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An essay on imagination
Essay on childhood imagination
Essay on childhood imagination
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My Failure to Launch A child like no other, I dreamed. I hungrily took Disney's words to heart as my wandering imagination found solace inside the world of fantasy. To my delight, the tales of princesses, wizards, and dwarfs opened up a world of possibilities and promised me the sky as my only limit. My imagination became a foundation upon which my life rested. After my first glimpse into Peter Pan and Wendy's wingless flight, I grasped an opportunity to challenge the sky. Inquisitive and stubborn, I set out to prove what every seven-year-old held dear in heart as I ventured a flight powered by faith, trust, and a little pixie dust. To my surprise, it was that fateful autumn day when the chapter of my childhood fantasies came to an end. My flight intended toward Never-land instead landed me headfirst into reality. Once again, I looked out the window. Once again, I saw the fluttering wings of birds near the horizon. But this time, I whispered to my sleeping parents, "I'm flying to Never-land today." I began frantically rummaging the house, looking for what I believed retained the power to make me fly. By the time I was through, the house was in shambles. Had my parents not been fast asleep, my wings of childhood fantasy would have been stripped from me at that moment. While I clumsily held my wand in one hand and my trusty can of baking powder scribbled pixie dust in the other, I climbed valiantly to the top of my tallest tower; in reality, that tower was merely a cabinet with a height not far above the floor. Afraid that a pinch of pixie dust would have no effect, I dabbed myself with several handfuls of baking powder. I was going to fly. Looking down at the floor triumphantly, I jumped. For a moment while I hovered in the air, ... ... middle of paper ... ...ed out of life. After my own discovery as the victim and a benefactor of idealism, I believe I am now better equipped to utilize my imagination to rearrange and challenge traditionally set values in our society. My childhood fantasies made time pass. Accordingly, time made my childhood fantasies pass. Ironically, my failure to launch into the world of Peter Pan triggered my intellectual and physical growth. Although I have shut the window to only glimpse into the world of Peter Pan, I will dare to fly again. Leaving the stage of blind faith and folly behind, I will fly now with reason and talent as the wind beneath my wings. Some say one of the first great advances in the process of intellectual maturation is taking a step towards harsh reality. With the taste of baking powder on my lips, my experience was quite different. I jumped into that face of reality instead.
Corliss, Richard. “Peter Pan Grows Up, but Can He Still Fly?” Time Magazine. 19 May, 1997. 75-82.
In the movie Peter Pan, Peter sprinkles fairy dust and flies away to Neverland. Neverland is an imaginary place very faraway.place. It’s where Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, the Lost Boys and other mythical creatures live. It’s considered a safe place for them. This flight represents escape and freedom by the Peter Pan, the children and all his friends being free from the real world. Being able to still hold onto their precious childhood. In a song by Ruth B. called Lost boy, she sings the line “He sprinkled me in pixie dust and told me to believe, Believe in him and believe in me. Together we will fly away in a cloud of green, To your beautiful destiny”. Peter Pan and his friends flies away to neverland to escape reality
To begin the novel she tells us the story of Robert Smith's first and last flight. He had "promised to fly from Mercy to other side of Lake Superior..."(1); although we later learned when "he leaped into the air"(9) he leaped to his death. Smith's flight was a way for him to escape a life he could no longer handle. Milkman discovered later in the novel that his great grandfather, Solomon, was a “flying African," (321). Susan Byrd, a distant relative Milkman had just met, told him why people around the town thought Solomon was a flying African. Solomon was a slave and had about twenty-one kids. One day he just "flew off"(323) and left his family behind. He escaped his slave and fatherly duties to supposedly fly back to Africa. To end her novel, Morrison describes Milkman's own flight. He finally discovered the key to flying was “If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it,"(337) and he did.
Peter Pan – whether as a stage play, a book, a stage musical, a live-action film or a pantomime – has endured for more than a century as arguably the most famous, and certainly most influential, stories for children. First performed in 1904, the fairytale drama has been addressing the ever-changing boundaries between childhood and adulthood ever since. Educationalist and literary critic Peter Hollindale – in A Hundred Years of Peter Pan (Reader 2, p. 159) – asserts that “the play retains its magical elasticity and its ongoing modernity”, or rather that Peter Pan is fantastical and adaptable, and still full of lasting appeal for audiences. In exploring Hollindale’s claim, this essay will consider the original production in December 1904, the 1928 play text, Disney’s 1953 production, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s revolutionary production in 1982, the P.J. Hogan feature film of 2003, and the pantomime tradition. It will consider how Peter Pan as a whole can be regarded as modern, and which aspects of it, as well as looking at how these aspects have been adapted over the years. It will further assess how JM Barrie’s script allows flexibility in terms of constructions of childhood since its initial performance, and look at why Peter Pan is often regarded as a prime example in the genre of the pantomime.
