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Saturday, September 04, 2010

Why Does Disney Hate Parents? Ever Noticed Your Favourite Films Always Kill off Mum and Dad


But later, I realised something else that binds Disney films, other than good old nostalgic charm: an absence of parents.

Bambi, abandoned by his father before birth, experiences the hunting and subsequent shooting of his mummy. A tragedy that still reduces me to uncontrollable sobs four decades after I first saw it with my own mother.

That's not all. In the Lion King, Simba is implicated in the death of his father and runs away in a vain attempt to escape his misery.

While Nemo - the rebellious fish - is the sole survivor of a violent barracuda attack on his mother and siblings and spends much of the story estranged from his father.

The realisation that these three films all drew on a parent-less theme made me reel. Surely it was only coincidence?

Apparently not. For Disney, that most child-friendly of organisations, appears to have something of a parent problem.

Since its formation in the Twenties, Disney's output has featured a steady supply of dysfunctional and broken families.

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1 comment:

  1. l always seem to see in animated films the characters or the theme of 'royalty' to be found popping up somewhere along the line watching them, particulary Disney.
    There's always a Queen, King, Prince, Princess, Duke or Duchess waiting in the wings somehow to spoil the fun of it in the end.
    Bloody ruin the film they do in my opinion with the Majesty Hag in mind.

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