Walt Disney has provided delightful entertainment for generations. The story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one to remember, Pinocchio is a tale that takes its audience on a journey. Disney has created a wide array of stories with different plots that have surprising endings. However, most of Walt Disney’s tales have one particular commonality. From Snow White to Cinderella, from Bambi to Finding Nemo, and from Pinocchio to Frozen’ s Elsa and Anna, these characters lack a mother in their lives for the vast duration of the film.
But have you ever stopped and asked yourself why Walt Disney tends to kill off the mothers within the first ten minutes of the film. I mean Nemo’s mother was mauled to death, Bambi’s mother was shot, Elsa and Anna’s mother died in a shipwreck, and the dark and depressing death stories of other motherless characters goes on. But why? Why are most mothers in Disney children films killed off within the first few scenes of these beloved classics?
Trauma from a depressing tragedy back in 1938 is one possible answer.
1938 was filled with enormous amounts of both success and tragedy for Walt Disney. The release of Snow White had launched Disney into a state of endless recognition and financial bliss. Due to this success he gifted his parents, Elias and Flora, with a house in North Hollywood as a surprise for their 50th anniversary. A touching and thoughtful gesture would soon turn into one of Disney’s most regretful decisions of his life.
Flora and Elias Disney (The parents of Walt Disney)
Soon after the couple moved into their North Hollywood home, Disney’s mother Flora complained about a strange smell throughout the home originating from the furnace. Rather than hiring professionals, Disney sent crew members form his studio’s repairmen team to fix the furnace. Unfortunately, they did not properly fix the carbon monoxide leaking furnace.
On a morning in late November of 1938, a housekeeper arrived at the couple’s home to find both Elias and Flora unconscious in their home. While Walt Disney’s father recovered after being hospitalized, his mother sadly did not and died November 26, 1938 from carbon monoxide poisoning. The couple had only lived in their North Hollywood home for one month.
Disney’s mother was healthy one month prior to moving into the North Hollywood home. Disney felt guilty because he was the one who bought the home that killed his mother. He felt responsible for the hospitalization of his father, and more importantly the death of his mother.
Following the death of his mother, Disney never spoke about this tragedy to anyone. He never took time for himself to comprehend what happened. In fact, immediately after his mother’s funeral, Disney drove back to his studio and to continue with his work; suppressing his sorrows deep inside of him. This suppression resulted in two serious nervous breakdowns throughout his life.
Bambi’s mother being shot by hunters was unexpected. The shipwreck that claimed the life of Elsa and Anna’s mother was tragic. The death of Nemo’s mother was horrific. And the death of Walt Disney’s mother was traumatic and a detrimental aspect of his life. The deaths of the protagonist’s mother in Disney films reflects the untimely and unexpected death of Disney’s own mother.
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