Both absent and omnipresent: the dead mother in Fleabag

Abstract

ABSTRACTMothers in popular culture are frequently absent, which has varying consequences for their offspring. Whilst such an omission from the plot is often read as indicative of their lack of currency and worth in their children’s lives, this is not necessarily the case. Through an analysis of the British television series Fleabag, a modern fairy tale, this article argues that the absence of the mother can serve to magnify her importance rather than mitigate it, including in the lives of her adult daughters. Thus, the mother’s absence should not necessarily be interpreted as a lack of relevance, although such significance can be both positive and pathogenic. Equally, the presence of the father as the sole parent should not, by the same logic, be automatically read as a form of prioritisation over the maternal figure. Yet what makes Fleabag a particularly fascinating lens through which to study the trope of the absent mother in contemporary popular culture is that despite being dead and thus off screen, the maternal figure is simultaneously absent and omnipresent, repeatedly referenced through breasts. The dead mother is thus a constant presence, despite—and perhaps even as a result of—her absence.