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DISNEY THINKS ITS TRENDY TO LIVE IN SINGLE PARENT HOMES

posted 17 years ago by mimiheartsacting
54 replies | jump to latest

This is what I've noticed about Disney Channel shows:

In Jump In Izzy and Karen live with just their dad because their mother died. I don't remember if it said how.

In Hannah Montana Hannah and Jackson live with their father because their mother is dead. They haven't explained what happened.

I saw High School Musical a long time ago, so I don't remember if there was a mom or not, but they mainly showed Troy's relationship with his dad, the basketball coach. I'm pretty sure the mom was dead or unmentioned or had a very small part something.

In That's So Raven the mom was a main character for the first few
seasons or so, then she unexpectedly went to College or somewhere, and you barely heard of her again.

In the spin-off Cory In The House Cory and his Dad go to live in the White House by themselves, with the mom still away and out of their lives. I know this might have been due to the actress supposedly leaving, I'm not exactly sure what that was about, but this still counts as an example of another show without both parents never the less.

In Life With Derek the entire show is about a blended family and a girl who has to adjust to her new step-father, step-brothers, step-sister, and deal with her real mother and sister.

In The Suite Life of Zack and Cody they live with their mother in a hotel room because their parents had a divorce.

Why do so many of Disney's shows circle single parent families, blended families, due to death, divorce, or just plain absence? Or why does only one parent seem to have a main role and the other is left out of the picture?
This seems like an awful lot of Disney shows/movies. And these are all recent ones, too. Is Disney trying to portray these as ideal families? Or are they just trying to relate to all the families out there with single parents or blended families due to the high divorce rate?
It could be just me, but what do you think? It seems like an awful lot.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] mimiheartsacting 17 years ago

Haha. Someone finally answered my post. Thanx. :]
I also think it's probably a trying to relate thing. But they make it a little too obvious, doing almost every show that way...
But it bothers me that it's usually the mother that's gone. It's kind of sexist in a way. And all the people I know that live in single parent homes live with their mothers. Since when do fathers ever get custody?
Anyone else, WDYT?

[–] artgal52 17 years ago

well in the suite life of zach and cody, it's the mom who takes care of them. but i get what you're saying. it bothers me too.

[–] mimiheartsacting 17 years ago

I forgot about The Suite Life! Let me add it in my first post.

[–] myfrogwilljumponyou 17 years ago

In High School Musical they showed Troy's mom in the beginning, so his parents were married throughout the movie.
But I do see that Disney is having single parents in a lot of things. I think it is nice that they do this because it is showing that an "ideal" is not a mom, dad, and the kids, it can be a single mom/dad with the kids. I do have friends who have single or step parents, and they said that it is kind of nice that their kind of family is portrayed on TV.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Firetears_X 17 years ago

In Life with Derek, they were originally single parents until they married, so it makes sense. But you forgot The Cheetah Girls in that little list. Not to mention some of the older originals. So Weird, Fi lived on tour with her single mom. The Famous Jett Jackson, Jett lived at home with his single dad(although, his mom was still there, she just wasn't married and living with his dad).

[–] mimiheartsacting 17 years ago

Which person in Cheetah Girls had a single parent?

[–] Moosecoo9 17 years ago

Dorinda, Chanel and Aqua.
Dorinda, she's livin with a single foster mom
Chanel, her parent's are divorced
Aqua, her parent's are divorced that's why she moved from Texas to New York.

[–] rabid_monkey202 17 years ago

In the first Cheetah Girls Dorinda's foster father is the super of the apartment building; you just never see him.

[–] toodiettoodie 17 years ago

it sucks. they think that it is cool to live with one parent.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] user-13333 17 years ago

In high school musical Troy's mother was shown right before he went to the New Years Party(where he met Gabriella) but yeah your right she did have a very small part in the movie.And I know what your saying, they should start playing movies with the whole family involved.But I still think its nice that they show movies with only a single parent because there are a lot of people who only live with one parent, and I think thats a blessing also, as long as you have one parent with you!
God Bless

[–] CantTuchThisBLT 17 years ago

Disney isn't trying to make Divorce "TRENDY" or "COOL" or "FUN" or "INTERESTING" they're trying to make their shows realistic. In the city I live in there are sooo many kids my age with divorced parents. Most problems with shows like, Unfabulous, Zoey 101, Naturaly Sadie, and some older shows like Lizzie McGuire is that Their lives just seem too perfect. Who wants to watch a 2007 version of Leave it to Beaver or The Brady Bunch? Not me! Now preteens and teenagers watch Degrassi, Dawson's Creek, South Of Nowhere, Instant Star, Beyond the Break, beacuse they deal with real life events. But of course Disney Channel or Nickelodian Can't show those shows, so they make shows that are kid friendly that young teenagers can also enjoy. Being 14 years old I can watch Degrassi and understand the conflicts and watch The Suite Life with my 6 year old brother and understand the conflicts too. I do not believe tha Disney thinks that Divorce is "trendy" but are just trying to break away from the Lizzy McGuires and Unfabulous's.

[–] BroadwayFan 17 years ago

Why is it that when there's a single parent family sometimes, the dad's alive and the mom's dead?

[–] cowgrrl_jade 17 years ago

i think if it is a single-parent family the mom's usually dead because it makes things look harder for the family and it makes the father look more caring....but also put into mind that "hannah montanna" and "jump in" both had real-life fathers, so it would b kinda weird to stick some random actress in there to b the mom and mess up the chemistry between father/daughter and father/son.

