And today we’re looking at probably the most famous fairy in pop culture, Tinkerbell. Tinker Bell is a famous fictional fairy created in 1904 by Scottish author J. M. Barrie for his play Peter Pan. She was originally depicted as just a point of light projected onto the stage backdrop. But of course everyone is more familiar with her appearance in Disneys adaptation of Peter Pan.
Why bring her up though? Because she’s pretty much the result of the faerie PR department. And it’s been an effective one as the diminutive women with insect wings frolicking among the flowers has be a pervasive one since Victorian times. But Irish peasants in the Middle Ages would hardly recognize dear Tink as one of the fair folk. People of older times knew faeries as beings of strange powers and motivations beyond human kin. Less the sweet pixie and more like a feral pagan god. They could be beautiful and even kind, but that same fae could appear to the next person as a terrifying hag weaving terrible curses. They just… did what they want. To them, humans were like npc’s in a Grand Theft Auto game, entirely subject to the whims of something more complex and powerful.
Tinkerbell does tip her hand a bit, shows her old colors when she tricks the lost boys into shooting arrows at Wendy. What’s a little murder among friends? But largely the faeries would likely enjoy their newfound image as capricious little cuties, like a cat would enjoy being underestimated by mice.
