Conflicted & Tangled

So, who has seen the new(ish) Disney movie Tangled? Xandra loves it. And I think it's kind of cute, too. But every time I watch it, I can't help but have conflicted feelings about it. It doesn't help that Xandra's going through a seemingly non-ending phase of asking a million and one questions about everything. If you haven't seen it (*SPOILER ALERT* -stop reading now if you haven't seen it yet & don't want the plot ruined!), this version is about Rapunzel being kidnapped by an old woman who uses R's magic hair to keep herself young.

Every single time we watch this movie (which is a LOT), she asks toward the end (when Rapunzel is reunited with her birth parents) why R wasn't with them from the beginning of the movie. Of course, that's the gist of the movie itself- if she'd been with her birth parents from the get-go, there wouldn't be a story.

In trying to explain this to Xandra, I find myself questioning how Milo will someday react to this movie (or the millions of other similar story-lines out there). This woman  has kidnapped a child. Will Milo one day feel that way about us (that we seemingly kidnapped him)? And what a wonderful, happy ending when R gets reunited with her *real* parents.

My dad adopted me when I was 7. I knew all about adoption & how it worked, and I was happy he adopted me. But I also know how I had fantasies, especially as a teen, of my *real* dad coming back for me. *He* wouldn't ground me the way my dad did... *He* would understand me so much better... If only *he* would have been there, I'd be so much happier... Oh the fantasies! (I did meet my bio-father later in life, and thank God my mom made the decision she did!!)

So what does this movie tell a little kid who has been adopted?? That life is so much better if only his or her *real* parents were around?? I know I can't change the way the media portrays adoption, but it's really upsetting me! I'm not sure yet if I'll ban this movie once Milo comes home. It seems a bit too late at this point- Xandra already loves it. And like I already said, it is kind of a cute cartoon. It does have some other messages that I like- you're stronger than you think you are, you can overcome obstacles, you are you own person, etc. But it's really hard to reconcile the other very obvious message stuck in there.

Don't even get me started on Despicable Me....