...and as for the "single-parent trend", i've noticed that too. but i think it's almost nessesary...because it adds and element of serious-ess and makes the movie more "real". plus if it was a traditional family with two parents, it would makes things look too perfect and no one wants to watch that.

[–] ear-wig 17 years ago

Troy does have a mom in High School Musical. Right at the beginning, she comes into the gym and tells them to go get dressed for the party. Only remember because it was an odd scene... That was her only line. Gabriella's mom is single, though, they never say why.

They're just trying to make things look realistic. Plus, a single dad is harder. Makes it seems harder to cope with, adding a little extra drama. It really doesn't bother me at all, makes them more fun to watch.

[–] lax2241 17 years ago

being the child of divorced parents, i completely understand that disney is trying to portray the growing divorce rate and the idea that there is no such thing as a perfect family, and that many familys have divorced or just widowed parents.
BUT i do think that while disney channel is doing a good job of portraying this, they do need to include some families with married parents and conflicts that surround other things rather than many conflicts surrounding the fact that parents are divorced or widowed. while i get that a lot of america has these types of divorced or just single parent households, most of my friends parents are still married. it just seems like in shows where the parents are divorced or widowed, a lot of the conflict in these shows surrounds the kids either upset with them, or upset with the dating factor, or trying to get their parents to date

[–] sincerely_raven 17 years ago

What, your life is "too perfect" if you live with both parents? I lived with both parents, and I don't think Lizzie McGuire, Unfabulous, Naturally Sadie, Unfabulous, etc seem like they have perfect lives. They all are kind of awkward, have plenty of school problems, have brother problems, friend problems... in fact, they have the same amount of problems as the other Disney/Nick shows with one parent. Just because Mom and Dad are there to help them out doesn't mean they're perfect. Single parent kids always seem to think that... but us two parent kids aren't living like "Leave it to Beaver" either.

I mean, we're the ones who had to hear "just wait til your father gets home!" and sit in fear for a few hours, just knowing that it was ON when Dad got home. lolz! Just kidding. But having two parents doesn't make the show seem too perfect or unrealistic.For a lot of kids, that is reality.

[–] ashley-kaye 17 years ago

There are many other movies too.

Finding Nemo - Nemo's mother/Marlin's wife died.

The Lion King - Simba's father/Sarabi's husband died.

Look at:
Bambi
The Princess Diaries
The Little Mermaid

Look at like, all the Disney movies on your shelf. What do they have in common? Either the kid has one parent, both and they were divorced...

I wonder how come they have it like this, too.
My guesses: They are making it realistic.
Besides...wouldn't you think it's terrible that Disney didn't make any single parented/divorced movies? It would upset me if they didn't and my parents were split or one of them passed on.

love.ASHLEY.music.bby - AHH-shley™
http://www.myspace.com/hawk_girlx3/ -- add me, bby!

[–] MKing55251 17 years ago

Well things like these are what make Disney unique, because I live with both of my parents, but not to long ago my parents were going through the DIVORCE thing. A lot of kids in America lives with one parent, usally the mother take the kids in a case of divorce and the father will take the kids in the case that the mother died. But it is equal because these are the shows or movies that had both parents:

Wendy Wou

Lizzie McGuire

Phil of the Future

Thats So Raven - She did have a mother and still do (she is back in law school) but the lady left the show so its not Disney fault

High School Musical - He have a mother but the mother is not seen a lot, movie is not really about her.

Even Steven

Proud Family

and the list goes on..... It is equal
Its just that the most popular shows on right now are single parents

what GOES around COMES around

[–] stinkyuu 17 years ago

Goof Troop (And Goofy movie, but they are the same, movie and show)

Nemo

Lion King, later on

Jump In

Smart House

Smart Guy

Little Mermaid

Hannah Montana

Suite Life

Aladin

And many more...

There are a lot of single ones, which I don't always care, but it's like, the mom is always gone most of the time, that's what annoys me...
I mean, like Chicken Little (not disney movie) they said why they made the mom die is because to show how much more difficult it was to cope without one, like motherly adviced. That kind of annoyed me. All the single parents I know, the husband dies, or they cheated on their wife.

[–] Dreamstuff 17 years ago

Actually, the real reason for this is that Disney wants to make money, more sympathy is given to single parent families or orphan children, its not that disney wants to be "real" its that disney wants to tug at your heartstrings and make you watch their stuff, that way they come out with the dollar bills...not that thats a bad thing as long as were entertained.

"You have bewitched me, body and soul and I love, I love, I love you."

[–] RoswAlien_lady 17 years ago

i agree, not to mention that Disney caters towards kids and parents are somewhat irrelevant with the exception of how the KIDS interact with the parents. The shows are geared towards kids by kids. That's where the money lies. Why pay two adults when you only need ONE to show that the kid's not a total orphan?

Parent's on these shows have supporting roles. Nothing more, that's probably why they only need 1 of them in some cases. Kids don't watch the shows for the parents, they watch them for the kids.
I even dislike the way the kids interact with the parents. The parents are always so clueless or naive when it comes to the mischief of the kids.

and when the kids throw tantrums, they're always yelling at the parents, like when Corbin's character blew up at his father. I thought that was sorely inapppropriate, disrespectful and unrealistic.

But so goes the legacy of Disney. At least they didn't Kill the parents on these shows. Goodness knows they do it in their animated films.

i just knew they were gonna give Rodney a gun to go after Izzy and instead Izzy's dad was gonna get caught in the crossfire and die. Imagine my relief when that didn't happen.

But I disagree with the original poster. Alot of the shows have two parents. Even if they're blended families. Which honestly, maybe more realistic than not, especially with the current divorce rate in this country.