More than a decade after its initial release, Disney’s Tangled remains popular with fans. Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) is plucky and likable, and the animation is stunning. It was so popular that the 2010 movie was followed by a short film, Tangled Ever After, and a Disney Channel animated series, Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.
Like in the original Rapunzel fairy tale, Tangled‘s heroine is kidnapped by an evil witch and kept isolated in a tower. She grows up unaware of her parents and her birthright, but eventually — thanks, in part, to the intervention of her love interest — she’s freed from her prison, and the witch is defeated. There are some key differences, however: In the original fairy tale, Rapunzel’s parents are just ordinary people who happen to live next door to a witch. They’re forced to give the witch their baby after she catches the husband stealing rapunzel (the salad green) from her garden. In Tangled, Rapunzel is the princess of a kingdom whose name came under scrutiny during the COVID-19 lockdown.
What Is the Island Kingdom in Tangled?
Tangled begins with soldiers plucking up a mysterious golden flower to give to their queen, who’s suffering through a difficult pregnancy. The flower had previously been guarded by Gothel (voiced by Donna Murphy), an evil witch who used its apparent magical powers to stay young. When she loses the precious resource, she goes to the kingdom to get it back. The regenerative powers of the flower have transferred to the queen’s newborn baby — specifically, her golden hair, but only when it’s still attached to her head. Gothel kidnaps the baby to use her hair’s magic indefinitely. However, when she’s about to turn 18, Rapunzel escapes the tower and reunites with her birth parents… in Corona.
Corona is an island kingdom located in the same fictional Europe as Frozen‘s Arendelle. As evidenced by the brief appearance of Rapunzel and Flynn in Frozen, they even have a positive relationship. While Arendelle is vaguely Nordic, Corona seems to be influenced by Germanic culture because the Rapunzel fairy tale is German in origin. According to the Disney Wiki, its first known monarch was named Herz Der Sonne, an obviously Germanic name. What’s more, the story of Herz Der Sonne battling and then marrying an enemy general is one of Corona’s oldest.
The royal line of succession passes from parent to child; Rapunzel’s mother is the daughter of the previous king, and Rapunzel inherits the throne from her parents. Corona is surrounded by the sea. Its expansive forests and imposing mountains are also featured in Tangled-related media, as is a mainland village called Old Corona.
How Tangled Became Relevant Again During Lockdown
Tangled‘s 10th anniversary happened to coincide with the COVID-19, or Coronavirus pandemic, causing the film to surge in cultural relevance. USA Today dubbed Rapunzel the “queen of quarantine” due in part to her unparalleled ability to entertain herself. After spending 18 years locked in a tower, she has an impressive list of hobbies. According to her song “When Will My Life Begin?” her daily routine includes chores and cleaning, reading, painting, playing guitar, knitting, cooking, puzzles, darts, baking, papier-mâché, ballet, chess, pottery, ventriloquy, candle-making, stretching, sketching, climbing, sewing, brushing her hair, and gazing out the window. This felt very familiar to people who were looking to occupy themselves during quarantine, as did her poignant longing to go outside and explore the world.
Some people even suggested Tangled “predicted” the Coronavirus. While those comments were largely glib, the film does feel prescient: Rapunzel is taken away from Corona and quarantined. Of course, this interpretation sort of falls apart when one considers that Rapunzel was quarantined not for her own good but so she could satisfy the selfish whims of an evil witch and that her eventual return to Corona and her family is unanimously a positive thing, but it’s still an amusing comparison.