7 Reasons Why "Tangled" is Disney's Best Fairy Tale

I've seen some Hubs recently on how Disney—though well-meaning—defrauds young girls and women of truth, worth, and reality. Though I love the old movies, I have to agree. However, I've been thinking about what sets Disney's most recent (and rumored last) traditional fairy tale apart.

And I like what I see.

Here are some reasons I believe Tangled is Disney's all-around best fairy tale.

To start with, Rapunzel is 18 years old, rather than the too-young 16 of Ariel, Jasmine, and Aurora, and (I suspect) other princesses whose specific ages aren't mentioned. Marriage without parental consent under the age of 18 is illegal in most of the United States. Yes, 18 is still young, but at least she's attained her legal majority. Have you noticed how most Disney princes are significantly older than their brides? At least for Rapunzel and Flynn—excuse me, Eugene—there aren't any weird adult/minor problems.

Rapunzel may be a damsel in reasonable distress, locked away in a tower (which she doesn't initially realize is really a prison), but she is not by any means helpless; just ask her trusty frying pan. She's a master of self-defense, and her candid, honest personality wins the hearts of anyone she's not physically strong enough to take on. Rapunzel is entirely without deceit or guile, and her innocence ends up saving both her and Flynn on more than one occasion.

Rapunzel doesn't set out to change Flynn when they begin their journey to "see the floating lights." In fact, she knows nothing about him beyond his need for his satchel and his ability to be governed by a frying pan and an watchful-eyed chameleon. As Flynn watches Rapunzel interact with others, express herself without restraint or design, and go through an honest struggle with herself over what's right and what's necessary, he begins to realize that the life he's created for himself isn't all he thought it would be. She inspires him to become a better person, though he doesn't give up his teasing playfulness (the only part of him he didn't put on like a disguise). Her personhood—which she retains even as she falls for Flynn—brings out the true personhood in him.

Something that I hadn't thought of until today is that unlike most Disney fairy tales, where the princess conveniently meets a prince (with the exception of Aladdin), Flynn is extremely common, and yet is completely unthreatened by Rapunzel's royal status. There is no sense of competition or jealousy. How empowering for a girl who had only ever been confined and dominated! And in today's society, where a woman is as likely to make more money than her husband as not, it's an important lesson. Flynn's "manhood" isn't threatened, and Rapunzel doesn't appear any less feminine; rather, they complement each other.

Though in the opening song she asks the listening universe (i.e., Pascal the chameleon), "When will my life begin?", she's not sitting around waiting for something to happen to her in her tower. The song is amusing as it enumerates all her mundane daily tasks, but taken more seriously, she's hard at work developing herself. She attends to the chores she's required to do (thus obeying the woman she knows as "mother"), but spends plenty of time reading, learning hobbies and skills (think pottery, sewing, cooking and baking, drawing, etc.), and expanding her own world as best she can from inside a locked tower. Sure, many of those activities make her sound like the "accomplished" woman so odious to Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, but when all you've got is what happens to be in your tower, you make do. The point is that she's getting all she can out of the resources she has. None of this sleeping for 100 years while the prince fights off the dragons, or lying dead until he destroys the wicked witch and plants one on your cold lips. (Some heroines!) When opportunity knocks, even in the guise of a fleeing thief, Rapunzel takes it. She's ready, and believe me—she doesn't have any idea of a love story when she and Flynn head off to see the lanterns. Her own personal goals are what she has in view, and everything else is just a perk. Betcha Cinderella couldn't relate to that.

Regarding that last point: It's refreshing that Rapunzel and Flynn don't fall in love "at first sight," like Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, even Cinderella. Okay, it takes them a grand total of two days, but still—that's two days longer than most! It's a process, and they actually get to know each other (as we get to know them) before the inevitable happens.

One of my favorite lines in the movie is at the end as Flynn is describing the kingdom-wide celebration of Rapunzel's return, when he says, "She was a princess worth waiting for."

Wow. That's quite a commendation. And while the vast, vast majority of us will never discover a lost royal lineage, isn't that what you want someone to say about you? If any guys are reading this, please don't interpret this to mean that women believe they are God's gift to men and have unreasonable expectations. The reality of the movie is that Rapunzel was a real princess, and when she took the role she'd been born into, she was ready for it. All her time spent cooped up in a tower had been well used, and she had used her difficulties and hardships to become a person of outstanding quality, beloved by all. Ladies, we could learn a few things. Do you want to be worth waiting for, or just another in a line of purposeless people who never did what they were born to do? This goes for relationships, jobs, ministries, and anywhere else you fill some kind of role. When you get there, is your contribution recognized for its quality, or is it tossed onto the "been there, done that" pile? My hope (and I wish it to be yours, too) is for the former.

Of course, when it comes down to it, Tangled is still a fairy tale. The main characters are attractive, and they all "live happily ever after." Not exactly reality. But even as a fairy tale, it appeals to a modern and diverse audience; I know several guys who love it, and I don't think that happened much with other fairy tales.

Now, I know there'll be a few people who argue, "Yes, well, Rapunzel still disobeyed by leaving the tower; and she got involved with a criminal, of all people, even helping him evade capture." True, and valid points. But no one's perfect, and frankly, the facts that she is fully clothed (unlike Jasmine and Ariel), has an actual personality (as opposed to Snow White and Aurora), and is an all-around strong female character are enough to make her my hands-down favorite.

What about you? Do you agree, or prefer another fairy tale?