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Roles of mothers in Disney media

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The heroes and heroines of most Disney movies come from unstable family backgrounds;[1] most are either orphaned or have no mothers.[2] Few, if any, have only single mothers. In other instances, mothers are presented as "bad surrogates" eventually "punished for their misdeeds."[3] There is much debate about the reasoning behind this phenomenon.[4] In her thesis, Ashli Ann Sharp attempts to relate the phenomenon to traditional tales from the Grimms and Hans Christian Andersen, along with a lot of graduate school pop psychology.[5] Some allege that it comes from the guilt that Walt Disney had about the death of his own mother Flora Call Disney. Some feminists believe it is to create dramatic interest in the main characters; if mothers were present to guide them, they argue, there would not be much of a plot.[6] Some believe that it is to show that a happy family doesn't have to consist of a mother, father and a child and that a family can be one parent and one child (such as in Pocahontas) or one parent and many siblings (such as in The Little Mermaid).[7] Below is a list of some notable examples of this aspect of Disney movies and television series.[8]

List of movies

No (or 'absent') mothers

Stepmother

Orphans (or without either mothers or fathers)

Mother is killed or captured

  • Dumbo: Dumbo - mother is captured, released eventually
  • Bambi: Bambi - mother is killed by hunter
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Quasimodo - mother killed[14]
  • Tarzan: Tarzan - parents killed by leopard; surrogate gorilla mother, 'Kala', is captured and later released
  • Lilo & Stitch : Lilo, Nani - parents died in car crash
  • Finding Nemo: Nemo - mother killed by barracuda
  • Brother Bear: Koda - mother killed
  • The Fox and the Hound: Tod - mother killed by hunters
  • The Little Mermaid: Ariel - no mother[15] (but later her—and her sisters—mother is revealed in The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, named Athena); revealed in the prequel as being killed by the wrecking of a pirate's ship during a surprise raid at the mermaids' lagoon.
  • Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh - mother is assimilated by the large crystal "Heart Of Atlantis" which helps protect the city in times of peril.
  • Aladdin: mother captured by bandits and presumed dead, forcing him to fend for himself
  • Princess Protection Program Rosie parents

Full Parentage (all Disney films/shows)

List of Disney Channel original series

  • Hannah Montana: Hannah Montana - mother died (only seen alive/living in dreams or flashbacks)
  • That's So Raven: Raven and Cory Baxter - mother, Tanya Baxter, left to study Law in England during the 4th season of the show.
  • Cory In The House: Cory Baxter - mother, Tanya Baxter, studying Law in England while he and father Victor Baxter reside at the White House.

List of Disney Channel Original Movies

Absent/Dead Fathers in Disney

  • Treasure Planet: Jim - father missing (hinted that John Silver is Jim's father)
  • The Lion King: Simba - father killed
  • The Lion King II: Kovu - unknown father (Scar adopted him)
  • Cinderella (1950 film): Cinderella - father dead
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Snow White - father dead
  • Toy Story: Andy - father never seen/mentioned
  • Dumbo: Dumbo - father mentioned (Dumbo is originally named 'Jumbo Junior after him), but never seen
  • The Aristocats: Toulouse, Berlioz, and Marie - father never mentioned or seen (Thomas O'Malley latter becomes their surrogate father)
  • Tale Spin: Rebecca Cunningham, daughter Molly Cunningham - father never mentioned or specified
  • Robin Hood: Mother Rabbit, children Sis, Tagalong and Skippy, and other bunnies - father never seen/mentioned
  • Summer Magic: Margeret Carey, children Nancy, Gilly, and Peter Carey - father dead

See also

References

  1. ^ Henry A. Giroux, Fugitive Cultures: Race, Violence, and Youth (Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 1996).
  2. ^ Lynn H. Collins, Joan C. Chrisler, and Michelle R. Dunlap, Charting a New Course for Feminist Psychology (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002), 94.
  3. ^ Stephen M. Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America (Westview Press, 1992), 263.
  4. ^ Aisha Sultan, "What does Disney have against mothers?," ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (03/15/2008).
  5. ^ Ashli Ann Sharp, Once Upon a Time in a Single-parent Family: Father and Daughter Relationships in Disney's The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast (Brigham Young University, 2006).
  6. ^ Ask Amy
  7. ^ Geoff Shearer, "Disney keeps killing movie mothers: DISNEY is continuing its tradition of being G-rated entertainment's biggest mother flickers," Courier Mail (March 07, 2008).
  8. ^ Paul Loukides and Linda K. Fuller, Beyond the Stars: Themes and Ideologies in American Popular Film (Popular Press, 1993), 8.
  9. ^ Sara Munson Deats and Lagretta Tallent Lenker, Aging and Identity: A Humanities Perspective (Greenwood Publishing Group), 210.
  10. ^ Ashli Ann Sharp, Once Upon a Time in a Single-parent Family: Father and Daughter Relationships in Disney's The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast (Brigham Young University, 2006).
  11. ^ Sara Munson Deats and Lagretta Tallent Lenker, Aging and Identity: A Humanities Perspective (Greenwood Publishing Group), 210.
  12. ^ Sara Munson Deats and Lagretta Tallent Lenker, Aging and Identity: A Humanities Perspective (Greenwood Publishing Group), 210.
  13. ^ Sara Munson Deats and Lagretta Tallent Lenker, Aging and Identity: A Humanities Perspective (Greenwood Publishing Group), 210.
  14. ^ Sara Munson Deats and Lagretta Tallent Lenker, Aging and Identity: A Humanities Perspective (Greenwood Publishing Group), 210.
  15. ^ Ashli Ann Sharp, Once Upon a Time in a Single-parent Family: Father and Daughter Relationships in Disney's The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast (Brigham Young University, 2006).
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