Tangled: An Investigation

This weekend I was with some friends and we decided to watch a movie together. Well, it so happens that I had never seen the Disney Princess movie Tangled. So, we decided to watch that as it happened to be a favorite of the group. Growing up my parents had never let us watch Tangled and my mom once remarked that it was "twisted". I knew there wouldn't be inappropriate scenes or language (it was an old Disney cartoon after all) So I was interested to see what objection they could have possibly had. We were in twenty minutes at the most, and I turned to my friend and said, "I think I know why my folks never liked this one." It was an interesting watch and I walked away with a a good many thoughts on it.

"Twisted" is a good word.
Or perhaps I should say "Tangled."

Okay, pun aside, this movie really is quite warped. I know this is likely not going to be a popular opinion, but I was taught to not just consume movies (or any form or stories or media for that matter) but to actually think through what I was seeing and hearing. Tangled is a beautiful movie about one of the most fun fairytales out there. The girl with miles and miles of long hair! (how does she keep it brushed I wanna know.... and how come it always kept changing length in the movie? 🤣)

Anyways, Tangled is beautifully done. The art is gorgeous, the camera angles are really cool, the characters a fun and extremely memorable, it has some actual high stakes several times, and even a heroic moment of sacrificial love. The soundtrack is amazing, (I didn't love a lot of the singing songs, though I See The Light is classic!) Maximus was so funny and I laughed a good many times. And yes, I teared up during that one seen. (You know if you know)

So really, what's not to love? Fun characters, a redemption arc, beautiful music and visuals, great voice actors. The girl isn't even a "power woman" character!

But what is the message? Let's dive down under the trappings and see what's really under the surface. Call me a conspiracy theorist or "over the top" but every story has a message. Every storyteller has an opinion they want you to form or an idea they want you to believe. There are no unbiased stories.

Quite honestly, the message of Tangled was actually very helpfully summed up by Flynn Rider in a sarcastic quip:

Flynn: Now, I'm only picking up bits and pieces here, of course. Overprotective mother, forbidden road trip. I mean, this is serious stuff. But let me ease your conscience. This is part of growing up. A little rebellion, a little adventure, that's good. Healthy, even... You're way over thinking this, trust me. Does your mother deserve it? No. Would this break her heart and crush her soul? Of course. But you've just got to do it.

Of course he's being sarcastic in this scene and trying to play a little "reverse physiology" as the audience looks on and snickers. But we ought to take a step back and see how many times reverse physiology is being reversed in this movie. Turns out Flynn's line might be one of the most straightforward and true things in the whole film.

Let me lay it out plainly.

We have this teenage girl who has just turned 18. She is now an adult and ready to "go out into the world" that she has always been kept from because her mother says it's dangerous and people would hurt or take advantage of her. All this girl wants is to get out and enjoy life, she has an entire song asking "when will my life begin?" But Mom is really overbearing and won't let her go out and enjoy herself.

Then along comes handsome, charming rogue. Our girl's dream has been to go out and "see the lights" since she was little. She has this feeling that they are calling her or something like that. Our rogue offers the perfect opportunity. He'll help her disobey and then get her back before anyone finds out. (It helps that she and mom just had a big fight before this and so she's still feeling hurt and angry. And oh yes, Mom was way over the top and definitely the bad guy in that argument)

Boy agrees to take her out because she has something he wants. So, our girl runs away with the boy and goes out into the world. Several times she is shaken by guilt and waves of fear and guilt wash over her one after the other as she goes from cheering to shaking to sobbing to cheering to sobbing again. However she decides to stick it out, and boy takes her to meat all his gang friends. Turns out those gang guys have good hearts and really love puppies and flowers or something and don't take advantage of or hurt the gorgeous, foolish, teenage girl that just came into their midst.

Instead they sing a fun song and dance around the room and reveal their true "good guy hearts" or whatever.

Then girl gets tangled up in a police chase. *cough* sorry, a royal guard chase. (Come one guys, the royal guards and soldiers were the medieval cops) They escape their pursuers as well as some evil gang guys, only to end up trapped underground and drowning. Our girl begins sobbing again as she realizes that none of this would have ever happened to her if she had just obeyed. They have this sweet little heart to heart where Rogue reveals he's actually just a poor orphan boy with a good heart, and then they find a way to escape (with her magic hair)

We have a few more heart to hearts, she tells him her deepest desires and secrets and he sides with her in the arguments with her mom.

