This is both a movie review and an intellectual comparison of the movie and the fairy tale Rapunzel. To read the other sections: Part 1, Part 3, Part 4
The Scene
************Warning; here be spoilers***************
In order to do this coherently I'm going to go chronologically, laying out a section of plot from the fairy tale, the corresponding section of movie plot, and state my analysis.
Rapunzel is a very old tale with many variations, I am going to try to summarize as many variations as I can, but there might be some that I miss. Please let me know of any insights that I might overlook.
The Fairy Tale:
Rapunzel is shut away in an isolated tower in the middle of the woods. The tower is made of stone, has no stairs or doors and only one window. When Dame Gothel makes her daily visit to Rapunzel she calls out "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair, that I might climb that golden stair!" Rapunzel would then lower her incredibly long tresses and Dame Gothel would climb into Rapunzels tower to give her food and care.
One day a Prince ventured near the tower. He heard Rapunzels beautiful singing voice and followed it until he saw the tower. The Prince fell immediately in love with Rapunzels voice and beauty, and as he listened to her sing he heard the witch approaching the tower. The Prince hid himself for view and observed Dame Gothel call up to Rapunzel and ascend into the tower.
Once Dame Gothel departs, the Prince calls up to Rapunzel using the same call that Dame Gothel used. Rapunzel lets down her hair and lets him into her tower.
Variations:
Dame Gothel doesn't shut Rapunzel away until she observes how beautiful Rapunzel is becoming.
Dame Gothel can fly or levitate herself into the tower and Rapunzel is simply unaware of the fantastic length of her hair.
The Prince spies on Rapunzel for several days before trying to persuade her to bring him into the tower.
The Prince mimics Dame Gothels voice when he calls up to Rapunzel, and she brings him into the tower believing him to be Dame Gothel.
The Tangled Version:
Rapunzel is eighteen and has never left her tower. Mother Gother visits her every day to reap the rejuvenating power of Rapunzels hair and to bring her food. She tells Rapunzel frightening stories about the outside world where men have horns and other evils.
Pascal the chameleon demonstrating evil men.
Rapunzel spends her time painting, reading books, doing chores around the tower, and hanging out with Pascal, her chameleon friend. She uses her hair in a variety of ways, including as a hoist to climb around the rafters of the tower.
A thief named Flynn Rider steals the Lost Princesses Tiara from the palace. He and his twin thug accomplices are chased deep into the forest by the palace guards. Flynn double crosses his accomplices and is chased by a tenacious palace horse into a hidden isolated valley.
Flynn spies the tower
Desperate to escape the horse, Flynn climbs the tower and enters through the window. He is immediately knocked out by Rapunzel with her iron skillet.
Rapunzel brings skillet wielding into vogue.
Rapunzel ties Flynn up and hides him in her closet from Mother Gothel.
Analysis:
This section has several differences between the traditional tale and the Disney story.
The Prince is not a Prince: This change makes sense to me in the sense of adding symmetry to the story. Since they'd made Rapunzel a Princess it seems a bit incestuous to make the Prince also royalty. This change does make him difficult to discuss in this analysis, as his only title in the original fairy tale is "the prince". I'm going to call him Flynn to try to avoid this confusion. This does bring a lot of Alladin/Robin Hood images into my head, and I'm kind of sick of the "noble thief" image that Disney paints, especially as the original tale was partly a moral against thievery. However, this does give Flynn a credible reason for discovering and penetrating Rapunzels tower, as opposed to being a peeping-tom Prince.
Flynn scales the tower and enters without Rapunzel's permission: This is another change that I am in favor of, as it up the intelligence quota of Rapunzel quite a bit. It seems unlikely that Rapunzel would confuse the prince for Dame Gothel. However Rapunzel's innocence/stupidity in the fairy tale does serve the story's purpose; when Dame Gothel isolates Rapunzel to protect Rapunzel's virtue she fails to give Rapunzel the real world experience that would help Rapunzel avoid the Prince later in the story. In another sense, if the Prince were to enter the tower without Rapunzel's permission in the fairy tale then the prince could be said to have symbolically raped Rapunzel, as opposed to his entering at her consent.
Rapunzel defends herself from Flynn: Given the rape metaphor that I mentioned above when Flynn enters the tower without Rapunzel's permission, can I express how happy I was to have Flynn almost immediately knocked out by an iron skillet? I like Rapunzels character in Tangled. She's got the potential to be independent, but isn't there yet. She's pretty naive, but not to the point where she can't defend herself. She loves Mother Gothel, but isn't afraid to defy her to see the lanterns.
Rapunzel has a vested interest in leaving the tower:
I would like to add that Disney's Rapunzel is an almost perfect portrayal of a naive girl who might become completely awesome once she leaves her tower. She's headstrong, but not stupid, and she isn't lazy.
Another note/question: Does Rapunzel's hair keep her young? I guess she's not old enough for us to see or not, but I don't see her reaping any benefits from her hair.
I found the "noble thief" aspect a negative. besides which, Flynn Rider wasn't all that noble. Robin Hood, steals from the rich, gives to the poor. Aladdin, just trying to survive, but you never see him betray those he's working with. Flynn Rider? First chance he gets, he steals from his fellow thieves and leaves them to be caught by the royal guard. Nice guy, that one.
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