Lesson 7) At Last I See the Light (Tangled)
In today's lesson, there will be three guest appearances: Professors Belle Aretina and August Rubedo (Mythology Track: https://www.facebook.com/HiHMythologicalStudies), Serafina Rosenquist (our new Co-Professor of Alchemy - https://www.facebook.com/pages/HiH-Alchemy/1489215904694295), and Lily Tudor (Herbology: https://www.facebook.com/hogwartsishereherbology).
I am extremely thrilled to welcome back Professor Cattercorn who has helped me out immensely by volunteering to take on two lessons this week! Give her a big hand, everyone.
EH
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Lesson 7: At Last I See the Light (Tangled)
Hello everyone and welcome back to the 7th Disney Lit Week lesson. I am Professor Cattercorn and I am more than excited to be back for the second time this week! Today we are going to be discussing my favorite story (and favorite Disney princess!), the tale of Rapunzel. Before we jump into the film, Professor Hart will introduce you to the original fairy tale, since you will be discussing various genres, including fairy tales, in Magical Literature Year 4.
The Story of Rapunzel
Hello everyone! I am only jumping in here to discuss the source text for this lesson (and the making of the film), so please bear with me for a bit.
The earliest recorded “hair ladder” motif can be traced back to 10th-century Persia, specifically to an author known as Ferdowsi (932-1025 A.D.). The story can also be traced to Italy, Greece, and France. But it was Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (1650-1724) who broke with other writers' versions of the story. Force was a lady-in-waiting at the court of King Louis XIV and she claimed that her version of Rapunzel ("Persinette" 1697) was completely her own creation (Conte 132). This was most likely because it was almost four times longer than any previous (and future) versions. Force's version was eventually translated, word for word, into German by Friedrich Schulz who included it under the name "Rapunzel" (German for "rampion" - a vegetable) in his 1790 work Kleine Romane. Influenced by Force's and Schulz's version, the Brothers Grimm cut the version (1812) down and made slight alterations. In their 1819 edition, they lengthened the story again, and this time refer to the fairy as a sorceress (and in later versions, a witch).
But what ties most versions together is the "witch"--aka Mother Gothel--who, in Rumpelstiltskin fashion, takes a child not her own from a peasant man and his dying wife, raises the girl as her own, locking her in a tower away from the world. One day, a prince wanders by and hears Rapunzel's sweet singing voice, and asks to be brought up by her hair. The two fall in love and the Prince asks Rapunzel to be his wife. One day, when the witch returns, Rapunzel asks Mother Gothel why it's easier to pull up the Prince than her. Livid, the witch discovers that Rapunzel is pregnant with twins.
Wait, what? Yes, Rapunzel gets pregnant! Although the prince asks Rapunzel to be his wife, they never actually leave the tower to be formally married. Therefore, Rapunzel gives birth to the children out of wedlock. But not before the witch cuts off Rapunzel's hair and hides her away in another forest so the Prince can never find her. When the Prince returns to collect Rapunzel to take her back with him to his father's kingdom, he discovers Mother Gothel instead. She informs the Prince that he will never see Rapunzel again. Consumed by grief, the Prince jumps from the tower; however, he survives the fall, but goes blind and wanders the forest for years, alone.
One day, his wanderings bring him to the same forest where Rapunzel and her two children reside. Hearing Rapunzel's voice, he approaches her and she, upon recognizing him, throws her arms around him. The tears she sheds trickle into his eyes, and his vision is eventually restored. With their children, the Prince and Rapunzel return to his father's kingdom and live happily ever after.
While the skeleton of Disney’s Tangled (2010) resembles the original Rapunzel plot, Disney’s adaptation tells the story of a princess who is stolen from a King and Queen by a woman who appears to possess no magical powers. Unlike the original story, Disney's Mother Gothel has very little interest in Rapunzel; she merely wishes to use her for her hair's magical qualities. Qualities that cannot only heal pain, but also--apparently--restore life. The Grimm's version mentions magical tears, but there is no explanation for them. It is a fairy tale, after all.
