Tangled

I could write a 500-page essay on the movie Tangled, dissecting, analyzing, annotating and praising each itty bitty tiny detail and element of the film but I’ll restrain myself. I went in search of it because it was my birthday and I wanted a “once-upon-a-time” story that would remind me of things timeless and true.

So I got the VCD and it was magical! The movie began with a single drop of sunlight that fell from the sky and into the ground and that formed a single golden flower with magical healing abilities – specifically, that of curing the sick and the injured. Gosh. Only 3 minutes into the movie and I was already captivated. It can’t get any more magical than that, can it? Oh but wait, there’s more!

There was adventure! Scaling castle rooftops, flying from house to house on horses’ hooves, fast-paced chases, narrow escapes, falling off cliffs and stumbling into isolated towers in the deep parts of the forest – ha! I was thrilled. And I hadn’t even gotten to the best part yet.

The thing about Tangled was that it was so me. It appealed to every penchant and inclination of mine. And it even contained a lot of elements that were particularly relatable for me at the moment. Like the conflict of emotions you get into when you’re trying to break free from what keeps holding you back, or like that doubting Thomas of a voice you get inside of your head when you think a boy likes you and it hits a vulnerable spot when it mocks you that the mutuality is just in your head and nothing more but a deluded invention of yours. Ouch, right? And then there’s a part there about keeping the light of hope in your heart and never wavering or allowing it to fade. And let’s NOT forget the dreams part. How me.

But what I took the most from the story was the idea of what happens to our hearts when we fall in love with another. And as I watched Rapunzel it struck me that all a girl really wants when she falls in love is to lay down her life for the guy, or at the other end of the spectrum, to live it for him. It’ll do either way. But when the guy loves her back, they get into a friendly competition with each other – on who can love the other more. She couldn’t let him die. Well, he just couldn’t let her stay a prisoner for life and die in that manner. Well in this particular competition, the guy won. Before she could say any more, he cut the bonds that held her loose, setting her free and losing his own life in the process. It left me breathless.

I realized once again that the sport of love is about selflessness. Always about the other, not about yourself. So by the time the movie ended, it was like a drop of sunlight had fallen into my heart as well, warming me from the inside, a golden flower budding into a blossom. And I pondered to myself that if I loved deeply enough too, could I also shed tears and smile smiles that have the power to take away pain? Could I?

But the best part of the story was the coincidence that the character Rapunzel was also having her birthday that day. It was like Life splayed out its arms at me since it was my birthday and exclaimed, “Tada!”

So, in closing, I’d like to express my warmest gratitude to the creators of the film Tangled. Kudos to you and Thank You for bringing a fairy tale to life and making it new again.

Special mention to Mr. Alan Menken for the music.

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