Things, and also stuff

[fadagaski]

• I made banana bread yesterday. It smells so good. Can't wait to have a slice tonight!
  
  
• The house wireless network is sometimes made of fail. I can't currently access Kock (Popcorn Hour device) to edit some files. FAAAIL.
  
  
• My problems are so First World.
  
  
• I just watched Tangled again, and now I have
  
  
  • Tangled is a really dark coming-of-age story.
    
    
  • No, really! All the singing? That's Disney-metaphor-speak for sexual activity. She sings when she's alone in the tower; she sings when she's dancing on pub tables for a crowd of overlarge, rowdy thugs; she sings when she and Finn are alone on the lake.
    
    
    • This rule is applicable to most - if not all - Disney movies (see: Ariel (who swapped her voice for a vagina!), Jasmine (rollicking on a carpet!), Belle (she likes furries because geeky girls are kinky)).
    
    
    
  • Hair is symbolic of virginity. Untouched since childhood, 'mother' seeks to protect it and men seek to possess it. Finn's initial ignorance regarding the importance of Rapunzel's hair sets him up as a sympathetic character because he is coerced into helping her not because of the hair.
    
    
    • I'm still trying to decide what the crown represents.
    
    
    
  • 'Mother' is, of course, typical Disney evil-stepmother, but! She is also a catch-all for motherhood, full stop. Her motives are suspect, but in practice she is trying to protect her child from the clutches of men.
    
    
    • What's depressing about that is, in order to grow up, Rapunzel must make the conscious choice between her maternal figure and a man. There is no middle ground for her; most women don't abandon their parents when they fall in love (with some exceptions, I know).
      
      
    • The middle-ground-maternal-figure for Rapunzel is the Queen, who gets the audience seal of approval because immediately upon reuniting with her daughter, she gives her away to the man (by taking his hand and pulling him into the family unit).
    
    
    
  • It's interesting that Rapunzel's father occupies a non-role in the story. I think this is because she was brought up in a single-mother household, so 'mother' has had to adopt the characteristics normally associated with fathers/husbands, such as discipline - when she yells at Rapunzel. Fathers are also normally the protectors of virginity, which again is a position occupied by 'mother'. So in this way, Rapunzel's father is a castrated and powerless figure.
    
    
  • I think Disney has tried to make this a woman's story, which is admirable, but they fall down several times (typical of Disney, really). For one, it's narrated by a man. He has control over the narrative from the beginning of the movie. Second, there are 3 principle female characters and only two of them speak (silencing women = big no-no). Of the two speaking female characters, one is the antagonist who seems to embody a lot of aspects of modern women (desire for eternal youth, ability to thrive independently from men, intelligent, sexually manipulative, etc.). Frankly, she's awesome.
    
    The other, Rapunzel, is a child at the start of the movie and grows her sexuality through the course of events, under the guidance of her man. She is noticeably smaller than, well, everyone - putting her in a visual position of inferiority and weakness. Never at any point is she able to act without a man in her presence or inspiring her actions. She is fairly standard as a Disney princess.
    
    
  • If this was a live-action movie for adults, it would probably be rated 15 for sheer filth and innuendo.
    
    
    • I kind of want to see that movie!