Daniela Uhlig

I really like this artist's style. She doesn't only do fairy art... in fact the other subject matter far out numbers the fairy art. You can check it out here http://www.du-artwork.de/index.html



And on a completely unrelated note she also has a fan pic of the cat bus and totoro from the movie my neighbour totoro!!!

To Spring (1936)

This is a little cartoon by Happy Harmonies, a series of cartoons released by MGM. I used to like watching it as a kid. There are little gnomes living under the earth, and as winter is fading away it is their job to mine minerals that make colours and bring the colour back to nature. But a winter wind makes their job rather difficult.

At times in my life I either liked or didn't like this cartoon. I love old cartoons so always liked it in that respect, but I didn't always like how they presented the coming of spring as a test tube kind of process. I always thought it would be more magical than that, more will power than science power. On the other hand, this is an interesting perspective on faeries. Usually fairies are so magical and ethereal, but in this cartoon they're miners and run on clockwork, they're literally awoken by a clock.

Tinkerbell (2008)

This movie came out a couple of years ago, Disney's take on one of the most well-known fairies in pop culture, Tinkerbell. When I first found out about this movie I was excited. Tinkerbell was never my favourite fairy, but I didn't mind her and I loved Peter Pan and mythological figures in general. And Disney is far from some low-budget no name company without a reputation to uphold, so needless to say I was looking forward to the film. When I actually did take the time to see it I was so disappointed I was almost angry. I touched on this a little bit in my post on Peter Pan. Basically, Tinkerbell is not a sweet, kind, loving character. She's jealous, vain, malicious, and manipulative. She's loyal only to Peter and tries to kill Wendy. In the book Barrie explains that fairies are so small that they can only feel one emotion at a time, so when they are good they are wholly good, and when they are not, they are wholly not. Meaning that fairies can be mean, evil even.

The Tinkerbell Disney created however, is nothing like this. The new Disney Tinkerbell was created more in the image of something you could probably find on the Treehouse channel, the kids channel you can find shows like Franklin, Max and Ruby, etc. So basically they've castrated one of the most well known, classic fairies in literature.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, the story itself was a vacuous waste of film. She went on a little adventure to 'find herself' and figure out that 'it's ok to be different' and to be friendly to the mean guys after she beats them. Basically the plot to your average b film.

I would probably not have minded so much if it was a nameless or new character Disney decided to feature in this fairy series (as there are multiple movies and books out), but chances are that series wouldn't have done half so well because it wouldn't be riding on the coattails of the fame and success of Peter Pan.

But. Now that I've had a couple of years to deal with this, I think that I can now separate the fake Tink from the real one enough to try to watch the new movie coming out, The Great Fairy Rescue. I didn't watch the second as there was still the poison in my heart, but I'm willing to give it another go I think. This might be a mistake and watching the new one might once again spark that 'someone slapping my love of fairies in the face' feeling, but  it's a chance one has to take when trying to weed the decent or even the great from the horrible.



Here's the sneak peek for the new movie. I can already tell I'll be frustrated by it, but not so much by Tink (though they're walking on thin ice in that department) and more by the bad story line and the proposition of ideas I don't agree with.





Here's Disney's website http://disney.go.com/fairies/

emily balivet

Emily Balivet is an American artist who paints many mythological subjects, like witches, goddesses, and other things with a folkloric focus. Here's her website http://www.emilybalivet.com/emilybalivet.html.

Image from http://blackberrycrafts.typepad.com/blackberry_crafts/2009/03/index.html

Image from http://indieprettyperfect.blogspot.com/2007/04/mythological-goddess-art.html

Image from http://indieprettyperfect.blogspot.com/2007/04/mythological-goddess-art.html

Time

Time is an important aspect of human/ faerie relations. The length of time one spends in faerie land may be different from the amount of time that passes in the human world.

For example, one could go into the fairy realm for just a few minutes, but when they come out again a hundred years have passed in the human world. An example of this is the story of Rip Van Winkle, the man who 'fell asleep' played 9 pins with some weird guys, and woke up an old man. You can read it here.

http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Irving/Winkle/Irving_Winkle.pdf

On the other side of the spectrum, one could venture into the fairy realm and spend years and years there, but when they return to the human world no more than a few minutes have passed. An example of this can be found in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

There's really no saying which of the two is more common, and indeed there are many instances where there is no time issue at all. One of the weirder aspects of faerie. Maybe Santa Claus can tied into this somehow.....

