I think the technical explanation for why we don’t see Andy’s father is because Pixar hadn’t gotten very far with human characters yet during Toy Story, and that’s why most of the human characters you really get to see in the 1st one are kids like Andy, Molly, Sid, and Hannah (and the adults like Andy’s mom are mostly in shots where they avoid showing their faces). I guess by the time they made Al in Toy Story 2 they finally figured out doing adults.
As for storytelling reasons I would most likely think it was a divorce since he’s not seen or mentioned at all in any of the movies.
Sids father was in toy story 1, he was asleep watching tv in an armchair in the upstairs room when buzz sees the commercial for Al’s toy barn and finds out he is only a toy.
I like the idea of woody being handed down by andy’s father, makes sense seeing how vintage woody is, i always wondered how andy got such a rare doll to grow up with.
IF he was divorced. I think it would of came up, also in the 1st Toy Story 3 trailer with footage there was a picture with his Andy’s family and i am sure if they would take pictures his dad. Unless Andy’s dad hates Andy’s mom that much
he could be in the military or something. Or an astronaut. I dunno. Something time consuming so that he wouldnt be around whether they were divorced or not.
wow… i’ve never even though about Andy’s father. for some reason, the question of where his father is never crossed my mind. weird… i usually question things like this. haha.
I don’t know what official reasons have been given, but I’m in the camp that believes Andy’s father is dead. (Also that Woody belonged to Dad, who gave him to Andy, and part of Andy’s attachment to Woody is that Woody is a link back to Andy’s memories of his dad.)
IncredigirlVirginia, I’m not sure I understand your comment. Andy’s Mom would still be called Mrs. Davis even if her husband/Andy’s father were dead.
From the filmmakers’ point of view, I agree with Lizardgirl’s post early in the thread about them not needing/wanting to animate any more human characters than they had to. In addition, from a story point of view - adding Andy’s Dad to the story means that they would have one more human to account for and get/keep out of the way when the toys are active.
John Lasseter confirms Woody is a handmedown, and the most likely case is that Mrs. Davis is widowed. I mean, Mrs. Davis says that Woody is a cherished family toy at the yard sale, so that almost confirms it.
I believe she’s referring to the fact that it’s mRs. rather than MS. (Misses=married, miss=unmarried) Although I’m not sure what your title becomes when widowed, or if it’s even a rule to retain “Mrs.” or revert to"Ms."
That’s what I’m saying. He’s dead, because if he was DIVORCED, her name would NOT be Mrs. Davis. You thought you wete disagreeing, but you just restated what I said.
Responding to YouUnculturedSwine’s post - I think, in traditional use, a widow is still a “Mrs.,” and “Miss” only refers to a woman who has never been married. “Ms.” is a very recent title (starting in the 1970s) that some women preferred because it did not define a woman by her marital status (not to get into a big socio-political discussion). Any woman can be a Ms., married, single, widowed, divorced; it’s really just a matter of preference.
I’ve been trying to get a grip of the days of the week the movie(s) have been set in, because from there we could work out if Mrs. Davis was working, and possibly reveal if she is widowed or not though that. If she was divorced, a source of income would be needed, but, if she wasn’t, then the Davis family might be living through what Mr. Davis left when he died, i.e. income insurance.
Phileas - I have two explanations for Andy’s mom being at home - Either she was switching jobs in the move and had left her old job already, or she was taking time off to do the move.
Or, she could be a teacher on summer break since the movie seems like it is set in summer - no school, and lots of families with kids in school move during the summer, so switching schools is easier.