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Post by sueb1863 on Jan 13, 2007 11:38:56 GMT -5
I think it all traces back to the fairy tales Disney originally used for inspiration; there seems to be some incredibly complicated psychological reason that the main character be lacking one or both parents in order to enact the story. I guess it's considered a catalyst for the journey or something.
By the way, has anyone else here ever read the original Grimm's fairy tales? Talk about violent and bloody! If Disney had made Cinderella the way they wrote it out, moviegoers would be having a fit...
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schmacko
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I had a long talk with myself about my egocentrism.
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Post by schmacko on Jan 13, 2007 12:04:16 GMT -5
Actually...
I think if you read Joseph Campbell (The Power of Myth) or Bill Moyer, you'll find that a TON of mythologies have the loss of one parent or both.
It's about the hero/heroine having to grow up fast.
It's typically usually the mother, because moms signifying nurturing. It's a symbol that the child has to grow up and become a hero/heroine without nurturing. If it's not the mom that dies, if it's the dad, then usually the child goes through a process of taking over dad's place in society. Simba becomes the Lion King, Bambi becomes the great stag.
I think what's even sadder is when a character turns to a surrogate parent for missing love and support,and that surrogate parent is evil and manipulative.
Think of our typical surrogate parents:
Cinderella - the terrible thing is her dad is clueless/callous to step-mommy and step-sisters
Hunchback - the evil judge
Lion King - Scar
Snow White - what a lovely step-mother she had
There are a couple times where the replacement parent is good, Cinderella does have a fairy godmother in the Disney version - in the original Grimm's, Cindy's mom's grave is a tree that Cindy has watered with her tears, and the tree provides the gifts (much like the tree in Pocahantas).
And then the three good god-mothers in Sleeping Beauty cannot equal the evil Malificent.
I like modern novels that take the replacement parent and do something extraordinary with it. Like Professor Grady Tripp in Wonder Boys or Bob Newhart in Elf or the uncle whose guilt leads him to raise his dead brother's kids in the Anne Tyler book Saint Maybe.
Subversion of the typical myth! Yay!
EDIT - Just thinking. Even the movie I saw last night, the Judi Dench-Cate Blanchett film Notes on a Scandal had this in it. Judi wants to be the surrogate mom to Cate's "terrible" mother, and she wants to be the surrigate spouse. She sees Cate with the MUCH-older Bill Nighy and the young 15-year-old, so she assumes she is not adverse to age. Or that Cate is oblivious to age. Judi knows of Cate's estranged relationship with her mom, and she knows Cate is unhappy enough in her marriage to commit pedophilia, so Judi assumes she can take both roles.
Again, an evil surrogate.
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Post by ultimatemind on Jan 13, 2007 12:17:54 GMT -5
Mary Poppins was a two parent home & they still dumped the kids off on a nanny.
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schmacko
PAPER GOD
I had a long talk with myself about my egocentrism.
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Post by schmacko on Jan 13, 2007 12:32:43 GMT -5
Thank you UM
Mary Poppins is another good surrogate parent. Also, Angela "I Killed Them All on MURDER SHE WROTE" Lansbury was a good surrogate parent on Bedknobs & Broomsticks. And Merlin in the awful Sword in the Stone.
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Post by amibabes on Jan 13, 2007 12:45:57 GMT -5
To play on childrens emotions... one of the hardest things is to deal with the loss of a parent.
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Post by ultimatemind on Jan 13, 2007 12:50:47 GMT -5
I was never quite sure of the kids in B&B except that they were evacuees. They also appeared to be orphans.
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Post by smrteypntz72/Kerri on Jan 13, 2007 12:59:23 GMT -5
In Cinderella, the stepmother & stepsisters did not show their true hateful ways until Cinderella's father died an unexpected death very shortly after he married Lady Tremaine.
Pocahontas didn't have a mother either. Neither did Jasmine. I'm not 100% positive, but I think Mulan was missing a parent also. It is a curious thing about Disney movies. Maybe it's because most people develop more of a relationship with one parent than the other. I don't know. I wonder if anyone has really studied it and wrote a paper about it.
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Post by Carina on Jan 13, 2007 13:06:47 GMT -5
I wonder if anyone has really studied it and wrote a paper about it. Oh, I'm sure they have. I was an English major, and the grad students and professors studied and published on a number of subjects. I had one English professor that was a pop culture expert. She spent most of her time writing papers that analyzed characters and archetypes in comic books.
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Post by Carina on Jan 13, 2007 13:11:23 GMT -5
By the way, has anyone else here ever read the original Grimm's fairy tales? Talk about violent and bloody! I took a children's literature class in college. From what I understand/remember, the Grimm's fairy tales were never meant to be for children, per se. They were social commentary, as were most fairy tales written during that time. It was a way for the authors to express themselves, while subtly avoiding criticism from the powers that were.
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schmacko
PAPER GOD
I had a long talk with myself about my egocentrism.
Posts: 2,887
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Post by schmacko on Jan 13, 2007 13:24:24 GMT -5
Well, how brave of them....
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