Walt Disney

The class that I'm currently taking is Introduction to Psychology; which I'm finding extremely enlightening, but majority of it is common sense that I never 'thought' of before, it's that different perspective and I think everybody needs that.

For my paper this week we had to choose a famous person (dead or alive) and look over their lifespan development and then make a personality assessment. Well since our teacher made us pick someone before we went home last week (needing instructors approval) I chose Walt Disney because I've done a paper about him before on why he is my hero. I thought this would be a great opprotunity to tap into his psychie...

NOW YOU'VE GOTTA' CHECK OUT WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING:
Majority of Walt Disney's films are motherless. I've been reading different theories on this and I'm finding this quite interesting. Some assume it's to show that a happy family doesn't have to consist of a mother and a father; like in Pocohontas - one parent, one child or in Little Mermaid - one parent and several children. Others say this could be due to the guilt that Disney carried after his mothers death.. Or what I feel to be the most reasonable explanation: If mothers were presented in these videos to guide and direct the children, there would not be much of a plot. :)

Here's my PROOF:

No Mothers

• Pinocchio: Pinocchio - no mother
• Peter Pan: Lost Boys - in search of someone to be their mother
• The Little Mermaid - Ariel - no mother
• Beauty and the Beast: Belle - no mother
• Aladdin: Jasmine - no mother
• A Goofy Movie: Max - no mother, Roxanne - no mother
• Pocahontas: Pocahontas - no mother
• Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy: Elizabeth - no mother, Will - no mother
• Herbie: Fully Loaded: Maggie - no mother
• Chicken Little (2005 film): Chicken Little - mother is dead

Step Mothers

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Snow White - evil stepmother
• Cinderella: Cinerella - evil stepmother

Orphans

• The Sword in the Stone: Arthur - orphan
• Jungle Book: Mowgli - orphan
• Benknobs and Broomsticks: Charlie, Carrie, Paul - orphans
• The Rescuers: Penny - orphan
• Pete's Dragon: Pete - orphan
• Escape to Witch Mountain: Tony and Tia - orphans
• Oliver & Company: Oliver - orphan
• Newsies: Jack, Racetrack, Crutchy, etc. - orphans
• Aladdin: Aladdin - orphan (though he finds his father in The King of Thieves.)
• Dinosaur (film): Aladar - orphan

Mother is Killed/Captured

• Dumbo: Dumbo - mother is captured
• Bambi: Bambi - mother is killed by hunter
• The Fox and the Hound: Tod - mother killed by the hunter
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Quasimodo - mother killed
• Tarzan: Tarzan - parents killed by leopard
• Lilo & Stich: Lilo - parents died in a car crash
• Finding Nemo: Nemo - mother killed by barracuda
• Brother Bear: Koda - mother killed

* Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., (2008, April 29) Disney Mothers. Retrieved April 29, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Mothers

What do you think, I would love to hear your opinion; leave me a comment. Once I finish my paper I'll post it on here so you can see the further research done on Walter Elias Disney, the hero of my imagination.