Was watching a movie about horses with the kid and the plot of the movie was a girl's mother dies so she decides to take pictures like her mom did. Then I got to thinking. What purpose does it server to kill off a parent in a kid's movie? Most popularly you have Cinderella and Bambi. The thing is, I dont want to have to explain to my six year old about the death of parents. On top of that, the subliminal message in some movies is that having a parent die is a good thing because it motivates you to be a better person. Can't we just have a plot device where the parent inspires the child while they are alive? I can only assume it is the whole hero and mentor relationship that you get in movies like Star Wars (Obi-wan dying after teaching Luke).

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Parents get in the way of a kid having an adventure. If the parent is around, they can solve the kid's problem. The kid needs to overcome the problem themselves for the movie to work.

Examples:
Dumbo- His mom has to be locked-up so he could find self worth on his own. If she was there she'd just coddle him.

Up- If the little fat kid's dad wasn't a deadbeat prick, he'd never meet the old guy.

Pinnochio- If he had a mom, she would have drove him to school and he'd never meet Honest John.

Don't let your kids watch tv if you don't feel like answering questions.

Parents are overrated anyway.

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You never miss your wealth, till your well went dry
Seem like only yesterday, you were here smiling
Now you gone away, but I know you in a better place
No traces of you, what can I do?
Alone and confused

Okay, I like that theory of why its popular.

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Walt Disney was pure evil.