Finding Neverland Analysis

The movie Finding Neverland is a part-biographical movie about Sir James Mathew Barrie. In this movie the character of Sir J.M. Barrie, a Scottish playwright is portrayed by Johnny Depp. The movie centers on the experience of Sir Barrie as a famous playwright with struggling to produce good plays. It renders the relation he maintains with the Davis family as he gets inspired by them and writes Peter Pan .The movie also portrays the effects of his presence to the Davis family. Throughout the movie the character of Sir Barrie undergoes a great deal of changes through which he develops emotionally as a person.

The character of Sir Barrie is somewhat self aware from the beginning. The character is very much in touch with his strengths. He is

confident about his abilities and understands the roots of his abilities. He understands what makes him tick and how to use various situations to his advantage. In the film he realizes that in his mind he is still a little boy and when he meets the kids of Davis family he seizes this opportunity to observe them and turn what he experienced with them towards writing of his next play that celebrates that little kid in everyone’s mind. He realizes that his perception of the world is unique and incorporates it into his plays so as to portray his view later on in the movie. While he may be aware of his abilities he seems to be unaware of his weaknesses at first. Throughout the film he has a sense of right and wrong and sticks by that. He does not realize that he does not care about other people’s opinions. Which becomes clear by the fact that he does not seem to care about the Mrs. Du Maurier’s (Grandmother) opinion at first; as he sees her as a villainous character. He seems to be out of balance with his abilities in the start of the movies. He does not think highly about the plays that he writes at the beginning. It seems as though he gives more importance about what others want him to write rather that what he wants the audience to experience. He is not aware of his tunnel vision personality, which becomes apparent later on during the movie. He gets so absorbed in his own work that he does not give much attention to his relationship with his wife which results in a bitter separation of his relationship. (Self-deprecating sense of humor, realistic self-assessment)
Throughout the movie the character is very calm and does not show overflow of his emotions.

The character however does show a kind of self regulation in the movie. The character does not get very closely involved with the family. He somewhat restricts his feeling to get involved with the family to become a fatherly figure to the orphaned children of the family. However, he fails to restrict the emotional overflow that he experiences while being with the family so he fails to improve the failing relationship with his wife and the gossip that the people spread with his overly affection with the Davis family. His lack of emotional overflow does not portray as being cold and calculated, but it rather means that he does not lets his emotion to reach to the extreme point, and that redirects these emotions towards productivity. It is evident during the final moments of the film that he directed the childish emotions that he got from spending time with the Davis family and incorporated these emotions to provide authenticity to a rather fictitious tale. While he skillfully directs these positive emotions; he does not seem to be very good with his negative emotions. He gets very nervous when plans do not go as good as he hopes it to go. His nervousness is very obvious during the first play citing that the audience hates the play every time he looks at the audience to judge their reaction. He seeks self assurance with the ticket sales man that the audience hates his play, and in my

view his image as a good playwright drops due to this action this action. He doesn’t seem to handle his separation with his wife quite well, the film tries to obscure the ensuing flow of negative emotions, but as seen during the separation itself and following scenes the character does not seem to be in good terms with this separation. (Trust worthiness and integrity, openness to change)
The character is also very self-motivated in his work.

He is motivated in the sense that he has the courage to continue with the imaginative personality, that he had as a child, and take it to his professional and adult life, which becomes apparent later on during the length of the film. He is involved very deeply in his work and translates every action to his work one way or another .He is always seen with a diary and a pen wherever he goes so that he may put everything he sees into writing, as he believes everything is important. But the real motivation in his life comes from the Davis family. As he plays and spends time with the Davis’ kids their innocence and playful nature speaks to the kid inside of him and strengthens his imaginative capabilities. The experiences backs up his motivation by intensifying the reason behind his profession as a playwright. In a sense the Davis family gives him the drive to pursue his work and believe in it. However, he lacks this optimism at first, made clear by the fact that he is seen nervous many times during the course of the first play and he does not believe that anything will turn out positive. Furthermore, His motivation at that point seems low because his work (at first) does not seem to reflect the feelings and things he wants to portray in the play. While it can be implied that he has somewhat of an innate motivation it can be stated as a fact that this motivation is reinforced as the movie

progresses.
The characters connects very well with other characters in the movie. His initial understanding of others’ emotions is pretty high, but is initially masked by the pre-existing opinions that he has of other people. While the movie progresses his emotional understanding develops considerably. While spending time with the Davis family, he develops a deep understanding of every member of the family. He understands the emotional upheaval that the family is undergoing after Mr. Davis died (Father) and supports the family any way that he can. He also knows what the adults try to bury Depp within them, he recognizes the little kid in everybody’s hearts and uses that knowledge in his advantage while screening the play by bringing the kids form nearby orphanage which incorporates their fascination into the play to an effect, where even the oldest of the audience has that sense of fascination. He has a lot of sympathy for the Davis boys as he frequently relates to them. He is especially well connected with the one of the boys; Peter. The character of Sir Barrie connects well with peter because he sees peters artistic talent and sees a younger version of himself in peter. He understands how peter feels after losing his dad and wants to become a fatherly figure to the boys. He motivates young peter to write and teaches that to dream and to imagine is the most important thing a boy should do. He also praises the eldest of the sons (George) for his maturity after the death of his father and encourages him to continue being mature ,but also hints the pain in forcing maturity onto oneself in such a young age. He also connects well with Mrs. Davis and is also infatuated with her. He understands her pain of losing a husband and tries to help her in any way possible. In doing so he acts in response to the Davis family’s state, but he fails to recognize the effects it has on the emotional states of his wife and the boys’ grandmother. So in a sense we can imply that his empathy is prejudiced. But he later on knows his wife’s views and Mrs. Du Maurier’s views and acts so as to nullify the bad blood between them. Hence we can say that the character develops his empathy during the course of the movie.
The character in my view is not so socially skilled. He is frequently depicted as being alone and the story itself magnifies that. He does not have a lot of friends; his producer is in a sense his fiend, but even that holds little to no value. His relationship with his wife (who is shown close to the middle of the story) is also depicted as being in rough waters, he is shown to frequently neglect her. He is in a sense introvert. However, the arrival of the Davis boys in the character life gives him chance to make companions. He finds many similar grounds with these boys and in a sense is kind of a friend to them. Though not having many friends, he is well versed in social etiquettes. He is shown as a polite person, one to whom the rules of the society, especially of high class society, is crystal clear. Even with his relations with the Davis boys he seems to understand the unspoken rules of the situation. He seems to understand the limits of their relationship and respects that. Though he steps out of bound sometimes, he justifies it as being good for the family. He is depicted as a very influential fugue to the boys and mostly to peter who has troubles adjusting to the family after the death of his father. He persuades peter to take up writing and that leads to the mending the relationship he has with his family members especially his mother. His social skill is also being developed in the movie as he is seen conversing well with his wife and the boys’ grandmother. He appears to be in good standing with the crew members of the play and the actors seem to respect his writing. He also invigorates the relationship between the remaining members Davis family.
So in conclusion this movie is about the emotional development of every character in the plot and mainly focusses on the development of Sir J.M Barrie as a playwright and his relationship with Davis family, who become his inspiration and the special relation he has with Peter Davis and his development as a boy.