Disney Info

[Tekiel]

I was just reading the paper this morning and came across a random bit of information.  
"101 Dalmations and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney cartoon movies where both parents are present and don't die during the movie."
That's rather disturbing. :-/  I'm trying to prove this wrong but nothing comes to mind.

[42]

I was going to suggest Sleeping Beauty, but I'm not sure if her mom makes an appearance.

[Spriggan]

on the other hand lets look at the Disney cartoons where both parents are present and at least one dies.

All I can think of is Bambi.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

You have two parents because you need a backup unit in case the first one fails
Disney's just trying to show that.

[Tage]

Mulan

[Fellfrosch]

And yes, Sleeping Beauty, but she is raised by other people so that might not count.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Pacha in ENG is happily married with kids. So, no, Kuzco didn't have parents around, but he wouldn't be emperor if he had a dad now, would he?

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

And its less remarkable when you consider that many Disney Classics are based on Fairy Tales where the hero's or heroines typically dont have both parents.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Quiet, You. We must blame Disney for societal ills!

[42]

Well, I am writing a paper this weekend on the ethnocentrism in Aladdin.

Incidentally, we don't know what happened to Jasmin's mother...hmmm.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Tiger ate her.

(It's been a few months since I watched it but I think the Sultan says something like "If your mother were alive...")

[42]

The sultan also says "I don't know where she gets it from. Her mother wasn't nearly so picky."

So maybe there was a reason her mother was eaten by a tiger?

[Fellfrosch]

Obviously the tiger is picky too--he only eats royalty.

[Tekiel]

Yay!  I'd forgotten Mulan and Emporer's New Groove!  I think you do see Sleeping Beauty's mother at the beginning, so I'll count that as well.  It's nice to know the article was wrong.

[MsFish]

A lot of stories have kids without parents.  It's not just Disney.  My theory is that it's for storytelling reasons; it's harder to have children DO anything if they have parents looking over their shoulder.  Get rid of the parents and you up the stakes by getting rid of the safety net, and allow kids to do things they couldn't do under supervision.  Also, if you don't NEED the parents for the story, it's a good way to cut down on characters.  

My mother, on the other hand, is adopted, and believes that Disney is giving a complex to adopted kids.  She's written papers on the subject, and thinks that since it's always orphans who are getting into danger in stories, it makes adopted kids assume that their lives are full of danger.  Sounds like a lot of unfounded assumptions to me, but don't tell my mother I said so.