Tangled. The very name of the new Disney animated production seems to bring with it squeals of excitement and lavish praise. Everywhere I go on the internet it seems, everyone loves the movie, is looking forward to seeing the movie, can’t wait to own it, etc… This past week, I watched it for the first time. So… my tangled thoughts, combined with Scripture that I was reminded of throughout the film.
Things I liked:
Tangled is hilarious. Everything from sword fighting a horse to sarcastic remarks to a comic (non-talking) chameleon. Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…”
Rapunzel: I actually liked her, which is saying a lot for me. Lately I find most heroines to be annoying at the very least. Rapunzel was different. She’s sweet. She’s cheerful. She cooks, bakes, makes candles, paints, sews, cleans… Proverbs 31:13 “She looks for wool and flax and works with her hands in delight.” For almost eighteen years, the young kidnapped girl is told she must stay in a hidden tower for her “safety”. Her “mother” is the only person that she has ever seen, since she was kidnapped as an infant. Rapunzel is left alone often but she doesn’t leave, no matter how much she longs to. Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Rapunzel is feminine. And I love the way she handles that cast iron pan of hers – the perfect weapon! Someone sneaks into her tower, she knocks him out with her pan – perfect! She can protect herself when necessary, but she is perfectly willing to be protected and to allow Flynn/Eugene to do the fighting. I also love that she is completely unimpressed by any attempts at flattery and smooth talking by one of the male characters.
Flynn Rider/Eugene: Hmm… He is funny. In fact, he probably has the best lines in the entire film.
Both Rapunzel and Eugene, in the end, show that they truly love one another, in that each is willing to sacrifice themselves for the other. Rapunzel is willing to allow herself to be held prisoner for the rest of her life, to let Eugene live. Eugene allows himself to die to save Rapunzel. (Of course, he doesn’t die – but he didn’t expect that!!) John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
The score is beautiful and sets the mood well. The songs (since this is a musical) are catchy. They get stuck in your head with a fair amount of ease. Donna Murphy, (Mother Gothel) has a beautiful, rich and powerful voice! She sings very well indeed! Mandy Moore (Rapunzel) has a lovely, gentle, way of singing that adds to the character. Zachary Levi’s (Eugene) part is worth mentioning as well. Even though I think that his main song was kind of boring, it sure was pretty! The voice acting was very well done when no one was singing as well. It didn’t sound fake like some other animations.
Things I disliked:
Rapunzel: It does bother me that she does disobey and leave her tower. She thinks her kidnapper is her real mother and that she’s trying to protect her. On the other hand, Mother Gothel (the kidnapper) had just turned into a somewhat frightening person and told her that she would never be allowed to leave the tower. My biggest problem with Rapunzel though is that she allows herself to start to fall in love with a thief before he shows any signs of repenting and when she’s only known him for a few days!! That is my biggest complaint about her. True, you could say that she’s very innocent and naive and doesn’t know any better – but still! 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” If this applies to friends, how much more to marriage!
Flynn Rider/Eugene: What can I say? He’s a thief. Exodus 20:15 “Thou shalt not steal.” At least he turns away from his thieving ways and redeems himself! Ephesians 4:28 “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.” He’s pretty self centered at times… but, again, he changes in the end. I simply don’t like his character a whole lot at times… the way he talks is occasionally very annoying but as I keep saying… he changes in the end.
All in all, I did enjoy the movie. Would I recommend it? I don’t know. Possibly. It might depend on whom I was talking to. And no, I didn’t mention every aspect of the movie… this is just some of my thoughts. :)
To the KING be all the glory!
Even YOU are posting about Tangled! Unbelievable! *falls over dead and unable to say anything else*
~Jamie Joyce
*tries to pick up dead sister* please excuse us!
Thank you for your thoughts!!!!! I’ve been hearing about this movie lately and didn’t have any trustable reviews to look at. Sounds…. interesting.
My biggest objection to the movie was the line (in my favorite scene btw) where he says, “A little rebellion is good…”
Ahem.
However, that whole scene of self-loathing for her disobedience and lack of respect and then sheer joy of experiencing new things only to crash again at the remembrance of her disobedience… hilarious and very genuine.
I agree, Mrs. Havig. That is an objectionable part – certainly contrary to Scripture! I am glad it was so small!
A little rebellion is good..when it’s to the world’s ways. And locking someone up is a wicked thing, not a Godly thing. She had every right to run.
*cough* My merry thoughts, Jennifer; if you please. Back me, Rebekah, if I’m correct.
Going contrary to the world’s ways is not being rebellious. It is being obedient to God and therefore can not really be called ‘rebelling’.
Locking someone up is a wicked thing. But Rapunzle did not have a right to run away. That would be disobedience and rebellion to God! God commands children to obey their parents. Rapunzle should have meekly submitted to her mother ‘so that things may go well with her in the land God has given you’. That would be practice to being a submissive wife one day. Maybe things turned out alright in the film…but that’s just what it is. Film. Fiction. Fantasy.
Simply my thoughts. :D
~Jamie Joyce
Children are not obliged to submit, and certainly not to be meek, to abuse; this is not Godly and therefore turning from it is not rebellion to God. She had every right to ultimately put her foot down and leave; she was a grown woman anyway. I’ve seen people submit to abuse over and over again, and it’s the grown children who have left that found healing and true faith in God.
