ive been thinking and honest to god: i think i would actually join a girl gang if the offer came. like a legitimate, hierarchical, “let’s carry knives under our skirts and beat up men” gang. fuck college
and this was no “5 girls in a small town” who made the news—this was yakuza level shit. 20,000 girls getting into gang fights and shoplifting and getting pissed off that only men were allowed to be rough and violent and angry
We are doomed, folks won’t even STOP reblogging and reposting problematic celebrities for a week or boycott anything else. BUT the area that really matters is we have to vote out politicians paid for by donors. We need more Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs but every year Republicans AND Democrats vote for centrist who won’t be the change makers we need.
“My kids are going to be shocked when they become adults and learn that I’ve basically been playing a character for their entire lives. All day long I have to pretend like I care about everything. I’m a laid back guy. I could actually care less if they make their beds. Or if they scratch the walls. But my character has expectations. He says what he means and he does what he says. My character hates video games. He barely allows them in the house. And he’ll banish them immediately when rules are broken. But I actually play Mario Kart all the time when they’re at school. Last week my character got really upset. He threatened to throw away candy if the kids didn’t stop wrestling. When the wrestling continued, he was forced to follow through. I really thought it was a safe move. It’d been so long since Halloween. I was sure there’d be nothing good left, maybe just some chalky wafer things. But the kid was saving the best stuff for last. It was brutal. Full sized candy bars. There were tears. I didn’t want to do it, but my character had to keep his word. Then later I fished them out of the trash and ate them all.”
We’ve all seen that Gothel makes Rapunzel come to her for hugs, but today I realized it goes deeper than that. Gothel doesn’t want Rapunzel showing physical affection unless she has been given specific permission. Opening her arms is that unspoken permission.
For example, towards the beginning, when she’s reminding Gothel that it’s her birthday tomorrow, she grabs her arm in exuberance. Gothel is put out and then pries Rapunzel’s hands off her arm, all the while pretending she doesn’t remember (or care) that her birthday - something Rapunzel is extremely excited about - is fast approaching.
She also uses Rapunzel’s need for physical affection, deliberately taunting and “teaching” her with it by pretending to offer it, then taking it away immediately.
The first bazzilionty times I saw this movie, I always assumed Rapunzel was relieved to see Gothel towards the end of Mother Knows Best just because she was scared.
But now I realize it’s not only because she’s scared, but because Gothel is now giving Rapunzel permission to seek the creature comfort of physical contact that she so desperately needs after the gamut of fear she’s run.
Eugene, on the other hand, starts showing physical affection as soon as he starts feeling any affection for Rapunzel at all. He uses it as a comfort. Yet Rapunzel keeps her hands to herself.
It continues when he gives her the little flag, touching the small of her back in an affectionate way. But her hands (and attention) are full at this moment.
In fact, the first time she realizes she’s touching him, and he’s touching her, and there’s affection and enjoyment buzzing between them, she’s the first to pull away.
She’s alarmed at first, then apologetic and sheepish. Sorry I was touching you, Eugene. And he politely takes a step back, tuned in to her discomfort and giving her a little more space.
But that is why the moment on the boat is so important, and why Rapunzel has the reaction she does.
In taking Rapunzel’s hand, out of the blue (as far as she can tell), it’s sending her a clear message that he feels the same about her that she does about him, and that physical affection is both alright and wanted. That he will seek out her attention in a way Gothel never has. And from this moment on, she touches him often, holding hands for the rest of the song, brushing his hair from his face as he lay dying, and never letting go of his head, even after he’d died in her arms. Not to mention kissing him when he lives again, holding hands on the balcony while they wait for her parents and end-of-movie smooching.
