STLtoday - What does Disney have against mothers?

Uma boa pergunta: o quê Disney tem contra as mães? Um artigo interessante e que merece ser lido.

What does Disney have against mothers?

By Aisha Sultan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/15/2008
My Disney discomfort hatched with an innocent question from my daughter, then 3 years old: "Where is Belle's mommy?"

The princess who loves to read seemed to be raised by a single, dotty father. No explanations for her missing mom. And she's far from the only motherless Disney character. Parental abandonment runs like a river through the original fairy tales from which Disney characters were drawn, and the theme continues to the most recent blockbusters. Snow White's mother dies in childbirth or soon thereafter. Ariel the Mermaid's mother never makes an appearance, and Jasmine's departed one gets fleeting mention. Pocahontas is on her own. And we all know about Cinderella's stepmom issues.

Given the Disney princesses' rock star status among little girls, I started to wonder: What does Disney have against mothers? Many of us can recall the iconic heartbreaking scenes when Bambi's mother is killed or Dumbo's mom is torn away from her baby elephant. Nemo's mom is cruelly eaten by a barracuda.

The theories behind Disney's "matricidal obsession" range from Disney creators devaluing motherhood to crass commercial and emotional exploitation of a sappy formula — that works.


"Historically, there's a good reason why in traditional fairy tales there aren't any mothers," says Jack Zipes, author of "Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre." At the times when many ancient fairy tales originated, mothers frequently died young or in childbirth.

But that doesn't explain the continuing popularity of Disney's dead/absent mommies and the plethora of modern single dads in the movies. The lack of a nurturing mother figure is even more pronounced when considering the prevalence of scary older women — the Sea Witch in "The Little Mermaid," Cruella De Vil in "101 Dalmatians," the stepmother and witch in "Snow White," the jealous witch who curses Sleeping Beauty and the stepmother in "Cinderella."

The fairy tales that endure resonate with us because they tap into our deepest fears, capture a struggle to which children can relate and deliver a happily ever after. We connect with dysfunctional families. We fear losing our parents or orphaning our children.

Zipes says the role of mothers has stirred reactions since the beginning of storytelling: "There is a very deep, evolutionary psychological problem in a lot of these tales, and that's why we keep coming back to them. Because they raise issues we still haven't resolved."

I find the absent mommies more disturbing than the dead mommies. It bothers me when they are invisible, like Belle's mom — gone for no reason and unneeded. At least the deaths are seen and felt as tragic events, signifying a life-changing moment for the characters, which they eventually overcome. But when the moms just don't show up, it feels cold. It plants a haunting seed of doubt in a 3-year-old's mind that we can abandon our children even when there are no barracudas chasing us.

I don't remember how I explained Belle's lack of a mommy. Little girls fancy themselves as these princesses, and I wanted to create a backstory with a loving mommy character.
MORE
TALK: Should Disney make its movies mom-friendlier?
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But I just didn't know how to spin that Disney magic.

STLtoday - What does Disney have against mothers?.

Base resiste a dar relatoria da reforma a Palocci - Yahoo! Notícias

Base resiste a dar relatoria da reforma a Palocci
1 hora, 8 minutos atrás

Irritados com a tentativa do governo e dos petistas de emplacar o deputado Antonio Palocci (PT-SP) na relatoria da comissão especial que vai analisar a reforma tributária, os aliados bateram o pé e mostraram que estão dispostos a cobrar a fatura do apoio ao Planalto. Ontem e na noite de terça-feira, deputados da base de apoio ao Planalto juntaram-se à oposição e obstruíram as sessões convocadas pela Câmara para votar a medida provisória que trata da aposentadoria rural. A manobra foi comandada pelo PR, que quer a vaga de relator para o deputado Sandro Mabel (GO), mas contou com reforço do PMDB e de outros aliados.
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Na tentativa de contornar a crise, o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva convocou nova reunião do Conselho Político - que abriga os 14 partidos da coligação - para segunda-feira à tarde. "A obstrução não pode partir de aliados nem o relator será escolhido assim", afirmou o ministro das Relações Institucionais, José Múcio Monteiro. "Imagine se isso vira uma prática da Casa." Questionado sobre a reação de Lula diante da manobra, Múcio foi econômico no comentário: "Ele soube, ouviu e processou."

A ruidosa disputa na base aliada chegou à festa de aniversário do ex-ministro-chefe da Casa Civil e deputado cassado José Dirceu, que reuniu a cúpula do governo, parlamentares e servidores do Planalto, na noite de terça-feira, para comemorar seus 62 anos, completados no domingo. As disputas entre os partidos da coalizão eram assunto freqüente nas mesas.

Um convidado disse que PT e PMDB são "como jacaré e cobra d'água, nunca vão se entender". Em conversas reservadas, parlamentares do PR justificaram a obstrução com o argumento de que Mabel já cedeu a Palocci, no ano passado, a vaga de relator da proposta que esticava a validade da Contribuição Provisória sobre Movimentação Financeira (CPMF), derrubada no Senado. Alegaram ainda que o PT quer passar uma rasteira nos aliados porque, pelo acerto, a relatoria da reforma tributária deveria ficar com o PR. As informações são do jornal O Estado de S. Paulo

Base resiste a dar relatoria da reforma a Palocci - Yahoo! Notícias.

