How come fictional witches (“Charmed,” “Practical Magic,” and “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”–yes, I have seen all three of those, thankyouverymuch–come to mind) never have mothers? They always have aunts (who are usually witches, too). Does being a witch run in familes weird? Are witches unable to have children? What’s up with this?
“I need the biggest seed bell you have. . . no, that’s too big.”–Hans Moleman
One of the great archetypes in fairy tales is the heroine with no living mother. either she only has a father, or she has a stepmother. This is probably because so many women historically died in childbirth; growing up without a mother, or with a stepmother, was a fact of life for many girls.
And, Disney, of course, has practically graven this archetype in stone over the last 60 years, ever since Snow White. Disney heroines never have living mothers. Think about it.
I don’t suppose that the makers of the “entertainment packages” you mentioned are consciously following in the footsteps of 6,000 years of folk tales, so I would have to believe they are just emulating Uncle Walt.
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen
Also, those “entertainment packages” are marketed to appeal to age 10-17 girls, who of course would rather fantasize about life with no mother around to nag…
AFAIK, it’s nothing to do with witchcraft “cans” or “can’ts”, just marketing.
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen
On the reason that folk-tale and fairy-tale heroes seldom have mothers, but have (usually wicked) stepmothers or ineffectual mothers (a la Jack and the Beanstalk): Bruno Bettleheim (yes, I know, but he had some brilliant insights despite that) posited that many of those stories convey messages to young children; two such messages are:
Those messages are hard to take, when it’s about Mommy and Daddy. So the story is couched in terms of the step-parents, the ogre, the giant, whatever, as a more acceptable way of delivering the message.
Mulan. Hey, what you said does hold up on most of em, but Mulan’s mother was alive and well and stayed that way through the movie.
grin It’s silly - I don’t like a lot of what Disney does, but despite all that I still wind up liking their movies. and despite the fact that they mutilated the original story, Mulan was the best treatment of women I’ve yet seen them do.
-Elthia
Hercules’ mother was also alive at the end of the film (though, of course, that was fast and loose with the mythology, since Disney would never portray Zeus as having a child out of wedlock).
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.
Yes, but Herc was male. I was responding to the heroine part. Males have a far greater incidence of having both parents, in my experience, in things like that.
-Elthia
Samantha had a mom, Endora, who wasn’t evil as much as a nuisance (which is a modern mother-in-law myth).
Willow in Buffy has a mom – we just don’t see her.
Peace.
And of course Tabitha on Bewitched had a living mom; there was a later Tabitha series in which Samantha didn’t appear, although I don’t recall anything indicating Samantha had died.
At least some of the witches in The Craft had living mothers.
It’s worth noting that there is certain notion of celibacy that seems to be (at least indirectly) attached to witches and wizards (recally that Merlin meets his doom by being seduced); they’re generally not married, either. I dunno how that extends to their parents, except perhaps the underlying notion that witches and wizards are “outside the natural order.”
In terms of Disney, the use of uncle/aunt (Donald Duck’s nephews, for instance) was common to avoid the notion that the funny little critters were married (and thus to avoid the implication of sex.) It was a more pristine time, and sex wasn’t openly bandied about.
Also, let’s note that Wendy Darling (PETER PAN) has a mother, as does Sleeping Beauty. The accusation that classic Disney somehow “avoided” mothers is silly; Snow White and Cinderella didn’t have mothers because they were based on folk-tales that were set up that way.
*Otto: And of course Tabitha on Bewitched had a living mom; there was a later Tabitha series in which Samantha didn’t appear, although I don’t recall anything indicating Samantha had died.
At *
Tabitha was one of those TV characters that ages quickly, ala Andrew Keaton, Chrissy Seaver, Alexander Rozhenko. The actresses (twin sisters Erin and Diane Murphy) were about 8 at the end of the show. Three years later when “Tabitha” debuted, she was an adult, played by Lisa Hartman, 21.
In the first edition of Grimm’s fairy tales, there were many evil mothers who did horrible things to their children. Jacob Grimm did not like this and insisted by the third edition that they be changed to evil stepmothers. He was afraid that children would fear their mothers. Also, during the witch hysteria, many women were accused by their husbands or daughters of being witches. Historically single spinster types and widows were accused of witchcraft because they didn’t have a male relative who could defend their names. Perhaps this will help you put some historical perspective on your question. Witches often had mates; they were often the first to point the finger at them.
LabRat’s Wife
A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he’s pissed.