ROSE writes:

Here is a glimpse of Disney’s postmodern take on Rapunzel in the trailer to Tangled, which is coming out this fall. It’s nothing but the heroine violently assaulting the hero. It reminds me of Shrek where Princess Fiona beats up Robin Hood. Apparently the only important “real woman” quality is to punch things, especially men.

Laura writes:

Not only is Rapunzel violent here but she uses her hair as a weapon.  Most girls don’t like getting their hair dirty let alone using it as a lasso. This seems to be a deranged version of the fairy tale. And why is Rapunzel so nasty? Fairy tales often feature bizarre and unnatural events, but I can’t think of one that involves a girl assaulting a boy.

                                — Comments —

Kristor writes:

Ah, but in Shrek, the Robin Hood that Fiona thrashed was French, i.e., a false Robin. 

It is interesting to me that Tangled takes the myth of Rapunzel and focuses in on her hair as an instrument of her feminine power. She confronts a rogue, a Bad Boy, and renders him helpless with her hair. I bet this invokes a pretty common fantasy among women. And it harks back to an earlier discussion at The Thinking Housewife.

 Laura writes:

 The story of a girl beating a boy with her hair violates everything girls instinctively feel about their hair, which is that it is powerful by virtue of its visual effects.

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