Ten Fabulous TV, Film or Literature Mo/ums.

* Happy Mother’s Day. These mothers are iconic but not necessarily loving in the traditional sense. It is weird, when you start to look at this, how many, shall we say, ‘disturbed’ or ‘disturbing’ mothers there are in the arts. There is a thesis in that—there is probably already one, or a million, done. To my own Mother—this is not a comparison, just a curiosity. You are possibly too lovely, I am sorry to say, to make it into any of these mediums.

1. Mommy Dearest. Fabulous only for her exaggerated campness and the crazy wire hanger scene—the underlying sadness of this mother is not so great. You have to have one bad mommy in the mommy catergory though, and Joan Crawford certainly fits that.
2. Glenn Close in The World According to Garp. Her heart was in the right place, maybe. But she was definitely odd. An oddness that you couldn’t help loving.
3. The mothers on Arrested Development. Three to choose from, all as insane as each other. If these are our mothers it is no surprise we are living in a mad, mad world.
4. Mrs Weasley; Harry Potter (for any of you who may not know—where have you been?). This is one of the only traditionally good mothers I can think of that doesn’t just blend into the background of a novel, show or film. Mothers of the world, please remember that there is no news in good news—if we aren’t hearing about you, it’s a good thing. That said, I do believe every mother should have a clock that shows if their family members are in ‘Mortal Danger’.
5. The mother in Psycho. Okay, this is clutching at straws. In a way she was a very loved mother though, wasn’t she? He wanted to keep her forever.
6. Marge, The Simpsons. A seemingly tranquil bay in an ocean of dysfunction. Here is another ‘normal’ mother. Except when she’s not.
7. Molly Bloom, Ulysses. You have to love a mother who stays in bed all day long. It’s an archetype of mother. Throw in a bit of gin and you multiply the numbers exponentially.
8. The mother of Christian's African American child in Series One of Nip/Tuck. She is so fabulously crass, foul mouthed and wise all mixed up in one.
9. A little step into the animal world if I could. 'Good' animal mummie: an oyster has a hundred million children in her lifetime (that's good, equaling prolific). 'Bad' animal mummie: giraffes give birth standing up, so a baby giraffe's first worldly experience is a six foot drop to the earth (that's bad, equaling a tad careless).
10. Mrs Flax, Mermaids. She's Cher, she's wacky, and she has great clothes and a funny personality. She's the kind of mother I would want to be if I wanted to be a mother.