“Tangled” enchants us with its vibrant animation, humor, and heartwarming tale. It’s easy to see the overt themes: the triumph of good, the power of love, the courage to pursue dreams, and a belief in the miraculous. However, a closer examination of its characters and symbols can reveal a less idyllic picture, one that reflects certain unsettling aspects of our contemporary world, particularly concerning the state of mature masculine and feminine energies. This shift in perspective can cast the story in a more somber, yet profoundly insightful, light.

The Ailing Kingdom: A Fading Light

The story famously begins with the Sun, a timeless symbol of the Self, the divine creator, the core of our psyche guiding us towards wholeness. This Sun bestows a drop of its light, which transforms into a magical flower. This flower embodies femininity – its beauty, its innocence, often compared to blossoms. This magical flower, a gift from the Sun-Self, represents a potent feminine energy meant to be reborn within the kingdom.

But why does this kingdom need a revival of the feminine? We learn that there is a King and a Queen, and "the Queen was about to have a child, but she fell ill, terribly ill." In this realm, femininity is ailing. More than that, the Queen cannot give birth without aid, indicating that not only the creative and sexual energies of femininity are suffering, but also its maternal function.

Drawing a parallel to our own societal history, there was a long period where the fullness of femininity was, to put it mildly, not accepted. It was restricted, its power feared and suppressed, even as an idealized image of womanhood – the gentle, submissive, loving mother, the Madonna – was simultaneously cultivated. Other aspects of the feminine were relegated to the shadows, where they resided for centuries. Now, the time has come when that shadow longs for full expression. We see this today, as those who once felt stifled by a lack of rights now seek to fully embrace freedom and equality. This, unfortunately, can swing the pendulum to the other extreme, where masculine energy may begin to feel marginalized.

Yet, the King in this kingdom is also "sick." He rejoiced at the birth of a daughter, though kings traditionally awaited sons, heirs to the throne. He has no other children. The King, the embodiment of masculinity and the earthly representative of the Self – responsible for connecting his people with the divine, for order and fertility – is, after 18 years, in a state of suppressed, silent grief. He is no longer capable of fulfilling his kingly duties. In ancient societies, such a king might have been deposed, or worse, as the very life of the tribe depended on his psychic and physical well-being. As in many classic fairy tales, the message is clear: when the king ails, another must rise – often a young prince.

The Dichotomy of the Feminine: Queen and Gothel

Let's return to the Queen. Embodying the image of the sacred Madonna-mother, she is ill. Her illness stems from a vast portion of her personality, and almost all her life energy, being cast into shadow – into Mother Gothel. Gothel, unlike the Queen, embodies a healthy, instinctual energy, the kind Clarissa Pinkola Estés wrote about. She is vibrant, sexual, she sings (song as a symbol of creative energy, inner joy), and she has wide, swaying hips (hinting at robust maternity).

The Queen, however, cannot give birth without the sun's gift, remains silent throughout the film, offering only timid smiles. She is like an icon, an ideal far removed from life. Yet, the King remains with her, while Mother Gothel has no male partner. This is akin to a man who, upon encountering the raw energy of a Gothel-like woman, becomes frightened and retreats to the "safer" Queen – timid and somewhat lifeless. Thus, the kingdom desperately needs a rebirth of both masculine and feminine energies. If we map this to our history, masculinity must transform and adapt to a new expression of the feminine. The man accustomed to the ideal of a gentle mother figure must now face the feminine shadow, not with fear, but with the capacity to understand and integrate it. The masculine and feminine should not be at war for their place in the sun, but exist in tandem, maintaining balance, complementing and supporting each other.

Since the Queen could only give birth with the sun's energy, she lacks the strength to raise the child. Icons don't raise children; real, living women do. And so, Mother Gothel, as the shadow of the Queen and of all femininity, takes Rapunzel to raise, intending, perhaps, to show the world a new image of womanhood. The ease with which the child was stolen from the royal bedroom is noteworthy – perhaps it was fated to happen.

