This paper is a literary analysis of the Disney film, Tangled, an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, "Rapunzel." The Dan Fogelman script expands considerably on the basic story, adding a diverse range of supplementary characters (including some interesting transformative variations on Jungian archetypes) and elaborating on the magical aspects of Rapunzel's powers. Yet she remains a classic heroine, following Maureen Murdock's Heroine's Journey in her travels from the separation from the feminine in her attempts to leave the safety of her tower to the integration of the masculine and feminine in her reunion with her lost family and her triumph over her captivity. Throughout, Rapunzel becomes a mature and capable woman, and it is because her journey follows an archetypal pattern that the film provides a rich and satisfying theatrical experience for audiences.
The story is narrated by Flynn Rider, a dashing thief who is not all that he appears to be. He is an important catalyst at several points in Rapunzel's journey, and the fact that he has taken on the persona of a fictional ne'er-do-well allows him to be transformed throughout, compelled by the needs of the narrative.
In fact, the story as a whole relies on continual transformations, not just in the heroine but in the world around her. As Murdock notes, the Heroine's Journey is itself an opportunity to leave the purely feminine behind and then to rediscover it through a new integration with masculine elements. Rapunzel does this in the basic story, and in Tangled makes this journey in an even more dramatic way. She literally separates from the feminine (the contained world in which she sings of waiting for her life to begin while carrying out a full range of domestic duties within the confines of the tower) by managing to escape in order to begin a quest to see the lights that appear every year on her birthday. Though she expects to return to the tower at...