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Mayra Arreola

mayra179077@[Link]

A Damsel to Hero

I spent my Sundays going to swap meets with the family, rummaging through old

forgotten items and used toys while my parents looked for tools and crochet supplies. I still recall

going through the brown bin labeled VHS tapes and finding a copy of my favorite movie, "The

Little Mermaid." Luckily, we were old school, and my father kept the VHS player under the tv. I

do not remember how much it cost, but I remember begging for the movie until my father caved.

I had an old VHS car rewinder, popped it in, and stared at the little blue car until it popped open

for me. I imagined I was the princess, writing my version of those tales and my own endings. I

became so invested in everything Disney did on one of my trips to the library; I stumbled upon

the forbidden tales of the Brothers Grimm. As I opened the bound cover book, the perception of

fairytales I had engraved in my mind was not always as magical as Disney made it seem. While

there were tones of the evil stepmother or evil villain, the Grimm's tales were violent and scary

compared to the pretty tales told through the lens of Disney. The idea of a princess falling in love

with the prince no longer seemed like a romantic tale but an unsettling nightmare where the

characters suffer for their "Happily Ever After." As I compared the tales I grew to love, the ugly

truth became clear; women had to suffer at the hands of being rescued. As I got older and

became a mother, the portrayal of women changed, creating a retelling of fairy tales through the

feminist lens. It begged the question, was a change made, or were the roles still the same but less

intense than before? Take “Rapunzel”, for example; Grimm approaches “Rapunzel” as a young,

naïve woman in comparison to the new and updated version of Walt Disney’s Tangled , where

the heroine herself uses a frying pan to defend herself against the intruder entering her home—a
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complete contradiction to the original retelling of the prince arriving and being seen as charming.

By analyzing the use of the female protagonist characteristics in Grimm's "Rapunzel" to

reinforce the patriarchal values, the reader better understands the evolution of the progression of

male and female relationships in Walt Disney’s Tangled , which demonstrates the progress made

through feminism.

In Grimm's “Rapunzel”, the reader better understands the patriarchal values imposed

through the retellings of Western Fairytale, which reflect the gender "norms" in contrast to Walt

Disney’s Tangled portrayal of a heroine, opposite of the classic "damsel in distress." From the

earliest creation of fairy tales, "girls are encouraged to be inactive depending on beauty and

meekness to secure themselves a man" (Hooker 178), establishing a narrative that women are

passive, dependent, and helpless. In Grimms' retelling, the princess perceives marriage as a form

of escaping the constant loneliness she feels from being trapped in the tower and instantly agrees

to marry the prince "because he spoke so kind" (Grimms). As the reader analyzes the text, we

understand the princess reflects a naive woman who presents no moral values, depicting a

princess who cares for looks rather than personality. According to the article Letting Down

Rapunzel, "men became more closely associated with reason, temperance, physical activity, and

sovereign order, and females became more associated with whimsy, passivity, and irrationality,"

(Smith 427) an example of Rupunzel's innocence, when the prince and Rupunzel meet. Mocking

the voice of her Mother Gothel he deceives the princess and enters her room, and as a result

deems his actions acceptable because of the tone of his voice. With this in mind, Rapunzel

"forgot her terror, and when he asked her to take him for her husband,"(Grimm) the prince

established control on the princess because of his charming good looks as the maiden was young

and beautiful. In Walt Disney’s Tangled , Flynn's introduction to the fair maiden resulted in a
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more violent attack from the princess. Marriage is not suggested but manipulation is used

through the princess as she convinces the young thief to help her escape to view the shining

lights. The thief is a guide rather than a savior, and control is established through the princess

when she threatens to beat him with the frying pan. This interpretation challenges the work of

those who have long assumed that women are subservient and men are prominent figures in the

retellings and changes have been made through societal changes.

