Does Mother Gothel and Rapunzel Portray An Accurate Toxic Relationship Between Mother and Daughter?

Desiree Smith

In the most modern retelling of Tangled, a Disney animated film, Rapunzel has spent the majority of her life locked away in a tower without any means of escape because of the sheltered life her mother figure, Mother Gothel, subjected her to. Themes such as coddling, isolation, gaslighting, and overprotection will be discussed in order to observe the mother-and-daughter relationship this pair has. Other relationships with Rapunzel will also be analyzed as to how different they are compared to her own with Mother Gothel. As a psychological deep analysis of the characters, it will be discussed if Disney has accurately portrayed a toxic relationship between mother and daughter that could be recalled in a real-life setting.

There are a few theories that will be discussed in order to support this analysis. The first one is, Mother Gothel was the first Disney villain/stepmother to show a nurturing side to the main protagonist. In the article, De-tangling Motherhood: Adoption Narratives in Disney’s Tangled by Jeana Delrosso , the author states that “Curiously, however, Gothel also demonstrates tenderness toward Rapunzel, in ways that are not accounted for in traditional fairy tales, as Warner and others discuss them. Diverging from the role of the traditional stepmother of fairy tales who “demands work and gives no love” to her daughter.” Jeana states in this quote that Mother Gothel goes above the standards of evil mother figures in typical fairytales (Ex: Evil Queen from Snow White and Lady Tremaine from Cinderella). Mother Gothel hugs Rapunzel, brushes her hair, feeds her, and even kisses her forehead from time to time in the film. What sets Mother Gothel apart from other stepmothers in Disney films is that she hasn’t shown disdain for Rapunzel right off the bat. It is only when her ideas and views are challenged that she truly, “becomes the bad guy” stated Mother Gothel herself.

The second theory to back up the research question presented in the topic is that if Flynn Rider didn’t give Rapunzel the courage to leave the tower, she would still be locked away. Now, this might not be such a rare theory to ponder, but so far as traditional fairytales go, Flynn Rider as the love interest to the film's heroine thrives off of each other’s energy. Flynn is a rebellious thief who only cared about a life of luxury and getting rich by any means possible while Rapunzel was the striking opposite of that. She obeyed only her mother which made her obedient and she lived quite a sheltered life without any knowledge about the real world. If Flynn Rider did not sneak into the tower, Rapunzel would still be listening to the orders of Mother Gothel, trapped in the tower for many years to come. Flynn taught Rapunzel how to become more vocal, daring, and adventurous and live a life of her own.

Getting back to the research question topic, Mother Gothel mimics the behavior of a narcissistic parent. She cares about her looks while belittling Rapunzel for her own. The whole reason she kidnapped Rapunzel was to be young again. Mother Gothel wanted to be young forever and that desire is evident to an audience of a younger age demographic. An example of a moment in which this happens in the film is in the beginning when Mother Gothel returns with hazelnuts to make hazelnut soup. When they’re both gazing in the mirror she states, “Rapunzel, look in that mirror. You know what I see? I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady … Oh look, you’re here too!” It was meant to be seen as a playful gesture, but it comes off as backhanded which shoots down Rapunzel’s confidence.

The first theme to be discussed that is often characterized by a toxic parental relationship is coddling. The excuse that Mother Gothel tells Rapunzel time and time again is, “The world is dark, and, selfish, and cruel. If it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine, it destroys it!” When the audience knows the real reason why Rapunzel cannot leave the tower, it successfully scares Rapunzel into having a fear that her mother will be angry at her if she disobeys her. Rapunzel thinks that Mother Gothel is only doing this for her safety and because she loves her so much. According to the article, Tangled: Escape The 5-Story Tower of Narcissistic Abuse by David C. Strubler Ph. D, “Shahida Arabi, in her book, “Becoming the Narcissist’s Nightmare,” calls this love-bombing, the idealization phase. Narcissists use this phase to entice and trap their targets in the tower, to control them psychologically.” Love bombing is the action or practice of lavishing someone with attention or affection, especially in order to influence or manipulate them. An example of this happening in the film is captured in the beginning when Mother Gothel is brushing the hair of young Rapunzel in front of the fireplace. Even as a false mother figure, Mother Gothel never neglected Rapunzel when she was a young little girl. Instead, she used affection to her advantage and coddled Rapunzel into believing this treatment was normal. Love bombing does co-exist with coddling because you’re refusing to see the growth of character that a person does abide by anymore. When love bombing doesn’t work, aggression is what happens next. This is realistically portrayed as a mother-and-daughter relationship because there is a diagnosis behind the character of Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel is a narcissistic parent that can be present in the households of children everywhere.

Another toxic trait that Mother Gothel exhibits with Rapunzel is isolation. Rapunzel’s only form of human interaction is with Mother Gothel. In the song, When Will My Life Begin? We as the audience get to see what Rapunzel’s daily routine is like. She cleans in the morning, bakes, does arts and crafts, reads, and repeats the same process if there’s enough time before Mother Gothel arrives from being out all day. The only interaction she has is with an animal companion, Pascal, which is a common theme in Disney princess movies. Yet, that isn’t enough and can be detrimental to her social ability to communicate with others. A prime example of this is when Rapunzel hits Flynn Rider with a frying pan and ties him up. In other cases of breaking and entering, Rapunzel had a good reaction to defending herself, but she hits Flynn Rider twice which gives him a concussion and knocks him out. Mother Gothel reiterates to Rapunzel that the outside world is dangerous and that being locked in the tower is for her safety and well-being. As director Bryon Howard states in the interview after being questioned on their relationship, Byron Howard & Nathan Greno interview: Tangled, Disney, animation, and directing Disney royalty, “Whatever Gothel understands about motherhood doesn’t seem to be very much! She’s got a very unique mothering style! There’s something there, though, even if it does have a twisted core, where she has to play mom to this kid to make the ruse complete. She has to convince this smart girl that she is her mother, and whatever her motivations are, she just intends to use this girl as long as she can to protect herself.” From the directors themselves, Mother Gothel doesn’t know what she’s doing, so she’s winging motherhood, but in that process, she’s exposing Rapunzel to toxicity that a normal parent in real life would do to their daughter.

