2014 Update - Saw Frozen with my kids - you guessed it, parents were killed off early. I’m jumping back into film study with an eye towards what has been going on in films about girls and women since I’ve gotten distracted by having children. That was about 9 years ago. Now my children are all in full-time elementary school and I feel a bit out of touch. But I decided to begin in my comfort zone – animation, mostly Disney and Pixar (now the same thing), and I have become painfully aware of a device used to tell many, many stories. I will call it, “Killing off the Mom”. So, I’m sitting here, near my collection of movies (don’t judge me but we had a Disney Movie membership) and here are my findings: Bambi – mom is shot by hunter Dumbo – mom is taken away by bad circus men Up – wife died Brave – overbearing mom turns into a bear (get it?), but reconcile at end Shrek (s) – Not in first one but in sequels, Mom lives and is nice, not Shrek’s mom, but Fiona’s Oliver and Company – about orphaned animals so no moms Happy Feet – Mom lives and is nice! The Little Mermaid – Mom is dead
The Incredibles – Mom lives and is incredible! Mars needs Moms – Boy tries to protect earth and save his mom because the Martians don’t have moms Cars and Cars 2 – cars don’t have moms, silly! Toy Story – Toys don’t have moms but Andy has one who is nice! Tarzan – mom dies then ape mom dies too????? Tangled – girl is taken away from real Mom, and has evil “mom” Bolt – the dog is adopted from the pound, I think the girl has a mom but it’s the male manager who runs her life Gnomeo and Juliet – there are moms (it’s Shakespeare so . . .) The Muppets – no mom’s to speak of Jungle Book – mom is dead, raised by lions Tinkerbell – fairies don’t have moms, and the little girl who finds them – well her mom is dead. (The wives of scientists always die and leave their little girls behind to be raised by an absent-minded researcher). Epic – see above The Princess and the Frog – Mom is alive and nice! But Dad is dead. Chicken Little – mom is dead Monsters Vs. Aliens – Ginormica has a nice mom, but she’s a grown –up and spends most of her struggle with her jerk of a fiancé. Meet the Robinsons – orphan son spends whole movie looking for mom who abandoned him Peter Pan – Wendy and brother’s have a mom who is nice! Peter’s mom …. presumably dead Lion King – Simba has a mom who is nice but the dad dies horrifically. Dinosaur – the main dinosaur is from an orphaned egg, so no mom but raised by a lemur mom who is nice. Beauty and the Beast – Belle’s mom is dead Finding Nemo – Mom dies by barracuda Enchanted – Princess seems to have no family and little girl’s mom is dead. Ratatouille – no mom I can remember Monster’s Inc. – it’s just Boo and the monsters Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – dead mom Cinderella – dead mom, evil step-mom Snow White – dead mom, evil step-mom Aladdin – dead mom Despicable Me – mean mom for Gru, no mom for girls Coraline – too scary for me to watch whole thing but definite weird spooky mom vs. normal one Pinocchio – no mom Pocahontas – a mom who lives, I think. Mulan – a mom but mostly I remember a matchmaker. Some Movies with people (which I don’t know a lot about anymore) Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Star Wars, Harry Potters, Dazzle (a British movie supposedly about fairies but really about a writer dad hooking up with his daughter’s teacher AND a fairy-turned-real woman, but he can only do this because his wife is dead, ugh!) Now to be fair, I’m sure I’m missing some very fine movies that depict a decent mom and/or a decent relationship between a mom and daughter but I have 5 year old twin girls and we stick mostly to G rated and animated movies and I’m concerned. As a matter of fact, I’m somewhat appalled. And scared. Of course movies are just one aspect of media, and media is just one aspect of our lives but I think movies can be very powerful and influential, especially over the young, especially when the adults are not playing close attention. They tell stories, express values, showcase morality struggles, entertain, provide us with escape by allowing us to enter someone else’s life for two hours, manufacture expectations, enter into our childhood memories and supply role models for behavior, and possibly life choices. So why are there so many movies, for kids, where the mom is absent or dead? Well, many of the Disney movies are based on old fairy tales so while it