My mother is literally worse than my father, but of course movies and tv shows love their cliches and never show reality for what it is.
Also wtf is the “Abused child forgive abusive parent and reunite happily ever after” trope, fuck that shit. Abusers do not deserve forgiveness.
I hate writer jesus christ ffs.
Edit: typo
It is represented in media, see the film Mommy Dearest. Even in the Wizard of Oz the woman is the abuser. The series The Terror streaming now, woman the abuser. Fatal Attraction, Cruella, Misery, Carrie, etc.
Tangled
Big Fish
Ok. You named a handful of examples. I’m sure there’s a handfull more.
But I could literally reach the character limit if I attempted to show all the examples of men in media being the abuser.
So you aren’t wrong per se. But you are still missing the point.
OP said “always” and “never.” So I’m not really sure what the purpose of this discussion is beyond refuting those superlatives. Is the idea that there needs to be more physically abusive women in fiction? Or fewer men? What is the ideal?
Never heard of Mommy Dearest?
Not till now
FWIW, in fairy tales the mother is the bad parent more often than not.
Watch Carrie
If you really want to see fucked up, watch Sybil
Not really answering the question but if you’re looking for movies with an abusive mom, there are more than a few! (especially horror.) Off the top of my head:
Carrie is the classic, hereditary is a new classic. Braindead (dead alive) is a classic splatter horror.
Non horror: I Tonya, black swan, Mommie Dearest, Precious, Beau is afraid, Wild at Heart and maybe 8 mile?
Edit: My God, I’m forgetting/blocking one of the darkest movies I’ve seen in awhile, Bring Her Back.
Carrie reminded me of Misery. She’s not his mom, but she’s definitely abusive.
We Need to Talk About Kevin comes to mind.
Boy, you’ve obviously never seen Precious (2009)
Sopranos, she literally tries to kill him.
Both of my parents were abusive in their own special way.
A few examples that came to mind that others didn’t list:
Psycho and its reboot or whatever. Possibly THE example.
Mindhunter definitely touches on abusive mothers.
And I don’t want to spoil it, but dear God watch The Bear and prepare to be fucking broken.
I’ve seen plenty of abusive mothers on tv. But they aren’t physical in their abuse.
But have a look at “Precious” if you want to be triggered.
And then have a look at the making of “Precious,” if you want to be furious at Oprah and Tyler Perry, who refused to pay Monique and then spread false rumors about her to kill her career
Animal Kingdom has an abusive mother. Pretty good criminal series. Reminded me of Sons of Anarchy.
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Betty Davis in The Little Foxes
Yeah, there’s a reason my 28 years old son still talks to me and not his mother.
Have you ever heard of Marisa Coulter from His Dark Materials? Just to add to all the other examples people have given
