Brian Sweeney '06 (Old Westbury, NY) has been interested
in the story of Peter Pan since he was 7 years old. "I can remember
seeing Hook in theaters in 1991 and have liked the Peter Pan story ever since," Sweeney remembers.
Since
then, he has read J.M. Barrie's novel and seen movie adaptations of the
classic story. "I read Barrie's novel version a few years ago (he wrote
a novel, a play and a short story about Peter) and appreciated it in a
different way than I had years before. Then this past semester I took
Professor Patricia O'Neill's Children of Empire [course] where we read
the novel; I presented on it and then wrote a paper," Sweeney explains.
It was not until this class that Sweeney, a rising senior
majoring in an interdisciplinary study of English/Comparative
Mythology, saw a correlation with the story of Peter Pan and mythology.
As the recipient of an Emerson grant, he is now working on one research
project that combines these two interests titled, "Peter Pan as a Modern Myth." Sweeney will be working with Professor of English Patricia O'Neill.
He
explains, "We will be researching the various incarnations of the Peter
Pan story (film and stage productions, J.M. Barrie's original stories,
and literary works inspired by Peter Pan) over the past century."
Sweeney and O'Neill plan to author an article that will assess how
British and American artists have reacted to the inherent questions
raised by the story of Peter Pan and why that reaction "represents
something mythic."
According to Sweeney, "the figure of Peter
Pan, the boy who would not grow up, quickly became a cultural icon in
Britain and America following the first production of Barrie's play in
1904, yet many people became familiar with the story through versions
(such as the musical starring Mary Martin, Disney's animated film,
Steven Spielberg's Hook, or, most recently, P.J. Hogan's Peter Pan and Finding Neverland)
that vary significantly from Barrie's original story." The different
productions create different figures, "each presenting different
interpretations of the nature of growing up and the difference between
childhood and adulthood."
Sweeney explains that the diverse
interpretations of the story and the character of Peter Pan seem to
indicate "the presence of a living, vibrant myth in our own, allegedly
'demythologized' culture."
As Yale University has an excellent
collection of materials related to J.M. Barrie, Sweeney projects he may
be traveling to New Haven, Conn., to complete some of his
research.
Created in 1997, the Emerson Foundation Grant
program was designed to provide students with significant opportunities
to work collaboratively with faculty members, researching an area of
interest. The recipients, covering a range of topics, will explore
fieldwork, laboratory and library research, and the development of
teaching materials. The projects will be initiated this summer, and the
students will make public presentations of their research throughout
the 2005-2006 academic year.
-- by Emily Lemanczyk '05
