by Beverly Bochenek

Created on: May 25, 2009

Mothers are central to who we are as people. They are often the first family member to touch us, kiss us, nurture us. Whether you're a son or a daughter, she is the first person with whom we form a couple. The absence of a mother, then, would strongly imply we cannot form who we are to be until the void is filled by someone. We are not complete human beings without the love and lessons from a mother. So someone needs to be one.

It is quite tempting to pull out the psychology books and figure out why so many Disney characters don't have mothers. It doesn't matter if you're talking about animation or live action; there are a lot of characters - especially female ones - who are missing a mother figure.

Some people can point to Walt Disney losing his mother at an early age and not knowing how to cope. Some could point to Freud and come up with something about the id or the super ego.

Considering a great many of these movies are based on fairy tales and folklore that were written far before Walt Disney and Freud were born, I don't really think that has anything to do with it. The movies were just following stories people were familiar with; that could be easily retold and animated, had an instant appeal to children and probably didn't impact the copyright laws too much.

I think the reason is much more simple and basic: it would make for a shorter movie.

Let's take a look at a couple of movies without mama and then stick one in there:

Cinderella

Cinderella lost her mother when they were both very young. Her father remarries giving her a step mother and two step sisters and then he dies living his beloved child alone with three people who do not know her and don't like her much. They turn her into a servant in her own home. She relies on a fairy godmother to turn produce into transportation and conjure up a smoking dress to crash the ball. But she has to be back before midnight.

She goes to the ball, dances with prince and the two of them know they are right for each other, but she stays a little too long, she has to rush away from her love, losing her shoe in the process. All the cool stuff becomes produced again and the steps think they have her back under their thumb. The prince starts a massive hunt that would give anyone with a foot fetish a sugar rush and eventually finds the foot that fits the slipper and takes his love back to his castle to live with Mum and Dad.

Whether Cinderella is Leslie Ann Warren or Brandy - that's a full length feature.

Now,

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