If you
didn’t gather it in my review of the film, I’ll say it again: I was really impressed with how much I like
this character. Traditionally, Rapunzel
is one of the more passive fairytale princess, and that’s a subset with quite a
bit of competition. And then, when you
throw in all the hair stuff, you have a stagnant damsel whose beauty is
literally objectified – as in, her hair is used as an object by those around
her. Not exactly sterling source
material. Tangled, though, weaves magic with its delightful heroine.
First,
I like that the film addresses, in its very light, kid-friendly way, some of
the effects of growing up in a tower, being left completely alone for long
stretches of time, and knowing only one other human being (coincidently, her
abductor/pseudo-mother.) She’s
ravenously curious about the world outside, but it also fills her with fears
and anxieties created largely by Mother Gothel’s tales of the horrors lurking
around every corner below. While the
image of her bare foot touching the grass for the first time is a stirring one,
it’s immediately followed a montage of hard cuts between elation, panic,
wonder, and despondency. Her notions of
the world are as fanciful as they are incomplete – I don’t think she quite has
an understanding of what a man is until Flynn shows up in her tower – and she
can sometimes get defensive about this, feigning much greater awareness than
she actually has.
Granted,
a young woman who was raised high above the rest of the world with only her
kidnapper for company would in fact be a lot more messed up than Rapunzel
really is. But that would also be seriously dark for Disney, and let’s
face it – their heroines are usually much better-adjusted than they have any
right to be (Cinderella, anyone?) So,
Rapunzel’s neuroses and naiveté are mostly charming, mixed in with sweetness,
grit, and ingenuity. I would imagine
knowing her to be a pretty novel experience, so it’s no wonder she manages to
win so many people over so thoroughly and so quickly.
I love
that, despite her fear at leaving her gilded cage, she pushes herself past it
to keep pursuing her goal, which is to solve a beautiful mystery that she’s
sure has something to do with her. Even
when Flynn is deliberately trying to scare her into cutting her excursion
short, she doesn’t turn back. I also
love that her chief motivator is her longing to know. It’s a very personal quest (in fact, she
doesn’t realize how personal until
much later in the film,) and really, it’s something just for her. For a lot of Disney princesses, they’re
incited to action by others, be it for romance (Ariel,) survival (Snow White,)
or family (Belle, Mulan, Anna.)
Nothing’s wrong with any of the above, of course, but it makes a nice
change to see one who’s mainly going after something she truly wants. And that that something is
understanding? Even better.
In my
review, I already talked about my adoration for the various ways Rapunzel uses
her hair, but it bears repeating. Like I
said, it takes this magnified aspect of her appearance, one that’s instrumental
in maintaining her captivity, and makes it a tool in her hands. She uses it, of course, to climb, but also to
swing, to tie up intruders, to lasso, and to light up dark places (the magic
helps in that last instance.) It’s one
thing to animate her with insanely long hair and say it’s never been cut, but
her relationship with it really feels
like it’s never been cut. She’s had it
long enough to learn endless ways of using it to her advantage, and she’s
developed quite the talent for dreaming up inventive new uses for it in a
pinch.
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