The most misunderstood Disney villain

I've been so incredibly absent from this blog since I started it (ultra mega absent!), I discovered its a lot harder to think of something remotely interesting to say on a daily basis. I'll try and update more often, I promise. With that in mind, on to the post!

I recently got a bunch of the old school Disney movies for my kids, and also for me because I loved those movies. And so did you, don't pretend you don't still love them. Today I put on Peter Pan for my son thinking it would be the most likely to grab his attention since he would recognize some of the characters from watching Jake and the Neverland pirates. It didn't, and I ended up watching most of the movie by myself. However I noticed while watching it that poor Captain Hook is actually tragically misunderstood and not really a villain at all. Sure he does some mental stuff, like kidnapping Tiger Lily and bribing Tinkerbell into giving up the location of Peter Pan, but he's totally driven out of his mind by Peter Pan. Lets break it down shall we?

1. At the beginning of the movie, our first introduction to Captain Hook is on his ship full of disgruntled pirates, they are even throwing knives at his likeness carved into the door. The other pirates are pissed off because clearly this thing with Peter Pan has been going on for a long time. However there is no mention of why Captain Hook is after Peter. Except his missing hand.

2. HE`S MISSING HIS HAND! Everyone just kind of laughs at poor Captain Hook with his hook for a hand. BUT there is no back story about the missing hand except that Peter cut it off in a fight and fed it to a crocodile who is now stalking Hook trying to eat the rest of him. Has anyone considered the idea that Hook may have some pretty severe PTSD going on? Possibly some kind of anxiety problem from being stalked by a carnivorous animal bent on ingesting him? Take for example Captain Hook`s reaction when the crocodile shows up in that intro scene. He is visibly shaking and distraught, going so far as to climb into Smee`s arms. Mr. Smee is not nearly so troubled by the crocodile as he can obviously see that the crocodile can`t get them while they are on the ship, but Captain Hook is incapable of thinking rationally when it comes to the crocodile. An indication of some deeper problem? I think yes.

3. Why is he missing his hand? Sure Peter cut it off, but why? Who started the fight? For all we know Peter Pan is a spoiled brat who thinks he can get away with mutilating poor pirate Captains. There is obviously no law enforcement on Never Land.

So my theory here is that perhaps Captain Hook is after Peter because he is seeking some sort of retribution for his missing hand. Maybe he wants to turn Peter over to a some sort of law enforcement that we are never introduced to in the movie? Under this theory that things that Captain Hook does start to make more sense. Even when he kidnaps Tiger Lily, she is harboring a fugitive by refusing to turn over Peter Pan. There is also further evidence that Peter is nothing but a jerk. He exiles his best friend (Tinkerbell) ordering her banned for life, only to rescind that when Wendy insists on it. Keep in mind that later in the movie he says that Tinkerbell is `the most important thing in the world to him. But he had no problem kicking her to the curb when the new girl comes along. Then he laughs hysterically while the mermaids try to drown Wendy, they even admit to trying to drown her. Which Peter thinks is just awesome. He also totally forgets about Tiger Lily when he is supposed to be rescuing her, instead tormenting Captain Hook some more, further contributing to his mental illness. He only remembers to save Tiger Lily who is tied up and drowning, after Wendy reminds him.

Based on all this I think its pretty obvious that poor Captain Hook is just looking for some justice against this maniac youth who thrives on chaos.