I would not call be kept in a tower ‘abuse’. She wasn’t getting beat upon or anything. Really, it was a very safe place for a young woman; wasn’t she told that the world was a dangerous place… which it was. By leaving, she was rebelling against her mother and her protection. This sounds odd because WE know the mother was a witch and that she was being extremely selfish. HOWEVER, Rapunzle was not aware of this. This theme pushes that young people know better then they’re elders, even if their elders are sinners.
Who knows? If Rapunzle HAD stayed in the tower, the story might have turned out differently. Even better, if it had been written by God-fearing script writers. Rapunzle would have come off more strong had she stayed in obedience and had been rescued by a decent knight, instead of running off with a thief *ICK*. The story—from a Biblical viewpoint–would have come off much better and stronger if written with a godly worldview.
Also, simply being ‘grown up’ does not give her leave to disobey. I would say that grown children still living at home should still obey their parents. Only until they leave the family in marriage would they be able to disobey their parents–done respectfully and lovingly of course, because they have moved under the headship of another person. This is something beautiful that God created, and it was for the protection of us women. Once again, I say that being kept in a tower is not really being abused. Maybe it was protrayed that way in the film, and in today’s culture of pushing independent women, that might seem very terrible, but really….it’s not so terrible. A place to stay. Food to eat. Plenty to do. Wow. God has blessed her!
That is why films like these can be dangerous, because they portray confusing themes contrary to God’s word in a way that seems alright……
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and He shall direct thy paths. I wish someone had quoted that verse to Rapunzle . . . .
~Jamie Joyce
I have a hard time believing you believe that. A young woman being locked up, with no experience with the outside world, no friends, and a slanted view of things IS abuse and it is unnatural. A prison also protects one from the world and gives food and shelter. She’s supposed to endure this for how long? Until she gets married? Waiting for a man that will never come because her captor will never allow him near? Oh yes, she DID leave to marry in the original tale, or attempted to; do you think this was wrong? You say if one lives in her parents’ home she should obey, but Rapunzel DID try to leave, and even this she was forbidden. How long is a grown woman to put up with infantizing, stifling captivity? How is she to obediently leave only for marriage if no man is allowed near her? How many years must she waste waiting for an oppressive woman to change her mind? This is wrong and unnatural, and almost every abused child rebels in some way at some point because they know it’s wrong.
“Even better, if it had been written by God-fearing script writers”
No God-fearing scriptwriter would ever promote a young woman being held captive and submitting to such nonsense, being practically lifeless until a man wanders along and saves her. That’s Sleeping Beauty, not Rapunzel.
I think this article might be a better explanation for what I think is a Godly daughter-parent relationship:
This lady finally left home, openly and against her parents’ wishes, after years of harmful repression even as a child. She writes an article here for ladies convicted to stay home with their parents and how to deal with disagreements.
I’m sorry if my second to last post seemed rude or abrupt. I do agree that a) she shouldn’t have left with a thief. Seriously? b) She shouldn’t have snuck out for something as inconsequential as seeing lanterns and then lied about it. In her case, I do promote her ultimately leaving even if her witchy mum didn’t like it, but I think this (when done by anyone in a similar situation) should be done with honesty and openness, as I said on Gabe’s blog. Leaving your parents with no word and being sneaky about it usually only leads to regret and bitterness, unless they’re truly dangerous people.
I understand where you are coming from. It is a touchy issue, especially in today’s world where families are torn and bleeding. However, I’m talking with Rapunzle more in mind then today’s women. I’m no theologian or brain master but I do know that when one obeys, one is blessed. Maybe not obediently, but in the long run. One has to look at the big picture.
You ask how long one should wait. I say, “trust in the Lord and he will make your paths straight”. It’s easy to say, not so easy to do, but can it can and has been done. If Rapunzel had prayed to God, put her faith in him, and asked Him to set her free…well, who knows? Maybe her real parents would have found her and rescued her! It’s just difficult to see these things when this is a animation we’re talking about, not real life.
Got to run! We’re watching a film and we’re about to start! :D I do want to end with this; I only know what the Bible tells us to do. Anything else is sand. And sand can be dangerous to build one’s house on. :) Ta-ta!
~Jamie Joyce
Yes, that’s true about animation vs. real life. And it would have been nice to see either Rapunzel leave with a prince, or trust in God; He would have told her to leave or stay and when. In general I think the lines of abuse are clear, esp. with adult kids, but modern times with so many lost teens presses us to be careful.
I hope you’ll let us know what film you watched and what you thought, here or on your blog :) Have a good night!
Thank you for your kindness. All I can say is ‘trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus then to trust and obey’. That’s a hymn. I know that these situations are sticky and dangerous, but the best way to get through them is to obey God’s Word instead of following my heart or my head in what I think I should do. God is always right. So we need to trust and obey.
We watched a Miss Marple film. Maybe I will mention it in a post I’m planning to do today. :D
~Jamie Joyce
Cool, I love Agatha Christie. Another awesome film is “We’ll Meet Again”, a Mary Higgins Clark.