History WesternAnimation / BarbieAsRapunzel

* CinderellaCircumstances: Rapunzel is raised as Gothel's servant. Gothel is borderline abusive towards her, reminding her daily that nobody loved or wanted her. It is later revealed [[spoiler:that she is actually a princess, and Gothel kidnapped her to get revenge on her father]].

-->'''Rapunzel''' He was the most handsome man I've ever seen!\\

* WomanScorned: [[spoiler:Gothel]].

* AdaptationalBadass: The witch in the original tale never displayed much magic. Gothel here is able to use her magic to create the tower in the first place and imprison someone inside it forever.

* CinderellaCircumstances: Rapunzel is raised as Gothel's servant. Gothel is borderline abusive towards her, reminding her daily that nobody loved or wanted her. It is later revealed [[spoiler:that she is actually a princess, and Gothel kidnapped her so as to get revenge on her father]].

* ExactWords: [[spoiler:"Never release your prisoner with a lying heart!" is the spell Gothel chants to trap Rapunzel in the tower. But the way Gothel chooses to word the spell screws her over threefold: Rapunzel doesn't ''have'' a "lying heart" so she manages to escape the tower; Gothel herself, however, is a pathological liar and is eventually trapped in the tower herself. And given she also made the spell unbreakable, she cannot dispel it. The power is such that all other traces of her magic, such as the magic wall, collapse and dissipate after she is trapped inside.]]

* FatalFlaw: Gothel has two of them: her hypocrisy when it comes to lying; and her inability to see that Rapunzel is being honest about not knowing what Stefan's name, not lying. It's these two flaws that lead her to unknowingly created what would become her own prison and they lead her to her downfall in the form of being imprisoned in the tower forever.

* GirlInTheTower: Subverted. Gothel keeps Rapunzel as a servant in a pretty spacey manor concealed by a magic wall. It's only when she starts to falsely suspect Rapunzel's dishonesty that she turns Rapunzel's room into a tower.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Gothel. She hates liars (or those she thinks they are), and yet she is one herself. As a result,when Gothel falsely accused Rapunzel, she ignores the fact that she herself has told the young girl some lies and therefore, it is Gothel who rightly deserves to be punished and gets it by being imprisoned in the tower.

* ImprobableHairstyle: Subverted. Rather than the fairy tale, Rapunzel's hair goes just down to the floor. That's actually possible in real life, depending on the person's genes. She also keeps it braided so that it's out of the way. And she's only imprisoned in the tower for a day or two, making the maintenance believable.

* PracticallyDifferentGenerations: Prince Stefan appears to be about twenty years old, while his brother and three sisters are all about three.

* RedemptionRejection: Gothel refuses to seek redemption even after Rapunzel tells her that she forgives her for what she has done.
* RescueRomance: Rapunzel first meets the prince when she almost falls into a pit trying to save his little sister.

* TraumaticHaircut: Well duh. But not that severe as Gothel magics the hair away so she can disguise herself as Rapunzel at the ball. Rapunzel's remaining hair is still well past her shoulders and it's grown completely back by the end.

* FrameUp: It's revealed that Gothel [[spoiler:framed King Frederick for the kidnapping of King Wilhelm's daughter to start a war between them]].

* TheGhost: While his antagonistic actions against King Frederick are seen, King Wilhelm does not appear in person until the night of the ball, when he mounts a stealthy assault on the castle.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: In no way are there dragons in the original fairy tale, but Penelope and her father Hugo serve to advance the story rather than act as distractions.

* CuteClumsyGirl: Penelope, whose big tail and [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength untrained fire and strength]] can jump up at the worst times (and yet often conveniently work out for the plot).

* AdaptationalVillainy: Gothel wasn't an ideal mother in the original story, but she wasn't an emotionally abusive slave-driver to Rapunzel like she is here. [[spoiler:Also, in the original story, Gothel got Rapunzel out of a(n admittedly rather questionable) deal with her father, rather than kidnapping her out of petty revenge. She certainly never intended to start a war either]].