Morre ator inglês

Scotfield, de "O homem que não vendeu sua alma", morre aos 86

1 hora, 25 minutos atrás

LONDRES (Reuters) - Paul Scotfield, reconhecido como um dos melhores atores britânicos de sua geração e ganhador do Oscar por seu papel em "O homem que não vendeu sua alma", morreu aos 86 anos de idade, vítima de uma leucemia, disse seu agente na quinta-feira.
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Scotfield, um ator reservado que evitava os holofotes, tinha a força, a voz e a presença para sobrepujar outros atores clássicos. Suas atuações são inesquecíveis --desde o Rei Lear, de Shakespeare, até um barbeiro homossexual na comédia "Staircase".

Mas o brilho de Hollywood não o conquistou e ele era feliz por não ter alcançado o glamour de seus contemporâneos Richard Burton e Laurence Olivier. "Dos 10 melhores momentos do teatro, oito são de Scotfield", disse Burton certa vez.

A agente Rosalind Chatto disse que Scotfield morreu em paz, na quarta-feira, em um hospital perto de sua casa no sul da Inglaterra. "Ele tinha leucemia e não estava bem há algum tempo", disse ela à Reuters.

Ele ganhou o Oscar de melhor ator em 1966 por seu majestoso retrato do mártir católico Sir Thomas More, que preferiu ser executado pelo rei Henrique 8o a trair sua consciência, no filme "O homem que não vendeu sua alma".

O autor Robert Bolt é o responsável pela adaptação da peça pela qual Scotfield ficou conhecido nos palcos de Londres e Nova York.

Apesar das inúmeras ofertas de Hollywood, Scotfield preferia ser discreto, fazendo mais filmes mas ainda atuando nos palcos, em papéis como Otelo e Macbeth.

A idéia de trabalhar nos Estados Unidos não o interessava. "Nunca gostei da idéia de morar ou trabalhar na Califórnia", disse ele.

"De fato, nunca estive lá, nem mesmo para receber o meu Oscar, porque estava ensaiando em Stratford." O primeiro papel de Scotfield foi aos 13 anos, como a Julieta de "Romeu e Julieta", numa peça da escola. Entre seus papéis de sucesso, está o Antonio Salieri em "Amadeus", hit de Peter Shaffer sobre a vida de Mozart.

(Reportagem de Paul Majendie)

Scotfield, de \O.

Boy, 2, in 999 drama - News - Manchester Evening News

Boy, 2, in 999 drama
John Scheerhout
17/ 3/2008

A BOY of two saved his mum's life - by dialling 999. Toddler Joshua Brookes kept his nerve after mum Isobel collapsed unconscious at home.

The youngster picked up a telephone and called the emergency services, telling an operator: `Mummy won't wake up'.

Police operator Paula Hall told the toddler to shake his mum and the line went quiet as he went away to try to rouse her.

Moments later, Joshua returned and - becoming frightened - said: `It hasn't worked.'

Paula struggled to get him to reveal his name, even asking what name Father Christmas put on his presents, but in the end, police used the phone number to track his address.

They then sent help to the boy's home in Wigan, while the operator tried to keep him calm and told him to open the

front door for the police. When they arrived, Joshua used a box to stand on and reached the door handle to let them in.

Police found Isobel, 30, who suffers from a rare heart condition, unconscious.

The mum-of-two was revived and awoke to see paramedics standing over her. She was taken to hospital and made a full recovery.

Today, Joshua was hailed a life-saving hero after details were revealed for the first time.

Back at home in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Isobel said she had taught both Joshua, now three, and his older sister Amy, six, how to dial 999 in an emergency as soon as they could talk because her heart condition makes her prone to passing out.

She said: "Amy has done it before, but she was at school this time. I didn't know anything about it until I woke up with a paramedic standing over me.

"Joshua did really well. I'm really proud of him."

Police telephone operator Paula, who took Joshua's 999 call, has been to visit him to tell him: 'Well done'.

Brave

Paula, 44, a mum who has been taking calls for the police for 12 years, said: "I knew he was very young, but I was shocked when I found out he was two. I could tell he was very frightened, but he was very brave in the circumstances. He stayed quite calm.

"He was saying he couldn't wake mummy up. I asked him to see if he could rouse her, but he couldn't.

"I couldn't get his name and asked which name Father Christmas put on his presents.

"I told him that someone would be coming to the door to help, but I was worried that he wouldn't be able to answer it.

"I was very pleased when I heard an adult voice and knew the officers had got there."

Paula added: "He's a little character."

Boy, 2, in 999 drama - News - Manchester Evening News.

Aventuras na História

Com o título de capa 1808 - 2008: 200 anos da Família Real no Brasil, está nas bancas a mais recente edição ("Edição de colecionador") da revista Aventuras na História da Editora Abril, toda dedicada ao momentoso tema. Entre suas 22 matérias há uma única entrevista, a concedida pelo Príncipe Dom Luiz de Orleans e Bragança enquanto sucessor dinástico de Dom João VI, e que vai ilustrada com excelente fotografia de Sua Alteza. Recomendamos sua leitura.

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