Disney's version certainly reinforces Rapunzel's innocence, as her fairy tale counterpart, in her own innocence, doesn't even understand that she's pregnant (or even understand what it means to be pregnant). However, Disney's Rapunzel has a lot more spunk and clearly demonstrates her longing for a life beyond the tower--not because of a man, but because of her own dream.
Let's take a quick peak at how they designed the film!
The animators wanted to bring back the "founding" fairy tale motifs (the grand castle and the wide open countryside) in order to capture the Disney magic. Disney animators also channeled 18th century paintings:
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, "The Swing" (1767) Lisa Keene, "The Swing" (re-designed, digitally)
Although Tangled was, in fact, the "brain child" of Disney veteran Glen Keane, it was his daughter, Claire Keane (via thousands of drawings over the course of six years) that brought Rapunzel's character to life. She was also responsible for designing Amy Adams' costumes in Disney's Enchanted (2007).
Even though Disney, especially in Tangled and Frozen, began to push the limits of animation even further than ever before (even beyond The Princess and the Frog's highly "modernized" animation), the animators still remained (mostly) true to the time periods that the characters originate from in terms of their costumes. For example, to emphasize that Mother Gothel existed centuries before Rapunzel's time, her dress is clearly from the medieval period, while Rapunzel's clothes can be placed roughly in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. In this sense, Tangled's animators not only successfully make a time that was "long ago" and a land that was "far away" accessible to modern audiences, but also bring this time and place to life using a combination of CGI, traditional animation, and non-photorealistic rendering to make us feel as if we have fallen into a classical painting. Adding to the "Classic" feel of this movie is composer Alan Menken (click link for his work), who has been there since the beginning of the "Disney Renaissance" period.
The film spent six years in production, at an estimate cost of $260 million, which would technically make it (at this point in time), the most expensive animated film ever made and the fourth most expensive film of all time. The film was nominated for many awards, including Best Original Song, earning $591 million in worldwide box office revenue. Tangled, similar to its "icy" twin (Frozen) three years later, produced a short animated sequel, Tangled Ever After, which was released in 2012.
Like most Disney films, Tangled begins with a narrated story. However, this narrator is somewhat different from his predecessors, as he not only appears to be connected to the story, but also tells the story from memory, as in, that the story has already happened. While the original fairy tales narrate the story up until the "present", the point where we, as an audience, "step in", Tangled's narrator recognizes his place in the fairy tale tradition by self-consciously "reaching out" to his audience.
"This is the story of how I died" the narrator begins, practically echoing Disney's The Emperor's New Groove (2000) in its almost "media res" (in the middle of things) narrative tone. He reassures his audience that the story isn't a tragedy and that the story "isn't even [his]" which emphasizes (and clearly sets up) the narrative as a comedy. We know immediately that our story's narrator is a bandit (evidenced by the fact that we're staring at his "Wanted" photo as he narrates) and that he is, most likely, connected to the story's main heroine: "a girl". Moreover, he also points out specific things for his audience to pay attention to: "Oh, you see that old woman there? You might want to remember her. She's kinda important."
These specific details point to the fact that, while Tangled's opening clearly participates in the old "Once upon a time" tradition of storytelling, the film's choice of narrator (and narrative frame) clearly gestures to modern audiences and how we too want to be part of the story, even if it is just at the level of audience participation.
Back to you Professor Cattercorn!
A (not so) Quick Synopsis
As narrated in Tangled's opening: a long time ago, a drop of sunlight fell from the heavens and touched the earth. From the earth grew a flower. This flower had the capability to heal any injury and to reverse aging.
Only one woman had ever discovered the magical golden flower and she used it in order to gain immortality for hundreds of years. She sang an enchantment to the flower to activate its magic. This woman, called Mother Gothel, had greed in her heart and hid the flower from everyone.
Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Corona, the Queen had received news that she would have a child. Shortly after, she grew very sick and was nearing death. The people in the kingdom were running out of options and began to search for anything that could heal her. Miraculously, the magic flower was found by Corona’s soldiers.
