I was talking with a friend this evening about the fact that so many stories are about a return to childhood. Well, not exactly.
It’s more like they are about an adult being reminded that he or she had wisdom in childhood that has been lost or misplaced through the years. It is notable that so many stories have had this theme.
The engine of such stories is often a childhood character — one whom the protagonist has cast aside in the interest of “growing up”. This childhood character always turns out to be a magical creature.
Two notable recent examples include “Mary Poppins Returns” and “Christopher Robin”. And the canonical story with this theme is, of course Peter Pan.
There is probably something very primal at work here. After all, deep inside I think we all realize that there was something very important that we used to know when we were children.
If only we could remember what it was.