Happiness Comes from Within, Not from Men

I watched Tangled last night and I have to say that Rapunzel is one of my favorite princesses. Well, next to Mulan, of course. I loved the movie Tangled not just because I've spent almost my entire childhood years fantasizing over princesses, but I loved the fact that Rapunzel was the type of person who didn't really rely on her "Prince Charming" to find her happy ending.

Yes, she called on the help of Flynn Rider or his alter-ego, Eugene Fitzherbert. Yes, she couldn't have achieved her dream without him. But compared to other Disney princesses, whose "happily ever after" was to live in a big castle, married to their "Prince Charming," Rapunzel's dream wasn't even close to their dreams. Rapunzel wanted to go see the lights that she always saw floating outside her window on her birthday. She was curious and intrigued by what she saw every year, and that was what led to her dream. Not some prince who lived in a big castle.

That's the reason why I love Rapunzel, Mulan and Tiana (from The Princess and the Frog) so much. They're all Disney princesses who didn't need a Prince Charming to have a "happily ever after." They didn't succumb to the conclusion that you need a prince to be happy.  And I think they are the true types of princesses that every girl should aspire to be. I think that little girls should aspire to become princesses who have dreams of changing the world.

Rapunzel: "I've been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?"

Flynn Rider: "It will be."

Rapunzel: "And what if it is? What do I do then?"

Flynn Rider: "Well that's the good part, I guess. You get to go find a new dream."