Does Disney have something against Mothers?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Ok, I’ve been up late again and can’t sleep. So I started thinking (uh-oh).

But I rembered reading an article (I think it was in TV guide), about Disney characters and how many were motherless…the article was questioning if Disney had something against motherhood roles in its animated films.

According to the article many of the characters did not have mothers, they were either already dead or getting ready to get killed. If there was a mother figure in the movie she had a very small role or the mother was replaced with a stepmother who was always potrayed as being evil.

So being bored this late I tried my best to go back and remember all the main characters and tried to see if the argument was valid.

So here is what I came up with, if you can think of anyone else just input it. Maybe this useful info could come in handy for someone…like me.

Characters who had mothers were:

Dumbo: who was momentarily seperated from his mother were reunited in the end.

101 Dalmations: probably the only happy ending of both child and mother in any of the Disney films, here the mother figure was shown in a positive light.

Peter Pan: No mother, but Wendy and her brothers had a mother but her role was very miniscule.

Lion King: Not since 101 Dalmation has the mother role been seen in a positive light.

Mulan: Mother role very small. You’d think after Lion King that mother roles were coming back, but NOT!

Now for characters with no mothers or mothers didn’t last to the end:

Bambi: Mother died in the fire
Snow White: Mother died. Evil Stepmother
Cinderella: Mother died. Evil Stepmother
Pinocchio: No mother
Sleeping beauty: No mother
Peter Pan: No mother
The Jungle Book: No mother
The Sword and the Stone: No mother
The Rescuers: No mother
Beauty and the Beast: No mother
The Little Mermaid: No mother
Aladdin: No mother
Hunchback of Notre Dame: No mother
Tarzan: Mother killed.
Lilo and Stitch: No mother

Thats all I can come up with…so what do you think?

yeah

2

This is one of the reasons that I won’t allow Disney animation or its merchandizing crap in my house, even now that I am having a baby.

3

It’s been forever since I last saw Bambi… but wasn’t Bambi’s Mom shot by hunters?

4

I’m no Disney expert, but some of the films you mention were not based on Disney stories. In spite of the fact that Disney makes many changes in the stories (for example, I don’t recall one stepsister cutting off her big toe and another cutting of her heel so their feet would fit in the slipper, and the birds flying around saying, “Hey look! The slipper is full of blood!” in Cinderella. Or the father in the same story (yes, there was a father) going out to the pigeon coop with an axe to catch the “intruder”) I think they probably saw no need to add mothers in them.

In Tarzan the hero finds himself in the jungle to be raised by apes because his parents were killed. It would have been hard to build on the storyline if the parents weren’t killed. Pinocchio didn’t have a mother because he was carved by Gepetto (sp.). Wasn’t The Sword and the Stone based on the legend of Arthur? I haven’t seen it; but in Excalibur Uther Pendragon seduced the wife of his enemy and Merlin took the child, Arthur, and gave it to someone else. So I think that the reason many Disney films don’t have mothers in them, or mothers that survive, is because the stories they were taken from didn’t have them.

Also, there is a strong bond between mother and child. A motherless child tends to bring out certain emotions – perhaps pity for the child, especially if he or she is on the brink of starvation. Also, when many of the stories were written more women died in childbirth; so it would not be an unusual thing to be a mom short of a complete family. Getting away from Disney, consider A Christmas Carol. Scrooge’s mother died during his birth; and that caused his father, who loved his mother very much, to bear a grudge against him. This caused Scrooge to strive for fiscal independence – at the cost of his “humanity” – to compensate for the love he didn’t have at home.

So I think that Disney films often do not have mothers in them because A) the stories they are based upon didn’t have them, B) the lack of a mother is integral to the story line and character development, and/or C) it makes for a more pitiable character.

5

His father was shot, IIRC.

6

I don’t think you’re being very fair. As Johnny L.A. said, I’d say about four-fifths of the stories you cite in the OP are based on older kids’ stories, and Disney did not change the role of the mother. I don’t think it’s unique to Disney. Just off the top of my head, it seems to me that parents and particularly mothers do not play a large role in lots of stories, including children’s stories.

7

No… I’m pretty sure his father wasn’t shot. Cuz wasn’t Bambi the Prince of the Forest? I recall that the opening scene was pretty much Bambi’s birth… then kinda follows through the spring to going to the meadow where they orginally encounter the hunters. Then all the deer run and BLAM gunshot with Bambi huddling in a knoll or something, and it’s his father who comes to find him. The father is the one who dies in the fire trying to protect as many of the creatures of the forest as he can.