This has led to the feminist approach in Walt Disney’s Tangled , shifting Grimms' theme

of "damsel in distress" to a heroine, and in response women are challenging the above values

through pseudo-heroism. In Walt Disney’s Tangled , Rapunzel is given control over her

narrative; she is not escaping but choosing freedom as a young adult. In this version, Rapunzel is

portrayed as a "heroine" only because they are central to the tales, for they carry none of the

heroic qualities of strength," (Smith 427), as the main character in the Disney film, her actions

are made through the dream she had when she was a child. While Rapunzel carries her version of

a weapon, a frying pan, there are instances in the movie in which she uses the weapon to fend off

the villains. However, as we analyze, the viewer understands that the male figure still carries

those heroic qualities when accompanying the princess. In Walt Disney’s Tangled subliminal

message that the princess can protect herself is masked by the different forms of bravery, like

singing her song to light up the tunnel before they drown, in contrast to Flynn risking his life as

he is stabbed by Mother Gothel, moments before he cuts Rapunzel golden hair. While we have

given female protagonists more control over their stories, it has led to "A centrally important

aspect of these tales is their very mixed message about female ability," (Hooker 178)

implementing the idea that the women's heroic qualities lie on a lesser spectrum to her male

counterpart. However, it is the beginning of a change compared to the Grimm's version, where
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Rapunzel is controlled by Mother Gothel and forced to live in the desert as a response to her bold

choice to leave the tower. Because of "The asymmetrical casting of"hero " and"heroine,"(Smith

427) change has been made to shift the gender norms on female protagonists while not ultimately

gaining the qualities a hero/heroine possesses. Given these points, the reader understands that

while we have changed the narrative from a passive woman to a heroic woman, patriarchal

values are still at play in modern retelling.

Nevertheless, Disney's retelling of Rapunzel resulted from the Modern wave of feminism

in response to the Grimm's version. While it is only the beginning of the transition from female

passivity to the heroine, the qualities are a slow progression to the central theme that the female

character no longer needs to rely on the idea of a savior. In this retelling, Happy Ever After is no

longer a factor in these tales because of the action taken in response to changing the narrative of

the female protagonist. According to the article, Letting Down Rapunzel, "The effects of

second-wave feminism, which emerged in the 1960s, led to a heightened awareness of patriarchy

and how it conceived women as domesticated, passive and dependent beings"(Smith 428). In

Grimm's “Rapunzel”, Rapunzel's loneliness results in the immediate yes to a partnership with the

Disney film. With this in mind, "certain recurrent motifs in tales of bold women still seem to set

limits on the acceptable scope of the female initiative" (Hooker 178) Rapunzel agrees to lifelong

captivity if she can heal him. We also see in the film that Rapunzel kidnaps Flynn and uses him

as an aid for her escape and discovery of the world; in comparison to Grimms' version where the

princess "finding her lost love the prince,...the couple riding off towards his kingdom to live

happily ever after with their twins"(Grimms).

As fairy tales continue to be reproduced, feminists are taking their claim and retelling tales like

"Rapunzel" as a hero that possesses more modern qualities than the original telling. This film
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explores significant personal issues, like finding meaning and connection. So as you can see, the

retelling of Western Fairy Tales in the second wave of feminism created the

evolution/progression of male and female relationships. While there is still an underlying

message about the roles females and males play, progressive changes challenge the patriarchal

values of Brothers Grimm's "Rapunzel”.

As the progression continues, the generation that my children are growing up in is

learning that women are influential individuals capable of saving themselves. There is a

pushback when retelling these famous tales; most recently, the live-action Little Mermaid came

under fire for the change of race portrayed versus the original cartoon version. Changing the

narrative has created people to protest against the changes made to classic tales; they are

necessary to reflect the changes made in today's society. If we choose to revert to gender norms,

we no longer move forwards and instead travel down a path where women are robbed of the

qualities that we can equally possess compared to men. As we continue to recycle and retell

these famous fairytales, we cannot help but wonder what changes will be made twenty years

from now as we continue to challenge the values and change views on gender roles.

Work Cited

Grimm, Jacob, et al. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales. New Delhi, FingerPrint! Classics, 2021.
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Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm, and Wilhelm Grimm. "Rapunzel." The Complete Grimms'

Fairy Tales. Grimms' Fairy Tales The complete fairy tales of the Brothers

Grimm, [Link]/en/grimm_fairy-tales/rapunzel. Accessed 14

Apr. 2023.

Smith, Angela. “Letting Down Rapunzel: Feminism’s Effects on Fairy Tales.” Children’s

Literature in Education, vol. 46, no. 4, 2015, pp. 424–37,

[Link]

Hooker, Jessica. “The Hen Who Sang: Swordbearing Women in Eastern European Fairytales.”

Folklore (London), vol. 101, no. 2, 1990, pp. 178–84,

[Link]

Tangled. Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, Walt Disney Pictures, 2010.