Momma's Boy: Difference between revisions

[[File:mommasboy 8550.png|frame|The smile says, "Yes, mommy." The eyes say, "[[Thousand-Yard Stare|I'm dead inside]]."]]

 

 

If a guy is excessively devoted to his mother and he's not obviously a [[Sensitive Guy and Manly Man|manly man, then he will be seen as a sensitive guy]] even if he doesn't act like one. His mother might try to completely dominate his life, to the point of telling him who to marry (and if he disobeys then she'll try to ruin his relationship or at least ruin her life too) turning him into a '''Momma's Boy''': hopeless with women, timid, weak, and lacking the spirit to stand up to his mother. His father will be absent or [[Henpecked Husband|just as browbeaten]]. On the other hand, if he does stand up to her then he's not a '''Momma's Boy''', even though she's still [[My Beloved Smother]].

 

 

A young boy has a better chance of escaping mommy's patronage than an adult—who will, if anything, end up with a domineering wife instead. Sometimes an [[Oedipus Complex]] is involved. Rescue is unlikely: there aren't many [[Action Girl]]s running around looking for poor oppressed boys. So there's the real danger that Momma's boy will grow old alone, until [[My Beloved Smother|smother]] dies, when it's too late to change their ways and set right what went wrong.

 

Compare [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]. See [[Mommy Issues]] for when this trope gets violent. See also [[All Take and No Give]]. The [[Distaff Counterpart]], [[Daddy's Girl]], is less often portrayed as inherently a bad thing.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Gohan and Goten in ''[[Dragonball Z]]''. In GT, Goten is nearly thirty and still living with Mom, while Gohan is pushing forty and lives right next-door with his wife and daughter. Chichi is overly strict with Gohan and seems to have realized her mistakes and been overly lenient with Goten, but both sons love her dearly.

* Ash Ketchum from ''[[Pokémon]]''. [[Justified Trope|Why wouldn't he be one?]] His mother is [[Disappeared Dad|the only family he has]], and he understandably flips out if something bad happens to her (see also: the third movie, ''Spell of the Unown'').

* [[Moe Anthropomorphism|Greece]] from ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' remains devoted to the memory of his mother long after her death, working to excavate the ruins and pass on the myths she left behind. This is not portrayed negatively (his mother ''was'' the great [[Ancient Greece]], after all) and while some fanfics have his [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis]] Turkey mock him with this trope, it's usually presented as just a petty insult and Greece's relationship with his mother is usually portrayed positively/sympathetically in them.

* Sometimes in Hare+Guu; even though Hare often gets fed up with his [[Bottle Fairy]] mother, he is still quite devoted.

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Superman]] is very much a momma's boy and will proudly proclaim to anyone who asks (and even those who don't) that his mother made his costume for him.

* Chas Chandler in ''[[Hellblazer]]''.

* The ''Whizzer and Chips'' character ''Mummy's Boy'', but he is only a boy, there's time.

* [[Iron Man|War Machine]] has some characteristics of this trope. He tries to do good deeds like stopping acts of genocide and thwarting likes of [[Dark Reign (comics)|Norman Osborn]] so his mother can be proud of him.

 

== Film ==

* Norman Bates from ''[[Psycho]]'' must be the creepiest and most dominated example of this in film history. Even though {{spoiler|he kills his mother, she still dominates him from beyond the grave.}}

* Alex Sebastian from ''[[Notorious]]''. He's not as obvious an example as Norman Bates, but his mother still has her hooks in good and deep. {{spoiler|Alex manages to stand up to her by marrying Alicia. Unfortunately, Alicia turns out to be a American spy, and so Alex's mother is able to step in and exert control again}}

* Grendel in ''[[Beowulf (film)|Beowulf]]''. It's more obvious in [[The Movie]].

* Mikey in...''Momma's Man.''

* Owen in ''[[Throw Momma from the Train]]''.

* German comedy ''Ödipussi''. He gets better, which is symbolized when he pulls down his mother's hat over her face.

