#5FandomFriday: Fictional Moms

A mother is the first and the most important woman in a child's life. The significance of the mother is so important that decades of research has looked into the mother-child relationship. In this post, I will not delve into that research. This post is a response to Five Fandom Friday, which was started by the ladies over at Female Geek Bloggers, a community of wonderful, geeky women, who blog about a number of things and support each other. This is my first post in response to Five Fandom Friday, and I felt the need to respond because the theme really called out to me. I grew up surrounded by very strong women including my mother and grandmothers. In my work with children I strive to empower mothers to not feel like they are failing just because they cannot finish the 1,528,873,041 things they have to do in the day. Mothers are Superheroes! 



In celebration of Mother's Day weekend, this week's Five Fandom Friday theme is favorite fictional mothers. Below are my top five. ^_^

#5) Helen Parr: Elastigirl / Mrs. Incredible - The Incredibles

When we first meet Helen as Elastigirl in Disney's The Incredibles, we get a glimpse of how strong she is, but we also see some of her layers. This is a woman who uses her superpowers to save her city. She's confident, smart, and career-oriented. Through various events she transforms into a person who has to keep her identity away. She is a wife and mother of three, and she is doing her best to manage her responsibilities while soothing her children's sense of confidence. Her kids each are very different, and as such, they have their own specific needs. Aside from this, they have powers that they cannot share with the world. I am not a mother, but perhaps some of you can speak to how difficult it might be to have a child with a really cool and special toy that they cannot show their friends. Imagine if it were not a cool toy but a superpower! I imagine it was very difficult for Helen to juggle this, and be raising a teenage daughter, an assertive tween boy, and a baby! Not only this, but when things got worse and her family was in trouble, she was not afraid to put on the suit again and become the backbone of her family (no pun intended). She kept her family together and safe. This is why Helen Parr is my #5 favorite fictional mom.

#4) Carla Jaeger - Attack on Titan

Carla Jaeger, from Attack on Titan / "Shingeki no Kyojin", is the mother of Eren Jaeger. We only see Carla in the first episode, but she makes quite an impression on the audience. Carla is married to the only doctor in town. As the only doctor around, Mr. Jaeger often travels and Mrs. Jaeger is left to manage the household and the two children, her son Eren and the girl Mikasa who the family took on after she lost her own parents. Carla shows incredible patience with her son Eren, who is having sort of a rebellious phase. She does everything she can to keep him safe despite his apparent tendency to get in trouble. Carla ends up making the ultimate sacrifice, as I imagine most mothers would, when she chooses the children's safety over a chance at her own survival.

#3) Joyce Summers - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Joyce is a favorite because she is a beacon of strength throughout the five seasons that she is a part of the show. Being a single mother of a teenage daughter who is a vampire slayer and whose father is never around is not easy, but Joyce makes it look like it is. Yes, Joyce makes mistakes, but she admits to them and has frank conversations with her daughter during which she at times shares her own experience to try offer Buffy some wisdom. Joyce stands up for her daughter whether it's to the school district or to a vampire. She is not afraid to confront the thing that keeps Buffy from going to college and having as normal a life as she can have (Buffy's relationship with the vampire Angel). Joyce is a kind person who offers comfort to her daughter's friends, and who welcomes others into her home as though it were their own. After she passes away, the vampire Spike comments on actually mourning Joyce, because she was "the only one of the lot of you I could actually stand." In a later season, Buffy comments on how she does not know how her mother kept their house in one piece despite the many times it was wrecked from monsters fighting Buffy. 

#2) Molly Weasley - Harry Potter

I had to include Mother Weasley in this list! Molly is the ultimate maternal figure. She is strict but loving with her children, she welcomes Harry with open arms, and creates an environment in which many outside of the Weasley family can feel at home. The Weasleys have seven children and they do a good job at instilling important values in them. Her husband has a job where he does not make as much money compared to the number of people in their household, but Molly always seems to be able to keep an optimistic attitude about their financial situation, as she knows that money cannot buy happiness. Aside from this, Molly is brave. She herself lost her family to Death Eaters, but this does not stop her from joining the Order of the Phoenix to stand up for what is right. Not to mention, she singlehandedly brought down insane Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange. Molly Weasley is definitely someone to look up to.

#1) Linda Tran - Supernatural

I can probably write a book about why Linda Tran is my #1 favorite fictional mom, but I will try to keep it brief ^_^. Linda is introduced in season 7 of Supernatural when her son, Kevin Tran, was chosen as a "prophet of the Lord" on the eve of his SAT's. She was a single mom after Kevin's father passed away, and alone she raised Kevin to be a straight A student who would have a brilliant future ahead of him. After Kevin disappears, Linda Tran does all in her power to find him. When he returns after a year and tells his mom everything, despite hearing what must have been extremely shocking and upsetting news, Linda remains as rational as she can possibly be and immediately asks the Winchesters to tell her how she can help. She does not let them set her aside "for her own safety." Linda Tran shows her strength in every single episode that she appears in, in many different ways. Her top priority is her son's safety, and despite how crazy life got for her so quickly, Linda is quick to learn about every possible thing that can keep Kevin safe. She is a tough lady who does not waver in her resolve. Even when she is captured and held for a year by the King of Hell, Linda uses her wits and knowledge of electronics (from helping with school projects!) to ultimately escape. Despite being in numerous victimizing situations, she is most definitely not a victim.

So that's my first Five Fandom Friday post. Thank you to the ladies at Female Geek Bloggers for coming up with this topic! Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts on these amazing mothers, or other fictional moms. You don't have to be in the Female Geek Bloggers community to comment :).

Have a very Happy Mother's Day weekend!