Hook: Was Spielberg hiding some dark stuff in plain sight?

Okay, so I'm rewatching "Hook" (1991) AGAIN, because, let's be honest, it's pure childhood comfort food. But this time, I'm looking at it through my cinephile lens, you know? And I'm starting to think Spielberg was doing some next-level subtextual stuff that went straight over kid-me's head. Obviously, the film is visually stunning – Janusz Kamiński hadn't fully taken over Spielberg's aesthetic yet so it's got that vibrant, almost theatrical Dean Cundey look which I adore. But, like, the themes...they're deceptively heavy. My theory boils down to this: "Hook" isn't just about Peter rediscovering his inner child. It's about the trauma of childhood abandonment. Think about it: Pan essentially chooses to leave Neverland, not because he wants to grow up, but because he's afraid of the pain of his parents' death and Wendy's departure. He blocks it all out. The whole 'soulless lawyer' thing? That's not just him being boring; it's a defense mechanism against feeling that loss again. And then, the Lost Boys... they're literally lost. They're stuck in perpetual adolescence because they've suffered similar traumas and can't move forward. Even Hook, who seems like a straight villain, is maybe just representing the ultimate fear of abandonment and being forgotten (hence the crocodile tic-toc ticking reminding him of his mortality). The scene that REALLY solidified this for me is when Peter's remembering Peter Pan during the baseball game. The rapid cuts, the fragmented memories, the almost dreamlike quality...it's not just nostalgia; it's repressed trauma bubbling to the surface. Spielberg's using cinematic language to show us Peter's fractured psyche. And the bright, almost cartoonish, visuals of Neverland? Maybe that's not just for kids--maybe it's how Peter needs to see it, to hide from the darker realities that formed him. I know it sounds kind of out there, maybe I'm overthinking this whole thing, but I can't shake the feeling that "Hook" is way more psychologically complex than we give it credit for. What do you guys think? Anyone else pick up on this, or am I just projecting my own baggage onto poor Peter Pan?