Think: in the past 48 hours, what profound wisdom has your mum imparted to your otherwise naive and unworldly self? In my case, such essential advice has included: maybe charge your phone before embarking on a replacement flight for an airline that’s just declared bankruptcy; to be a good leader is to be a good listener; you’re allowed to actually smile in photos you know.
Right? They are a fountain of knowledge on everything, except maybe the prerequisite number of exclamation marks a Whatsapp requires. So it holds that they are good at giving advice on being a mother — something Winona Ryder took advantage on before her role in Stranger Things.
In the Netflix hit she plays Joyce, mother of Will, the boy who goes missing. Talking to Marie Claire about how she tapped into that mindset, Winona explains that, before filming, she called up her mum and said, “Mom, if every bit of logic is telling you your kid is gone, would you still [refuse to believe it]?'” To which her mum replied, “Absolutely”. “What if they show you a body?” Winona continued. “If you don’t see it happen, you don’t believe it,” her mum responded.
Obviously it was excellent advice, because a) mums are always right and b) Winona’s performance was heart-wrenchingly incredible. Perhaps a bit too heavy on the wrenching part though, according to Ryder: “I may have gone too far: it seemed like every day I was crying or freaking out”.
But given the fact my mum just inexplicably linked me to an article warning about the increasing prevalence of the Shigella virus alongside the words ‘hand wash’, I’d say ‘too far’ isn’t really an option is the realm of motherhood