10.29.2010

A Little Bit Of Pixie Dust

Saw the tail-end of the movie Hook yesterday--I think they've been running it on HBO for the last few days. I'm ashamed to admit I've never seen the film in full, but I like to think the main point of the story can be found in those critical final scenes: Hook killing Rufio, a grown-up Peter Pan (played, of course, by the ever-lovable Robin Williams) facing Hook for the last time and utterly humiliating him, and of course Peter and his kids making their way back home. 

It's a timeless tale of the triumph of courage over fear and good over evil, and an affirmation of the old adage, "Home is where the heart is."

But for me, the most touching and beautiful scene in that whole final reel is that moment that Peter has with Tinkerbell, right before he wakes up in the "real world," having left Neverland for the very last time. In it, Tink says: 

"You know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always love you, Peter Pan. That's where I'll be waiting."

That pretty much killed it for me. I always believed that Tinkerbell was the most pivotal character in the tale of Peter Pan (and not just because I played her in a summer stage workshop when I was six). In a story about magic and the power of faith, Tinkerbell is magic, and she personifies the idea that losing faith in something (or someone) is losing that thing (or person) entirely. It's a lesson everyone should remember no matter how young or old. 

As a kid, I loved the thought of fairies flitting around in glittering pixie dust just at the corners of our eyes; as an almost-grown adult, I love the idea that magic exists in real life if only we look hard enough.

We're probably never going to be visited by an unaging boy in tights and his fairy companion in the middle of the night, no matter how long we wait. But that doesn't mean we can't go on any adventures of our own. We're all given a little store of pixie dust to work with. The question is, do we deny it's there and end up losing it for real... or do we sprinkle it over our happy thoughts and take flight? 

21 comments:

  1. I so love it that watching "Hook" has inspired you to write. =)

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  2. I was concerned at the start of the blog that you weren't gonna talk about Tink, I'm glad you did extensively. That's why at the onset of the movie (try to watch the whole thing!) Pan needed to believe in fairies, or else magic/Tink would die altogether. And let's not forget about "living/dying as a great adventure" theme :)

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  3. Some really good insight here. Watching it as a kid, you get this really fun re-imagining of a classic character, and as an adult it reminds us to still stay in touch with our inner child.

    Oh, and you HAVE to watch Hook in it's entirety at least once in your life.

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  4. logical_chaos:

    Who says we can never go back to those years called childhood. No worries just wonderful stories.

    Unlike Peter Pan, we treasure them as memories when we grow up. Unlike Peter Pan, we get to experience the Magic of adulthood by letting our childhood dreams come true.

    Whether its Star Wars or Star Trek, Spider-Man or Superman and Harry Potter or Twilight the adult in us makes these fantasies come true for the child within ourselves.

    To paraphrase a famous quote, Yes, Jessica, there is a fairy named Tickerbell.

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  5. I love the quote :)

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  6. I like this:---> "Tinkerbell is magic, and she personifies the idea that losing faith in something (or someone) is losing that thing (or person) entirely. It's a lesson everyone should remember no matter how young or old."

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  7. you're such a good writer...you're using words that are hard to understand. And at the last part of you blog, it's like your giving advise to your fellow Filipino's. I think every week, you should do a thing like this. Hope you read this :)

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  8. I like to read,. I like to write. Like you I like the smell of books and the hiss of lightsabers. I like the taste of sushi. The the feel of being tipsy (with love or alcohol or both). I know what you mean when you say you sometimes don't make sense, even in your own head.
    So iI wish you all the best, with or without a tangled thread inside your head...

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  9. i'm speechless. you intimidate more and more whenever i read your blogs,jessica. idol na talaga kita!

    whoever owns your special attention is very very very lucky. i hope that person knows how amazingly lucky he is.

    -akkinlos

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  10. thanks for the comments guys. i just like writing :)

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  11. your welcome Jessica. :)
    I thought you also like reading? :)

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  12. I love the thoughts of tinkerbell:) some people when they wake up they already forget what they dreaming last night and some like me even I already awake and i love my dream I go back and try to sleep and continue.

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  13. Continue your writing because you develop your talent of your writing skills. Me, too, I love writing blogs about the latest happenings here and around the world.

    Feel free to visit my blog at chester2278.wordpress.com. This will be my official blog in Canada, Jessica!!!

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  14. have you seen Finding Neverland film too? that's soo touching too..i always love peter, wendy and tink!

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  15. you're indeed my idol, ate jessica..:)

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  16. ...

    write something about the force :)

    xxxx|--------------

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  17. Uhm, Jessica.. I have some questions:

    1. Most adventures I see are dangerous, why some people wanted their adventures of their own even though they know it's risky?
    2. For you, why sometimes I have to believe in magic though I'm living in reality? Is there a misconception that if ever I had a problem to deal in reality, I'm restricted to think something imaginary?
    3. Is it really hard to get that 'faith' you mentioned in the blog entry? I've been having a hard time having it kasi hindi ko sya nararamdaman ever it's like maiisip mo what you expect in the future is not the thing that happened in the present.

    That's all the questions I had, hope you could answer me..

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  18. when you're young.. you have lots of dreams... and i believe.... when you get old.. all of your dreams are nothing... just always be thankful on what you have...

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  19. this is awesome.i love how u started it out mellow before dropping d "real deal".

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  20. "We're probably never going to be visited by an unaging boy in tights"

    THAT'S CREEPY!

    This is nice. Keep on writing, ha?, for free! :)

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  21. I LOVE WRITING. I LOVE READING. I LOVE YOU! BEYOND!

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