Disney used mother/daughter a lot because it featured in the fairytales they selected. There's plenty of father/daughter fairytales, like that one I'd have to look up where the girl won't abandon her father despite the stepmother's repeated attempts to kill her. But usually the fathers are weak and just let the stepmothers do whatever they want. There's an interesting mother/daughter relationship in ... What's it called ... The Ash Tree? The Rose Tree? Where the witch turns the mother into a sheep and kills her, but the daughter buried the bones and a tree grows there that represents the mother's spirit. Meanwhile the witch married her father and becomes the wicked stepmother, so now you have mother vs wicked stepmother in a very detailed Cinderella story.
I must admit that oddly enough, I find myself disliking some of the weak fathers in those tales, in some of them such as the 90s Snow White movie, the father isn't weak nor is the Stepmother initially wicked, but Snow White is so wicked to her that she turns evil while SW gets a redemption arc. It was an interesting take, and the father in the end did become the damsel of sorts, but he has some heroism to him as well.
But I must also admitting to disliking the weak mothers who go for wicked stepfathers. Wicked stepparents are usually the worst, and why any sane person would choose them as partners is a mystery save for the fact that it makes for good characterization and stories.
It's why in my Darkspire, I chose to have a good stepfather, and a good mother. The petulant one is Sigrun, who has to strive for redemption.
There's lots of fun to be had if you put a different spin on the step-parent bond or on the Mother/Daughter bond or father/child bond.
I have to admit, I haven't seen the wicked stepfather trope nearly as often as the stepmother. Usually if the man is wicked, it's because he has an evil wife goading him into it, like King Ahab in the Bible (another weak man). I think it's a story in the Arabian Nights, where the queen makes the king throw his children in the river? I guess it's a cautionary tale to marry well!
Good point, I’ve seen it once or twice, but yes usually an evil wife does goad the man to evil. I’ve seen the Wicked Stepfather in one or two slasher movies and American and Japanese films in the past few decades. It’s pretty interesting.
That said the man corrupted by a wicked wife is a trope I’d love to analyze at a later date come to think of it! The best example of it though is the play Macbeth in my view though. That said King Ahab in the Bible is a good example, as is the tale you referenced in Arabian Nights.
Wicked stepfathers are rarer, but then there's the wicked father. Cinderella figures often have a wicked stepmother and stepsisters oppressing them -- or just sisters -- but Catskin figures have a wicked father and have to run away, generally because he wants to marry her, and Cap O'Rushes because she told him she loved him as meat loves salt.
Several fairy tales have the trope of the weak father or the henpecked husband leading to troubles for the children or the family. Similarly you have the step-parent behaving badly toward the children in several tales. Words of warning from observation of common occurrences?
The Bible says it all started with a weak man, Adam, doing what his wife told him because she had been deceived into thinking she could have it all outside of God's control.
The Rose Tree features a stepmother, but she's known to be one and she murders her stepdaughter and feeds her to her father. (The Juniper Tree does the same, only it's her stepson.)
The one you are thinking of is probably The Wonderful Birch, where the witch usurps the mother's place by turning into her shape. And yes, the grave where the daughter buries the bones of the sheep-mother has the birch grow on it. This, the dead mother helping, is, in fact, the more typical Cinderella story than a fairy godmother. (And less common than it and more than the fairy godmother are tales where she gets no magical aid at all, or she gets the aid with an episode of the Kind and Unkind Girls, or she has a Rumpelstiltskin figure help her.)
"But it is also politically correct, as the Father-Daughter dynamic has long since gone ‘out of style’ so to speak." That is a great line. However, Moana sprang to my mind, where she struggles with the father-daughter dynamics. But I believe that Moana in this movie fits better the knight archetype, although she is a female...
