Up, Father's Day, and Orphans in films

[mainegal]

(spoiler alert - contains film content)

I really enjoyed the movie Up. The story was mostly about Carl, the adventures Carl and Ellie hoped to have, and the adventure of life itself.

But a day later (maybe because it is Father's Day), I am thinking about Russell. He has a father and father's girlfriend. No mention of a mother. (She might have been in the audience in the end.) He clearly misses having a close relationship with his father.

At the end of the movie, he gets his badge from Carl. I guess they are going to assume father - son roles for each other. And this is a good thing for both of them. But I am still bothered that the film had to show the child Russell without a tight family life.

Is this because fractured families are the norm now? Or is it the common theme of orphans in films?

What are your thoughts?

 

[kafitty]

Russell's mom was in the audience in the end, with Dug, watching the ceremony.

i think Russell not having a father figure in his life was critical to the relationship between him and Carl. It made them "need" each other, in the end.

i think it was more of a plot device than a reflection of contemporary families.

 

[wishspirit]

I actually talked about this in an essay about Disney that I wrote. Disney very, very rarely has a complete family unit in it's films, it apparently leaves the 'child' hero with less wiggle room to get up to adventures.

Examples:
- Snow White- mother dies, never see father only step mother
- Bambi- mother dies, you don't see father till mother dies
- Pinnoccio- surrogate father in Geppetto
- Cinderella- Mother and Father die, step-mother left
- Pocohontus- Mother has died
- Toy Story- Never meet Andy's dad
- Aladdin- he has no parents, Jasmine only has a father
- Meet the Robinsons- Orphan
- Aristocats- single parent cat
- Finding Nemo- mother dies

and these are just the ones I can see from my dvd collection from here. There are a few ones with 'traditional' family units, like the Incredibles, Mary Poppins, 101 Dalmatians, or stories where family isn't important like Wall E or Cars, but the majority do not consist of traditional families, especially the older ones, or if they do (like Sleeping Beauty) the protagonists are taken away from their parents.

So it isn't just Up!

 

[NWOhioAngela]

might want to put a spoiler warning in the title line

 

[daneenm]

Russell's mom was in the audience in the end, with Dug, watching the ceremony.

i think Russell not having a father figure in his life was critical to the relationship between him and Carl. It made them "need" each other, in the end.

i think it was more of a plot device than a reflection of contemporary families.

I agree. We just saw the movie today and all enjoyed it. Russell needed Carl as much as Carl needed him.

 

[DISNEYNV]

We took my five year old DD to see this on Saturday and I have to admit I cried a bit in the beginning!!! It was a bit over my DDs head, but to think of the two characters Carl and Ellie and how they met and fell in love, couldnt have children and had a dream together that didnt come to a reality till after his wifes death was a bit depressing. I know the moral of the story was to go on and life is an adventure but I just found it sad for a Disney movie! Maybe it was just me. I loved the story and the animation though. Pixar is quite amazing with their story lines, the short story at the begining of the film was GREAT, and I can not wait to see what they do with Toy Story3 next year.