it is always a good idea to expand the outlook to multiple perspectives

which allow for a broader discussion.

Overall, Russell gives great connections between the two movies and how they can

impact a child’s perspective on the world, allowing for greater discussion on the romantic

discourse within child and youth studies. Readers can learn the great ties between E.T and Peter

Pan as well as the multiple roles depicted within beloved childhood performances which can and

do shape the way we view children and childhood in itself. Reading an article like this one

allows for the formation of broadened perspectives and deeper conversations regarding

childhood discourses.
 Bibliography

Russell, R. P., (n.d.) Parallel Romantic Fantasies: Barrie’s Peter Pan and Spielberg’s E.T.: The

Extraterrestrial special section. Retrieved March 20, 2023, from

https://owl.uwo.ca/access/content/attachment/a000bbd5-d3fb-463f-a054-8b1ea778516c/

Assignments/d8f84189-9fff-42f8-a141-ed20da2b7d58/Russell_on_RomChild.pdf