Thursday Movie Picks: Bad Parents

I don't talk from experience as I don't have kids and I plan on keeping it that way but parenting is not easy. You can read books, you can ask people, but the truth is you'll never be prepared enough to be a good parent. But at least most try. For this week's Thursday Movie Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves, we are looking at parents who do not try or if they do try, they fail miserably. 

Carrie (1976)

Based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, De Palma's movie tells the story of Carrie (Sissy Spacek), a shy 17-year-old whose classmate constantly makes fun of. Things get a little out of control when she gets her first period. 

Bad parent: Margaret White, Carrie's religious fanatic mother who constantly tries to save her daughter from moral and spiritual corruption without realising she's doing more damage than good. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

The Guardians are now recognized as heroes but after stealing some extremely valuable batteries, their spaceship is attacked and they crash on a planet. There they meet Ego (Kurt Russell), a man who claims to be Quill's father, and they soon find that they are up against a devastating new menace. 

Bad parent: Ego. He abandoned his son as a child (but at least he didn't chop off his hand) and then, once he's grown up and all, he plans on using him to conquer the world. And when Peter learns that, Ego tries to kill him. 

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

After the rebels are overpowered by the Empire on the ice planet Hoth, while Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) begins his Jedi training, Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) are pursued by Darth Vader.

Bad parent: Darth Vader, duh. As if leaving Luke (and Leia) to join the dark side was not enough, he goes as far as chopping off his son's hand and after that, he reveals that he is his father. He is quite possibly the worst father in the universe.