8

Sleeping Beauty certainly did have a mother! Watch the movie again. Of course, she has an even smaller role than the Father, whose role is small enough.

In several of the ones you cite, there was no father, either: Jungle Book, Tarzan, Peter Pan, Sword and the Stone, Rescuers, Aladdin, Oliver and Company. In many of the others the “no mother” rule comes from the original fairy tale – Cinderella, Snow White, Bambi (whose mom was shot by the hunters, not the fire).

Of course, this doesn’t explain the cases where Disney removed a mom from the original story (Aladdin)

Finally, you left one out – mom but no dad in Rescuers Down Under

9

There is no drama without a conflict or obstacle for the protagonist. Disney’s market is largely children. Being motherless is a fear accesible to all children.

10

I’m wondering what happened to Dad in Toy Story I and II.

They never explained that. Are they divorced? Is mom a widow? Is dad off defending the country in the Middle East?

Dad is curiously absent.

Hmmm.

11

Lilo and Stitch is another “mother died,” not “no mother.”

12

here are a few more–

Alice in Wonderland-- the mother wakes Alice up from her dream.

Aristocats – the mother cat is a very important part of the story.

Black Cauldron – no mother or father mentioned in the story line.

Goofy Movie and Extremely Goofy Movie-- no mother at all.

Hercules-- has a mother, she just isn’t as involved in the story line as his father.

James and The Giant Peach-- Mother and father dies, James lives with his evil aunts.

Pocahontas-- doesn’t seem to have a mother.

Toy Story-- The mother of the child in the movie seems very involved.

Pete’s Dragon – he’s an orphan.

13

It’s also a fantasy accessible to all children.

This isn’t a phenomenon unique to Disney – I’d say that at least half of the classic children’s books have orphaned protagonists. (Just off the top of my head – Tom Sawyer, The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, Anne of Green Gables, Pippi Longstocking, The Boxcar Children, Harry Potter.) Sure, it’s an easy way to create sympathy for a character – but honestly, there’s also an element of wish-fulfillment involved. Fictional orphans are in charge of themselves, even if they have guardian figures of some sort. Most of the time, nobody bosses them or tries to protect them. They’re allowed a level of freedom and adventure that well-looked-after children can’t have. Is it any wonder that it’s a powerful fantasy?

I don’t mean that kids want to lose their parents in real life, but it’s fun to imagine a life without parents, as long as it’s safely contained within a fictional world.

14

In Alice in Wonderland it’s her sister that wakes her up.

15

You bring up a great point - it’s empowering (much as I hate the term) for them to see kids depicted as independent and self-reliant.

16

Tarzan did have a mother - an adoptive mother. Very positive portrayal of a mother - and a great adoption story.

Hercules is another adoption story - he has two mothers, both which play roles in his story. So is Jungle Book (although the Mother Wolf plays a very small role in the beginning of the story - and its a lousy cross cultural adoption message).

I think the Mulan mother role is very large - considering that the story is about a young woman who leaves home. Not a lot of room for Mom to go along.

Treasure Planet has the missing father, but Mom is there.

Pocohantas’ mother is dead. Her father refers to her mother often enough that she is far from absent in the story.

A case could be made that Peter Pan has as a central thesis the importance of mothers. Peter brings Wendy back so she can be a mother to the Lost Boys, recognizing that they need a mother.

(But yeah, I’ve noticed the no mom thing, too. As has been noted, its a common device in children’s stories.)

17

Also in 60’s sitcoms (Courtship of Eddy’s Father, My 3 Sons, etc.) There I think it has the function of humanizing fathers in ways acceptable to the rigidly-defined gender roles of the 50’s and 60’s.

I just made that part up, but it scans OK, don’t ya think?

18

I would have to point out that while Lilo’s mother is dead, she retains a mother figure in her sister. (Right down to the line of “I liked you better as a sister than a mom”) And it has a pretty strong message of family, vs. “kid alone in the universe” of many of the others.

Stitch: Family is little… and broken… but still good. Still good.

19

I know I’m a huge sap, and I hate but I cried the first four times I heard this line.

Anyway, Wendy is the mother role on both Peter Pan movies.

20

Mr. Pol’s theory is that the dad was voiced by Jeff Daniels, and the Silicon Graphics machines used by Pixar were based off the MCP.

Since they still held a grudge against him, his character was completely erased from the movie.

Yeah - he’s a geek. :smiley: