In the Disney adaptation of Peter Pan [1953], the character Captain Hook serves as an example of one of disneys disabled characters, specifically one of disneys disabled villains. In the movie, the protagonist of the film, Peter Pan is the one responsible for cutting of Hooks hand in a duel, which gets fed to a crocodile. The film establishes little remorse to be felt for hook and little responsibility to be held by Peter, the fear of crocodiles instilled in hook as a result, is often played for comedic effect. Some take offence to hooks representation in the movie, as they fell it instills negative stereotypes surrounding amputees or even disabled people as a whole and that the naming of the character after his disability is dehumanising, however it can also be argued that Hook is simply fitting the aesthetic of a pirate with the hook hand, hence the name, and that at the end of the day, it is a harmless children’s movie and that the representations here are so far removed from reality that it’s hard to draw a connection and imagine real word conflict arriving as a result.
Disneys treasure planet [2002] is similar in a way, again being a novel adaptation, however this time being way more loose in terms of its faithfulness to the original, with the traditional pirate setting being replaced with space. The character that can be compared to Captain Hook is long John silver, who is also a pirate character, who serves as the antagonist in the story with prosthetics for their physical disabilities. In long John silvers case his entire arm is mechanical and he also has a mechanical eye and leg. In the movie, long john silvers prosthetics are shown to have their disadvantages but also their upsides. For example his robotic eye grants him enhanced vision allowing for him to use x-rays, and his mechanical arm helps him cook, by dicing food. The film differs from Peter Pan, as whilst silver is still a villain, he partially redeems himself by developing a bond with the protagonist Jim and helping him, over the course of the movie, he has a character arc and changes for the better.
Whilst some may argue that still having a disabled character as villain is problematic, it can also be argued that the deliberate change from the novel to have long John silver in a way redeem himself, shows that the writers had a different view on how they wanted to represent such characters.
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