Beauty and the Beast Dilemma

[Aeliara]

beaulolais

I do wonder at the absolute lack of mothers in most Disney tales, though. Can you name one with a present mother?

Bambi: We all know how that ends...
Sleeping Beauty: Comatose
Little Mermaid: MIA
Snow White: Dead
Cinderella: Dead
Lion King: Just the beginning
Aladdin: MIA for both
...
Enchanted: MIA
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead

I think the most present mother is that Pegasus in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony for Fantasia!

...Sorry, that was a bit of a hijack.

that is very interesting!

and you often find foundlings or orphans as the central character too.

my guess is that the kids see it is about them and not somebody else, that they, if they play this role, have to solve their own problems and not cry for help.

in some sense, that seems to be what Spirited Away is all about too, come to consider it.It's fascinating that it seems to be across cultures, too. Spirited Away is a Japanese story, right? I've also been reading a lot of Native American literature right now and they all seem to be interested in the role of the orphan.

Think back, too, when you were a kid, were your hypothetical parents always MIA, too? I know ours were and I can guess that the Disney films and fairy tales had something to do with it.  

[Aeliara]

Sita Carew

How does it feel to be a puppet on my string?

Perhaps Disney kills off moms because they knows it's a deeply upsetting thing for kids? And that's what makes a good movie - it inspires large feelings.

Just a thought.

I am hollow... and I will live forever

That's definitely a thought. If I were to play Devil's Advocate, I'd argue that children (at least not that I can recall) are so shocked by the telling or insinuation of the lack of the parents. Bambi is a major exception where the child sees the mother killed. (PS Disney also has it out for hunters, which so totally bugs me). That first-hand experience is all "Woah! Poor Bambi!!!" but I never thought so much about the lack of a mother figure for Ariel or Jasmine.  

[Lhia Dunwaith]

I thought that Snow White's mom was the evil queen... but I haven't seen the movie in forever, so I may not remember right.

And I was thinking in my history class today that if the movie Mulan was historically accurate, Mulan would be unable to fight thanks to footbinding. Either that or she'd have to be four years old. xd  

[Aeliara]

Lhia_Dunwaith

I thought that Snow White's mom was the evil queen... but I haven't seen the movie in forever, so I may not remember right.

And I was thinking in my history class today that if the movie Mulan was historically accurate, Mulan would be unable to fight thanks to footbinding. Either that or she'd have to be four years old. xd

I'm pretty sure that mother falls under the category of evil step mother...does that count?

Oh that is a beautiful thing! Not footbinding...but the history...
Also, a book for my Native American lit class said "And what what about Pocahontas?? If she were here, do you think she'd be happy about being a cartoon?"  

[8minbefore]

Lhia_Dunwaith

I thought that Snow White's mom was the evil queen... but I haven't seen the movie in forever, so I may not remember right.

And I was thinking in my history class today that if the movie Mulan was historically accurate, Mulan would be unable to fight thanks to footbinding. Either that or she'd have to be four years old. xd

Well, the Disney movie Mulan was actually based off of some old Chinese story of a women joining the army, pretending to be a man. So I guess in a way it is accurate. And it really depended on your status whether or not your feet were bound, right? since the lower class women had to actually work, so therefore foot binding for them would be extremely ridiculous. (unless I'm getting my facts wrong)  

[beaulolais]

that was what i understood.

footbinding for women was like the hideous long fingernails for Manchurian males,

it was meant to show the world you did not ever have to do any manual labor.  

[Lhia Dunwaith]

Those are pretty good facts, guys. But wasn't Mulan's family relatively wealthy? *goes to watch it* Actually, I don't think it specifies. But they've got a freaking sweet garden, so I assume so.  

[beaulolais]

i was glad to be invited to be a mod here.

but now no one responds to me, so maybe it never mattered anyway.  

[Lhia Dunwaith]

...I just did...? sweatdrop I got your thing about not needing to do any labor, but then I pointed out that Mulan's family was wealthy and yet in the movie she was able to go off to war with her feet completely unbound. Sorry if there was any misunderstanding there.  

[Ranewan]

Thank you all for your wonderful insight. I was of course referring to Disney's beauty and the beast and the picture of the prince in the begginning is that of an adult so that also throws people off. I agree about the mothers not appearing in the disney movies. Anyway, I do think Walt Disney ought to have thought about things carefully. Kids may not care, but when those same kids grown up and rewatch the disney movies they loved years ago, new things pop into thier heads and they view things differently. Belle's mother is also MIA in all versions. Ariel's mother is only MIA in Disney. in the original version she is allowed to go to the surface by her parent on her 16th birthday. And if anyone has seen Ariel's beginning they will know what happened to Athena, Ariel's mother.  

[beaulolais]

Lhia_Dunwaith

...I just did...? sweatdrop I got your thing about not needing to do any labor, but then I pointed out that Mulan's family was wealthy and yet in the movie she was able to go off to war with her feet completely unbound. Sorry if there was any misunderstanding there.

whoa, i have never been so unobservant.

please pardon my rudeness.  

[Lhia Dunwaith]

beaulolais

Lhia_Dunwaith

...I just did...? sweatdrop I got your thing about not needing to do any labor, but then I pointed out that Mulan's family was wealthy and yet in the movie she was able to go off to war with her feet completely unbound. Sorry if there was any misunderstanding there.

whoa, i have never been so unobservant.

please pardon my rudeness.

Don't worry about it. I ought to have been much clearer.