There are good fathers and bad fathers, but for some reason, it’s the good mothers and the bad mothers who get all the press. And by good and bad mothers, I mean just the bad mothers. Family issues are the lifeblood of a good Oscar-worthy movie, and now that we’ve hit awards season, there’s a lot of talk going around about bad mothers in film. Critics have noted that a number of the films nominated or expected to be nominated for awards this coming season feature bad mothers: Black Swan, The Fighter, and Animal Kingdom, to name a few. Last year, the …

… big winner was Precious, when Mo’Nique won the Best Supporting Actress award for what is arguably the most evil mother film has ever seen. I’m not convinced that it’s Hollywood that has the bad mother obsession though; perhaps everyone else has a good mother obsession.

Not to get too Freudian, but our interest in watching bad mothers on the big screen seems to stem more from our desire to press women into the role of perfect mother than the more realistic one of flawed individual. Though there have been many bad fathers throughout the history of film, I’d postulate that they’re depicted more as flawed people than defined by their role as father. Of course, much of this is controlled by the dearth of women in film; the number of women nominated for Golden Globes this year are not exactly overwhelming. When articles are published on female characters in film and television categorizing them as “bad mothers”, they’re only newsworthy because we demand a higher level of behavior for our female characters than we do for our male ones.

Scientists have tried to study whether or not being a good mother is innate, which apparently requires a different focus than merely being a good parent. A girl having “daddy issues” is considered commonplace, almost sexy, and celebrated (especially by Barney Stinson, who is played to perfection by Neil Patrick Harris on How I Met Your Mother. His character declares that he loves bimbos because of “their unresolved daddy issues”). But we tell ourselves that bad mothers need to be fixed, and it’s because we’ve decided to put them on a pedestal of behavior. The Daily Beast explains that, “Nothing seems to please voters like a full-blown mother from hell.” I disagree; nothing seems to please us more than trying to understand our own desire for a perfect childhood created by these mothers. Because when in doubt, blame the parents … oh wait, just blame your mother.

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4 Responses to “Hollywood Doesn’t Have a Bad Mother Obsession, But We Have a Good Mother Obsession”

1. Sara(no H) says:

   January 3, 2011 at 9:04 am

   I didn’t think the mother in Black Swan was all that terrible. Going into it, I expected the stereo-typical mother of a ballerina who would push her to lose weight and work harder. If anything I felt that she was upset for her daughter after seeing how much sacrifice she makes without really getting anywhere. A few times she tells her daughter she needs to rest. I disagree with her being put in the bad mother category.

   Also, what about the Blind Side? That won Sandra Bullock an Oscar. She was not only a great mother, but an amazing adoptive parent in the movie (and apparently in real life too). I agree with you that Hollywood doesn’t really have a bad mother obsession. Not since Mommie Dearest anyway.

   Reply
2. boringusername says:

   January 3, 2011 at 9:47 am

   In order to be interesting a movie needs tension, drama. And nothing spells drama like the excesses and cruelty of a bad mother. A mother has almost total control of an impressionable and vulnerable person, this gives extensive leeway to express the darker (and more dramatic) aspects of human nature. As a site run and mostly frequented by women I am sure that the allure of drama and bad behavior is well understood. Also how uninteresting good behavior is.

   Reply
3. Helen says:

   January 3, 2011 at 10:35 am

   I thought the mother in Black Swan was controlling, which lead to the horrible relationship between the mother and daughter. There was a New Yorker Cartoon a couple years back that had cheerleaders at a football game cheering “Hang your dying hopes and dreams on your children’s highschool teams!”, which is what I felt the mother in Black Swan was doing. While she was caring, she also controlled Natalie Portman to the point where she didn’t have a life, or a personality.

   Reply
4. Indigo says:

   January 5, 2011 at 4:54 pm

   Maybe it’s just because this generation of filmmakers had bad mothers.
   We’ll never know.

   Reply

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