Think back to your childhood; a time where everything and anything was possible. Magic and imagination was something that was used everyday in your life. Now think about where you are in your life right now. There is no longer any magic or mystery. Neil Gaiman and Antoine De Saint-Exupry write two different novels that include multitudes of fantasy. But in the midst of all of the fantasy is the fact that children and adults think differently. Both of these novels explore the idea that children think positively while adults grow out of that stage, developing a pessimistic way of thinking from what they experience in life.
For centuries, the tales that capture the youth of society or the adult 's mind are continually under speculation. To whom do the fairy tales of our literature belong, and have they been disassembled from their true meanings? Jack Zipes ' Breaking the Disney Spell and Donald Hasse 's Yours, Mine, or Ours? essays focus on the answers to this pressing question.
If children or adults think of the great classical fairy tales today, be it Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Cinderella, they will think Walt Disney. Their first and perhaps lasting impression of these tales and others will have emanated from Disney film, book, or artefacts (Zipes 72)
While we are all aware of the Disneyfied versions of fairy tales and folklore, however, long before Walt Disney, the stories were not so
Peter Pan never wanted to grow up, for he always wanted to be a boy and have fun. On the other hand, the general argument made by author, Anne Sexton, in her poem, “The Fury of Overshoes,” is that childhood is most appreciated when a person must be independent. A university student finds that he can relate to the speaker. The high school student, still a child himself, will feel the same as the speaker in her youth. A college student and a high school student reading this poem would conclude this poem with different feelings.
“Despite the undeniable fanciful world of Disney’s shorts, it would be a grave mistake to associate people’s attachment to the Disney brand as nothing more than a desire for escapism.” (Page 113) She indicated that the society needed something that they could not identify with to “escape”. She also claims that Disney changed fairy tales and made it more fit for the American society. Disney portrayed the “American dream” of happily ever after and happy endings. She concluded that Walt Disney changed social myths and dreams in to a transformational literary form, and helped the grey and cloudy America have a little hope.
Zipes, Jack. "Breaking the Disney Spell." The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1999. 332-52. Print.
As a young boy, Milkman was selfish and had no interest in life because he was stuck on the ground, unable to fly. His age progressed but his attitude did not. He stayed the same rude and inconsiderate person in his adolescent and early adult years, including a majority of the times that he and Guitar spent as friends. Many of their journeys helped uncover some of the deeper meanings and connections of flight to Milkman. He traveled, only at first because of his greed, but when he became aware of everything that had occurred in the past with his family, he became more centralized and was determined to turn his life around. From that moment on, Milkman knew he was capable of anything, even flight. His heart, mind, and soul transformed through his self-discovery and personal experience of flying without any human-made help.
The instructors brought us to the airplane which was a KingAir plane. That airplane didn't have and independent seats like the civil aircrafts. We all had to sat very close to each other one by one. After fastening me tightly with him, Daniel give a pair of goggles. "you have to put it firmly on your face, otherwise it will be blow away by the super high speed caused by freefall.", He said. While the plane started to climb, I could feel that my heart was beating out. Daniel asked me some questions, and let me smile to the GoPro on his arm. That was for the video which they record the whole process. The only words I could say at that time were "yes, no". I was focusing on the people who jumped before me. They looked like they had been disappeared from this world. Finally, it was my turn to jump. Daniel pushed me to the opened door. The only thing I could see at that moment was the clouds looked like a big cozy bed. When I opened my eyes again, I had been out of the cabin door. After a few seconds of weightlessness, I had finally experienced the feeling of fly. I felt the unprecedented freedom, it seems that the entire sky belongs to me. The only thing in my view was the white, the blue, and the GoPro. Daniel released the parachute after we came under the clouds. A huge colorful parachute opened. I was able to see the green land and cars. Everything was so beautiful. He made us spin around in the air like playing in
“A dream is a wish your heart makes” (Walt Disney). These immortal words were spoken by none other than the one and only Walter Elias Disney. Better known as Walt Disney, he’s one of the most successful dreamers of all time as proved by his worldwide company. He’s the perfect example of dreams leading to success, made evident by the current size of his company with 5 resorts worldwide and almost 60 years of amazing unbeatable hospitality and service. The three most predominate things that led to his success were his love of the job, his perseverance against all odds and his genuine passion for bringing joy to everyone in the world especially children and families.
In the procedure of growing up, the fairy tales played a very important role in my life. I always think that childhood is too short for people to prepare for growing up. Even your parents can’t teach you all the things they’ve ever learned, so I have to admit that most of the life lessons I was taught by the fairy tale. And even now, I’m already an adult. And I’ve already realized what “real life” is, but to be honest I never blame the fairy tale which makes me believe how wonderful life is. Because all the lessons that fairy tales taught me still benefit me for life. And there are three fairy tales I would like to discuss about: The theme of The Little Mermaid, the character of Snow White, and the setting of Peter Pan.