More recently, Eighth Grade (2018) flips the script. The protagonist, Kayla, is a daughter, but her relationship with her single father is the emotional core. Yet the film’s success invites us to imagine the reverse: what if a teen boy’s most honest, awkward, and loving relationship was with his mother? Shows like The Bear (2022-present) answer that question. The late Donna Berzatto—seen only in flashbacks—is a brilliant, terrifying, and deeply sympathetic portrait of a mother whose mental illness and perfectionism wound her sons irreparably, yet who they cannot stop loving.
The mother-son relationship is also often associated with the Oedipal complex, a concept introduced by Sigmund Freud. The Oedipal complex refers to the psychological phenomenon where a son unconsciously desires his mother and feels rivalry with his father. In cinema and literature, this complex has been explored in various ways. For example, in the film "Psycho" (1960), the character of Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) has a deeply disturbed and Oedipal relationship with his mother, which ultimately leads to tragic consequences. In literature, authors like Dostoevsky and Shakespeare have explored the Oedipal complex in their works. incest russian mom son blissmature 25m04 exclusive
The 20th century, dominated by Freudian theory, reframed the mother-son relationship as a minefield of psychosexual development. Freud’s Oedipus complex suggested that the son’s desire for the mother and rivalry with the father was the crucible of civilization. Literature and cinema responded with fervor. More recently, Eighth Grade (2018) flips the script