would be easy to blame Walt Disney, and the untimely death of his mother, the stories are old, it seems that mothers have been killed off for centuries. Although, you have to note that Walt Disney and his company picked which stories to animate and certainly had creative control enough to change aspects of the stories if they so desired. Is this the Electra complex as formulated by Carl Jung, where girls want to “kill off” their mother, so they can possess the father or at least his attention? Or can this be explained more simply. Who wrote these stories? Who directed these stories? Who produced these stories? So, I did some research on IMdB . . . Bambi – Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, 5 more credits » Writers: Felix Salten (from the story by), Perce Pearce (story), Dumbo – Directors: Samuel Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, 4 more credits » Writers: Helen Aberson (based on the book by), Harold Pearl (based on the book by) Up – Directors: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson Writers: Pete Docter (story), Bob Peterson (story Brave – Directors: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, 1 more credit » Writers: Brenda Chapman (story), Mark Andrews (screenplay) Shrek - Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson Writers: William Steig (book), Ted Elliott (screenplay Oliver and Company Director: George Scribner Writers: Jim Cox (screenplay), Tim Disney (screenplay) Happy Feet – Directors: Warren Coleman, George Miller, 1 more credit » Writers: George Miller, John Collee The Little Mermaid – Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker Writers: John Musker, Ron Clements The Incredibles – Director: Brad Bird Writer: Brad Bird Mars needs Moms – Director: Simon Wells Writers: Simon Wells (screenplay), Wendy Wells (screenplay), Cars and Cars 2 – cars don’t have moms, silly! Toy Story – Toys don’t have moms but Andy has one who is nice! Tarzan – Directors: Chris Buck, Kevin Lima Writers: Tab Murphy (screenplay), Bob Tzudiker Tangled – Directors: Nathan Greno, Byron Howard Writers: Dan Fogelman (screenplay), Jacob Grimm (fairy tale Bolt – Directors: Byron Howard, Chris Williams Writers: Dan Fogelman (screenplay), Chris Williams Gnomeo and Juliet – Director: Kelly Asbury (man, I checked) Writers: Rob Sprackling (story), John R. Smith The Muppets – Director: James Bobin Writers: Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller Jungle Book – Director: Wolfgang Reitherman Writers: Larry Clemmons (story), Ralph Wright Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue – Director: Bradley Raymond Writers: Joe Ansolabehere (screenplay), Paul Germain, J.M. Barrie (characters), Jeffrey M. Howard, Epic – Director: Chris Wedge Writers: James V. Hart (screenplay), William Joyce The Princess and the Frog – Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker Writers: Ron Clements (screenplay), John Musker Chicken Little – Director: Mark Dindal Writers: Mark Dindal (story), Mark Kennedy A Bug’s Life – Directors: John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton Writers: John Lasseter (original story by), Andrew Stanton Monsters Vs. Aliens Directors: Rob Letterman, Conrad Vernon Writers: Maya Forbes (screenplay), Wallace Wolodarsky Meet the Robinsons Director: Stephen J. Anderson Writers: Jon Bernstein (screenplay), Michelle Bochner (screenplay) Peter Pan – Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, 1 more credit » Writers: Ted Sears (story), Erdman Penner Lion King – Directors: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff Writers: Irene Mecchi (screenplay), Jonathan Roberts Dinosaur - Directors: Eric Leighton, Ralph Zondag Writers: Thom Enriquez (story), John Harrison (story) Beauty and the Beast – Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise Writers: Linda Woolverton (animation screenplay), Roger Allers (story), Finding Nemo – Directors: Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich Writers: Andrew Stanton (original story by), Andrew Stanton (screenplay) Enchanted – Director: Kevin Lima Writer: Bill Kelly Ratatouille – Directors: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava (man) Writers: Brad Bird (screenwriter), Jan Pinkava (original story by) Monster’s Inc. – Directors: Pete Docter, David Silverman, 1 more credit » Writers: Pete Docter (original story by), Jill Culton (original story by), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – Directors: