# Does Neil Gaiman have mommy issues? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567 "2012-12-10T03:48:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/1 "2012-12-10T03:48:17Z")
I have never read a single book by the author, but I’ve seen two adapted movies and both involved a fantasy world with an idealized good mother that turns out to not be so good. Common theme? ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/2 "2012-12-10T03:56:49Z")
Common theme in literature? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/3 "2012-12-10T04:20:36Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I have never read a single book by the author, but I’ve seen two adapted movies and both involved a fantasy world with an idealized good mother that turns out to not be so good. Common theme? I’m not sure what the second one you’re referring to is, but Gaiman has said that _Coraline_ was inspired by the Lucy Clifford story “[The New Mother](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Mother)”, in which the misbehaving children’s mother is replaced by a monstrous new mother with glass eyes. In _Coraline_, the title character does learn to better appreciate her real mother after her experience with “The Other Mother”. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/4 "2012-12-10T05:18:39Z")
Both _Coraline_ and _Mirror Mask_ are fairy tale-ish stories, and mothers/step-mothers are a very big part of fairy tales. That being said, if you read any of Neil Gaiman’s other stuff - _Sandman_, _American Gods_, and any of his collection of short stories - you’ll understand those two movies are a very small sample, and the statistics are skewed. If anything, Gaiman has an issue with . . . well, everything. Death, love, sex, honor, dreaming, life, the universe. His oeuvre has a very wide scope. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/5 "2012-12-10T07:16:16Z")
Read _Stardust_, _American Gods_ and \*Anansi Boys \*and you’d say he definitely has _daddy_ issues. Read his blog, and you’ll see the guy actually is relatively issue-free. He’s just a good writer. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/6 "2012-12-10T11:40:46Z")
Is he still fucking Amanda Palmer? I would kill most of you to get “issues” like that. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/7 "2012-12-10T11:46:53Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Is he still fucking Amanda Palmer? He is. He’s also getting to write Doctor Who episodes now. What a waste of a life ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/8 "2012-12-10T11:50:02Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Is he still fucking Amanda Palmer? I would kill most of you to get “issues” like that. I assume so, since they’re married. What I want to know is: does he eat Vegemite? ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/9 "2012-12-10T12:16:25Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I assume so, since they’re married. What I want to know is: does he eat Vegemite? Was coming to mention the marriage…But you just knocked it out of the park with the Vegemite! 😃 NSFW (language) [http://youtu.be/RJhDV0MMPAs?t=45s](http://youtu.be/RJhDV0MMPAs?t=45s) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/10 "2012-12-10T14:26:02Z")
Fairytales in general have issues with parents, as that’s the hook to get the child/younger protagonist into an adventure. The father is distant or remarries an “evil stepmother”; the real mother is dead or otherwise warped into an evil version. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/11 "2012-12-10T14:51:57Z")
I was just curious if the mom thing was a common theme in his work, I thought his Who episode was one of the best of the entire series.🙂 I didn’t mean it in a negative way really, plenty of authors have themes they keep returning to, It just stood out to me. I see now also that Mirrormask was not an adaptation but an original work he co-wrote. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/12 "2012-12-10T15:25:26Z")
The authorial voice is merely that of a narrator. In other news, Agatha Christie was not a serial killer. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/13 "2012-12-10T19:52:35Z")
But she did disappear in mysterious circumstances for a couple of weeks once. The OP should read _American Gods_, hell I think everyone should. I rate it as one of the best novels of the past 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/14 "2012-12-10T20:00:29Z")
Actually she hid herself in a hotel to embarrass her husband who had been cheating on her. Several people recognized her but she would deny who she was. Then they found her and took her home. I looked it up after that Who episode, which is one of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/15 "2012-12-10T22:28:13Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Is he still fucking Amanda Palmer? I would kill most of you to get “issues” like that. No, she’s still [Amanda Fucking Palmer](https://mobile.twitter.com/amandapalmer/status/4487273027). But maybe you can, too. > [@](#): > > “I’m bisexual, but it’s not the sort of thing I spent a lot of time thinking about,” Palmer said. “I’ve slept with girls; I’ve slept with guys, so I guess that’s what they call it! I’m not anti trying to use language to simplify our lives.”[[59]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Palmer#cite_note-59) Palmer has also spoken about her open relationships, stating in one interview that “I’ve never been comfortable in a monogamous relationship in my life. I feel like I was built for open relationships just because of the way I function,” Palmer explained. “It’s not a reactive decision like, ‘Hey I’m on the road, you’re on the road, let’s just find other people.’ It was a fundamental building block of our relationship. We both like things this way.”[[60]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Palmer#cite_note-60) > **[Amanda Palmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Palmer)** > > Amanda MacKinnon Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a member of the duo Evelyn Evelyn and the lead singer and songwriter of Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra. She has gained a cult fanbase and was one of the first musical artists to popularize the use of crowdfunding websites. > Amanda MacKinnon Palmer was... ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/16 "2012-12-11T00:29:50Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > But she did disappear in mysterious circumstances for a couple of weeks once. > > The OP should read _American Gods_, hell I think everyone should. I rate it as one of the best novels of the past 20 years. Enthusiastically, heartily, thoroughly seconded. When the OP said he/she’d never read Neil Gaiman, my first thought was, “But you must! Now! Go to the bookstore _right now_ and get - well, anything by Neil! Take my car!” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/17 "2012-12-11T01:51:18Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Read his blog, and you’ll see the guy actually is relatively issue-free. He’s just a good writer. I saw Neil Gaiman speak once at a book festival, and he said at one point that people sometimes tell him they’re surprised he seems so pleasant and well-adjusted considering he’s written some pretty creepy things. He said that in his experience writers of horror are typically pretty pleasant and well-adjusted, and that the real sickos are the people who write self-help books. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-neil-gaiman-have-mommy-issues/643567/18 "2012-12-11T21:37:25Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > The authorial voice is merely that of a narrator. In other news, Agatha Christie was not a serial killer. What about Jessica Fletcher?