Then, as guy goes off to get some stuff, Mom shows back up because she's been tracking girl. Girl tells her that this has been an amazing day, she's learned so much about life, it's all she'd ever dreamed of etc. etc, and ends with the decision not to go home. She also adds in a very self-conscious fluttery way that she thinks Rogue "likes me!"

Her mother laughs at that replying "Likes you? Please, Rapunzel, that's demented! This is why you never should have left! Dear, this whole romance that you've invented just proves that you're too naive to be here. Why would he like you? Come on now, really. Look at you, you think that he's impressed? Don't be a dummy, come with mummy."

Girl puts her foot down, so Mom retorts that if she knows best and thinks she's so grown up and all, then give him what he wants and see how fast he'll leave her. Put him to the test, and don't come crying when it turns out he was lying. (all sung to a catchy song)

Well, turns out mom was wrong because they do truly fall in love, and rogue turns good, and then almost dies, and girl thinks he really did abandon her and comes home to Mom. Then, she finds out that all her life she has been lied to! Mom isn't her real mother. Mom is actually a witch and her real mother is the queen and her real father is the king and she's a princess! Then Mom is like, "so you found out did you, now boyfriend is gonna die."

Turns out all that about the world being dangerous and people taking advantage of her naivety and all that was a lie. Really mom just wanted to lock her up because mom wanted girl's magic powers to keep her young, (plus there's the perks of a built in house servant) and it was mom who was taking advantage of her naivety the whole time. Not the world or the gangsters or any of that.

Boyfriend tries to save girl and gets stabbed by mother, but with his dying act he sets girl free from her mother's cruel bondage and makes it so that girl won't be enslaved for life. (and lets not forget that mom is actually not her real mom. She's a witch instead.) And yes, that scene was epic. The lighting, the slow motion, that look he gives her... I admit I was sitting there going, "I'd love to write some sort of scene that has some of these elements and beats."I'm not gonna lie, that movie was well done. But that doesn't cut it.

But back to the story. Boyfriend comes back to life and the two go to girl's real loving family (who love boyfriend too) and they are reunited and live happily ever after.

The end.

Are you seeing the problems yet?

And you see, the movie makes sure to cue the audience in during scene one to the fact that Mom is actually not mom but a witch who kidnapped our heroin. So the whole time you are rooting for the girl to disobey her mom!

But it's not really her mom! It's a witch! And she's actually obeying her parents by running away and going to their signals which they have sent out for her every year! And Flynn has a beautiful redemption arc and gives up his life for her!

They WANT you to side with the girl and the teen romance and against the mother. It doesn't matter that the mother is actually a witch, what matters is that the relationship she and Rapunzel have is a loving mother daughter relationship from Rapunzel's point of view, and the whole adventure Rapunzel believes she is disobeying her mom and feels the guilt of it.

The witch is hugely manipulative and takes complete advantage of Rapunzel. She kidnapped her after all! And she his very emotionally abusive. Of course no one in their right mind takes her side. Of course we root for Rapunzel escaping, even if the gang kid is the only way to get out.

This movie is twisted. Hugely so. It is so beautiful and fun and innocent on the outside, but danger looks just under the surface. And it is a very potent danger is the form of a lie that is easily swallowed and believed. Let's sum this up really fast.

Mom wants to "shelter" girl or whatever and keep her living under a rock, in a tower, etc. Girl disobeys and runs away with a boy, they fall in love, everything her mom told her about is a lie and the world is actual safe and good and fun and a place to learn and laugh and love, and it turns out mom was the bad-guy and the manipulator all along. And then, she isn't even a real mom, because girl is actually a princess with an amazing family who loves her and her boyfriend.

Does no one else see the danger?!

How Do We Respond?

How does one walk away from this? What lessons are to be learned? How should we as Christians and consumers of stories respond?

Here is one thing I would start with. The world is a dangerous place and there are so many people who will hurt and take advantage of the foolish teenagers who are testing the waters. Does that mean we should look them in the house (or the tower) until their forty? I'd say no. Not at all.

But do we shove them out into the world and say, "give it a go!"? No, not that either.

When you teach a child to swim, you take them to the shallow end. You show them how to dog paddle, how to float, how to swim while conserving their energy. You teach them how to combat the water. You don't pitch them off the deck of a ship in the middle of a storm! But you don't tell them never to even look at water ever, because some day they will end up in it, and if they don't know how to swim, they will drown.