* AdaptationalVillainy: Gothel wasn't an ideal mother in the original story, but she wasn't an emotionally abusive slave-driver to Rapunzel like here. [[spoiler:Also, in the original story, Gothel got Rapunzel out of a(n admittedly rather questionable) deal with her father, rather than kidnapping her out of petty revenge. She certainly never intended to start a war either]].

* KarmicDeath: Gothel curses the tower so that no one with a lying heart can ever escape. Rapunzel was honest the whole time, so she is able to leave. [[spoiler: When Gothel is tricked into returning to the tower, she is stuck there forever, as she had been lying to everyone throughout the entire movie (for instance, telling Rapunzel that she was abandoned by her parents, when she had in fact kidnapped her, or her lies that started the feud.), and had made the spell unbreakable. It is implied she soon starves to death.]]

* OrphansPlotTrinket: Rapunzel's hairbrush (which later turns into a paintbrush) is the only thing Rapunzel has left of her parents, and Gothel destroys it in a KickTheDog moment. Somewhat subverted in that [[spoiler:her parents are alive and well, and she reunites with them in the end.]]

%% TheSouthpaw: Pretty much everyone. Rapunzel paints with her left hand and Stefan, Fredrick, Wilhelm, and their guards all wield their swords with their left hand. %%not a trope but still pretty weird

* TheSouthpaw: Pretty much everyone. Rapunzel paints with her left hand and Stefan, Fredrick, Wilhelm, and their guards all wield their swords with their left hand.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Averted. Why does the climax focus on the importance of honesty so much? This is meant to fix the moral found in the original story, in that Rapunzel is punished after accidentally confessing the truth to the witch about the prince visiting her, implying that it is good to lie.[[invoked]]

* {{Disneyfication}}: Even before Disney made their own [[Disney/{{Tangled}} version]].

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: [[spoiler:Rapunzel is a long-lost princess in this version, when she was just a peasant girl in the original tale]].

Long, long ago, in a time of magic and dragons, there lived a girl named Literature/{{Rapunzel}}, who had the most beautiful, radiant hair the world had ever seen. But Rapunzel's life was far from wonderful. She lived as a servant of Gothel, a jealous, scheming witch who kept her hidden deep in a forbidding forest, guarded by the enormous dragon Hugo and surrounded by an enchanted glass wall.

* CinderellaCircumstances: Rapunzel is raised as Gothel's servant. Gothel is borderline abusive towards her, reminding her daily that nobody loved or wanted her. It is later revealed [[spoiler: that she is actually a princess, and Gothel kidnapped her so as to get revenge on her father]].

* {{Disneyfication}}: Even before ''Disney'' made their [[Disney/{{Tangled}} version]].
* DisproportionateRetribution: In the past, Gothel was [[spoiler: rejected by her love interest, Wilhelm]]. In revenge, she decided to [[spoiler: kidnap his daughter, frame an innocent man for it and start a war between the two kingdoms in the hopes they'll destroy each other]].

** Hugo also serves Gothel as a ''literal'' dragon, though in the end he [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn turns on her to help Rapunzel]]]].
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Nothing earns a happy ending more than being kidnapped and putting up with Gothel for the majority of one's life. And nothing says happy ending quite like being free from Gothel and reuniting with one's family.]]
* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: [[spoiler: Rapunzel is a long lost princess in this version, when she was just a peasant girl in the original tale]].

* ExactWords: [[spoiler: "Never release your prisoner with a ''lying heart''!" is the spell Gothel chants to trap Rapunzel in the tower. But the way Gothel chose to word the spell screws her over: Rapunzel doesn't ''have'' a "lying heart" so she manages to escape the tower, but Gothel herself is a pathological liar and is eventually trapped in the tower herself.]]
* FallenPrincess: [[spoiler: Rapunzel]]

* FatalFlaw: Gothel has two of them: her hypocrisy when it comes to lying and her inability to see that Rapunzel is being honest about not knowing what Stefan's name, not lying. It's these two flaws that lead her to unknowingly created what would become her own prison and they lead her to her downfall in the form of being imprisoned in the tower forever.