They take the plant back to the palace, where its magical properties are extracted and placed into a potion. It was given to the Queen who is finally healed. The Queen gives birth to a healthy girl with beautiful golden hair, named Rapunzel. The entire Kingdom of Corona celebrates and the King and Queen release a lantern into the sky to tell of the princess’s birth.
One night, Gothel sneaks into the castle and discovers that the princess retained the flower’s magic in her hair. Gothel plans on stealing a lock of her hair by cutting it. Upon cutting it, the lock of hair turns brown and the magic is lost. Gothel realizes that the only way she can stay young is by stealing Rapunzel.
She takes the child from the castle and isolates her in a hidden tower. She raises the child as her own. The kingdom searches everywhere for the Lost Princess, but she is never found. Every year on Rapunzel’s birthday, the King and Queen release thousands of lanterns into the night sky hoping that their daughter will see them and find her way home.
The film skips ahead to three days before Rapunzel’s 18th birthday. Her hair has not been cut since she was a baby and is now 70 feet long. Hair that, according to Director Byron Howard, made the animators go a "little pale" at first when he told them how he wanted them to animate it. To help animators emulate how real hair moves, they brought in a model with five-foot long hair. To make it look real, Rapunzel's hair had to have as many as 140,000 strands (for close-ups). They also used a simulation engine, which contained tubes (each one attached to 30-40 controls) that animators could manipulate to reflect the movement of actual hair.
Without Glen Keane's help, the team felt like it wouldn't have been possible. Keane was responsible for the creation of Ariel, the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Tarzan. In fact, Keane often drew over many of the animators' backgrounds, giving them what Byron Howard described as a "master class in animation". Many animators often gushed, saying, "Oh my God, I can't wait for Glen Keane to draw over my stuff."
Back to the story!
Feeling restless, Rapunzel wonders when her life will finally begin:
The princess, hopeful that her “mother” will see her as a strong adult woman, asks if she can go see the floating lights that appear in the sky on her birthday. Gothel denies her request, all while belittling her and claiming that she could never survive in the real world. After a heated argument and a catchy song, Gothel leaves to run an errand.
Flynn Rider, who has just stolen Rapunzel’s crown and is being chased by soldiers, spots the hidden tower and climbs it to escape. Rapunzel knocks him out with her handy frying pan and hides him in her closet. She finds the crown in his satchel before hiding them. Once Gothel returns, Rapunzel intends to reveal Flynn Rider to her in order to prove that she is capable of taking care of herself. Mother Gothel, knowing where the conversation is going, becomes furious; Rapunzel is discouraged and instead requests a special kind of paint. Since it will take Gothel three days to retrieve the paint, Rapunzel decides to leave immediately.
Flynn Rider awakens from his unconscious state and panics upon realization that his satchel is missing. Rapunzel reveals that it has been concealed and proposes that if Rider guides her to the lanterns, she will return the satchel. Rider gives in, and the two depart.
Meanwhile, Gothel sees a horse from the kingdom that has no rider and becomes terrified that Rapunzel may have been discovered by a soldier. She runs back to the tower and finds that she is indeed missing. Gothel notices the crown inside the hidden satchel and a wanted flyer with Flynn Rider’s name on it.
She begins to hunt down Rapunzel and in the process discovers two thugs that are hunting down Flynn Rider- the man she presumed to be escorting Rapunzel. The three of them team up and begin to search.
Flynn and Rapunzel, who at first do not particularly like each other, journey to the kingdom, along the way being chased by knights and Mother Gothel and her newly acquired henchmen. After a series of exciting events, Rapunzel and Flynn become trapped in a flooding cave. Believing that the end is upon him, Flynn confesses that his real name is Eugene Fitzherbert and in return, Rapunzel reveals that her hair has magical properties. They realize that her hair is the key to their escape. Once they get out of the cave, Rapunzel heals Eugene, who had hurt his hand previously.
Eugene leaves briefly to find more firewood. Gothel appears to Rapunzel and gives her the crown, daring her to see if Eugene would leave her for it. Gothel leaves, and Rapunzel hides the crown again.