* Ernest Borgnine's title character in ''Marty''. His cousin Tommy is one too.

 

 

 

* [[Oblomov]] shares many characteristics with them, although his father isn't absent and also never shown to be a typical [[Henpecked Husband]].

* ''[[In Death]]'': Bobby from ''Memory In Death'' is this for his mother Trudy Lombard. He is told by Eve at the end that his [[Manipulative Bitch]] of a wife killed his [[Manipulative Bitch]] of a mother, and she would have killed him too. He knows that she is giving it to him straight, but he is unable to accept it. He is a victim to Eve cannot reach, and is clearly pitiable.

*** His traumatic growing up scene begins with straying out too far into the morning, following the scent of a newborn calf. He finds it to be "as sweet as his mama's milk". Once again, he REMEMBERS. How old was he when this happened...eleven, maybe?

* [[Return to Neverend|David Inari's]] reaction to his mother's death caused him to withdraw from society at large and stop visiting the land he and she had created. {{spoiler|His fixation is responsible for creating the White Queen.}}

 

* Dabney from ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' takes this trope to a hilarious extreme when Dabney says "I know you think I'm a momma's boy", in which Malcolm replies "No, the momma's boys are laughing at you with their mothers!".

* Sylar from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is definitely an example.

{{quote|"I suddenly have this image of [[Cloudcuckoolander|Cliff]] as being heroically well-adjusted."}}

* Surprisingly, ''[[Hell's Kitchen|Chef Gordon Ramsay'']]. Yes, I said [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|Gordon]] [[Cluster F-Bomb|Ramsay]]. He actually cleans up his language around her.

* Ted from ''[[Scrubs]]'', occasionally taking it to creepy levels.

* Ronnie Corbett's character Timothy Lumsden from ''Sorry'', whole point of the series, which outstayed its welcome despite [[British Brevity]].

* William, later known as Spike, in flashbacks on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. He is devoted to his mother as a human (and it's his first defining relationship), and even turns her into a vampire after Drusilla turns him because she was dying of tuberculosis. [[I Hate You, Vampire Dad|She's not particularly grateful, though,]] so he stakes her, though it obviously pains him to do it.

* Mr. Wick in ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]''. Mimi offending her once managed to press his [[Berserk Button]].

** Frank was also frequently depicted as regarding Hot Lips herself as a kind of surrogate mother figure...making their relationship more than a little [[Squick]]-y.

* Nina from ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'' dated a hunky actor who was really a momma's boy. It wasn't till the end of that episode that he showed how much of a momma's boy he really was.

* Gene Simmons of ''[[Gene Simmons Family Jewels]]'' is a self proclaimed momma's boy.

* Mr. Humphries from ''[[Are You Being Served?|Are You Being Served]]''.

* Jason Teague of ''[[Smallville]]'''s fourth season is a scary example, functioning as his [[Evil Matriarch]] of a mother's [[The Dragon|Dragon]]. She's more or less destroyed his self-esteem to the point where he can't do anything else.

* Mitchell on ''[[Modern Family]]'' is said to be this by his partner Cameron:

{{quote|There's a fish in nature that swims around with its babies in its mouth. That fish would look at Mitchell's relationship with his mother and say, "That's messed up."}}

** Cameron's not one to talk though as he's very close to '''his''' mother. To the extent that he doesn't believe Mitchell when he says she's always inappropriately touching him.

 

== Music ==

* The Suzi Quatro song "Mama's Boy"; she wishes he was more manly.

* The Wilco song "Misunderstood" has the line ''You know you're just a mama's boy''.

 

 

== Radio ==

'''Mr. Burling:''' That is precisely what people are thinking when they laugh about it. }}

 

* ''[[Oedipus the King|Oedipus Rex]]''. Now excuse me while I get the [[Brain Bleach]].

** In his defence, he [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy|didn't know]] until after the [[Squick]]. And in fact [[Eye Scream|his immediate reaction]] was pretty much the [[Ur Example]] of [[Brain Bleach]].

