Tangled

Original Discussion:

Ashia R.

Most on the top of my mind right now: “Once it’s cut, it tuns brown and loses its power.”

GOLD HAIR IS POWER.

IT TURNS BROWN.

Alison B.

Ugh. Why did we need Flynn?

Why did this have to be a romance, why did she have to go straight to marriage (and isn’t she basically still a child)?

Why was he narrating, why couldn’t she tell her own story?

How does her hair never get dirty?

I have friends who were like “yes this movie is great she saves herself!”- what no she doesn’t???

Flynn is the hero, he decides to chop her hair to save her from Mother Gothel without her input or consent.

There are no other good female characters in the entire movie, unless I missed something?

But she’s a princess so my kid loves it. Sigh.

Like, maybe give her the knife and let *her* decide what to do, FLYNN. Maybe she wanted to keep her boyfriend and her magic hair and just take out Gothel!

Ashia R:

YES! All of this!

And the non-consensual haircut! She was CLEAR on what SHE wanted.

I spent all of last night’s toothbrushing rage-chanting in my head “NOT YOUR FUCKING CALL, DUDE.”

She reads as like, 12 to me. Or even as an adult, after a lifetime of abuse and isolation, is NOT READY FOR ROMANCE.

The idea that her sole point of contact outside of her abusive relationship would immediately go to boning is disgusting and predatory.

Alison B

Yes, it’s super gross. She’s a teenager with zero concept of what a healthy relationship should look like and she’s experienced like 5 minutes of the world outside her tower.

Back off, Flynn, you turdburger!

Ashia R

Did her first mom even have any lines? Or was she just an incubator for pretty ladies for dudes to bone?

The Triad of All Types Of Ladies Worth Featuring According To Tangled:

1. Silent incubator for babies who will grow up to be ladies you might wanna bang.
2. Creepily young ingenue who remains oddly ‘undamaged’ due to her inner purity despite a lifetime of abuse and torture via isolation – who you might wanna bang
3. Evil, selfish dark- & unruly curly woman who is awful and bitchy and punished with aging naturally because aging is terrible (cause it makes ya unbangable dust). But other than some gray hairs, remains bangable at an older age (until she’s dust)

Alison B.

Does a movie/show exist where a girl gets to wear beautiful dresses and have adventures without any focus on romance, or being rescued by a dude?

And maybe with some awesome female friends to boot?

Bc for my daughter the draw is pretty dresses + adventure, and I hate that she’s getting all the bullshit mixed in with that.

Laura W.

Maybe check out Elena of Avalor (princess revenges the murder of her parents, rescues her grandparents and sister and becomes queen, younger princess is an inventor, grandmother is a strong figure with a good relationship with grandfather) and Sofia the first (commoner marries into the royal family; her daughter has to adjust to life as a princess and there’s a lot of discussion of class issues)

Alison B.

Thanks, she’s been watching/pretending to be Elena a bit lately, but I haven’t watched it closely with her yet. We’ll try Sofia again- we tried it a while back and I kinda forgot about it.

Laura W.

Addressing specific friendships – Elena has a good relationship with another girl and I believe a non-romance relationship with a male magician (at least I don’t recall much romance but we haven’t watched them in a few years).

Sophia definitely has friends from her village, and some of the episodes deal with the tension when she invites her village friends to the palace for a sleepover with some of the noble friends of her step sister. That was a good episode about what friendship between girls actually could/should mean and how it is demonstrated.

Raven D C

Nella the Princess Knight might be a good one to check out. She’s also biracial!

Alison B.

Also Flynn should be dead! Why are her tears suddenly magical??

Ashia R.

Laaaazy writers. It really felt like they got to the end and were like …“ugh I dunno I don’t even care anymore. Magic tears? Sure yah let’s go with that, I’ve gotta get home to watch the game.”

Alison B.

Right, bc the hero couldn’t possibly die I mean wtf would a young woman even do with her life if she didn’t have a handsome man to marry?!

Tricia L.

We watched this recently, and my kids’ sole takeaway is that bashing someone in the head with a kitchen implement is hilarious.

I keep having to break up pot battles.

Ashia R.

That pot deserved a casting credit.

Seriously! I must have said “THAT IS NOT OKAY IN REAL LIFE!” 100 times during that.

As if physical violence is totally okay so long as it’s a small white lady wielding the weapon.

Raven D. C.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it and I didn’t notice most of it because I was still not looking critically at movies but all the points above are valid.

Especially the lack of consent. She never gets to consent to anything, from imprisonment to hair cuts.

Elizabeth S.

Same. I liked it so much at the time bc she funny and painted and wasn’t like some of the other princesses. But I agree with all these points! I won’t be showing it to my daughter any time soon.

Rebecca B.

Things I like: the music…hmmm. I thought there were going to be more things. I guess also the scene when Rapunzel is trying to decide if she should stay or go, not because of her reasons, but because it is a perfect representation of my decision making.

Edited to add: my point was that it was so full of garbage, not that I was trying to find a silver lining.

Ashia R.

Yesterday, R2 brought up Tangled and how he’s been thinking of what a crappy movie it was, with a terrible ending where everyone is sad instead of happy.

She loses her power. A mother (however abusive, that is going to come with grief) dies.

A woman succumbs to a man’s repeated requests for marriage after her first ‘NO’ was denied multiple times.

It’s interesting to see how opening these discussions leave threads in little brains weeks or years later.