Your favourite, or most relatable, depiction of motherhood on TV/Film?

[Refrosty]

Yeah the title probably needs work but I've had 2 hours sleep. I'm having a crappy day. All the normal motherhood stuff. I'm sitting in the pharmacy, about to collect an incomplete prescription for DS and suddenly thought about the many mothers on TV, and how they are each portrayed to the different audiences.

I think at the moment, Lois from Malcolm in the Middle the most is the most relatable. I need more sleep (or rather, I need my sons to sleep!) before I can think of a favourite lol.

Not relatable but certainly favourite, Mildred Hayes (Three Billboards)

Motherland. Confirmed my decision to be childfree was correct.

Shirley Valentine

I’ve only seen clips but from what I’ve seen I think Daisy’s character in am I being unreasonable is probably a lot like how I parent!

I can also relate to Emma Thompson in Love Actually. I found the gift intended for the OW.

One Fine Day (George Clooney/Michelle Pfeiffer romcom).
It’s shite obviously, but lots of the parenting elements are absolutely bang on and that carries the film for me!!

Same - she comes across as a nightmare, esp all the vitriol she throws at her own mum (rather than her selfish, useless POS husband) for not wanting to look after her fkn kids!

The situations are relatable, but the characters themselves are just massively exaggerated stereotypes, as per every other sitcom.

Motherland is funny but it's not realistic, is it? It's like a mothering trope line-up in the same vein as the Spice Girls... the harassed one, the yummy mummy, the power mummy, the scummy mummy, the ignored one and the emasculated sahd.

It wouldn't be funny if it was realistic, would it?

Jen in dead to me.

Shirley valentine - "hello wall!" 😂

And at this time of year - the scene in Christmas with the Kranks with the hickory honey ham!

Motherland! I see a bit of myself in every character!

Or Lois from family guy in the scene where the baby shouts mummy over and over and when she screams what he said 'Hi'. So funny but so relatable

An old one but I think 2.4 Children had one of the most realistic portrayals of family life. I think it’s the first episode where Bill (the mum) shouts at her daughter that she isn’t a ‘thing’ that just does everything but has feelings too. On iplayer at the moment.

Lois from Malcom in the Middle. She believed in tough love at times but had her kids backs every time.

Yes 😁

Better Things - initially I thought she wasn’t strict enough but by the end has changed my view. She is so great at parenting teens.

Emily in There She Goes. Jessica Hynes was just incredible at portraying a woman whose idea of motherhood was exploded by the challenges her dd faced.

Definitely not Motherland- they're almost all stereotypes and Julia is thoroughly unpleasant- makes a good programme but not relatable at all (apart from the bit where Anne mentions that before motherhood she didn't work at Greggs but was head of product development at GSK, which I thought was a brilliant skewering of the assumptions people - including mothers - make about other mothers).

The best portrayal of a mother I've seen recently was Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

I'm really surprised Motherland isn't seen as relatable. The episode about secondary school choices with Amanda slagging off the the local comp, then Liz declaring it will be fine for her boys, to Julia suddenly discovering religion to get into the Catholic school is basically an exaggeration of the conversations I noticed at year 5 at our school gates.

The Dutches with Kathryn Ryan. Does this make me a bad mother 😆

I couldn't find Motherland any LESS relatable. I don't know anyone who is remotely like any of the characters.

I'll 3rd/4th (?) Emma Thompson in Love Actually. Fortunately I haven't been in that specific situation but have certainly done the quick wipe of tears/game face on to keep everything as normal as possible for the kids.

Outnumbered. Absolutely cracking.

The letdown for the newborn /first year stages.

Motherland for the politics /parent friendships.

Maid had so many wonderful, relatable women in it, particularly the way the high-flying exec who had longed for children found herself overwhelmed and unable to cope with the reality of a new baby; and Alex doing her best to care for Maddy when her depression resurges.

Same as you OP, definitely my life feels very much like Lois from Malcolm in the Middle.

Yes Motherland is full of unpleasant characters and is OTT stereotypes but...

While my DH is brilliant at so many things, it always seemed to be me running around trying to get alternative childcare sorted esp. in the early years, and always rushing always late, so I loved seeing Julia play that out

Yy to the internal seething about the crap expectations and tedium of school events