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| "This cannot end well for them." Photo ©Rich Thomas |
It's a common complaint about Disney movies that they're fond of killing off parents. The problem is that parents have an annoying habit of stopping their kids from risking life and limb so it's hard for kids to save the world when the parents want to lock them up safe and sound. ;-) So the parents tend to be red shirts.
A commenter on The Not So Grand List of Overused Fantasy Cliches mentioned making parents inept is another cliche way of preventing parents from interfering.
It's cool when parents treat their kids' ideas as worthy with enough sense not to want to kill themselves even while taking risks ;-) The Addams Family parents were awesome at supporting their kids. :-) I can also remember Encyclopedia Brown's mother treating his desire to solve mysteries with respect, though he wasn't exactly risking his life. ;-) But I'm pretty sure Danny Dunn had some grand dangerous adventures and his mother was cool about it.
Kids want to read about kids taking charge and tackling their problems.
So what ways can you think of for parents to not interfere? Come up with a list. :-) Come up with your own ideas and collect the ideas of how other authors have tackled the problems.
I'd love to see your collections :-) If you'd like, you can post them in the comments.
5 comments:
Does neglect count? A lot of stories (most things I write, a lot of Diana Wynne Jones and other actual, good writers as well) get the parents/guardians out of the way by giving the parents issues of their own, so that they are wrapped up in their own problems or otherwise removed. This allows the kids to do their own thing without making the parents victims/martyrs/etc. (you're always aware of them still being there... it just doesn't matter).
Definitely belongs on the list :-) I don't think it's common enough to be a cliche. It has a more real feel to it.
Similar in effect is parents having outside-the-home, busy jobs so they're just not around.
Okay, so yes, I might have repeated myself a little, but here's my list- so far, at least:
1. Parents getting kidnapped by the Bad Guys, sparking the start of kid’s quest
2. Parents being members of a proud:
Race of warriors
Family of knights
Mafia
Family of Warrior Ducks
Whatever
And wanting their kid to go off and prove him/herself in battle
3. Kid being Prince of clichéd fantasy land who has to go defeat the Mighty Evil Wizard because his father is to old and feeble and only his family is worthy of wielding the Legendary Blade of Light
4. Kid’s whole village being destroyed by a test of the Big Bad’s doomsday weapon and going off to stop his evil plot to take over the world (okay, so the parents do die here, but I think it deserves a mention)
5. Parents are neglectful (as mentioned above)
6. Parents going on vacation (great time to!)
7. Parents fight a lot/are abusive and kid runs away
8. No, Luke... I AM your father! (Speaks for itself, yes?)
9. Parents need money and sell their kid off into slavery and he learns about the Bad Guys and escapes somehow and begins the Quest.
10. Similar to the above, parents are negotiating price over kid with the Rich and Cruel Aristocrat and kid eavesdrops and runs away.
11. One parent is a dragon tamer/giant frog tamer/hired assassin/whatever and takes their kid on their *ahem* business trips.
12. Parents turn out not to be real parents and kid is actually part of the Royal Family so he/she goes off to find his/her real parents.
13. Kid gets taken away to Wizard School/The Jedi Temple due to magical ability/high midi-chlorian count.
14. Parents have jobs which require them to be away from home (also mentioned above)
15. Kid gets kidnapped
16. Kid just sprung up from a hole in the ground - there are no parents- or rather, no parents are mentioned
17. Kid wakes up on seashore/in orphanage/on hospital bed with absolutely no memory of who he is or where he came from.
18. Kid gets taken away due to underage parents
19. Kid gets dropped off on random doorstep for no apparent reason- his new guardians are not thrilled
20. Kid is an animal turned human or vice versa and his parents stayed in their original shape
21. Kid is dead- parents buried him. So why is he up and walking around...?
22. This story is about the parents- THEIR parents are just not mentioned/too old to do anything about it.
23. Kid is an adult- parents legally can’t do anything about it.
24. Kid is an Ent- parents have turned tree-ish
25. Kid is a genie/djinn/jinn/jinni/jeenee/however the heck you want to spell it summoned from a magic talisman/flashlight/teapot/lamp/lamp that looks like a teapot/teapot that looks like a lamp/tube of toothpaste
26. Kid flies off to magic land in the sky while parents are asleep
27. Kid gets lost on a camping trip and meets the fairies/elves/magic baboons/whatever.
28. Kid finds a magic sword in a museum, fights off some bad guys, and goes to save the world while parents are in shock from the traumatic experience of the magic bad guys at the museum.
29. Village is attacked multiple times- attacks are repelled, but defenses are weakening. Kid is somehow the cause of this, realizes it, and leaves.
30. Kid is a dragon- dragons in this world lay their eggs and then just leave them to fend for themselves.
Honestly, every reason for parents not to be involved is as done to death as the cliche done to death. I would love to see a book or movie that [i]didn't[/i] toss the parents out. Seriously, a family is as much a unit as a group of friends, so why can't they all be involved?
Dear me, I'm remembering scenes of Swiss Family Robinson now. . .
All parents must die since it adds to the "emotion." :D
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