Why tho Walt?

After watching the brilliant Mary Poppins Returns I am left wondering why do kids films leave parents emotionally destroyed.

Reason being most movies involve the death of a parent, have you noticed? In this wonderful movie Jane and Michael Banks are all grown up and Michaels wife dies leaving him to raise their three children alone. Along comes Mary Poppins to save the day and the movie is totally and utterly fabulous.

But why did we need another young mum’s passing for this storyline?

Sounds dramatic, I know, but I can’t handle the Disney death toll raising every time I watch a movie with my kids. Why do the parents always end up dead?

Ariel, Snow White, Belle, Cinderella, Elsa, Anna, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Bambi, the list goes on. Why are they all motherless?

I still tear up now, years after watching The Lion King. When Mufasa dies in front of tiny Simba its horrific and it’s not just Disney films. Coral’s death is a classic Pixar heartbreaker, is there any need? Why couldn’t Nemo get lost and his mum and dad both try to find him?

After a little google session I discovered  many theories when it comes to Disney movies family deaths. Some believe it is to create dramatic interest in the main characters; if mothers were present to guide them, they argue, there would not be much of a plot. Some believe that it is to show that a happy family does not have to consist of a mother, father and a child and that a family can be one parent and one child, or one parent and many siblings

Although the majority believe it’s the loss of Flora, Walt Disney’s own mother who died in a tragic accident, that is the root of these storylines.

Walt Disney bought a home for his parents. “He had the studio guys come over and fix the furnace, but when his mom and dad moved in, the furnace leaked and his mother died,” his father was sick and went to the hospital, but his mother died.

Interesting theory isn’t it. Whatever the reason, the deaths gets me every time and I just needed to get that off my chest!

Even after that little rant I will be settling down this afternoon to introduce my kids to the classic Bedknobs and broomsticks movie. Three minutes in I will be explaining to them why these kids have no parents and no doubt fast forward to them all bobbing along ,’on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea’ just for my own emotional wellbeing!

Thanks for reading ladies x





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