Disney Princesses/Heroines Without Mothers: Why?

[stitcharielbeast]

well it's not really Disney's fault that practically most of the disney princesses are motherless, just go back to the original tales. as for the others, Pocahontas i have no clue, I'm guessing it's something historical that her mother really was dead by that time. I guess it's really just some grand coincidence that there are very few disney mothers.

as for a comprehensive list of why;s, here:

Snow White - that was how it was in the original tale
Cinderella - the way it was in the original tale, plus it;s a major plot point.
Aurora - she had a mother in the movie!
Ariel - also in the original tale, and the father/daughter relationship was a key component of the story, a mother would have detracted from that.
Belle - similar to the original mother-less tale. just no real reason for parents to be there.
Jasmine - the story wasn't really about her, and I actually feel that the story would've been stronger had they kept Aladdin's mother in it.
Pocahontas - beats me
Mulan - she too had a mother in the movie!
Kida - she did have a mother, and we saw her die at the beginning!
Giselle - considering the whole movie is an homage to the disney fairytales, it makes a lot of sense that she's mother-less.

[Disney Princess Ariellen]

Well, all I can say is it all sounds good, very well thought out. ... Very good!

Thank you! I'm glad you were interested in my take on this film.

[akhenaten]

rapunzel had parents...who traded her for westlife cds. i wonder how disney is going to adapt that..having both parents detracts from the conflict of the heros/ines. despite their simple happily ever afters life. life in fairy tale land isnt perfect after all..i think thats what the storymakers wanted to convey...they had to go thru adversity and u can see where their strength comes from..from the loss of a parent.

[Someday...]

The death of a parent, most often the mother (often in childbirth) was a common ocurrance at the time most of these tales were being told
the stories were simply being true to life

just something I thought about today

[PeterPanfan]

I think, like many others, that the mother and or the father is thrown out so the focus is more on the heroine. Or to make you feel more emotional towards the main female character or whoever you're talking about.

[Siren]

Probably Disney's two saddest orphans were Penny from The Rescuers and Pete from Pete's Dragon.
Also, Disney isn't the only ones who eliminate or use stories that eliminated one parent.

Don Bluth does a lot of movies about orphans. All Dogs Go To Heaven, An American Tail (though his parents were alive, a majority of the picture, he was without them), Land Before Time, Titan A.E., Secret of NIMH (mother was there, but father was dead), and Anastasia.

[thedisneyspirit]

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but...

It's not even an only Disney thing, tbh. Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Wizard of Oz...Most coming-of-age stories feature orphan protagonists. It's a plot point in some of these stories, and other cases it serves better for the audience to insert themselves in the lead's role, sorta like "hohum, I'm unappreciated and lead a boring life, but one day I'll go on magical adventures and everything will change" Creates sympathy and a form of relatability I suppose.

Also, I guess it'd be interesting to talk this aspect nowadays since PATF started the new Disney era. Disney hasn't tackled it explicitly, but it has sorta changed. Eudora, Judy's mom, Elinor and Imelda, the Queen of Tangled, Hiro having a motherly figure in Aunt Cass... The only mom I feel that she doesn't add much to the story is probably Moana's mother, being overshadowed by the grandma and the father, but that's just me.

[JeanGreyForever]

Completely agree that it's ridiculous that Disney gets accused of making so many films without mothers, when in general, almost every significant children's story doesn't involve parents, neither the mother or father.

I disagree that the Disney Revival has made any significant strides with Disney mothers. To counter the criticism, Disney throws them in, but most of the motherly figures you mentioned are barely important to the narrative at all.

Eudora is the living parent but her deceased husband has far more of an impact on Tiana's life and dreams. I expected that Disney would give Oprah a big role, but she completely disappears after the beginning and we don't even check in with her to see her reaction to Tiana being missing.

Judy's mom, like her dad, is barely present as well and their only significance is to re-introduce Judy to that old bully from her hometown and even he's only significant for her to have a revelation about what drove the predators crazy.

The mother in Tangled is just as insignificant as the father, to the point that neither even speak. At least there's some gender equality there though since the queen in Sleeping Beauty didn't even get a name, unlike her husband, and wasn't even credited with a voice actor. So I guess the advancement after all these decades is that now the king too is voiceless and nameless, not just the queen.

And even Aunt Cass has like one or two scenes just to make her presence known, but she could easily be removed from the film and it wouldn't be important at all except that Hiro wouldn't have a guardian then.

You said it about Moana's mother.

Interestingly enough the major exceptions to the rule, Imelda, Elinor, and even Helen from the Incredibles are all from Pixar. I guess one could even consider Dory's mom, because although she doesn't have significant screentime, she's just as equal as Dory's dad, and the whole film is about Dory trying to find her way to them, while being littered with flashbacks of how Dory became the fish we know her as.

[Sotiris]

Eudora is the living parent but her deceased husband has far more of an impact on Tiana's life and dreams. I expected that Disney would give Oprah a big role, but she completely disappears after the beginning and we don't even check in with her to see her reaction to Tiana being missing.

Don't forget Mulan's mom too. Dads, and to a lesser extent, grandmas are more prominent in Disney films than moms.

[JeanGreyForever]

Eudora is the living parent but her deceased husband has far more of an impact on Tiana's life and dreams. I expected that Disney would give Oprah a big role, but she completely disappears after the beginning and we don't even check in with her to see her reaction to Tiana being missing.

Don't forget Mulan's mom too. Dads, and to a lesser extent, grandmas are more prominent in Disney films than moms.

My earlier post was about the Revival/2010s era in general, but you're right that Fa Li gets the shaft in Mulan as well. Ironically enough, I still saw some Chinese people denigrate her character for not being culturally Chinese enough.