Mothers in film and television often don't get to be complex characters, according to Felicia D. Henderson, an associate professor in the School of Communication at Northwestern University. 'Mom' is their whole identity.
Henderson, writer and director of the film 'The Rebel Girls,' points out that fictitious dad like sexist Al Bundy ('Married With Children') and deceptive Daniel Hillard ('Mrs. Doubtfire') are often remembered dearly.
We rarely say men are terrible fathers when they, for example, work 80 hours a week, whereas the same mothers might be called 'absent,' points out Henderson. 'The thinking is, if you are not a good mother, then what is your worth?'
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