It gave me a lovely warm glowy feeling inside.

Having experienced abuse by my own mother, this movie struck such a chord with me. Every time Gothel came on the screen, and especially during Mother Knows Best, I was distinctly and uncomfortably reminded of my mother. From the fear-mongering, personal attacks disguised as a helping hand, shaming and blaming, and ESPECIALLY every time she made an affectionate gesture that seemed genuine—but you could never really figure out if it was or not. Gah.

Not to mention the possessiveness, manipulation, “I do so much for you and look how you repay me!” and God, that sneering, judgmental tone. Yeah. Serious deja vu.

And then it reflected my own experience—the whole teetering between, “I’m such a horrible person!” and “I’ve done the right thing and I’m so happy!”. So been there.

So you can imagine how incredibly uplifting and encouraging it was for me to see a movie that says, “Hey, get out of there! Live your own life!” I think I’m just realizing now how many amazing parallels that movie has for survivors and victims of child abuse. Especially the part on a little rebellion being healthy. Tangled affirmed so many of my doubts—the good doubts, the ones saying, “Maybe this is wrong,” “Maybe this is hurting me,” “Maybe I should get out of here.”

Yeah. So all I have to say to anyone calling this movie ‘immoral’: come back to me when YOU’VE made a movie as inspiring to those who have experienced abuse. Also, I have to say I fear for your children. I’m sorry, but I do.

Gothel is the EPITOME of QF/P logic when she derides Rapunzel’s desire to go out into the world “underdressed”…despite the fact that she has been the one keeping her locked at home barefoot. She allows her no means of being prepare for going out into the world…and then tells her she can’t go out into the world because she’s unprepared.

That’s like homeschooled cult 101.

Just Google “Furry Fandom” for similar smears all over the Web. (Compounded by the fact that there ARE some pretty crazy types in the fandom who invoke Rule 34 on any pretext and/or like to Jerry Springer before the media.) Accusations of Bestiality are so common that hearing Thundercats denounced as “Egyptian Paganism” instead sticks in my mind after 20 years.

I’m trying to jump-start a second career as an SF writer, and in any sort of “Hard SF” there are Experts (TM) who will parse your physics and biology letter-by-letter just so they can catch you in some scientific error and crow about how Stupid You Are.

And Kyle’s Moms take this ego-boo one step further; they always have to be on some Crusade just so Everybody Can Know How Important They Are, Saving those Sheeple from Their Own Stupidity. In the 1950s it was Comic Books. In the 1970s, Dungeons & Dragons. In the 1990s, Harry Potter. Same pattern, same snit, same Righteous Activism. Why should Rapunzel be immune?

Instead of actually worrying about her–a real mother would be terrified!–she is furious with Rapunzel and begins plotting to sabotage her love life and return her to the tower. Her only emotions seem related to her loss of Rapunzel’s hair to keep her young.

From the beginning, it appears that despite her sick ways she may actually have grown to care for Rapunzel, but nope!

(It reminds me of when Solomon offered to cut a baby in half to figure out which of two women claiming her was the child’s real mother! The mom was horrified and offered to give the child up to save him and was promptly reunited with her offspring. The other lady would have actually been satisfied with half a baby, just to validate her ego.)

Did you catch how Gothel’s loving looks and gestures are all directed at Rapunzel’s hair, while Rapunzel gets the putdowns? And of course, Rapunzel wouldn’t even be there if Gothel could’ve just cut her hair. She’s only there because of what Gothel can get out of having her.

The climactic scene can be read as the final escape from a toxic home as the head of that household sees her power broken.