#also thinking about this specific screencap of eugene a LOT

[flashnthunder]

[petersthree]

I’m sure as I rewatch I’m going to notice a lot more stuff but something that really stood out to me was how Rapunzel reacts to stressful situations. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but she does the same things that I’ve experienced in real-life so it popped out to me quickly, and intentional or not, I really like it (and will 100% self-indulgently use it as part of my headcanons/characterization for Rapunzel). There are already amazing posts on Gothel being emotionally abusive towards Rapunzel, and what I like about this series is that we get to see Rapunzel coping and adjusting after being away from Gothel, and how this specifically shows up with stressful situations. 

She’s very enclosed in on herself, and will often slightly curl up and try to turn away from the object that’s causing her stress (she’s turned away from the castle, turning only to look at Eugene, and an exception is when she’s on the bed, curled away from Cassandra, who’s not her true stressor, etc). But, overall she tries to shield herself - she literally hugs her arms around her body in the beginning, and when she speaks about not wanting to marry Eugene, she puts her hands over herself. 

I don’t remember it happening often enough so it could be a one-time thing, but I did notice that when her hair grows back, she seems to pull on it more often, which reminds me of her literally covering herself in her hair in the original movie when Gothel was singing about danger. She also tends to avert her eyes from the stressor and - what I assume is lip biting. Overall, she tries to make herself as small as possible, and look away from what’s giving her anxiety. 

Which - we’ve seen before, in the original movie - for example (minus the averted eyes, but I’m sure there’s a screencap of more examples somewhere): 

They’re small details, but show just how much isolation and Gothel’s abuse have affected Rapunzel, and how she reacts to people trying to tell her what to do, or trying to restrict her in some way - whether it be Eugene through marriage, her father through his overprotectiveness, or to the literal danger of the spikes. It makes me wonder how many times she did this whenever Gothel got onto her speeches, or would warn Rapunzel about the “danger” of being outside, because this clearly is a large portion of why Rapunzel feels trapped - which the movie wonderfully showed - and these details help to expand on how Rapunzel still feels uncomfortable. 

And the last two pictures are a bit of a separate sidenote, but I really liked how they mentioned that Rapunzel didn’t understand what a proposal was, and didn’t like wearing shoes - and although they didn’t outright say it, they showed her room was a tower and that it looks like the room she was kept in for 18 years. And I like that they didn’t act like she knows how to act like a “proper” princess because she’s been so isolated for so long - she’s still learning and trying to live with this new life. 

She’s thrown into this new world and she’s trying so hard to cope, but she still feels trapped and while she never explicitly mentions Gothel or her kidnapping, she shows how she’s been affected. She doesn’t get why it’s her happy ending and she’s still not happy. I’m glad that they put in these things, because she expresses feeling trapped both through her actions and words, and it’s all the more realistic. 

Because how she’s living now - part of it must take her back to Gothel, and she must feel the same way she felt back then, even though she knows its not their intention. And it’s so amazing to see because we get to see what happens after being “saved” from an abusive situation - how it affects the person afterwards, how there are still things that trigger them and how it can come from the people trying to help them. It shows that while people think simply being removed from the situation means you’re now adjusted and fine, that’s not true, and that’s just so incredibly important to me.

And there’s more just with all the characters- with Rapunzel actively voicing how she feels trapped but feels like she shouldn’t, to her own parents reacting to having her back - with her father literally having to slam the balcony doors to get the memory of her kidnapping out, to him having to put on the crown to order Rapunzel to stay inside because as a father he couldn’t bear to tell her but as a king he could, with Eugene’s own excitement because he’s never had this life all the way to him trying not to push her or force her to share but also let her know that she can go to him with any issues she has.

It may not be the most perfect depiction of an abuse survivor, but I’m glad the creators put these details in, and I’m hopeful that the show will go into this more because having a princess who’s canonically an abuse survivor with PTSD is something that should be delved into and spoken about.