I remember being leery of Tangled: the Series because an early review said that it looked like they were brushing off her experiences with the tower and that they were worried that the series wouldn’t deal with psychology or anxiety properly.
Well, not only is that something they have dealt with (the whole premise of the series is basically Rapunzel going on adventures because she’s terrified of being locked in a castle for her whole life right after escaping a tower, also this), but the show really does a fantastic job showing the consequences of trauma and giving guidelines to recovery.
The novel The Lost Lagoon is no exception.
In the novel, we learn that Cassandra has been afraid of water for years. Rapunzel gently coaxes Cassandra to join her in a lagoon, teaching her to tread water (and immediately rescuing Cassandra when she lapses and goes beneath the surface), and then just as considerately gets Cassandra to tell her what led to this fear:
“I was at the seashore with my father. He told me a hundred times to stay close to him, but I saw a crab I wanted to catch. I followed it. A wave snatched me up and carried me out. My father saved me. He was so mad. I was scared twice that day. Once by the water and once by my father’s anger. I’ve never been able to get in the water since.”
So many stories have a character unable to deal with a past trauma because it was just that horrifying: Ron Weasley’s fear of spiders is one classic example. His brothers turned his teddy bear into a giant spider, and ever since then, he’s been afraid of spiders. Other stories have someone stepping on a bee and being afraid of bees, or losing their child in a mall and being overprotective afterward.
But this story drills it home by not making an accident or act of carelessness alone lead to the trauma: it’s her father’s response that hit the hardest. Instead of comforting Cassandra and reminding her that he’s the one she can go to when she’s afraid, the Captain of the Guard taught her that turning to him for help in trouble is only going to make her more frightened (this is frighteningly relatable, if I can be honest for a moment–a lot of my problems in life have come from the fact that my parents responded to bad grades and bad reports from school by punishing me and yelling at me, and that’s probably why I’m not a teacher now, but that’s a little too real, we’re going back to fiction for now). She needed support in that time of fear, and instead, he made it worse. It’s also a brilliantly presented scene because even if he showed care and concern, even if he said “I just want you to be safe” and showed a softer side, we only hear about his anger because that’s all Cassandra remembers. He could have picked her up and carried her home and wrapped her in a blanket and made her a pot of tea and cookies, but she was six, and all she would remember was the anger.
This passage is one firm example of why I want to share this series with as many people as possible: because it doesn’t just give kids pretty colors and fun adventures, it also teaches lessons. This is a lesson for new parents and future parents, and an incredibly important one: when your child is frightened, control your frustration and help them work through it. Don’t punish your children further when the world has already punished them once. It’s also important that Cassandra’s nemesis in this story wasn’t a bully or a bee, but a mighty ocean: this is something that the parent can’t fight and destroy, this isn’t a battle that Cassandra’s father can fight for her, this is something that will always be there and will always threaten them, so all that he can do is to teach her and prepare her for next time.
Of course, as she not only cannot swim when she is an adult but is also afraid of water, he clearly failed at that.
Thankfully, Rapunzel enters Cassandra’s life to teach her that it’s all right to be afraid and to share your fears, but most importantly, to teach her how to overcome and conquer these same fears. Rapunzel doesn’t mock Cassandra, she doesn’t blame her, she doesn’t do anything except teach her–brilliantly, I might add–how to swim.
But now, I must continue reading.
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