Cinderella tells us that a dream is a wish that your heart makes, and following suit dreams play a large part in the newest Disney princess film, Tangled. In the end of the film Rapunzel holds Flynn and they admit their deep secret that they had become each other’s dream, and an “awww” moment ensues. The question to ask is “Where do these dreams come from?” and “What do these dreams mean?” Taking this second question, the implications of Rapunzel and Flynn’s dream impact more than just the world of the film. The Disney Princess films have been studied within an inch of their lives by a great number of scholars in a great number of fields. One common study takes the ideas of gender development and combines them with the Disney Princess films. However, the implications of gender do not stop here as gender identity can still be impacted as the viewers age. Interpretation of the princess films has been a huge aspect of their scholarly application as the behavior of the princesses, and princes, can be interpreted and compared with gender stereotypes and norms to assess the impact their portrayals can have on the viewing audience. The film Tangled is often seen as Disney’s take on a modern princess, and Rapunzel and Flynn have a great deal to contribute to both gender development study and media interpretation of gender.
Gender development is a field of study which has been impacted in a number of ways by modern theorists and he field is continuing to be shaped by theories known as Queer Theories, as well as the changing demographics of the modern family. One thing that many of the classic and modern theories agree on is the importance of gender role models: whether or not modeling after these role models is conscious or subconscious is the topic for an entirely different paper in itself. In many studies, the
