The Absence of a Mother Figure in Animated Films

In her essay Sarah Boxer argues that in too many animated films today there is a troubling picture of a mother that is dead, missing, or simply written out. The absence of a mother figure may seem strange for a children’s movie, and yet there are enough examples to claim that there is a certain pattern of the characters lacking a parent; the tragic deaths of Ariel, Bambi and Nemo’s mothers are just a few instances. Considering how such a depiction does not correspond to reality, where the author provides statistics of how children are more likely to be raised by a single mother, Boxer claims that there is certain intent in favoring the fathers by removing the mother from the picture. The author’s claim is backed with evidence from across decades of Disney and other animated films.

From Snow White to Frozen, one cannot but often struggle to recall a movie where the mother figure is at least present for the entire plot, if not completely useless. The normality of the missing mother is such that the author is shocked by the few exceptions that she encounters, such as Brave or The Incredibles. She notes that such a pattern goes back centuries and is therefore a rather complex phenomenon of storytelling. Boxer argues that often by removing the mother the story focuses on the child character instead, for whom the death of a parent serves a to be a source development; however, she claims that in fact ‘the main beneficiary’ in such cases is the father. Far too often, she argues, the death of the mother becomes a method of elevating the father. He may not have an entirely perfect relationship with the beginning (such as in Finding Nemo), but if the mother is absent, the plot demands that he is bound to succeed in raising his child, and as such benefits from the tragedy.

In examining the replacement of the mother with an able father, Boxer claims that such a plot point may have underlying sexist intentions. With the numbers of movies proving that there is such a trend, I am inclined to agree with the author. In the context of the myth of the model family, I think that this pattern exposes some of the faults of the traditional family model in how it attempts to elevate the fathers to have a closer relationship with their children. It does not fit in the model but seeks to overcome the restrictions it places on the roles of the parents when both are present: the working father, and the homemaker mother whose job is specifically to look after the children – at which she has to be flawless.