There must be a reason why the authors of the famous fairy tales (even J.K.Rowling) end up killing the mom in the story, or worse yet they don’t even bother mentioning them in the entire plot:
Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Little Mermaid, Mulan, Nemo (mom gets eaten), Bambi (mom gets shot) and now even Harry Potter. They either became orphans shortly after being born or they were taken away from their mothers.
Was it because of the cholera or plague in the old days? Childbirth perhaps? Or was it because of the rumor that Roy Disney grew up without a mom?
At first I thought it’s the risk factor. If there were moms in these stories, the authors would have a hard time making their characters run off with the first prince they see, face the all-time dark wizard or give up their voice in exchange for legs. Cinderella would not have worn rags or talked to mice and birds and Belle would not have lived with the Beast in exchange for her dad’s life. Their moms would have simply said NO. Period. End of story.
The stories would have been a complete bore. No action. No twists. All because there’s a mom in the picture.
On the other hand, Harry wouldn’t be THE hero in the wizard world, Cinderella and Snow White would not have met their princes and the Little Mermaid would still have a tail!
What are these stories suggesting? That children are better off without their moms?
I hope not.
Then I realized it could also be the vulnerability factor. The authors need to break the protective walls of these characters to give the villains the chance to perform their evil deeds. If there were a mom, there wouldn’t be the wicked stepmom that made life harder for Cinderella and even tried to kill Snow White twice. Our favorite princesses would have all led happy lives right from the start. Every mom would sacrifice her own life to protect her child. And that’s the truth – even in real life. Being without a mom, these characters are being portrayed as helpless, unprotected and defenseless. Yes, moms are that important.
I’d like to believe that this is the motive why moms don’t get that much “screen” time in children’s stories.
If Phoebe would ask me the question why moms get killed in the books we read, I’d know what to say.
Photo by Kjirstin (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjirstinb/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
SO TRUE! Most of the evil in those stories would have been avoided if Mama was there. Doesn’t make for a great story though, huh?
maybe that IS the real motive behind that?! yun na lang paniniwalaan ko =)
BJ Mama, welcome! Thanks for dropping by.
Yep, mommies rule both the real world and neverland!
Raf, KJ talaga minsan mga moms kaya naeeliminate sa cast. hehehe…
As cute as we make motherhood sound now days – we are forgetting the time period these stories come from.
Disney has nothing to do with it – all the fairy tales your watch and read now have been regurgitated from the original much, much darker older ones. See Brother’s Grimm, Hauff, Andresen (who also tended toward syrupy a bit). But they too got their inspiration from the yet darker folk origins.
Motherhood was not as cuddly as it is perceived now.
There were plagues and much more common childbirth deaths. They counted for over 30% of female deaths at the time. And then if you happened to be robust and healthy – you would be having children not for the sake of hearing the petter-patter but because you needed extra farm hands. Child deaths were as common as rain and you could not afford to get emotionally attached as we do now. Or if you were wealthy – you would marry your daughters off for a dowry… and not to someone they liked – it was just business. Virgin girls were basically a currency.
Don’t forget kids – this has been the man’s world for many centuries – mothers didn’t have much say in what happened to daughters.
For the most part – women were just household attachment and childbearing machines. They were non-entities and rarely were allowed to make decisions.
Women’s Rights is a very VERY young concept. And the adorableness of motherhood is as old as the Hallmark Cards Inc. – ultimately made to make it sound cute and charming (backpains, flatulence and swollen feet don’t go on cards). “Babies are cute, you will look good having some – you WILL want to have them”.
Bottom line – the reason mom is not mentioned is – she was not worth mentioning. A sad virgin girl – is a pretty imagery – but ones she got married she crossed over the line between the desirability and oblivion.
Because then all the stories would be about heroic mothers protecting their kids very well.
It’s because many step-mothers are wicked. The story-tellers can’t make the true, birth mothers evil! So the threat (which is still at home, a supposed haven from the world) is shifted.