* FrameUp: It's revealed that Gothel [[spoiler: framed King Frederick for the kidnapping of King Wilhelm's daughter to start a war between them]].

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Hugo, at the end]].

* LongHairIsFeminine: Rapunzel is well known for her extremely long hair, which matches her feminine personality.
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Rapunzel]] is revealed to be the long lost child of [[spoiler: Wilhelm and his wife]].

* OrphansPlotTrinket: Rapunzel's hairbrush (which later turns into a paintbrush) is the only thing Rapunzel has left of her parents, and Gothel destroys it in a KickTheDog moment. Somewhat subverted in that [[spoiler: her parents are alive and well, and she reunites with them in the end.]]
* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: Rapunzel considers Prince Stefan the most handsome man she's ever seen. Given her upbringing, she hasn't seen many men before.

* PoorCommunicationKills: The whole feud between the two kingdoms could've been solved rather easily were it not for this trope.
** Then again, it's possible that Gothel deliberately planted evidence to make Wilhelm believe that [[spoiler: Frederick kidnapped his daughter]], or why else would Wilhelm suspect him in the first place? Even so, the war could probably have been avoided if everyone sat down and talked about it rationally.
* PortalPicture: Is used in place of the hair as the way Rapunzel escapes her tower, and [[spoiler: tricks Gothel into trapping herself]].

* PrincessClassic: [[spoiler: Rapunzel turns out to be one of these]].
* PrincessesPreferPink: Rapunzel wears a pink dress as her regular ensemble, though her fancier dress for the masquerade is lavender. Though it is a tad strange that someone raised as a servant is dressed better than the village peasants.
** One could theorize that she was wearing [[VainSorceress Gothel's]] cast-offs.
* RapunzelHair: Yes, but it's subverted in that her hair is floor-length; certainly long but not enough to reach the bottom of a tower. Pretty much played straight when Rapunzel has a dream of Prince Stefan visiting her, as she does have tower-length hair. But then it's over.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Prince Stefan, who knows that the kingdoms' feud is very petty and shows kindness to even his more incompetent soldiers.

-->'''Hoby''': Does he ''ever'' smile?
-->'''Penelope''': Not around me.

* WomanScorned: [[spoiler: Gothel]].
* WorldWreckingWave: In the PC game Gothel casts a spell from her tower that instantly wrecks the castle and turns the Prince to stone.

* OrphansPlotTrinket: Rapunzel's paintbrush is the only thing Rapunzel has left of her parents, and Gothel destroys it in a KickTheDog moment. Somewhat subverted in that [[spoiler: her parents are alive and well, and she reunites with them in the end.]]

** One could theorise she was wearing [[VainSorceress Gothel's]] cast-offs.

* Hypocrite: Gothel. She hates liars (or those she thinks they are), and yet she is one herself. As a result,when Gothel falsely accused Rapunzel, she ignores the fact that she herself has told the young girl some lies and therefore, it is Gothel who rightly deserves to be punished and gets it by being imprisoned in the tower.

** Hugo also serves Gothel as a ''literal'' dragon, though in the end he [[spoiler: turns on her to help Rapunzel]].

* NeverSayDie: Averted.
-->'''Otto:''' Zap him! Fry him! Kill him!

* Fatal Flaw: Gothel has two of them: her hypocrisy when it comes to lying and her inability to see that Rapunzel is being honest about not knowing what Stefan's name, not lying. It's these two flaws that lead her to unknowingly created what would become her own prison and they lead her to her downfall in the form of being imprisoned in the tower forever.