Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for May 13, 2011

They offed the dad in “the Lion King”. But yeah; even when they don’t off the mom in the course of the story, it’s usually because she’s already dead: the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin; all of the leading ladies had fathers who were alive and well, but no sign of their mothers.

If the mother was alive, she’d protect Dumbo/Cinderella/Beauty/etc and there would be no story.

One thing that was mentioned on the Wiki of the new My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic series… Princess Celestia was originally supposed to be called Queen Celestia but they changed it because Hasbro noted that in Disney movies the queen is always evil and therefore they wanted to avoid the stigma associated with that title. “Go Disney moms.”

Probably because it’s the worst thing most kids can imagine – losing their mom (no offence, dads out there).

Could be because when most of these stories were written mothers did not survive childbirth or worked themselves into early graves.

Dumbo’s mother did NOT die. She’s right on the train at the end of the movie. How did people ever get this idea? I watched the whole movie thinking I was going to see something dreadful, but there she was still alive and well.

Agreed Sisyphus, in this case I don’t know what Joan is going on about either. It’s true for the majority of other Disney movies though.

A lot of Disney movies are actually kind of gruesome. My youngest is scared of them.

I think that Felix Salten and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm would have something to say here. Bambi, Cinderella and Snow White are not “Disney characters”. Neither are the Little Mermaid, Pocahontas or Mulan.

Hello all this is not to the strip. Are anyone of you having trouble with GC new set up. I had to change how I log in. And comments stop when page is so long. I can refresh at the end nothing happens. When this page gets so long I will not be able to see what anyone writes.

They don’t OFF the Mom in “Dumbo”, but mother and child are forceably separated, which is pretty distressing. But though I would not give you false hope on this strange and mournful day (Friday the 13th), the mother and child reunion is only a motion away.

Okay all I on other strips just refreshed the list and this now works. GC you have definatly improved.Now for Disney tapes. My parents for the longest time didn’t have a VCR now past 11 years of my dad gone I don’t want to train or teach my mom to use DVD.

In the Toy Stories series you never see the dad… not in the Christmas scene, not when they are moving… maybe he’s in the military??

She forgot Ice Age, where the mom is drowned in the first scene. Try explaining that to a bunch of preschoolers.

It’s not just Disney cartoons and fairy tales — widowed Dads have long been a staple of TV shows too. cf Full House, My Three Sons, Family Affair, Nanny and the Professor… (All of which are sitcoms — an odd correlation!)

As Destiny said, it’s not just a Disney thing. A very, very common trope in children’s, young adult, and teen literature and movies is to first separate the child/young adult/teen main characters from an adult they can trust (i.e. parents). This forces them to handle the issues that arise with the plot on their own. This doesn’t always mean killing the parents, but it very common that it does.

A holdover from the 19th/early 20th century? when it happened a lot in real life. All those newsboys in cities…orphan trains….

Not only were earlier versions often more gruesome, they were sometimes “unsuitable for children” in OTHER ways. In some versions, Sleeping Beauty wasn’t exactly awakened by a kiss…(When the whole family sleeps in the same room, children learn a lot earlier what Mommy and Daddy DO together…)

True, Night Gaunt. I grew up reading Grimm etc and read all of Nancy Drew (loved secret passages) and went on to O’Henry and Poe by the time I reached 4th grade. Literature is a great way for kids to explore the world and it is better without Disney and Suess sanitizing it and simplifying. I miss the editing because I’m a sloppy typist and still hope we can save favorite strips as on C.C (especially as my number is now doubled).

fritzoid, your first comment was excellent!!

1 – Walt Disney’s mom died when he was young which is why mothers get killed off or are already dead.2 – One reason in 20th century stores to orphan or partially orphan a child was to allow a romantic story in while having a cute kid. (since an unwed parent was unacceptable)3 – I am a 18th century & 19th century reenactor. While it is true that many children died before age 5 most lived. Women did die from childbirth, but not in enormous numbers. Many men died young & their wives remarried (to Geo Washington & Tho Jefferson for example). Women did not die wholesale while cooking (aka Joan of Arc syndrome). It was rare enough to be written up in newspapers. .