Rapunzel and Eugene: The Path to (Incomplete) Wholeness

Rapunzel is the sun's child, a symbol of femininity and the rebirth of female energies destined to take the throne. Her long, magical hair represents her feminine power, carrying the gift of the Sun-Self. She is the future queen, embodying traits of her mother-queen, yet she must undergo the upbringing of her shadow-stepmother to bring the kingdom's femininity to true wholeness, maturity, and inner richness. It's significant that the shadow (Gothel) cannot survive without the sun's gift; she feeds on Rapunzel's hair, on that potent source of femininity, and ages without it. Her task, then, is to pass on her experience and be reborn in Rapunzel, to complete the cycle of life-death-rebirth, so that a complete femininity can ascend the throne.

Eugene, as in any fairy tale, is destined to become king, to bring order to Rapunzel's overwhelming feminine energy, balance the forces, and ensure the kingdom's prosperity. Eugene's path is arguably more complex than Rapunzel's: he must evolve from the thief Flynn Rider to the orphan Eugene, and finally, to a king, acquiring maturity, responsibility, strength, and finding his true masculinity.

Let's consider the developmental tasks for our future rulers:

Rapunzel, as the symbol of reborn femininity, navigates typical stages of maturation:

• Separation from the mother figure as a step towards maturity.
• A quest for self-knowledge and her own path, understanding her purpose.
• A desire for adventure (seeking her own life experiences, not just learning from her mother's).

Rapunzel successfully navigates these. However, the more profound, global developmental tasks seem to remain unresolved:

• Leaving the fairy-tale tower: Descending into the real world, shedding youthful illusions, and exchanging infantile dreaminess for mature feminine energies.
• Integrating the feminine shadow: Incorporating aspects of Mother Gothel to avoid repeating the Queen's fate.
• Undergoing initiation: Ascending the throne, transforming from princess to queen, as she bears great responsibility for the revival of femininity.
• Assisting Eugene: Helping him through his trials to become king.

Eugene's developmental tasks:

• Helping Rapunzel realize her destiny: Aiding femininity in its ascent to power.
• Shedding the thief persona: Finding his true Self in the identity of Eugene.
• Acquiring mature masculine energies: Undergoing his own initiation.
• Accepting the reborn femininity: Standing beside her as a worthy king, the embodiment of masculinity.
• Leading the kingdom: Becoming the new symbol of the Self for his people.

Characters Reflecting Energetic Imbalance

Feminine Characters:

• The Queen: Sickly, silent, an image already discussed. A passive figurehead.
• Mother Gothel: The embodiment of mature, vibrant feminine energies, yet portrayed as a villain. In my view, Gothel is an ambivalent character, like the Shadow, containing both good and bad. She possesses creative energy and absolute egoism, maternal love and a powerful negative mother complex. She is tender and cruel simultaneously. This ambivalence can be seen in fairy tales like "Vasilisa the Beautiful." Vasilisa's dying mother gives her a doll (intuition), a good mother's gift that saves her. The evil stepmother sends her to Baba Yaga for fire. Baba Yaga, as interpreted by Clarissa P. Estés, is the Wild Mother, helping Vasilisa mature. In "Tangled," this distinction isn't as clear. The mother-queen offers nothing; the gift comes from the sun. The queen cannot give Rapunzel anything because feminine energies are ailing, and woman's instinctual nature and intuition are in shadow. Gothel raises the girl as her own, offering both the good of a mother and the bad of a stepmother. In the end, she acts as the Baba Yaga figure meant to facilitate trials. Perhaps Gothel wouldn't mind indirectly ruling by having constant access to the Sun's energy in Rapunzel's hair. Just as the past often resists yielding to the new, she doesn't want to relinquish her youth. Yet, her role in nurturing the new feminine energy in the kingdom cannot be understated. She provided the future queen with a holistic picture of femininity, so Rapunzel, in her reign, could bring it into harmonious balance. As an ambivalent character, Gothel should evoke ambivalent feelings. But the film's ending takes a different turn, which is quite perplexing.

