Why does every animated movie or show have a kid with a dead parent?
Why does every animated movie or show have a kid with a dead parent?
Ayden Lewis
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Christian Price
Cause no sane parent will allow their kid to go on adventure with giant fucking beetle.
Jonathan Reyes
Because the British writers of all the classical children novels from which 99% of all childrens' stories that are directly of indirectly derived had a hard-on for sappy orphans backstories.
Charles Clark
Honestly it seems like a good explanation for why the character is the way they are because dead parents it's overused as fuck though even the japenese love dead parents trope
Jose Jenkins
just a theory, but does a well adjusted kid with two living parents have a need to go on an adventure?
Sebastian Parker
Because Walt Disney accidentally killed his mother and felt so horribly guilty about it that all of his movies have broken families, usually deceased mothers and everyone else kinda emulates Walt's animated movie archetype.
Evan Nelson
Yes.
Brandon Carter
...
Isaiah Stewart
I actually had an argument about this
because the critical consensus seems to be that parents represent these bonds of safety and protection, so in media about children and aimed at children, they have to be removed from the picture in some way for the protagonists to be threatened at all, and, given the conflict-centered nature of storytelling, to complete their arcs and grow as people
that's why the parents were always just like completely oblivious or going on a trip in goosebumps
and yeah the thing in the op
but for some reason the parents in Digimon are fine, and it doesn't change a thing. they're all there and they even get directly involved in the action. (I know Digimon is technically Sup Forums material, but try telling that to Angela Anaconda)
Lincoln Edwards
>Walt Disney accidentally killed his mother
What
Nolan Sanchez
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Angel Lewis
>well adjusted
making your kids hide their powers is basically mental abuse
Jeremiah Clark
Christian Bell
Kayden Morris
Then what is your definition of well adjusted?
>If nobody is well adjusted, everyone is
Jordan Mitchell
Because a story with low stakes sucks. And a story where the protagonist doesn't achieve success for himself/herself sucks.
A child protagonist with loving protective parents isn't going to have much at risk. A tried-and-true way to raise the stakes and to quickly establish that the kid has to do it on his or her own is to get the parents out of the picture.
Coraline is a good example of subverting this trope. But it's a trope probably as old as storytelling itself.
Parker Edwards
Is "overprotective/helicopter parent" a good trope? (Moana, Mulan, Brave etc) It kinda just makes me resent parental figures.
Mason Rodriguez
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Benjamin Bailey
Huh. Interesting.
Tyler Bennett
Wouldn't that instead be
>If everyone is well adjusted, no one is
Benjamin Wright
Trusting Snopes as a source ...
Sebastian Ross
...
Joshua Nguyen
>snopes
>Pizzagate is a lie because the people who didn't investigate it say they didn't find any evidence after not looking for any!
Brayden Davis
...
Caleb Reed
Usually to give some form of motivation in the story
-if they have no parent they are allowed to travel the world freely or just in generally do what they want (like if it takes place at an orphange or relatives house)
-no father or mother fills a void in the character so you can give that dead parent some random connection to the plot going on
-that same void makes them feel detached from everything so they travel
-want audience who have some relatability to having single parents, one step=parent, or living with a grandparent/aunt & uncle
There really is an endless list of excuses
Austin Martin
What kind of story would spawn out of a kid safely being in his own household with both parents being loving and protective?
Luke Perez
Snopes has the sources literally at the bottom
Jeremiah Gonzalez
Why would you risk committing the same mistake as they did by not checking the sources in user's link if that's such an awful thing to do?
Nicholas Russell
I'd rather shows with dead fathers than with retarded or abusive ones
Dominic Bell
>father
I meant parents.
Dominic Nguyen
me on the left
Julian James
b-b-b-but liberal media! fake news!
Joshua Green
#1 gives them a motive most of the time. #2 explains why they are on their own.
Jaxon Morales
because the main character needs to have conflict in their life and one parent being widowed makes it reasonable why they're having problems with their kids
i guess you can't portray parents not getting along with their kids unless you're also sympathizing with them
Dominic Garcia
Fiction is fansay fulfilment.
Isaac Smith
It's a quick and effective way to put a kid character into motion without having to build up a complex emotional scenario.
Wyatt Anderson
>Because the British writers of all the classical children novels had a hard-on for sappy orphans backstories.
Actually it was pretty fucking common for adults to die before they reached 40 back then, mainly from lung or work related conditions. It was the #relateable of the industrial age
Elijah Thomas
>most artists are fucked up people
>most people with dead parents are fucked up people
There's a lot of overlap.
Also, you can't go on an adventure until your parents are dead, apparently.