On the morning of her birthday, Rapunzel and Eugene finally enter the kingdom and they participate in all of the festivities being held throughout the day. When the evening arrives, Eugene takes Rapunzel to a boat, where they finally watch the beautiful scene of the lanterns filling the night sky. Here, Rapunzel gives Eugene the crown back.
When Eugene spots the thugs across the lake, he takes the boat to the shore and tells Rapunzel that he will shortly return. He intends to give the crown to the thugs and come back to Rapunzel, but instead they tie him and the crown to a boat to make it look like he is abandoning her and Eugene is arrested when he reaches the castle. The two thugs then try to kidnap Rapunzel before Mother Gothel comes to her rescue and takes her back to the tower.
At the tower, Rapunzel’s memory is triggered and she realizes that she is the Lost Princess and challenges Gothel.
Meanwhile, Eugene is being rescued by some friendly “ruffians” he and Rapunzel met the previous day. Eugene narrowly escapes and makes it to the tower where Gothel stabs him with a dagger. Helpless, Rapunzel sacrifices herself to Gothel in return for allowing her to save Eugene’s life. Rapunzel attempts to save Eugene, but he cuts off all of her hair, saving her instead.
The magic in Rapunzel’s hair is gone, and has now turned brown, and Gothel’s true age is revealed. Distraught by her appearance, she falls out of the tower and turns to dust. But Eugene has, by this point, already died. Rapunzel cries and sings to him. A tear lands on his cheek and he is revived.
It's a miracle! Rapunzel and Eugene return to the castle and Rapunzel reunites with her family and the kingdom celebrates. And of course, Eugene and Rapunzel get married (in the sequel) and live happily ever after.
Mother Knows Best
I wanted to discuss some recurring themes before we got into the magic of Tangled. The computer-animated film’s target audience was generally very young. But the movie itself was rather dark; there were mature themes that were most likely not understood by some children.The character Gothel was the villainess of the film, and while her villainy was not entirely conventional, it was still just as treacherous. Gothel was an expert manipulator and she often emotionally abused Rapunzel in order to get what she wanted. Gothel repeatedly told our heroine that she could never “handle herself” in the real world, that she was too naive and fragile.
In fact, Rapunzel put herself down several times after finally leaving the tower because she believed that she was the one who had done something wrong. In her mind, Gothel was just trying to keep her safe.
The villainess’s goal was to make Rapunzel fearsome of the outside world so that she could have her to herself. Gothel treated Rapunzel like an object, often speaking to her as the magic golden flower that once was. She would constantly touch and kiss her hair, calling her “pet” or “my flower.”
This is open to interpretation, but I will argue that this film had one of the most terrifying villains known to Disney, in the sense that she was the most real and relatable and therefore representative of actual human beings in today's world. Many of the villains from Disney are power hungry or simply “good gone bad,” but Mother Gothel pretended to be good, which perhaps is one of the cruelest actions of them all. Most of her treachery was done with spiteful words as opposed to physical actions.
Flower Gleam and Glow
Professor Tudor provides you with an excellent explanation as to the flower's potential original. If you would like to learn more about magical healing, we strongly recommend that you pursue Professor Tudor's Healer Career Path (https://www.facebook.com/HealerStudies/).
Muggle fairy tales sometimes include an interpretation of magical flora although they are not entirely accurate to our culture. Accurate or not, Tangled's magical golden flower was the source of all the magic in the film.
The flower itself was said to have grown from one drop of sunlight, and it possessed the ability to heal anyone that was ill or injured. Along with these qualities, it could also make someone young again, as we see with the character Mother Gothel.
Of course, there are no real plants that can make you immortal, but there are plants that, when combined with other ingredients in a potion, have the ability to cure a sickness or heal an injury.
In Tangled, the magic golden flower is put into a potion to heal the dying and pregnant Queen of Corona. The Queen was healed and gave birth to a healthy princess who retained the flower’s magic.
The flower’s magic infused into Rapunzel’s DNA, and when an incantation was sang to her, the magic in her hair would activate and carry out its properties where applicable. The same applies to when the flower was still rooted in the ground.
