Mothers Day is celebrated around the world at varying times. This weekend it is Mothers Day in New Zealand and so it is an appropriate time to take a look at those such motherly figures in the Tribe Worldview.
There are a lot of motherly type characters in the Tribe, whether or not they even have their own children. Perhaps it is an instinct of the older girls in the Mall to take responsibility and look after the younger ones since there are no more adults to direct them.
Salene loved kids, really responded to and had a chance to bond with Brady when Trudy was going through a tough patch. She also had a motherly nature when she took the children from around the community under her wings.
Amber was not really a motherly type, but the children looked up to her. She did, however, look after Dal while trying to survive the ways of the new world without adults. Her protective nature also came to the fore when Cloe was almost spotted by the Locos in the very beginning of The Tribe, she ran out to save her and then hid her away out of sight.
Patsy loved kids, even at her young age she had an urge to look after them. BUT when she did, UUUUHhhh-oooo. She managed to let Brady out of her sight for a minute and The Chosen stole her! She also had aspirations of parenting. She loved to try out her cooking talents on the Mall Rats.
Alice (as Ellie`s sister) was a mother figure, and had taken on this responsibility as well as that of taking over and looking after the farm since their parents had passed away from the virus. She did all the cooking and cleaning, helped Ellie to learn the ways of the farm and of survival. As any normal child would do, Ellie often rebelled against Alice as a `mother`, especially when it came to her moving to the city away from the farm. Alice was very protective over her and didn`t want any harm or unnecessary trouble to come her way.
She had quite a domineering personality and loved to exert her `tone` as discipline on the younger children. This often seemed the only way to get people like KC motivated to do anything constructive around the Mall.
She was protective in other ways too. She was determined to look after Tai San and the making of and safety of the antidote. She made it her responsibility to look after her well being.
Trudy is the `Supreme Mother`, at least she is, as seen by the Chosen. Because she had Zoot`s baby they worshipped her. Once Trudy had got over the loss of her parents and then Zoot, she became a hugely responsible, protective and mature young woman.
Interestingly enough very few of the boys in the Tribe regularly bonded with the children at all in a parental way like the girls did. This exemplifies the motherly instinct of girls. There were however some that were more responsible than others, such as Bray, Ryan and Dal, who looked out for everyone`s well being and maintained a strong feeling of closeness with them. Others characters were often only out for No. 1! ie Lex, KC and The Guardian.
On a behind the scenes note: When the cast are all living together during filming, they are like one big family, a Tribe of their own in a sense, with the older ones often looking after the younger members of Cast!
Here is a gorgeous picture of Ryan Runciman – (RYAN) in the Green Room between scenes looking after a sleeping Gergia Taylor-Woods – (BRADY).
