About Tinkerbell
Tinkerbell, affectionately known as ‘Tink’ or also ‘Miss Bell’, was born / created in 1904 as part of the characters of the play Peter Pan, and the subsequent novelization of Peter and Wendy. Her name was derived from the fact that she was a ‘tinkerer’ of things, mending pots, kettles and the like, as described by the author of the original play from which she came into being. Since then her ‘career’ landed her in the 1953 Walt Disney animated film Peter Pan, and since has put her in the position of the unofficial mascot of Disney, alongside Mickey Mouse and Jimmy Cricket, considered the more official mascots. She has appeared in numerous films since then, Peter Pan (1924, 1953, 2003), Return to Never Land, The Black Cauldron (cameo), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (cameo), Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. She has also appeared in numerous shows, both tv and movies, and literary adaptations, and now has several recent movies both finished and upcoming from other film studios since she is public domain at this point and no longer contractually tied exclusively to Disney. Tinkerbell is almost 120 years old as of this writing.
Tinkerbell is a small, light infused fairy, and her specialties are magic dust by which she and others fly (as long as they think wonderful thoughts), and her fairy language of tinkling bells. She can be ill-tempered or nice, jealous or friendly, vindictive or sweet, or inquisitive, pesky, prickly or any number of other such descriptions, but only one such emotion at a time, since her petite body can only handle so much. She started out a as a simple darting light from an off stage mirror, originally described as ‘a simple fairy’ and over time metamorphosed into the animated or illuminated or acted character of today played by numerous well known actresses.
From ‘A Kowhai Fairy’ published 1925 (new zealand)
Tinkerbell, Tink also represents the far edge of the spectrum of types of fairies, the extreme expression of the Victorian style fairy from the 1900’s, petite, frisky, magical, illuminated, simple and other such observations. But still as part of the fae, she is connected to the faery and all its inhabitants, pixies, elves, gnomes, mermaids, trolls, and so on, not to mention frogs, dragonflies and such. Tink doesn’t even talk really, just makes little bell like squeaks, her own fairy language. She is as much a firefly as a fairy. Yet her roots are old, and much more dense, more rooted in the past, back when the fae were viewed with suspicion, or fascination, or romance. Underneath and behind Tink is the history of ancestors, a much larger story, both in terms of lightness and darkness, a backdrop against which she shines.
And that backdrop is the faery, the forest of the fae, where not all is as it seems, where not all fairies are so simple, or kindly, or bright. So I love Tink, but also remember she is but a small edge of the spectrum of the fae, and part of a much deeper underworld, a hidden world, where many kinds of fairies exist.