However, after Rapunzel’s hair was cut off, it lost its magical quality and turned brown. It was apparent that Rapunzel’s DNA retained the magic of the flower even after this event, as Rapunzel's tears are able to restore Flynn back to life.
Rapunzel: Old World Princess or Modern Woman?
Professor Hart back again!
While not as gifted with a weapon (though she can certainly wield a frying pan) as Disney's Merida in Brave, Rapunzel captures Flynn (with her own hair) in order to make her way to the floating lights and see the world. Like Merida who rebels against her father's wish for her to marry, Rapunzel refuses to accept her mother's assessment of her "weak" character and chooses to live out her dream (and gains a kingdom, in the process). Today's princesses certainly better reflect the reality of modern women--women who longer remain at home and wait for a man to save them.
In North America, women make up almost half the labor force and occupy more than 60% of seats in universities. They also earn more graduate degrees than men. And, for the first time in history, American families are now relying on female, rather than male, breadwinners.
While Merida and Rapunzel may not need a prince to rescue them, their path to the throne is still not clear. In this sense, Rapunzel represents what many women face today: although women have the same degrees, experience, and intelligence as their male competitors, women only make up roughly 15-30% of the ranks of (America's) legislators, judges, and CEOs.
According to Naomi Smith in The Beauty Myth, women fight twice as hard as men to move into leadership positions because they are hindered by the expectation that they will be forever young and beautiful--perhaps why Mother Gothel fights so hard to keep her youthful look.
Smith went on to argue that the more breakthroughs women had, the "more strictly and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon [women]".
In 2011, Jennifer Siebel Newsom's documentary Miss Representation depicts how American mainstream media focuses almost exclusively on women's youth, beauty, and sexuality, paying next to no attention to their intelligence, talents, or accomplishments. Since women are made to feel only valued for their looks, many tend to avoid leadership positions, as women leaders are often criticized for their appearance and their clothing, while their male competition's appearance and clothing is, on the whole, ignored.
Like the Evil Queen in Snow White, Mother Gothel wishes to hold onto her youth and beauty. While we usually condemn these women for their vain obsession, we should also recognize where this fixation with physical appearance stems from. Perhaps, in some ways, these villainesses, just like the princesses, are victims of their own time.
When thinking about these stories and films, we should aim to celebrate women's intelligence and achievements instead of perpetuating the "Cult of Beauty". We should also recognize that, one day, Rapunzel - and all fairy tale princesses - will age. And they, like the Evil Queen and Mother Gothel, will stand before their mirrors and perhaps feel as they do.
That, in the words of Patrick McCormick, "would be a fairy tale to set us free" (41).
Anonymous. "Disney Consumer Products; Disney Announces Worldwide Celebration to Honor 10th Member of the Disney Princess Royal Court, Rapunzel." China Weekly News. June 28, 2011. 123.
Harris, Dana. “Sibs’ Dibs on ‘Rapunzel’. Variety.com. 2003. 42.
Hendrickson, Linnea. "The View from Rapunzel's Tower." Children's Literature in Education. 31:4. 2000. 209-223.McCormick, Patrick. "The do-it-all damsel." U.S. Catholic. 77:9. 2012. 40-41.
Robertson, Barbara. "Once more with feeling: for Disney's 50th feature animation, the tangled crew creates as CG version of a traditionally animated film. Computer Graphics World. 2010. 26-32.
White, Armond. "A tangled mess: in remaking Rapunzel, Armond White argues, Disney has substituted formula for faith."
First Things: A Monthly film."Journal of Religion and Public Life. 208: 57. 2010.
Wolff, Ellen. "She has a Keane eye for drawing." Variety. 421:4. 2010. 14.
With that, the second last Disney lesson for this week comes to an end! Thank you so much to Professor Cattercorn for taking on this lesson. I hope you all intend to pursue Care of Magical Creatures in Year 4!
Tomorrow (Frozen) marks the close of Week 1 of Disney Lit Weeks. We will begin Week 2 shortly afterwards. If you have not yet enrolled in Week 2, please do so here: http://www.hogwartsishere.com/courses/DLIT-2/.
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EH
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