An allegory for gender stereotypes and internalized homophobia,[4] the film stars Daniel MacIvor as a fairy who approaches a surgical team (Holly Cole as the doctor and Micah Barnes as the nurse) to have his wings removed so that he can become a normal human being, after facing anti-fairy discrimination.[2] Following a musical debate between the three, the doctor agrees to perform the surgery. As he leaves the clinic, the now-wingless fairy is initially happy to be just like everyone else around him,[2] but soon comes to regret his decision as he belatedly realizes the unique qualities and gifts, such as the ability to fly, that he has given up by pushing his identity into the closet.[2]
Michael Kennard and John Turner, in character as the clown duo Mump and Smoot, also appear in the film, depicted as reading the story in the form of a book that they have found on the sidewalk.[2] MacIvor also wrote the film's screenplay.
Several years after its original release, the film received a follow-up screening at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival as part of a special program commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Canadian Film Centre. In 2007, Toronto's Inside Out Film and Video Festival screened both The Fairy and Lynd's earlier film RSVP, along with an excerpt from his highly anticipated but not yet completed feature film Breakfast with Scot.[6]
^"Rock and role-playing". Toronto Star, July 2, 1993.
^ abcde"Contrary fairy tale is class work". Toronto Star, July 2, 1993.
^"Film centre grads making their mark". Toronto Star, December 24, 1993.
^"Radical Sissies and Stereotyped Fairies in Laurie Lynd's The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore". Cinema Journal, Vol. 45 Issue 1 (Fall 2005), p. 66.
1 These two films were given honorable mentions rather than officially winning the award, but are included here as no other winner was named above them.
