BellaOnline Forums Family Sons Boys in Movies Rarely have Parents

I was just trying to think of "boys" in movies I had seen over the years. I came up with -

Luke Skywalker - parents tragically slain.

Eragon - parents mysteriously missing

Harry Potter - parents tragically slain.

What is going on here? Even in the Lion King they killed off the boy's father right in front of his eyes. Bambi? Mommy deer is shot by a hunter. Aladdin? Did he even have parents?

Jungle book? Raised by animals.

Is it a common theme that boys are just lost and wild and seeking for some role model out there?

Bo and Luke Duke? Where were their parents? They had an uncle.

In Dune - which you could write a whole series of articles about - the teen boy hero loses his father early on in the story. So depending on which version you follow you get

book: Mature boy turns into mature leader with very little childhood
movie 1: ditto
movie 2: super whiny childish boy turns into arrogant obnoxious leader

However he at least does have a mother, although she turns into a helpless follower in that movie #2

Lord of the Rings - is it fair to call the four hobbits the "boys" of the story, both because they represent them with their childlike ways and also because they're short and visually connect with our idea of what boys are like? Each hobbit has a distinct personality and represents an aspect of boyhood ... but none are ever shown with parents Only ... an uncle! Bilbo the uncle! Aha, back to our uncle theory.

Oliver! No parents. Kingdom to Heaven - boy is raised by mom, and you never see her. Conan! Parents slain as he was a child. I think that's literally all the boy stories I see in my DVD collection around me. In Gladiator the boy was trampled by horses for dramatic storytelling. In Citizen Kane I believe the boy was dragged away from his parents at a young age, if I remember properly.

What about Peter Pan!!
And A Knight's Tale..dead mom
Batman-Dead parents
Top gun-Dead dad
Liminy Snicket-dead parents
Spiderman-dead parents
Superman-dead parents!!!
Disturbia-dead dad
I could go on and on!!!

Bruno Bettleheim in The Uses of Enchantment talks about the role of fantasy and fairy tales in the lives of children. He felt that kids often have scary things in their imaginations, and seeing them in fairy tales (or movies, in this case) puts them out in the open for them to be able to interpret and make sense of in their own ways.

Not saying I agree or disagree, but it's a theory that might help to explain this trend, since what could be scarier for some kids than to lose a parent (or both)?

I understand that!

Does it seem like girls rarely lose their parents in stories? Girls seem to have other issues face them. It's the boys who are expected to "be the man" and take the loss as a chance to grow and learn ...

I think girls face losses equally: You mentioned Lemony Snicket, but one of the Baudelaires is a girl. The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy lives with an aunt and uncle; Cinderella, mom dies and she has the evil stepmother. I think that maybe girls are painted as more resilient, and have other girl friends for support. Boys are often seen as needing to "tough it out" on their own, perhaps?

Oh I forgot about the Wizard of Oz! That's very true, she was with non-parents. And yes Cinderella is in the same situation. I forget was Anne of Green Gables with her aunt or someone?
Hmmm so are these the same or different? It seems when a girl is in that situation she's either the 1) family maid or 2) a tolerated family addition. But it seems if it's a boy that the boy is either off on his own or disliked because he's an intrusion.

Are there any stories where a girl has her parents die and she's left to fend for herself, like all the Oliver type stories? I think part of it may be that a boy on his own is considered tough and able to make ends meet - but a girl on her own would be "ripe for exploitation" and this is too scary to write about. The girl can't "work" because that would be inappropriate, and she can't live on her own. She needs the care of a protector.

Yes, Anne was with Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert. And what about Fanny Price of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (also portrayed as a spineless maid type).

Interesting question....

LOL you know I was just coming online to post about that!! I watched that last night and was thinking how it was exactly the Cinderella story. She was tolerated as the family maid. I was wondering how the story would be written if she was a boy ... a boy wouldn't really be portrayed as meek and mild like that, he would have been the hellion that they had to beat daily