Lastly, the other traits of toxic parenting that Mother Gothel exposes Rapunzel to are gaslighting and overprotection. After reuniting with Rapunzel at the doc in town, she tells her in the musical number, Mother Knows Best, “Dear, this whole romance that you’ve invented

Just proves you’re too naive to be here.” Mother Gothel gives her ‘advice’ on the relationship between Flynn Rider and Rapunzel without actually experiencing the emotions that they gained for each other and their intimate moments. She tells Rapunzel it's all in her head, gaslighting her to believe that Flynn Rider only wanted the tiara and was going to eventually abandon her when it's entirely false. The directors of Tangled Bryon Howard and Nathan Greno talk about welcoming women in to talk about their own experiences with their mothers while growing up in the article, Female Perspective on Hot Guys, Mean Moms Powers Disney’s ‘Tangled, by Thomas J. McLean states, “We had some really brutal stories, and we’d say, ‘Wow, that sounds pretty intense,’ ” Greno says. “And they’d say, ‘No, I love my mother!’ ” That meeting directly led to moments like Mother Gothel telling Rapunzel she is “getting kind of chubby.” These are experiences that inspired the relationship of mother and daughter of Mother Gothel and Rapunzel.

Data Analysis Report

I calculated the data centered around my proposal question for Tangled for my Data Analysis. This graph documents everything listed above from a 30-minute deep dive into the Disney film. In the final draft, I will calculate data for the entire duration of the movie, but for now, I wanted to test if the qualitative data I collected was accurate or enough for the presentation. My proposal question summarized whether Disney portrayed an accurate toxic relationship between mother and daughter in Tangled whilst using the characters Mother Gothel and Rapunzel as the focus.

While watching the Disney film, I made four different categories to carefully examine the relationship. The first built point focuses on How Many Relationships Does Rapunzel Have In The Film. The answer I concluded with is six. Flynn, Gothel, Pascal, Maximillian, Mother, and Father. The second category I came up with is How Many Times Does Mother Gothel Show Rapunzel Affection? The answer I concluded with is three times. In the duration of thirty minutes, Mother Gothel showed Rapunzel affection three times, and that was a method used to keep Rapunzel in her good graces. The third category I came up with is Does Rapunzel Feel Guilty For Enjoying Her Life Away From Mother Gothel? The answer is nine times. Rapunzel goes through a series of emotions after stepping out of the tower, and it tallies up to a matter of nine times. Lastly, the final category I made for the film is How Many Times Mother Gothel Gaslights Rapunzel. The answer in a total of thirty minutes presented is seven times. She uses phrases such as “Now I’m the bad guy” and “I love you most” to sway Rapunzel to do what she does best for her (Gothel’s) sake.

In conclusion, I think this is a great start to working on my presentation. It’s a simple first draft but it lays down the groundwork of what I could work on next when doing my 2nd draft of this analysis report for the entire film. I am confident that once I go back and rewatch Tangled that there will be new things about Mother Gothel and Rapunzel’s mother-and-daughter dynamic that I haven’t noticed before.

Overall, this is what I have so far for my final paper as my first draft. I’d be more than open to receiving feedback on what I can do to improve my final paper. Other concerns and issues I want to know if my table graph was enough. Of course, I’ll update the data graph with tallies of the entire movie, I’d just like to know now what I can do to improve overall.

Citations

Strubler, David C. “Tangled: Escape the 5-Story Tower of Narcissistic Abuse.” Psychology Today, 14 September 2019, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/doesnt-get-any-better/201909/tangled-escape-the-5-story-tower-narcissistic-abuse. Accessed 11 November 2022.

Brew, Simon. “Byron Howard & Nathan Greno interview: Tangled, Disney, animation and directing Disney royalty.” Den of Geek, 28 January 2011, https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/byron-howard-nathan-greno-interview-tangled-disney-animation-and-directing-disney-royalty/. Accessed 11 November 2022.

DelRosso, Jeana. “De-tangling Motherhood: Adoption Narratives in Disney's Tangled.” The Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 48, no. 3, 2015, p. 14. Guttman CUNY, https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ncc.ezproxy.cuny.edu/doi/full/10.1111/jpcu.12281.

Marie, Fallon. “Mother Gothel Is A Narcissist. (MM #13) | by Fallon Marie | Magical Musings: A Disney Writing Project.” Medium, 8 October 2021, https://medium.com/magical-musings-a-disney-writing-project/mother-gothel-is-a-narcissist-mm-13-603541fb8f5. Accessed 11 November 2022.

McLean, Thomas J. “Female Perspective on Hot Guys, Mean Moms Powers Disney's 'Tangled.'” The Hollywood Reporter, 30 November 2010, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/female-perspective-hot-guys-moms-49559/. Accessed 11 November 2022