If we're talking about bleaker topics in older Disney works, I'll ask you to take a moment and consider the entire premise of _Dumbo_ (1939). Why are the other elephants scandalized by the baby elephant with the big ears, asking what Mr. Jumbo would think? Why did they mean, just a few moments earlier when they said elephants are "a proud race"? Why would they shun him, declaring that he is not one of their kind? ... What kind of elephant has big ears?
The tear jerking properties of the treatment of Dumbo’s mother doesn’t get enough attention. There really is no greater love than that of a mother for her child.
/ notice I said “greater” leaving space for an equal ie a father’s love
> There really is no greater love than that of a mother for her child.
You don't really know the intensity and unconditionality of the love your own mother has/had for you until you have kids yourself and see how your wife loves your child. I always appreciated my mother, but I was only able to fully appreciate her after I had kids myself.
Totally agree. I go pretty far out of my way to make sure my mom gets plenty of time with her grandson, which she loves.
It also burns my ass to hear my wife say “I couldn’t have imagined how much I would like being a mom”. Society and culture is so screwed up around children and raising a family.
I agree - but it’s a rather complex state of affairs. There’s not a single thing that’s absolutely correct.
I think we over index on how kids will hinder your ability to self actualize and become an independent woman. To value being a boss bitch rather than a mother. But there’s a huge reason why:
Men are unreliable.
For a variety of reasons it’s just a bad deal to assume every, or even many, woman will end up with a guy that’s reliable. He makes money and can provide, isn’t violent or abusive, will be respectful and stick around. A “decent guy”. There’s just too many guys that fail at this.
So the rational optimization is self dependence. And that probably means holding off on children. And in many cases becoming a lonely cat spinster that wishes they had a kid; the equivalent to the deadbeat dad in a twisted sort of way.
I don’t know the answer but if you do have a daughter then consider paying to harvest and freeze eggs in their early 20’s, if they’re a career minded person. They’ll work great 15 years later so long as they were produced when she was at an age nature optimizes around.
With all of the elements in Dumbo directly from Minstrel Shows (black face, white face/Irish stereotypes) I think it's incredible that Dumbo isn't already in the same "Never to Reopen" Vault with Song of the South.
But the whole premise of "the mixed race kid gets all the bullying" is a reflection of a pretty bleak society, beyond any of these specific depictions.
