“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey.
We all love to dream and we all love to hope to see ourselves accomplishing things in life.
However there will always be obstacles in life that will stand in your way and make you believe that your dream is unattainable. In order to achieve your dream courage, passion and determination is a must as these qualities are what urge us forward. But at the end of the day, our dreams lie in our own hands and we are the ones who decide whether or not we will live them. ‘Tangled’ (directed by Byron Howard and Nathan Greno) is a 2010 animated motion-picture based on the fairy-tale ‘Rapunzel’. A highly regarded theme/message in the film is to find courage within yourself and live your dreams.
Since birth Rapunzel had beautiful golden hair that possessed magic qualities, respectively known to be the powers of healing and youthfulness. As Rapunzel’s magic hair was a haecceity, a witch by the name of Mother Gothel kidnapped the child and kept her hidden away in a tower to hoard her powers.
An example of the theme of courage and to live your dreams is Rapunzel wanting to see the lanterns. On the year of her eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel yearned to leave her tower to witness the floating lights/lanterns that appeared every night specifically on her birthday. However fear overruled her wishes and resultantly she did not pursue them. Despite her mother’s warning, Rapunzel finally found the courage to leave her tower and after a long journey with her companion Flynn Rider, she was able to see the floating lights. While doing so she realized the need to listen to your heart and find the strength to follow your dreams.
Throughout the film Rapunzel risked her life many times and experienced emotional distress upon leaving the tower. Nevertheless, she never lost passion for her dream. At some point during the film she also encouraged others to live their dreams after getting over her fear of them when she realized like her, they also had dreams (they were thugs). “Okay, I don’t know where I am and I need him to take me to see the lanterns because I’ve been dreaming about them my entire life! Find your humanity! Haven’t any of you ever had a dream?.”
To which one of the characters responded (musical):
“I’m malicious mean and scary,
My sneer could curdle dairy
And violence-wise my hands are not the cleanest
But despite my evil look
And my temper, and my hook
I’ve always yearned to be a concert pianist
Can’tcha see me on the stage performin’ Mozart?
Tickling the ivories ‘till they gleam?
Yep, I’d rather be called deadly
For my killer show-tune medley
Thank you!
‘Cause way down deep inside
I’ve got a dream!”
Another real-world example relating to Rapunzel’s experience is about 38 year old Lynne Begier. Since childhood Lynne grew up following her family’s and society’s expectations. After landing a job as a real estate analyst in Boston, she realized that she wanted to follow her own wishes: to integrate spirituality into her daily life and contribute to society. Lynne began focusing on her yoga practice, and took interest in enrolling into a month-long yoga teacher training. Like Mother Gothel, Lynne’s mother immediately disagreed with her wishes and as a result this led Lynne to doubting her capabilities. Nevertheless, she gathered the courage to stick to what she wanted to do and felt healthier and confident in her new role as a teacher. Like Rapunzel, she finally accomplished her dream and encouraged others to find theirs. “It’s the greatest feeling when students of mine go on to become teachers themselves.”
I think it’s important to find the strength inside ourselves to go after something we want. You need to decide what you want and go after it like there’s no tomorrow. Though everyone gets scared to follow their heart it is important to never let fear get in your way and to find the courage to keep going. Tangled is a good example for following your dreams; it shows how through all the struggles and fears and obstacles that get in your way just as it did with Rapunzel, the end result is worth it because you finally get to accomplish what you want.
