Most Evil

I just got home from watching the cartoon movie Tangled. I'd give it a 5/10 overall. It's no little mermaid or beauty and the beast. Definitely not Sleeping Beauty!!

But I'n not here to write about the film overall. What struck in particular was the nature of the antagonist, Mother Gothel. Originally she is portrayed as the typical selfish, loner, beauty obsessed witch.

Once she captures the baby princess and takes her to the tower we are presented with a mother and child dynamic not so easily detected as evil, wrong and horrible.

This is why I think this Gothel character is the most evil of all the Disney female villains. The play on the trust between parent and child, one being innocent and the other not so. The level of subtle deception, manipulation, emotional blackmail and abuse are at such a level I think a young child would have a hard time identifying her immediately as the "bad guy". Even listening to the little children in the theater at the time I went were expressing confusion to their parents on the issue.

Maybe I am a softie, or a romantic in the classical sense, but it hurt me inside to see such and insidiously evil portrayal. She preys on the child in every sense and denigrates her on all levels. It actually caused tears to well in my eyes and my throat to choke up a little bit.

I know it's entertainment and that in the real world there are many shades of gray and it is hardly black and white to whom is a good person and who is not. This character was evil on many levels and I was disappointed her demise was to simply "poof" and disappear after a fall from the tower. I like my evil to be destroyed.