By Keith Alan Johnson
05-07-2000
There
is nothing wrong with suffering from a little bit of the Peter
Pan syndrome. I still like to read comic books, watch animation,
and I collect a few toys. I have two Kung Fu Fighting Squeeze
Pals standing on my computer hutch right now. One is a stuffed
dog wearing a red gi and the other is a stuffed tiger in a green
gi. If I squeeze them they make kung fu fighting noises.
I
find nothing odd about a 42 year old man who likes to watch animation
or read comic books. In fact a lot of the animation and comic
industry targets adults. I'm not harking back to my childhood.
I don't believe I ever left it. I didn't become a comic book collector
until I was 23. They call us Panalologists just to make it sound
more grown up.
I
didn't expect this of my adult life. The adults I grew up around
seemed to be pretty down to Earth and
adult-ish. I looked
to them to speculate about what my adult life would be. They all
did yard work. They watched out for their kids. The scout leaders
did adult things like bar-b-q steaks and drink beer [okay, I had
lousy scout leaders]. They did the adult things that we, as kids,
expected them to do. They behaved as adults.
We
certainly didn't see any of them playing with toys. Well, yes
we did. At Christmas we would get toys and they would play with
them. They didn't sled in the snow. Well, yes they did. We would
be amazed and somewhat thrilled when they joined us. They didn't
go to animated movies. Well
yes they did. They would take
us. Maybe they were enjoying them too. That's interesting. I think
Peter Pan was alive and well back then, just hiding behind us
children.
Perhaps
these days Peter Pan doesn't need to hide anymore. My wife collects
special Barbie dolls and legos. She certainly isn't the only adult
collecting dolls. Doll collecting is a big industry, complete
with clubs and magazines. Perhaps Wendy isn't cleaning up after
all of the lost boys anymore, but is out there playing. Maybe
these kids aren't as lost as we would think. Maybe it's the lost
adults we should be concerned about.
I
think these days the more stable adults play. We play cards and
board games. We read stories, watch movies, and do any number
of things for reasons of entertainment. There are tremendous industries
based on entertainment alone, industries that include music, art,
movies, publishing, theater, opera, and ballet. There are a number
of major and minor league sports, built up for entertainment.
There are hobby shops with radio controlled model kits. There
are neighborhood radio control clubs who's members are mostly
adults. These fields of entertainment need artists, writers, dancers,
actors, athletes, craftsmen, engineers and other professionals
to keep them going. It's all big business.
So
why do adults enter these fields? Why does a writer write? Why
does an artist or cartoonist draw? I can speak for myself. I find
it entertaining. I can see where anyone in an entertainment field,
or even just a hobbyist like myself, would have to have a touch
of Peter Pan inside to do what we do. And when I think about it,
when I think of all the people I know of varying ages, from my
young nieces and nephews to the 95 year old back door neighbor
back in Indianola, I think I see a little Peter Pan in us all.
It
won't mater how old we get; we will still see the world through
the same eyes. We will still perceive the world with the same
senses we were born with. We will still be the same people. We
will still seek out our toys. They may be instruments. They may
be sports equipment. They may be books. They may be paint brushes,
pencils or clay tools [hi mom! hi dad!]. They might be computers
with internet connections. Or they may be stuffed plushies with
real kung fu fighting action sounds.
As
children we learn to seek out our entertainment. We carry that
knowledge into adulthood. Most of us will never put away our toys.
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