Phil Lord, Chris Miller Writers: Phil Lord (written for the screen by), Chris Miller (written for the screen by) Cinderella – Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, 1 more credit » Writers: Bill Peet (story), Erdman Penner Snow White – Directors: William Cottrell, David Hand, 4 more credits » Writers: Ted Sears (story), Richard Creedon (story), Aladdin – Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker Writers: Ron Clements (screenplay), John Musker Despicable Me – Directors: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud Writers: Cinco Paul (screenplay), Ken Daurio (screenplay) Coraline – Director: Henry Selick Writers: Henry Selick (screenplay), Neil Gaiman (book) Pinocchio – Directors: Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, 5 more credits » Writers: Carlo Collodi (from a story by), Ted Sears Pocahontas - Directors: Mike Gabriel, Eric Goldberg Writers: Carl Binder, Susannah Grant Mulan - Directors: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook Writers: Robert D. San Souci (story), Rita Hsiao (screenplay) Initial thoughts after this research – men have a problem with their moms, men don’t know how to write a relationship between a parent and child, especially a mother and child and NEVER a daughter and child so they just kill off the problem. Interesting Mulan, Pocahontas and Tiana have their moms in the films but they are mostly trying to impress and please their fathers. These films have different origins – one based on an old Chinese tales/history, one based on early American history and one re-imagined fairy tale but all have non-white protagonists and deal with “ethnic” communities/cultures. Mulan and Pocahontas both have female writers as the second credited writer. Other films with female writers were Monsters Inc. (no mom but only has one human in whole film), Beauty and the Beast (based on old fairy tale), Lion King (the mom lived!), Dumbo (a woman co-wrote the book on which the movie was based), Meet the Robinsons (which explicitly deals with a little boy searching for his mom), Monster’s vs. Aliens (the mom lived!), Mars needs Moms (the mom of the boy lived!), and Brave (the mom lived and had a complex relationship with her mom!) The only female director is Vicky Jenson who gets Director credit for Shrek and Shark Tales (sorry Will, I don’t have that one, though we did watch it, I can’t remember much about it.) As a mom, I take some offense. Are children unable to have adventures with moms around? Quite possibly. Are children unable to confront danger or struggle or allowed to come up with creative solutions with an all-knowing mom at their side? Well, maybe. Would a mom keep to the schedule, check dietary and hygiene requirements at regular intervals thus stifling plot points and the flow of the narrative? Perhaps. Still. Must we be killed off? Like all the time? A child’s “normal” life has to end for their adventure to begin. I get that as a storytelling device. But dead? Why not on away on business? Or perhaps enjoying a vacation? What will our children believe if they hardly ever see a living mom (not a blissful, martyred memory) with an adventurous kid? Will they begin to believe that not having a mom is the only way to have an exciting life? To be rid of her and if possible, be rid of both parents because father’s don’t fare too well either. What image (if any beside the martyred memory) are we making of moms to the very young and most impressionable of us? Besides being dead, nurturing babies, feeding everyone and keeping house, what else do moms/women do in the movies aimed at the very young? Not much. I guess I'll have to do something about that... Best Movies for Positive Mom Images – “The Incredibles” and “Brave”. The mom’s aren’t perfect, they make mistakes, they’re complex, and they have desires and goals just like everyone else. I also recommend “Meet the Robinsons” because although the mom is not actually in the film, it’s a very positive statement about family and forgiveness.
1 Comment
Shari
1/27/2014 01:00:14 am
Have you considered being a researcher? Wow, fantastic!
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AuthorI'm a teacher of video production but a student of film. And now that I'm a parent, I'm a careful critic of all things media. It's a weird position to be in but I view most things through many lenses. Professor and parent, filmmaker and movie fan. ArchivesCategories |