Mom (Bao)

Mom is a character who appears in the 2018 Disney/Pixar animated short, Bao.
==Background==
Mom lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband, Dad. When she started eating dumplings for lunch, she notices that one of the dumplings came to life just as she cares for him. Mom spends her life with Dumpling all across Canada from a market, a bakery, and a recreational park as Dumpling continues to grow over the years. As it is shown that Dumpling is trying to be independent, Mom is shown to be overprotective of him fearing that she will lose him much to her frustration of Dumpling trying to get attracted to a fiancée. However, it turns out that Dumpling was not her real son and this sequence is shown to be a dream.
Later, Mom's real son who resembles Dumpling appears in front of her just as he happily reunites with his mother. With her real son reunited, Mom teaches her real son how to make dumplings just like her while her husband happily looks at him with approval.
==Appearances==
===Bao===
Mom is first seen making meat dumplings for lunch and upon making lunch for her husband, they both eat dumplings together while her husband goes to work. Seeing the last dumpling, she attempts to eat it and comes to life revealing himself as an anthropomorphic dumpling growing arms. Reacting to the newborn dumpling, Mom spends her life raising Dumpling throughout her life from exploring Toronto together from strolling across a market, a bakery, and a recreational park as Dumpling continues to grow up over the days. However, one day, Dumpling sees a group of children playing soccer. However, she protects Dumpling from joining the group urging him to stay with her. However, Dumpling continues to join with the kids much to her overprotectiveness. Later at a bus, Mom offers Dumpling a bun for him to eat but he refuses.
Back at home, Mom notices Dumpling taking a can of soda from the fridge while Mom is cooking much to her frowning. She later hears an older Dumpling calling on the phone much to her frustration just as he prevents her from entering. That evening, Mom prepares a feast for Dumpling to have for dinner just as Dumpling denies, planning to go on a hangout with the boys, much to her frustration. That night, Mom angrily finishes eating the feast all by herself and later notices Dumpling introducing his fiancée Cindy to her much to her shock about Dumpling spending more time with Cindy than Mom just as Mom tells Dumpling to stay with her to which he refuses just as she grabs Dumpling to prevent him from hanging out with the fiancée to which she suddenly eats him. With Dumpling eaten, Mom notices that she has no son to take care of just as she mournfully cries for what she has done.
As the whole sequence to turn out to be just an allegorical dream, Dad then notices that his wife is in her room sulking all by herself and tells her that her son is here to which as a figure enters the room, Mom sees the silhouette on the wall resembling Dumpling, which Mom thought Dumpling was back, but it turned out to be Mom's real son. But upon seeing her real son, she tried to ignore him, so Dad tells him to talk to his mother to know where he went, the real son and his mother reunite with each other tearfully. The next day, Mom teaches Son how to make dumplings like her just as his fiancée shows the two the dumplings she made while Dad happily watches him with approval.
During the epilogue, it shows a montage of Mom teaching her son of how to pick the right watermelon at a market, teaching her son how to stir fry just like her, and a family portrait featuring Mom, her family, and Cindy, her son's fiancée.
===Other appearances===
In The Simpsons: May the 12th Be With You, Mom and her son can be briefly sitting next to each other in Marge's car with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum next to them.
==Trivia==
*As evidenced by the production crew, Mom is indeed her name and not just an alias."Making Bao" featurette (Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 3, 2018, Blu-ray).
*If one looks closely in Mom's dining room during the part where she is seen preparing a feast for Dumpling, the telephone seen in the background has only 4 buttons on it.
*In the 2022 Pixar film, Turning Red, the part where Ming Lee prepares dumplings for her daughter, Mei Lee, is an allusion to the beginning of the short where Mom prepares dumplings for her husband. Bao and Turning Red are both directed by Domee Shi.
*Mom ignoring her real son when he first arrived implied that she and her son had a fall out before he left.
==References==
==External links==
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pt-br:Mãe (Bao)
Category:Parents
Category:Pixar characters
Category:Adults
Category:Animated characters
Category:Females
Category:Chinese characters
Category:Spouses
Category:Bao characters
Category:Chefs
Category:Canadian characters
Category:The Simpsons cameos