In fiction and film there are many, many stories about the following relationships:
Father-son
Father-daughter
Mother-daughter
But it seems to me that there is nowhere near the number of stories dealing with the mother-son relationship. I guess that ever since Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex, people have been a little ooky about that one.
Off the top of my head, I can think of four films that deal with it:
Psycho
Spanking the Monkey
Mother (Albert Brooks) A.I.
What does it say about a topic when Albert Brooks is the one who makes the most “normal” film about it?
So refresh my memory about other mother-son stories and let’s discuss.
(And, for the record, I get along just fine with my mother, thank you.)
I think that’s because invariably dramatic mother - (adult) son stories tend to be somewhat negative where the mother is smothering or controlling or otherwise infantilizing her son in some fashion or competing for his affection/love with his girlfriend/wife. There are exceptions, but that’s the usual dramatic/fiction angle.
Throw Mama from the Train (Haven’t actually seen, but going from the name)
The Goonies
Forest Gump
The Sopranos (Season 1)
Kindergarten Cop (“How are you supposed to argue with that…?”)
The Jazz Singer (1937)
The Silver Cord (1933)
Anna Karenina (1935)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
Madame X (1937)
White Banners (1938)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
Dumbo (1941)
Sergeant York (1941)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
None But the Lonely Heart (1944)
Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
To Each His Own (1946)
White Heat (1949)
Louisa (1950)
Teresa (1951)
My Son John (1952)
So Big (1953)
The King and I (1956)
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
Alexander the Great (1956)
The Tin Star (1957)
Old Yeller (1958)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Sons and Lovers (1960)
Suddenly Last Summer (1960)
Almost Famous (2000)
High Fidelity (2000)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
You Can Count on Me (2000)
About a Boy (2002)
We’re a patriarchal culture. You can’t get anything good from Mom and still be a Man. The mythic template goes in such a way that if she’s an influence in your adult life, she’s going to be a bad one, however well-meaning. Stick with Dad; he may be distant and unforgiving, but he’ll help you grow up. Maybe because he’s distant and unforgiving.
Thanks for the replies. Many films I hadn’t thought of, a few I’ve never seen.
I wasn’t looking just for a list, but was interested in some discussion on the various ways the relationship has been dealt with outside the stereotypes.
But it’s not just because it’s negative, right? There’s no shortage of dramas in which a father is abusive of his son or daughter or mother of her daughter. But the mother-son thing touches something deeper that we just don’t want to deal with as much.
I find it interesting that among the dramas (that I’ve seen), Little Man Tate is one of the few whose primary focus is a mother-son relationship that is not dysfunctional.
Now Walloon, did you just do an IMDB search? I haven’t seen most of those films, but if you have, perhaps you can expand on some of the more interesting ones.
That’s interesting! I think you have something there.
If it’s not dysfunctional, then it’s (usually) not interesting enough to sustain the tension that a movie (or book, etc.) needs to keep people watching.
There’s only a few I was able to think of and they aren’t happy stories:
Ordinary People Like Mother Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes (TV movie) The Grifters
The first two both star Mary Tyler Moore and the second and third are similar stories, in that they both feature mother/son con artist teams.
The barefoot book of mother and son tales has ten folktales from around the world. There is a companion volume of ten father-son tales, too, and of course the same for daughters. Share and enjoy!
