There are plenty of bad moms in The Help but I'll choose Jolene. Not only does she publicly shame and neglect he daughter as standard practice - letting her lay in a wet diaper all night long, for example - but she emotionally traumatizes her daughter by spitefully removing the only person who ever loved her (her nanny) out of her life under orders from a friend.
As much as I love the 1998 "The Parent Trap" and all the performances and really every little detail ... if you make the mistake of thinking about it, here's a mom who abandoned one of her daughters basically on a coin flip; went more than a decade with no relationship, no contact, and no clue to her other daughter that there's a twin sister out there; then when the other twin comes home from camp she has no clue that this isn't the preteen she's raised from infancy; and when she does find out, despite claiming "I've loved you your whole life," she's pretty set on ditching the kid again with a once-a-year visit. (Same goes for dad, of course, but that'll have to wait 'til June.)
I have always thought this! Such a disturbing story concept, wrapped in some kind of heartwarming nostalgia to disguise the anti-family messages. Thanks for articulating this so well. 👏🏻
My first thought too but there are some seriously awful ones out there. Great performance by Dunaway on that one. The older version of the daughter in last act of the movie? Not so much.
I really dislike the actress who portrayed older Christina - Diana Scarwid - so it makes all of the scenes with her almost unbearable. There's something about her that is very off-putting. Agreed, Faye Dunaway's performance as a total psychopath was top-notch.
Mother Gothel from Tangled, in all her gaslighting, narcissistic glory. The only character Disney could get away with killing off (on screen, even) and the audience reacted with cheers and sighs of relief rather than shocked horror. 🥴😂
I’ll go with Angela Lansbury’s Eleanor Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate. Just for the sheer scope of her manipulation of Shaw and how bananas the whole thing is.
There are plenty of bad moms in The Help but I'll choose Jolene. Not only does she publicly shame and neglect he daughter as standard practice - letting her lay in a wet diaper all night long, for example - but she emotionally traumatizes her daughter by spitefully removing the only person who ever loved her (her nanny) out of her life under orders from a friend.
As much as I love the 1998 "The Parent Trap" and all the performances and really every little detail ... if you make the mistake of thinking about it, here's a mom who abandoned one of her daughters basically on a coin flip; went more than a decade with no relationship, no contact, and no clue to her other daughter that there's a twin sister out there; then when the other twin comes home from camp she has no clue that this isn't the preteen she's raised from infancy; and when she does find out, despite claiming "I've loved you your whole life," she's pretty set on ditching the kid again with a once-a-year visit. (Same goes for dad, of course, but that'll have to wait 'til June.)
When you put it that way. 😁
I have always thought this! Such a disturbing story concept, wrapped in some kind of heartwarming nostalgia to disguise the anti-family messages. Thanks for articulating this so well. 👏🏻
Sooooo many choices (what a sad and fallen world...) but I'm going with the one that immediately popped into my head.
Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest (played by Faye Dunaway).
My first thought too but there are some seriously awful ones out there. Great performance by Dunaway on that one. The older version of the daughter in last act of the movie? Not so much.
I really dislike the actress who portrayed older Christina - Diana Scarwid - so it makes all of the scenes with her almost unbearable. There's something about her that is very off-putting. Agreed, Faye Dunaway's performance as a total psychopath was top-notch.
*shivers*
Mother Gothel from Tangled, in all her gaslighting, narcissistic glory. The only character Disney could get away with killing off (on screen, even) and the audience reacted with cheers and sighs of relief rather than shocked horror. 🥴😂
Amy Ryan in Gone, Baby Gone.
One of my first thoughts was, Mary from Precious. However, I am going with Mamá Elena from Like Water For Chocolate.
I’ll go with Angela Lansbury’s Eleanor Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate. Just for the sheer scope of her manipulation of Shaw and how bananas the whole thing is.
A busy weekend meant I never got around to announcing the winner of this week's Movie Fight: Terri Mauro with The Parent Trap.
Congratulations, Terri, you get to choose Monday's question..