Disney used mother/daughter a lot because it featured in the fairytales they selected. There's plenty of father/daughter fairytales, like that one I'd have to look up where the girl won't abandon her father despite the stepmother's repeated attempts to kill her. But usually the fathers are weak and just let the stepmothers do whatever they want. There's an interesting mother/daughter relationship in ... What's it called ... The Ash Tree? The Rose Tree? Where the witch turns the mother into a sheep and kills her, but the daughter buried the bones and a tree grows there that represents the mother's spirit. Meanwhile the witch married her father and becomes the wicked stepmother, so now you have mother vs wicked stepmother in a very detailed Cinderella story.
That sounds like an awesome story!
I must admit that oddly enough, I find myself disliking some of the weak fathers in those tales, in some of them such as the 90s Snow White movie, the father isn't weak nor is the Stepmother initially wicked, but Snow White is so wicked to her that she turns evil while SW gets a redemption arc. It was an interesting take, and the father in the end did become the damsel of sorts, but he has some heroism to him as well.
But I must also admitting to disliking the weak mothers who go for wicked stepfathers. Wicked stepparents are usually the worst, and why any sane person would choose them as partners is a mystery save for the fact that it makes for good characterization and stories.
It's why in my Darkspire, I chose to have a good stepfather, and a good mother. The petulant one is Sigrun, who has to strive for redemption.
There's lots of fun to be had if you put a different spin on the step-parent bond or on the Mother/Daughter bond or father/child bond.
I have to admit, I haven't seen the wicked stepfather trope nearly as often as the stepmother. Usually if the man is wicked, it's because he has an evil wife goading him into it, like King Ahab in the Bible (another weak man). I think it's a story in the Arabian Nights, where the queen makes the king throw his children in the river? I guess it's a cautionary tale to marry well!
Good point, I’ve seen it once or twice, but yes usually an evil wife does goad the man to evil. I’ve seen the Wicked Stepfather in one or two slasher movies and American and Japanese films in the past few decades. It’s pretty interesting.
That said the man corrupted by a wicked wife is a trope I’d love to analyze at a later date come to think of it! The best example of it though is the play Macbeth in my view though. That said King Ahab in the Bible is a good example, as is the tale you referenced in Arabian Nights.
Wicked stepfathers are rarer, but then there's the wicked father. Cinderella figures often have a wicked stepmother and stepsisters oppressing them -- or just sisters -- but Catskin figures have a wicked father and have to run away, generally because he wants to marry her, and Cap O'Rushes because she told him she loved him as meat loves salt.
Good point, and good examples of stories.
Several fairy tales have the trope of the weak father or the henpecked husband leading to troubles for the children or the family. Similarly you have the step-parent behaving badly toward the children in several tales. Words of warning from observation of common occurrences?
Very likely, and you’re very much right. Also sitcoms have weak father or henpecked husbands much of the time.
Which is why I love Mythic lit of the older and indie varieties as this trend is changing. Tradition is making a comeback.
The Bible says it all started with a weak man, Adam, doing what his wife told him because she had been deceived into thinking she could have it all outside of God's control.
Good point
The Rose Tree features a stepmother, but she's known to be one and she murders her stepdaughter and feeds her to her father. (The Juniper Tree does the same, only it's her stepson.)
The one you are thinking of is probably The Wonderful Birch, where the witch usurps the mother's place by turning into her shape. And yes, the grave where the daughter buries the bones of the sheep-mother has the birch grow on it. This, the dead mother helping, is, in fact, the more typical Cinderella story than a fairy godmother. (And less common than it and more than the fairy godmother are tales where she gets no magical aid at all, or she gets the aid with an episode of the Kind and Unkind Girls, or she has a Rumpelstiltskin figure help her.)
Thank you for your excellent memory appreciate it
"But it is also politically correct, as the Father-Daughter dynamic has long since gone ‘out of style’ so to speak." That is a great line. However, Moana sprang to my mind, where she struggles with the father-daughter dynamics. But I believe that Moana in this movie fits better the knight archetype, although she is a female...
Non, non I stand corrected hereabout Moana hahaha good point.