As a person who grew up
during the early ’90s Renaissance Era of Disney, I can specifically
remember the point at which I realized (with horror) that none of the
princesses that adorned my backpacks and t-shirts had something vital that I,
as a child, took for granted — a mother. Belle had
Maurice, Jasmine had her Sultan, and Ariel had King Triton, but a nurturing,
motherly figure was entirely absent from the lives of all of my favorite
heroines.
Years later, this strange
Disney trope has been discussed time and time again —
the widely accepted reason behind it seems to be that heroes/heroines grow up
faster without their mothers — but no one has added
more to the conversation than longtime Disney producer Don Hahn (“Maleficent,”
“Beauty and the Beast,”
“The Lion King,” “The
Fox and the Hound” — the list goes on and
on) just did via his interview with Glamour: because according to Hahn, the
absence of mothers in Disney films might also have something to do with the
tragic loss of Walt Disney’s own mother.
“Walt Disney, in the early 1940s, when he was still
living at this house, also bought a house for his mom and dad to move into,”
Hahn explained. “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. The
housekeeper came in the next morning and pulled his mother and father out on
the front lawn. His father was sick and went to the hospital, but his mother
died.”
Hahn then went on to explain
that there’s a “theory”
among Disney folk that this enormous loss, and the guilt surrounding it, “haunted”
the man for the rest of his life.
“He never would talk about it, nobody ever does,”
Hahn continued. “He never spoke about that time because he personally
felt responsible because he had become so successful that he said, ‘Let
me buy you a house.’ It’s every kid’s
dream to buy their parents a house and just through a strange freak of nature —
through no fault of his own — the studio workers
didn’t know what they were doing. There’s
a theory, and I’m not a psychologist, but he was really haunted by
that. That idea that he really contributed to his mom’s
death was really tragic. If you dig, you can read about it. It’s
not a secret within their family, but it’s just a tragedy that
is so difficult to even talk about. It helps to understand the man a little bit
more.”
Hahn’s
other response to The Mother Question — the standard one
about Disney movies focusing on characters growing up, and how everybody truly
grows up when they assume responsibility from a parental figure —
is easier to swallow, especially since it’s been mirrored in
everything from “Harry Potter” (RIP, Dumbledore) to
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
(RIP, Mama Quill) to “Game of Thrones” (RIP, everyone).
However, it’s still very plausible (and horrible) that this
no-Moms-allowed trope was adopted early in Disney’s
history due to Walt’s loss, and Hahn’s interview is,
without a doubt, a fascinating must-read for all Disney-Philes.
Long live Mama Disney, but
also, long live a new era in which characters are able to grow and learn with
more female influences in their lives.
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