Peter Pan (Clyde Geronimi, 1953): The Rise of Tinkerbell

Title
Peter Pan (Clyde Geronimi, 1953): The Rise of Tinkerbell
Publication Date
2025-06-30
Author(s)
Wise, Jenny
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0838-7265
Email: jwise7@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:jwise7
McLean, Lesley
Type of document
Book Chapter
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Peter Lang Group AG
Place of publication
Switzerland
DOI
10.3726/b19901
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/71291
Abstract

Tinker Bell was first introduced to audiences through J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan play (1904) and Peter and Wendy novel (1911). Throughout the theatrical productions, Tinker Bell did not assume a physical form, instead she appeared as a flash of small light zig-zagging around the actors on stage. This visualisation embodied Barrie's text, where Mrs Darling describes Tinker Bell as a "ball of light... like a flame had escaped from the fire, not as big as your hand, but [she] darted about the room like a living thing (cited in Meyers et al. 2014: 102). While the plays delighted audiences (including Walt Disney in 1913), Tinker Bell did not achieve fame in her own right until she was "humanised by Walt Disney in the 1950s when the Disney film Peter Pan was released on 3 February 1953 and "was an immediate commercial and critical success (Barros 2007: 1). Originally a Disney Princess (although no more), Tinker Bell has been referred to as one of Disney's "mascots (McClintock 2014: para. 9). This chapter explores the trajectory of Tinker Bell from a character in a play to being the unofficial mascot of one of the largest corporations in the world.

Link
Citation
Fairies: A Companion, p. 93-102
ISBN
9781800799370
9781800799394
9781800799387
Start page
93
End page
102

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