Mommy where's daddy?

AS I SIT HERE  in my writer's garret, finishing my third novel, HARTFORD 1944,  I had an epiphany.  Why is it that a  disproportionate number of young girls depicted in movies are either orphans or come from a dysfunction one parent family?  Often times if the girl does have parents, they are decidedly absent or neglectful. This seems to be a common theme in literature and movies. Good story-telling always involves conflict, and a child without parents is perhaps every child's worst fear. The plot device allows the girl to venture into the dangerous world and  have adventures and develop traits of self-reliance and bravery without the comfort (or hindrance) of parental supervision.

The literary formula seems almost universal and unavoidable and is true for boys as well as girls. However with the boys, the trend less often depicts  them forming a bond with a “mother” figure. The girls by contrast invariably seem to end up befriending some curmudgeonly man whose motives are usually purely altruistic and platonic.  They say there are only seven basic stories you can tell, and the tale of the young girl who comes of age under the wing of a “father” figure appears to be a standard formula. 

          In my first novel TESSA CLAIBORNE, The year is 1878, and Tessa’s father is dead and her mother sells her daughter into indentured servitude. Thirteen-year-old Tessa flees the London textile mills and disguises herself as a boy and joins the army.  She has all sorts of unsupervised adventures in  South Africa.

          In HARTFORD 1944 Janie McConaughey enjoys both parents, not withstanding, she escapes parental authority by running away and joining the circus where she makes friends with a clown Walter who serves as her parental father figure and mentor.

 

Here's my list of young girl orphan movies, I compiled to make my point. The list is intended to be neither comprehensive nor exhaustive.  It's just a short list. I'm sure there are some glaring omissions.

 

PAPER MOON (1973), Tatum O’Neal is Addie Pray an orphan child on the lam with a man who may or may not be her father.

BAD NEWS BEARS (1976), Tatum O’Neal is shepherded by a beer swilling cigar smoking Water Mathau.

ORPHAN (2009), Isabelle Furhman is a homicidal 9 year-old orphan girl who seduces her step-father.

TRUE GRIT (1969, 2010), Mattie Ross is effectively orphaned, her relationship is with an aging gunslinger Rooster Cogburn.
WALKABOUT (1971), Schoolgirl Jenny Agutter and her brother become stranded in the Australian outback when their father shoots himself.  Girl walks around in the wilderness naked . . .   
KICK ASS (2010),  Chloe Moretz plays a pint-size vigilante/assassin and she talks dirty too!  Hit Girl has no mother, only a father.

LAWN DOGS (1997), Ten-year-old Mischa Barton plays Devon, a girl neglected by her parents.  She develops a crush on the lawn mower guy.

THE PROFESSIONAL (1994), Natalie Portman is orphan girl who adopts a hit man as her father figure with a decided Oedipus subtext.

          Jodie Foster frequently put in work as the little girl lost.
 

TAXI DRIVER (1976), Iris is a runaway prostitute who has a relationship with a psychotic taxi driver.

CANDLESHOE (1976), Jodie Foster plays an orphan street urchin.
ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (1974), Jodie is Audrey, a wisecracking, shoplifting, wine-guzzling tomboy who's mother is a prostitute.

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE (1976), Jodie is an orphan with an unsavory relationship with Martin Sheen.



         Dakota Fanning  has played her share of wastrel waifs.

 

I AM SAM (2001) Dakota has no mother, and her father is retarded.

WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005), The Martians are attacking Dakota, and she has Tom Cruise for a father, I don’t know which is worse.

HIDE AND SEEK (2005), Dakota’s mother is murdered, only a father.

MAN ON FIRE (2004), Dakota has two parents, but they are neglectful, she develops a strong parental bond with Denzel Washington her bodyguard.

HOUNDDOG (2007), Dakota has no mother, and she plies the neighbor boy with kisses to show her his winkie.
 

          Shirley Temple was almost always depicted as an orphan or a waif.
 

HEIDI (1937) Heidi is an orphan child sent to live with her grandfather.

SUSANNA OF THE MOUNTIES  (1939)  Shirley is the orphaned survivor of an Indian attack in the Canadian West, she has thing for Mounties.

LITTLE MISS MARKER (1934) Shirley is abandoned by her father and used as collateral to cover a bet on a horse race.

BRIGHT EYES, (1934) Shirley is an orphan, again.

CURLY-TOP (1935) Wealthy Edward Morgan becomes charmed with a curly-haired orphan Shirley.

CAPT IAN JANUARY (1936) Shirley lives with a lighthouse keeper who rescued her when her parents drowned.