Image from http://thepequodblog.blogspot.com/

The Smurfs

The Smurfs are a group of small blue beings who live in the forest. They originally appeared in 1958 as side characters in the story Johan and Peewit. I'm sure, however, that most people know the Smurfs from the classic cartoon from the 80's by Hannah Barbara. Your can read a history on this website http://www.smurf.com/smurf.php/www/facts/en.

Image from http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-smurfs/articles/44333/title/similarity-wars-smurfs-vs-care-bears

Now I'm sure that many people would argue with me if I were to say that Smurfs were fairies, but if you think about it.. what else could they be? Little blue people living in mushrooms in the forest. They even wear little elf caps, and as we all know elves are fairies.



There will be a live action film coming out in the summer of 2011



http://www.smurfhappens.com/

The Whisper of Fairies?

Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the international best seller Eat, Pray, Love, gave a talk on TED on nurturing creativity. She talks about how we currently think that creativity is something an individual has within themselves and though it may be influenced by outside forces, originates within the individual. This is a pretty good summation of the times in regards to creativity, we only believe in what we see and if we can't see it, it has to be something we know exists be being physically attached to it. Everything is 'scientific'. She then goes on to say that this is not always how creativity was perceived. In ancient Greece and Rome, among other places, the popular belief was that creativity or artistic excellence or amazingly insightful thoughts were given to people by a supernatural force like gods or fairies. It's a very interesting talk and will help you to see creativity in a whole new light.

[ted id=453]

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

Fairy Ring

A fairy ring is a ring of mushrooms or stones on grass or in a forest. It is a place where fairies dance, or have danced. Fairies are known for their revelry and their love of dancing. Many nights are devoted to feasting and partying and dancing, and traces of these revels are left over in the form of these rings.

Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fairy_Ring_0004.JPG

While this seems harmless and fun, fairy rings can be very dangerous to humans. If a human were to walk into a fairy ring there is a chance of that person being transported to the fairy realm, and once there there's no telling if or when you might return home again.

Pixie Pop (Gokkun! Pucho)

Pixie Pop, or the original name Gokkun! Pucho, is a 3 volume long manga about a girl who meets a little pixie. The girl, Mayu, is starting her first day of high school and has to sit beside the boy whom she confessed her love to on the last day of elementary school and rejected her. Her family owns a cafe and Mayu is very picky about what she drinks. When she gets home after her first day of school and starts cry into one of her drinks after think about the first time she met this boy. After her tears fall into the drink is starts to turn all of the colours of the rainbow. She passes this off as one of her mother's experiments and drinks it anyway. Right after she does this little pixie comes out and gets angry at her, telling her that drink was what she needed to become an adult. Mayu thinks that she's dreaming and drinks some milk to wake herself up (I don't know why) but all this does is make her grow into a giant. From that point on anything she drinks, with the exception of water, makes her magically transform. The story is about unrequited love, not exactly my personal favourite, but to each their own.

Here is a website with a brief plot synopsis and series info as well as some customer reviews

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1971

If you want to read this manga but aren't sure if you'd actually buy it, you can read it on various online manga sites. It's a good way to screen out the ones that aren't worth the money.

Here's a cool little video a fan put together summarizing the story

Image from http://princesslilo.wordpress.com/2007/06/27/pixie-pop-rules/

Pop Pixie

This tv show hasn't been released yet, but is a spin-off of the popular kids show Winx Club, which I previously discussed here. In Winx Club, a show about a girl named Bloom who finds out she's a fairy and goes off to fairy school, each of the fairies have a little pixie that follows them around. Apparently these pixies were a big hit with viewers because the creators decided to give them their own show. According to http://unadinoi.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/new-series-pop-pixie/ the show was set to be released either spring or fall of 2010, as spring has passed I would assume it will come out in the fall. And there will be 52 13- 15 minute episodes.

Image from http://wwww.fanpop.com/spots/the-winx-club/images/12529864/title/pop-pixie-photo

Here is the website to be, as of currently it only says coming soon, but I'm sure this link will be of more use when the show comes out and the site is updated http://www.poppixie.com/coming.php