Masculine Characters:

• The King: Grieves silently for 18 years. A figure of stagnant masculinity.
• The Guards: Royal soldiers, representing energies of decisiveness and goal-orientation, display utter incompetence. This suggests a genuine crisis in mature masculine energies within the kingdom.
• The Ruffians: Divided into "good" and "bad." Here, an important distinction needs to be made. Men possess a dreamy, infantile feminine aspect within their psyche – an infantile Anima – which can lead them to escape reality, becoming passive and fanciful. For example, a man might "melt" at "daddy's little girl" or "lose his head" over a woman. When a woman understands this power, she can easily become the projection of a man's Anima and manipulate him. He literally "takes flight."
  • The ruffians from "The Snuggly Duckling" tavern "take flight" over the dreamy Rapunzel, thus becoming "good" (their violent criminality conveniently ignored). "I’m a ruffian, I’m a baddie, and I’ve done a lot of bad deeds."
  • The Stabbington brothers, however, are not swayed. They don't "take flight." Consequently, they are portrayed as "bad" or simply too dull to understand, and end up imprisoned, while "The Snuggly Duckling" crew dances at the royal ball. This subtly promotes a questionable idea for young women: if you conform to a man's image of an infantile, dreamy Anima, all doors will open, and the world can be easily "tamed." But if someone isn't captivated by such behavior, they are simply "bad" or not smart enough.
• Maximus: Regrettably, mature masculine traits in the film are primarily found in a horse named Maximus. He is logical, consistent, purposeful, brave, rational, intelligent, and has developed intuition. Other male characters either display immature masculine energies or absolute passivity (like the King). In fairy tales, a white horse often symbolizes a man's instinctual creative energy; princes are often depicted on white horses. Here, Maximus seems more like a mature masculine Ego. Flynn cannot tame him; in fact, they are adversaries. Yet Rapunzel "tames" Maximus, the proud royal steed (who is smarter than all the guards combined), in an instant by pouting and mentioning her birthday. This beautifully illustrates how mature masculinity can succumb to a girl's manipulation when she appeals to the man's dreamy, infantile Anima. "Good boy, such a good boy! Tired of chasing that ruffian all over the forest, huh?" Of course, there's nothing wrong with feminine dreaminess; it has its place. But it shouldn't be the guiding principle for a young woman entering maturity.

The Unresolved Finale: A Kingdom in Limbo?

The crown, a symbol of accepted authority, is tossed about throughout the film. Flynn steals it, unable yet to claim the throne legitimately. He wants to sell it to buy a castle – "I want my own castle." His method of gaining power is to purchase it, exchanging the very symbol of authority for money. A bit absurd. Rapunzel beautifully hands Flynn the crown during the lantern scene, as if symbolically, yet still unconsciously, acknowledging him as the future king. But Flynn uses it to buy off the ruffians, again casting it aside.

As mentioned, the girl's hair symbolizes her femininity. Initially, Rapunzel possessed a powerful resource, a colossal magical feminine energy that could have been used for the kingdom's benefit, reviving the fading femininity embodied by the Queen. But Flynn cuts it. For him, the only way to escape the influence of the shadow-mother is to sever this potential for transforming the girl's vast promise into a potent feminine resource that could save mature femininity in the kingdom. A reckless act, certainly, but it did have a positive effect. And here's a crucial moment: deprived of her long hair, Rapunzel can connect with her gift through sorrow, through tears – they now possess magical power. Symbolically, this scene where Rapunzel weeps over Flynn and heals him could have been the turning point of her transformation – her initiation. She confronts a harsh reality where her infantile dreaminess should have metamorphosed into mature femininity – a maturity that comes with realizing our resources are limited, we are not all-powerful, and reality is sometimes not what we wish. This experience is vital for developing the heroine's female maturity. Her tears become healing, meant to cure her of naive lightheartedness.

Gothel turns to dust, and Rapunzel shows no grief for her, as if 18 years of warm feelings never existed. "I love you very much, dear. - And I love you more. - And I love you even more." "You're not afraid to be alone for long? - As long as I'm here, I'm safe." Rapunzel, as the personification of new femininity, the future queen of a great human kingdom, should accept Mother Gothel, give her a place in her soul to find wholeness, and then bid farewell to ascend the throne. But Gothel didn't let Rapunzel go. Perhaps Gothel manifested her inner evil, the life-draining shadow of the negative mother complex. Or perhaps Rapunzel wasn't yet ready for the throne, and by turning the old feminine energies to dust, a girl, instead of a queen, came to power? What if Gothel was right not to release immature femininity onto the throne? This question remains open.

