Theme: Fairies

Fairies are magical beings. The idea of the fairy emerges out of European and Celtic folklore (principally from Ireland) where they are creatures that can be magical and sometimes dangerous. The term fairy derives from the original Old English word faerie. The fairies we have on screen are usually a more sanitised version of these.

Fairies appear in works of Fairytale and fantasy where their appearance is usually one that is accompanied by enchantment and the ability to bestow Magic or aid the protagonists of a tale. In appearance, they are usually tiny and ethereal, often about thumb or palm sized. They are winged and fly and they are usually female (there rarely seem to be any male fairies) and, in effect, act as magical and capricious nymphs.

The most famous fairy on screen is Tinkerbell in the various film versions of Peter Pan (1904). We have also seen films devoted to the Tooth Fairy and the real-life Cottingley Fairies Hoax. Occasional other works delve into the faerie of Celtic mythology where they are seen as an ancient, magical people, not always ethereal and enchanted and sometimes malevolent.