Well, within the first few chapters I was irritated. There were no mother figures. Both main character families had mothers who conveniently died within a few years of the novel's story. Now, I know this is a frequent phenomenon in the media, but this was LDS fiction. You know, the whole focus-on-the-family, every-kid-needs-two-parents thing?
We all know about the trend at Disney. Poor Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Nemo, Pinocchio, Snow White, and Lilo. Why is the temptation so strong to strike out poor mama? Or maybe, as in Toy Story, they keep her in the picture, but only has a headless, moving housewife machine body. (Does she not have a brain? A personality?)
My English major mind had to come up with my own thesis, and here are my two possible options:
1. People are afraid to try and accurately portray and do justice to the mother figure. Yes, sometimes we are superwomen and the portrayal of us could seem too good to be true. :) But this is fiction. If people can swallow a pumpkin-tuned-carriage, I think they can stomach a loving, endearing mother figure. I understand the concept though. I would feel overwhelmed to accurately portray in writing the goodness of my own mother.
2. The plots would be impossible. The mischievous, crazy adventures that make up the plots would often just not be plausible with a watchful mother on the scene. You know, the all-knowing, eyes-in-the-back-of-her-head, enforcer-of-rules mother. She would squash all those crazy plot ideas. Ariel's mother would have kept a close eye on Ariel and enforced the "do not go to the surface rule." Same for Belle and her escapade to the beast, and Jasmine and her excursion to the "forbidden" city. Ugh, I guess I am admitting that there is no fun when mother is around.
To refute that statement, I think I'll take my girls to the park. But those eyes-in-the-back-of-my-head will keep my children from being kidnapped by a gnome in the woods, thus making them the victims of a fantastic plot.
I think I have just stumbled upon a great masters thesis if I ever choose to go back to school. Hhmm.
3 comments:
I like your idea for a thesis! What you said is so true. I really think that it is difficult to accurately portray a mother in a "politically correct" way that wouldn't cause an uproar by many. I don't know why society is so afraid of the traditional family.
I love your thoughts-- you're on to something! I've noticed the same problem in fiction and I think it's a sign of a lazy writer. Having Mama die before the story begins sets us up to pity the child's character from the get-go and yet the writer doesn't have to develop Mama's character. I recently read another LDS story where a young woman had two children die and her husband cheated on her in the first few paragraphs. So we have pity for her, and admire her efforts to live a righteous life, but also, we can get on to the juicy romance that is the real reason we picked up the book.
Mark Twain said every writer should situate a well in the backyard-- then when a character becomes superfluous, you just have them fall down the well-- problem solved! I deplore the concept of "disposable characters." Not all characters can be rounded-- we need some flat characters-- but do we have to murder them? :)
To continue: Back to your original point-- literature is in desperate need of heroic mother figures. Keep putting down your thoughts and let's see if we can do something about this situation. I was listening to the LDS novel for teens-- which "stars" a 40 year old widower (mama killed off before the book began) and I was SO disappointed in it. I didn't even feel too bad when the cds quit working in my machine. But this author (Heimerdinger) has made good money from good members. I enjoy a lot of his stuff, but it could be so much better. WE DESERVE BETTER !
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