* Nero in ''Britannicus''. The play describes Nero's attempt to break free from Agrippina. Let's just say it ends badly.

* The title character of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Coriolanus]]'' is presented as upholding [[Knight Templar|the most rigid ultra-conservative version of Roman virtue]] in order to impress his mother, and suffers a [[Villainous Breakdown]] when his mother denounces him for turning against Rome because the city had [[Defector From Decadence|failed to live up to his ideals]].

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Tokimeki Memorial]] Girl's Side'''s flamboyant artist, Mihara Shiki, loves his mommy and doesn't mind saying so. In this case it's not exactly presented as a negative so much as simply an indication of his quirkiness - for example, in one of his events he drapes himself against a bust he made of his mother, lamenting that she's not there right now, giving the heroine the impression that his mother is dead... but no, she's at home making dinner.

* Jin Kazama from the highly-popular 3D fighting series ''Tekken''

 

== Web Original ==

{{quote|"My mummy says I'm a good boy!"}}

* Silverwing of the [[Whateley Universe]]. He even let her pick out his courses when he went to [[Super-Hero School]] Whateley Academy, which is why he's a sophomore only now taking freshman martial arts.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Modo of ''[[Biker Mice From Mars]]'', only [[Bruiser with a Soft Center|he's no wimp.]]

* Tohru in ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]''.

* ''[[Johnny Bravo]]''.

* Principal Skinner in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', even drawing references from ''Psycho''. Also, Bart Simpson to a lesser extent. (it's a more [[My Beloved Smother]] kind-of thing.)

* Bud Manstrong in ''[[The Venture Bros]]''.

** Tobey, a young [[Evil Genius]] who can bring his city to its knees with his large robots and gives the title heroine a run for her money...but is very often thwarted when his mother appears, snatches away his controls, and drags him away by his ear.

* It's especially creepy with Todd in ''[[Code Monkeys]]''.

* [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Prince Zuko]] - his mother was the best and steadiest influence on his life, until she vanished mysteriously. When he struggles with the morally right thing to do, the idea of what his mother would want of him is never far away.

* [[Chowder|Gazpacho]], full stop.

 

== Real Life ==

*** All the ones who invited their parents to a ceremony involving a white dress, rings, and a big cake. It's usually a big clue.

* [[Jorge Luis Borges]] was like this too. One example: when he was in his 60s, he was offered some wine, and his mother said, "The boy doesn't drink wine." Note that he had become blind at that time, if you wonder why his mother still had to care for him.

* [[Michael Jackson]] adored his mother Katherine, and apparently so did everyone else according to his memorial ("Mrs. Jackson... [[My Friends and Zoidberg|and Joe]]"). If I recall correctly, one of the first things Michael did when he became a successful solo artist was to throw a big birthday party for her, which nearly backfired horribly because she is a devout Jehovah's Witness (they compromised by having all the gifts "wrapped" in plain brown bags).

* Former World Heavyweight Boxing Champ Lennox Lewis' autobigraphy was even entitled "Mommas Boy". Not that I would call him on it or anything.

* [[Adolf Hitler]] seems to have been one of these. [[Josef Stalin]], too.

{{quote|[[The Producers|Franz Liebkind]]: The Fuhrer wasn't a mousy little mama's boy! The Fuhrer was BUTCH!}}

* The Roman Emperor Severus Alexander, who was only fourteen when his mother arranged for him to come to power. She was known as 'Mother of Augustus, and of the camps, and of the senate, and of the Fatherland', in case anyone was in any doubt about who was really in charge. Eventually, they were both murdered.

* Ronnie and Reggie Kray were notorious [[London Gangster]]s, "but they loved their mum".

* NFL receiver Andre Johnson, after being goaded into a fistfight with opposing cornerback Cortland Finnegan, was later asked in an interview what his mother thought about it. He responded that he'd rather not say what his 'Momma' said about him fighting.

[[Category:All the Tropes Superhero Team]]

[[Category:Double Standard]]

[[Category:Son of Trope, Daughter of Index]]