The first movie I watched was Tinkerbell, and I made a really interesting observation while watching this modern take on a a tiny Disney character with the most attitude that could fit in someone so small. Tinkerbell is really the story of a freshman in college.
No really, I've sat down for a while and really thought about it, and its completely true. And now that I'm all better from that cold, and ready to put acrylic nails to keys, Ill tell you exactly what I've
found.
All faeries come from earth, when a baby laughs for the first time. Then, after that, they make this crazy long trip to pixie hollow (second star on the right) and then there they are in a whole other world! It sounds like a very abstract concept to make comparisons, but coming from high school, graduating, and sometimes moving many states away to go to college is EXACTLY like the idea Disney shows us at the beginning of Tinkerbell. Its a big scary thing to happen to someone in just a few short months, or even weeks sometimes. Leaving everything you knew, your family and friends, and 2 dozen pair of shoes to share a place in a dorm with someone you may have only talked to by
texting or facebook, and to a whole new world that you've yet to explore. Its this intoxicating mixture of excitement and total fear for people.
Every faerie has to pick their talent when they arrive from earth to pixie hollow, which if you've never seen the film, you can be either a water, plant, animal, light, or a fast-flying faerie, or a tinker faerie. Tinkerbell doesn't pick her talent so much as the talent picks her. There is a placement of items from each nature talent, and the fairy picks her talent, although in Tinkerbell's case, the tinker talents hammer glows and floats, and there ya go, Tinkerbell is a tinker fairy. Picking a talent is a heck of a lot like picking a major in college, and sometimes youre not really the one who picks what your major is, your major is picked for you by your parents. Picking a major is a tough thing to do because 6 months ago, you had 7 classes and a boatload of homework for each class, a structured schedule for all your classes...some teachers even wanted to try to tell you how many times you
could pee a semester. And now? Freedom. You go to class two days a week, 4 classes, a reasonable amount of studying, homework, papers, you can get a job, you can pee when you want to and you have a plan for your schooling that's based on your major. Like narrows a lot
but oh my word does it expand like you wouldn't believe. Bottom line? Talents are College Majors.
Tinkerbell makes friends pretty quickly, just like in one would in college. People talk to you all the time. You need to be careful where you decide to sit the first day because whoever sits next to you will probably become your best friend in that class. I've made so many awesome friends in college and I'm truly loving it. Community college isn't everything you dream of, but the support you get from other people just trying to go to a real university like you are
makes a huge difference. Tinkerbell's friends are all very different and open as soon as they really start to interact, which is how most of the friends I've made so far have been.
When Tinkerbell decides she doesn't want to be a tinker fairy anymore, she seeks out the help of her friends with different talents to help her find what else she may be good at. This is essentially the struggle of changing your major and not knowing what you want to change your major to. I think anyone in college has either changed their major or seriously considered it because your major is something you'll love one day and hate the next. Tinkerbell gets pretty frustrated and angry and sad throughout the film because she doesn't like her talent but comes to find that her talent is what shes good at and finds that she actually does love it.
Those are the pretty large college similarities, and here some of the smaller comparisons:
The leaders of the different seasons are pretty much deans and department heads.
The faeries with the same talents hang out together, and also practice their talents -in separate areas, which is like having different buildings for different departments and making friends and studying with people who share
your major
The faeries are working on a deadline to bring the next season to the world, and college is all deadlines and due dates.
Tinkerbell was given a home when she came to pixie hollow, most students are given money in financial aid when they go to college for their housing, books.
There's a lot of things Disney puts into their movies so the parents and older kids can really relate to the story and enjoy it. And I really enjoy me some Tinkerbell to make me less sad about college sometimes.
If you ever get a reasonably bad cold and need to lay in bed and recuperate, I highly suggest watching Tinkerbell and seeing the comparisons in action.
Love Always, B
P.S Have any comments or have a comparison you'd like added to the list? Email me at robbylusk2488@gmail.com
