The Disney Philosopher: One Reason Tangled is Super Awesome
I'm sitting here watching the scene from Tangled where Rapunzel sings "When Will My Life Begin." I already absolutely love this movie, but as I listen, it occurs to me that this song holds the key to why Rapunzel is rather excellent Disney princess, especially comparatively speaking.
Rapunzel has purpose. That's what "When Will My Life Begin" is essentially about. In case you're not familiar with the song, it's essentially a narrative of how Rapunzel spins her day. Despite the extensive variety of activities that fill her hours (candle making and ventriloquy are among the more esoteric of her hobbies), the song expresses Rapunzel's deep-seated sense of emptiness. Though the song is as bright and chipper as many other Disney favorites, the essential premise is that her life hasn't actually started yet--that all of these activities, while filling up her time quite nicely, still leave her longing for something more.
Though the song doesn't detail her purpose (to unravel the mystery of the floating lights she sees every year from her tower), it sets up Rapunzel's character as one who needs a purpose to be fulfilled in life. This sets her apart from other Disney princesses. Other Disney princesses, in certain ways. You could argue that, say, Ariel, Jasmine, Mulan, for example, had purposes, but these purposes (as I see it), boil down to escape. Escaping whatever circumstances life has handed them (tightly-controlled boundaries, arranged marriage, unsatisfactory gender roles) mainly for the purpose of escape. But Rapunzel doesn't escape the tower just to escape the tower. She actually, in the beginning, has every intention of returning. She leaves to achieve a goal. To fulfill a purpose. One that has nothing to do with a man.
Oh, she leaves with a man, yes, and he helps (and hinders) her achieve her purpose in various ways, but the purpose itself does not involve men in the way Ariel’s, Jasmine’s, and Mulan’s do. Ariel is escaping her father’s strict rules and pursuing her love. Jasmine is running away from men she does not want to marry and laws upheld by years of patriarchal rule. Mulan is running to protect her father, and, in many ways, to gain his (and others’) approval. But the only reason Rapunzel runs away with a man is because she’s rather a shrewd opportunist. If a strange woman had wound up in her tower instead of Flynn, she’d have begged her assistance all the same.
I also think her purpose is more sharply defined than the trio mentioned above, if you want to be so generous as to grant that they have purpose. Ariel, for instance, does have a goal of “getting dear old princey to fall in love with [her],” but what does she do when she gets to the surface? Mostly she smiles and bats her big blue eyes. She’s pretty much just goes along for the ride. Literally. She rides through the streets of France in Eric’s carriage, taking in the spectacles they offer. She rides in his canoe while the animals sing about kissing; basically, they’re doing the wooing. And she stares and sighs at Eric from her balcony in his palace while she brushes her hair. When some random chick comes in to steal away her man, she hides behind a pillar and cries, then mopes about on the dock, not even planning on attending the wedding. Only when Scuttle brings news of the Sea Queen’s treachery does she take action—she jumps into the water, only to discover she’s not nearly as strong a swimmer without her tail. So Flounder has to pull her to the ship, and Scuttle and his crew are the ones who actually tall the wedding. Ariel comes in at the last minute, just in time to get her voice back and then be flung into the sea by Ursula. So, even when it seems like she might try to achieve her purpose, she finds that she gave up the key tools to help her do so (her voice, which is what Eric loves her for in the first place, and her tail, which would’ve helped her stop the wedding).
Jasmine and Mulan are much more straightforward cases. Though they both escape undesirable home circumstances and gender roles (at least temporarily), once they are away from those circumstances, they don’t have any sort of a plan, any sort of a goal to achieve. Jasmine didn’t even bring any money on her great escape—which begs the question, um, exactly how long was she planning to escape for? What was she escaping to do? Where was she going to go? Mulan joins the army in her father’s place, and her only purpose is to just “be in the army” in place of her Father. Check. So then she’s stuck going where the army goes, without any purpose of her own.
But Rapunzel’s got a goal—I gotta get to them lights. And she achieves it. With help, of course, but she’s by no means helpless during the journey. Don’t get me wrong, I love all four of these movies, and I understand that there are issues with each of them (even Rapunzel), but this is just something that popped into my head this afternoon while I was listening to Rapunzel’s adorable song.
So there you go. Am I forgetting a princess with purpose? Am I not giving Ariel, Jasmine, and Mulan enough credit? I’d love to hear what you think.