Romanticising the Writer: Biopics and Authorship in Finding Neverland (2004) and Saving Mr Banks (2013).

Abstract

This thesis explores the theme of authorship in two biographical films: Saving Mr Banks (2004) and Finding Neverland (2013). The starting point of this thesis was the question of how filmmakers capture the seemingly inaccessible process of a literary imagination at work. This concept was elaborated to incorporate the representation of authorship in more general terms. This thesis analyses Finding Neverland and Saving Mr Banks to explore how these films represent authorship and visualise the writing process, but also how these films depict two famous authors of English children’s literature: P.L. Travers as the author of Mary Poppins in Saving Mr Banks, and J.M. Barrie as the author of Peter Pan in Finding Neverland. The research question of this thesis is: how do Finding Neverland (2004) and Saving Mr Banks (2013) represent literary authorship through depicting the figure of the author and the creation of their work(s)? At the heart of this thesis is how these films are both a celebration of authorship and a subversion of it.