Why there aren't Disney moms?

Little Mermaid has no mom. Bella has no mom. Cinderella has an evil step mom. Pocahontas has no mom. So many Disney films lack motherly figures. There seems to be no apparent reason for this. It does simplify the plot immensely. However, why does it seem like Disney hates moms? Taking a look at the subject on a deeper level, we soon learn that 20th century Disney actually did not care about the concept of family at all. There seemed to be an apparent structure of the family. However, the protagonist rarely interacts in a meaningful way with his or her family. Take Little Mermaid for example, she has a "loving" father. However, he rarely parents her. Or Little Mermaid does not share much with her father also. So not only does Disney have dead mothers they also have distant fathers. One of the reasonable explication to this phenomenon is that the family relationship never mattered in those Disney films. The romantic love between prince and princess is the focus. And because Disney likes producing simple films so the audience could easily absorb it, they don't tend to complicate the plot too much by having additional characters that have little function to the plot.

However, Pixar changes this narrative. Finding Nemo is the first Disney films that is solely focused on family themes. In “Men at the heart of mothering: finding mother in Finding Nemo" by Susan Byrdona, she states that even though in Finding Nemo there is no mother as well, Marlin, Nemo's dad, plays both the role of the mother and the father. This is such a key distinction. Because this remind me of the alpha male argument Gillam was making. Marlin is nothing like an alpha male. He is weak and he is incapable of finishing many tasks in the film. Therefore, it could be argued that he takes upon more motherly and feline traits. Following the success of Finding Nemo, Disney continued its family themes rolling. With movies like The Incredibles, and Frozen, Disney illustrates different types of familial bonds. The Incredibles finally presents a full family picture. Each character plays a role in the family and together they are "incredible." Frozen is like Disney's older movies who lacked parents. However, the whole focus of Frozen is unconditional love for your family, which is highlighted through Anna and Elsa's sibling relationship.