When you live near water, you can only tell the little ones to stay out of it for so long. You can only protect them from that danger for a time. They will end up in it, either by their own doing or by someone else's. So what is the best way to keep a child safe from drowning? Teach them to swim.

When a soldier was trained to wield a sword, he learned from his youth. As a little child he'd train in small ways, sometimes laying a hand on his father's sword and feeling the weight and power of it as his father stood behind, his hand on the sword. The boy was trained and equipped before he was ever thrown into the thick of the battle. He was given the weapons and the skills that he needed, taught who the enemy was and what the truth was, and then he was sent into the fight.

Here's what I'm saying. Train your children, prepare them, teach them, and walk with them. One day they will end up in the world. You can't keep them from it forever, nor should you try. Teach them truth, give them a firm foundation. Prepare them for the fight because battle is not an option. It will come to them. Walk with them as they grown and enter the world and the dangers it brings. Prepare them so that the world doesn't knock them off their feet and they can see truth from lies. Teach them to be in the world and not of it, and show them what that means. Talk through things, ask questions. Don't let them just be consumers of whatever they see and hear, because their greatest enemy is the father of all lies, and he plays for keeps. He fights to kill.

Another application which would apply for everyone would be don't just consume and swallow it down. Be thinking readers. Be aware watchers. Ask the storyteller questions. "What are you telling me? What do you believe? What do you want me to believe?"

You don't have to watch Kendrick Brother films or home videos for the rest of your life. We've watched things before that have some problems with them, but you must identify the lies. What was good about this movie? What was bad about it? What was true? What was a lie? Which characters were good and why? Which were bad and why?

Ask questions and THINK! Think, think, think! I cannot stress that enough. You must think through what you read and see and hear. Be people who reason and whop question. People who are sharp and quick to pick up on the lies and the hidden message. Movies especially, and books too are notorious for saying they have one message, but actually showing another. Be aware. Think. Measure it against the Word. And sometimes be okay with not watching or reading something you want to because there is too much evil in it.

You can say, "well I know it's a lie. I wouldn't do such and such or believe this and that." But what we see and what we hear shapes who we are. I'm sure you know the idea of the fact that those you hang out with have an effect on you, (which is why we must chose our friend's wisely). Bad company corrupts good morals. Well, the books you read, the music you listen to, and the movies you watch, are all full of characters that you are hanging out with, You are hanging out with part of the storyteller or singer, and you are hanging out with the characters they create. Don't let their bad company corrupt you. Be aware of what you are doing.

I think one of Satan's favorite tactics is to convince us that some of the things that hold the most danger and power are actually just unimportant and have little effect. Be aware. That is our watchword. Be aware. Don't just drink what your given and eat what they tell you to. Be aware.

My last warning is to girl's especially. Be careful what you watch and read. Be careful that it isn't affirming sinful streaks or lies that you have believed. If you and Disney are in agreement, you need to do a check and carefully look over what you're agreeing about, because most often it's nothing good. Don;t drink in the lie of Tangled that you would be better off away from your parents and able to breathe and live and learn and laugh and find love. Don't believe the message that you are good enough. You aren't. None of us our good, none of us are beautiful. There is nothing desirable about us to God. Nothing save that He loves us so much, and that the blood of His Son has washed us clean and made us beautiful. Any goodness and beauty is from Him alone, and it is nothing that we have done. Don't believe the lie that you have to chase a guy to ever find love, that you have to date around to find the "right one", that you have to dress a little more on the edge or carry yourself in a flirty way.

Be careful of the lies, because there are so many of them and they come in such sneaky little ways, often wrapped up in beauty and a good dose of almost-truths. If Disney or Hollywood or New York Time's Best Seller is affirming you, take a very careful look at what it is that is being affirmed in your lives.

To wrap up, I have to say that my parents sure knew what they were doing when they didn't us see that film growing up. The amount of lies and twisting in Tangled was more than any beauty it had. The fun songs and characters were not worth the danger. It would have been too easy to be caught in the snares and "tangled up" in the lies.

Watching Tangled was a very interesting experience and it gave me some good things to think about and some material for this post. I enjoyed the time I spent hanging out in fellowship with my sisters in Christ. But Tangled is not a movie my own kids will ever be encouraged to see.