Today I will be returning to my youth roots and discussing who my favorite Disney princess is. For many years now, my favorite Disney princess has been Rapunzel. There are many reasons to love her, and not really any reasons to dislike her, so let’s get right into it.
The most prominent feature that Rapunzel has is her long, golden hair. Although her hair is cut at the end of Tangled, it is still an iconic feature that has a lot of power throughout the movie. Rapunzel is defined by her magical hair, which is why her kidnapper, Mother Gothel, wanted her in the first place. Her hair has the power to heal, bring back the dead, and preserve youth. However, once her hair is cut, the strand loses its power. This is why Mother Gothel kidnapped her instead of cutting some hair and taking it because it wasn’t possible to preserve her own youth without having Rapunzel as her own. Her hair is also symbolic in the way that it helped her climb down from the tower, which allowed her to be free for the first time. The magical powers of her hair also helped her and Flynn Rider during times of need, which can only be said for a few Disney princesses because not many have natural powers.
The next thing that makes Rapunzel my favorite princess is her character and love interest. I think that Rapunzel is very trusting, caring, and optimistic. It is very hard to remain so patient and respectful to someone who doesn’t ever let you leave your home, but she always did it for her ‘mother’. When she meets Flynn Rider, she trusts him despite him being a known thief. Ultimately, she doesn’t have much resentment towards Mother Gothel, despite her taking such a large part of her life away and almost killing her. Instead, she accepts that Mother Gothel is dead and has a positive insight into her future with her parents, Flynn, and their pets, Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon. I also love that Flynn Rider has good character development. He isn’t royalty in the beginning, nor is he that much of a good member of society. However, I think his character displays true change and development once he finds a newfound purpose and love.
Lastly, the song and visuals of Tangled are exceptional. The most well-known song and scene contain the best visuals and song all in one. This is the lantern scene in which Flynn and Rapunzel are in the boat and she finally gets to see the long-awaited lanterns that she’s seen from her window for so many years. ‘I See The Light’ is the duet between Rapunzel and Flynn, which connects finally seeing the lanterns or ‘lights’ to their clarity and a new outlook on life now that they have found each other. It is a beautiful scene and song, and it is so heartfelt because Rapunzel is being truly loved by someone. I could go on about why I love this princess, but these are the reasons that stand out to me the most.
