MovieChat Forums > The Royle Family (1998) Discussion > Making denise a bad mother

Making denise a bad mother

posted 15 years ago by nine_inch_nailed
7 replies | jump to latest

Was a bad writing decision, some of the working class mums I know are fantastic mothers, and very protective of their children, over protective sometimes.

They wrote Denise as not caring about her child and sometimes being downright negligent, which is not the case with most blue collar mums. There are bad parents, but I never pictured D&D being bad parents like the writers made them to be.

Series 3 marked a downturn for The Royle Family for a few reasons, but this was the main one for me.

________
Armchair Critic Law 38:

If a film has a plot twist, over analyse.

[–] carzy_6 15 years ago

I thought of it the other way around; the portrayal of a good father when so many these days are shown as "deadbeats". Dave is one of the few occasions where fathers were given credit where credit is due.

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"Just deal with your girlfriend's cheesy feet. She puts up with your cheesy face." - Jack Dee

[–] thesecretgarden_24 15 years ago

I agree with carzy_6. Barbara is an example of a good blue collar mom - loving, caring and hard working for her children. I always see good or at least loving blue collar mom but not such good fathers as Dave was.

Besides it was for laughs. I thought it worked for Denise being lazy. She wasn't heartless just really, really lazy. Denise's mothering skills are like the way everyone treats Antony.

[–] backofthevan 14 years ago

You do realize that "denise and dave" are the writers of the series? So they made Denise the way they wanted her to be. Yes, she's a crap mum, and I personally hate to see anybody being a lousy parent. But I suppose it follows with her famed laziness from earlier in the series. Really, she can't be asked to do anything, can she? Gets everyone else to wait on her, so why would she be any different as a mum?

[–] avia2 12 years ago

The whole point of Denise's character is that she's spoilt and a bit naive. Even if she's 'working class', her parents never forced her to work hard (unlike Anthony), so her bad mothering is more to do with her upbringing than her class.

[–] aoife17 8 years ago

I always got the idea Denise had post natal depression, and in the last episode of the series, she voice her fears about being a bad mother.

[–] Rajesh_pimp06 7 years ago

I think everyone is thinking too hard about it. The Royle Family is a comedy, trying to figure out why each character's are the way they are doesn't even come into it, take it for what it is.

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[–] daniel-lawlor 7 years ago

Whilst I generally like her character - Denise annoyed me sometimes. Dave annoyed me too cause he didn't have a backbone when it came to his wife. I would've told her straight...what's the worst she can do?

"I'll make him an offer he can't refuse" - Don Vito Corleone - The Godfather