If the scene with the tears had produced the necessary developmental effect on the characters, there should have been a coronation scene for Rapunzel, with Flynn beside her as the new king, or at least a prince. Instead, there were dances with the ruffians. Flynn, narrating their adventures, says Rapunzel ruled for a long time (no coronation, but she did come to rule).

An important clarification: future kings and queens were prepared for the throne for years. They received appropriate education, instilled with the necessary experience, knowledge, and traits to rule wisely and long. Coronation, like any ritual, served vital functions: symbolizing ascension, acceptance of responsibility for the kingdom and its people, acquiring mature energy, and embracing the challenging role of the Self's representative on earth for their people. Flynn remains without a crown; he is neither prince nor king. Moreover, he playfully steals the crown again from his bride – an unenviable male role in the end. If Flynn is not the future king and Rapunzel is to rule, she must embody the masculine energies responsible for order. Historically, women in power often exhibited predominantly masculine traits. But Rapunzel doesn't possess these. She remains the same carefree, dreamy girl she was at the beginning – the "good" ruffians dancing around her confirm this.

Thus, a powerful scene and significant symbolism played a dramatic role but, arguably, did not have the proper effect on the development of the future rulers. The horse, as the energy of mature masculinity, was never truly tamed by Eugene, which he, as the future king, should have done. Maximus even stands at the head of the guards without a rider. Mature energy is not integrated. The king's warriors are armed with kitchen utensils – a rather sad ending for the masculine in this tale.

If we relate this to our reality, then, having abandoned initiation rituals, lacking wise teachers and shamans to guide the path to maturity, uninitiated femininity and masculinity – the psychology of a girl and a boy – have come to power. One hopes this is merely a transitional phase.

The words of Clarissa Pinkola Estés resonate here: "When I work with girls over sixteen who are convinced the world is good if handled correctly, I always feel like an old grey dog. I want to cover my eyes with my paws and groan because I see what they don’t, and I know, especially if the girls are stubborn and willful, that they will at least once, with thoughtless bravery, walk toward a predator until a shock forces them to awaken."

May we all find success in our self-discovery.

References to Consider:

• Estés, Clarissa Pinkola. (1992). Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype. Ballantine Books.

  This work explores the "Wild Woman" archetype, representing the instinctual, wise, and untamed nature of women, often suppressed by societal expectations. It aligns with the article's discussion of Mother Gothel as a complex figure embodying instinctual (though shadowed) feminine energy, and the broader theme of recovering suppressed aspects of femininity. The analysis of fairy tales in Estés's book provides a framework for understanding how female characters navigate trials to reclaim their power and intuition, relevant to Rapunzel's (incomplete) development.

• Jung, C. G. (Ed.). (1964). Man and His Symbols. Dell Publishing. (Specifically, the chapter by M.-L. von Franz, "The Process of Individuation").

  This book, particularly von Franz's contribution, delves into the process of individuation, which is central to the article's analysis of Rapunzel's and Eugene's need for maturation and integration of various psychic aspects (like the shadow). The concept of the Self (symbolized by the Sun in the article), the shadow (Mother Gothel), and the Anima (discussed in relation to the ruffians) are foundational Jungian ideas explored here. Fairy tales are often used by Jungians to illustrate these universal psychic processes.

• Von Franz, Marie-Louise. (1997). Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales. Inner City Books.

  Von Franz, a close associate of Jung, provides in-depth analyses of fairy tales through a Jungian lens. This book would support the article's methodology of interpreting characters (King, Queen, hero, villain) and symbols (tower, hair, animals like Maximus) as archetypal manifestations. Her work emphasizes how fairy tales depict the psyche's journey towards wholeness, the challenges of confronting the shadow, and the necessity of initiation, all themes central to the article's critique of "Tangled's" resolution.