Roles of mothers in Disney media

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-parent 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]

A prevalent urban legend explains the phenomenon resulted from the death of Flora Disney, mother of Walt and Roy Disney, who perished in 1938 due to a gas leak in the house the two brothers had recently purchased for her. This, however, is demonstrably false. The so-called phenomenon had been present in Disney canon from before Flora's 1938 death, with the presence of the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which released in 1937. Further, the prevalence of absent mothers, or even evil step-mothers, were not creative choices made by the Disney brothers themselves, but were plot points present in the source material that were adapted into later animated films, such as the original Cinderella tale, the 1923 novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods, and Helen Aberson-Mayer's Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

Some feminists (such as Amy Richards) 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.[5] Some entertainment journalists (such as G. Shearer) believe that it is to show that a happy family does not have to consist of a mother, father and a child and that a family can be one parent and one child, or one parent and many siblings.[6] Below is a list of some notable examples of this aspect of Disney movies and television series.[7]

Categories of mothers

No (or 'absent') mother
  • Pinocchio: Pinocchio – no mother.[8]
  • Peter Pan: The Lost Boys – no mother,[9] so they appoint Wendy as their mother.
  • The Sword in the Stone: Arthur, or "Wart", has no parents.[10]
  • The Rescuers: Penny – no parents, but gets adoptive parents by the end.
  • The Great Mouse Detective: Olivia Flaversham – no mother.
  • Oliver & Company: Jenny Foxworth – her mother is mentioned to arrive in time for her birthday, but is not shown.
  • A Goofy Movie: Goofy is a single father to his son Max. His mother's absence is not explained.
  • The Little Mermaid: Ariel and her 6 sisters – no mother. In the direct-to-DVD prequel The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, their mother appears early in the movie but gets killed by a pirate ship.
  • Beauty and the Beast: Belle – no mother.
  • Aladdin: Jasmine – no mother;[8] a mother character was originally written for Aladdin's character, but was ultimately cut so he has no parents, although he finds his father in Aladdin and the King of Thieves.
  • The Emperor's New Groove: Emperor Kuzco – no parents present, assumed dead (since "Emperor" is a hereditary role).
  • Lilo & Stitch franchise:
    • Stitch & Ai: Wang Ai Ling and Jiejie – no mother and father. The Wang sisters' aunt, Daiyu, tries to take over as Ai's caretaker in the series to their resistance.
  • Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!: Chiro – no mother and father.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean (film series): Elizabeth, Jack – mother referenced as dead (Elizabeth's mother is noted by her father's ghost but never seen), Will – mother mentioned having died, father is "Bootstrap" Bill Turner.
  • Ratatouille: Remy – no mother, had a father. Linguini – mother was not shown on screen and is mentioned to have died. His father was the late master chef Auguste Gusteau.
  • Pucca: Pucca – no mother and father.
  • Phineas and Ferb: Ferb Fletcher – biological mother not mentioned, had a father Lawrence and step-mother Linda.
  • Tron: Legacy: Sam Flynn – no mother. No father for the majority of his life as well.
  • Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph – mother was mentioned.

Stepmothers and mother-figures

Mother killed, died and/or captured
  • Dumbo: Mrs. Jumbo is locked up for the majority of the movie, but is not killed.
  • Bambi: Bambi – mother killed by a hunter.
  • The Jungle Book: Mowgli – his mother Raksha, killed by Shere Khan.
  • The Fox and the Hound: Tod – mother killed by a gunshot.
  • The Little Mermaid: Ariel, Attina, Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Adella and Alana – their mother Athena, killed by pirates.
  • Pocahontas: Pocahontas – no mother[8] (mentioned only; revealed to have been dead for years).
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Quasimodo – mother killed by Frollo.[8]
  • Tarzan: Tarzan – mother, (and as well as father), killed by Sabor.
  • Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Princess Kida – mother killed while trying to save Atlantis from its first fate. Father dies of internal bleeding in the movie.
  • Lilo & Stitch franchise:
    • Main continuity (2002–2006): Lilo and Nani Pelekai – parents dead prior to the events of the first film. Additionally, the Lilo & Stitch: The Series episode "Remmy" focuses on the anniversary of their parents' death, with Lilo having a dream of her and Nani being with their parents near the end of the episode (the only time they are "seen" alive).
    • Stitch! anime: Yuna Kamihara – mother dead prior to the events of the series.
  • Brother Bear: Kenai, Koda and Denahi – no mother and father. – Koda's mother was killed by Kenai and Sitka fell to his death in the ice.
  • Frozen: Elsa and Anna – mother (as well as father) killed in a shipwreck, leaving Elsa devastated. Kristoff – revealed to be an orphan.
  • Beauty and the Beast (2017 remake): Belle — mother died from the plague
  • Big Hero 6: Hiro Hamada – mother (as well as father) died when he was 3 years old and his brother Tadashi was killed in a fire.
  • Amphibia: Sprig Plantar and Polly Plantar - mother passed away when they were young.

Biological mothers

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. Snopes.com, Disney Movie Mothers – Walt Disney – My Mother The Scar.
  5. Ask Amy
  6. 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).
  7. Paul Loukides and Linda K. Fuller, Beyond the Stars: Themes and Ideologies in American Popular Film (Popular Press, 1993), 8.
  8. Sara Munson Deats and Lagretta Tallent Lenker, Aging and Identity: A Humanities Perspective (Greenwood Publishing Group), 210.
  9. Geronimi, Clyde; Jackson, Wilfred; Luske, Hamilton; Kinney, Jack (1953-02-05), Peter Pan, retrieved 2016-04-05
  10. Stock, Lorraine K. (2015-01-01). "Reinventing an Iconic Arthurian Moment: The Sword in the Stone in Films and Television". Arthuriana. 25 (4): 66–83. doi:10.1353/art.2015.0047. ISSN 1934-1539.
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