Disney movies often take place in different parts of the world tackling varying social and cultural issues. However, one theme remains the same among several of their films - a mother presence is usually missing.
"Snow White," "Aladdin," "Pocahontas," "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid" are several of the classic Disney movies that do not feature a mother character.
Don Hahn, executive producer of "Maleficent," revealed the reasons behind the trend to Glamour (although "Maleficent" is one of the few that does have a mother character).
The producer gave two reasons about the absence of mothers: one practical, and one that is much deeper.
The first reason is due to the time constraints on movies. Disney movies generally have the same theme of growing up, and it's faster to have a child transition to adulthood when a parent is missing.
However, Hahn also pointed out that the lack of mother roles in the movies may stem back to Walt Disney's own history.
When Disney's career began to take off in the 1940s and he was making a lot of money, he decided to thank his parents by purchasing them a new house.
He had studio workers come in to fix the furnace before his parents moved in. The furnace leaked, which caused his mother to die and his dad to fall so ill that he needed to be hospitalized immediately.
"He never would talk about it, nobody ever does," Hahn explained. "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."
