Disney's Got It Right

I absolutely adore this film! Great animation, amazing music, hilarious dialog...what's not to love? And what's more, it has terrific gospel symbolism. They've got practically the entire Plan of Salvation in there. Here's the breakdown:

Mother Gothal: Satan
She is selfish and wants to keep the regenerative power of the flower for herself. Sound familiar? "Give me thine honor." ~Moses 4:1. She keeps Rapunzel locked in a tower, kind of like sin keeps us captive. She is manipulative, convincing Rapunzel that she can never leave - repentance is not an option, we have to remain in sin. She is very patient, willing to wait for the opportune moment to get what she wants. She pretends to love Rapunzel until it is no longer useful for her own purposes. She twist the truth about those who care about Rapunzel - Satan is the master truth-twister. Her most valuable tool is guilt, yet she has no power unless Rapunzel gives it to her. However, she ultimately meets her doom, just like Satan will ultimately fail.

Rapunzel: Us
She is the product of the Sun, a lost princess, daughter of royalty and light. She is endowed with power and virtue that she must protect, that is most precious of all her possessions, analogous to the sacred powers of procreation we possess. She embarks on a journey of self discovery, prompted by small revelations and feelings that there is something bigger out there. As she comes to realize who she is, evidences surface in all aspects of her life. She "sees the light" and her understanding of the world completely changes. Eventually, she makes it back to her true home.

Pascal: Holy Ghost
He is still and small and you really have to be in tune to understand what he has to communicate. He guides Rapunzel in evaluating decisions and is always there for comfort. Whenever Mother Gothal is around, however, he has to hide, just as the Holy Ghost cannot be with us in bad environments. He makes your heart feel warm and fuzzy.

Flynn/Eugene: Missionary/Eternal Companion
Without him, Rapunzel could never have discovered the light aka the gospel nor her true identity. He knew what the lanterns were and what they meant as well as the path back to them. He was also necessary for her to make it safely back home. We can't get to the Celestial Kingdom without a companion. True, at first he is only superficially motivated to help her, but he still respects her and helps to protect her hair and all that it embodies. He comes to care about what is important to her and together they become their best selves.

Other small tidbits of truth:

• The Vikings are just like all the good people in the world that may not necessarily belong to the church. They are still good people with worthy goals and dreams and we can, like Rapunzel, get over our initial fear and aversion and make friends that may turn out to be powerful allies.

• After the lanterns on the water scene where Rapunzel's eyes are opened to the reality of the world, analogous to a significant personal revelation, she is almost immediately plunged into a foggy, dark experience fraught with doubt and uncertainty. It seems that an experience full of light is always followed by a season of more intense hardship and temptation.

• Mother Gothal is constantly shrouded in darkness. She only uses the smallest pieces of light to lure us in, but it is tainted from it's pure white form. Similarly, she snuffs out the small candles that Rapunzel tries to keep lit, just as Satan snuffs out every bit of truth and hope he encounters. She knows what the lanterns are, but uses every tactic to conceal the poignant message they embody. Satan knows, perhaps more deeply than we do, the ultimate Plan of Happiness, but makes every effort to blind us. Mother Gothal powerfully presents the plan of Satan in her last scene. He wants to chain us up and drag us down to Hell where no one will be able to find us ever again. But we should keep fighting him, no matter how bleak the odds seem to be.

• The King and Queen, our Heavenly Father and Mother, were truly devastated at the loss of their precious daughter and never gave up hope of her returning. They continued to send out small tokens of their affection in hopes that she could find her way back. That scene where they are about to send out the lanterns for the eighteenth time is so tender. That tear of his gets me every time. Heavenly Father truly weeps for His children. (Moses 7:28) He will also meet us with a joyous embrace when we return to His presence.

So there you have it, the Plan of Salvation as presented unwittingly by Disney. Go watch it - I bet you'll find even more symbolism. You'll see the light. :)

Updates

Okay, for all of you who have been complaining that I have disappeared from off of the blogging planet and have left you hanging, wondering what has become of me and the unfinished stories of dilemma and woe... okay, maybe that is no one, but I realize it's been a while so I thought I would take today to catch the record up to speed with my current life situation. So let's see, where did we leave off...

My car was successfully repaired and we have had no more incident on that account, for which we are grateful. As we were reunited, I have finally come up with a name for her: Louise, or Lou as she will most commonly be referred to. I think it is very fitting; it means 'warrior' and is the feminine form of the French Louis, and as she is yellow it reminds me of Louis XIV, the 'Roi du Soleil,' or 'Sun King' for you non-frenchies. It's been a long time coming, but better late than never.

I have been promoted to a student lead position at work, which is kind of exciting. It's always nice to know that my hard work ethic is appreciated and recognized and that I can be put in a position to teach this to others. This means that I am in charge of about 4 workers in my area, I get a whole $1 raise, I have to work about 6 hours per shift (as opposed to the 3 I was working previously), and attend work meetings every other Thursday with all the other student leads and managers. So far it has been really fun - training new employees, coordinating and supervising prep tasks, and just having the opportunity to have my voice heard and help improve things. I really love my prep workers, they are really good. Usually there are a few good workers interspersed with a lot more mediocre workers, but mine are all really assiduous. They learn quickly, are extremely punctual, and have a general cheerful attitude and willingness to help out. I can't rave about them enough!

Yet another semester has dawned at BYU and I think it promises to be a good one. I'm very excited about my classes, so here's how the schedule looks:

Humanities 101: Introduction to Humanities - I absolutely adore this class! Humanities is basically the study of the arts: painting, sculpture, dance, literature, music, drama, that kind of thing. The professor is so wonderful - she loves her subject, she's excited to teach it and discuss it and share her knowledge with her students, and she isn't particularly concerned about whether we make mistakes or don't understand initially so she is extremely approachable. Even though it's at 8 in the morning, it is not one I anticipate skipping for the sake of sleep. Sis. Haddock is so engaging and makes the class fly by so fast. She tells stories about the great Renaissance artists and we look at art and learn how to judge and analyze it and before I know it the bell is ringing. It's going to be a great class!

Astronomy - This is just a fun whimmy class that I decided to take #1: because I knew it's taught in the planetarium and the seats in there are so comfortable! and #2: I really like star gazing and have always wanted to learn the constellations better. The professor is J Ward Moody, which I think is just hysterical. Luckily he's a lot like Sis. Haddock and appreciates the humor of his name; he made 3 references to Harry Potter on the first day alone and they have been scattered here and there over the subsequent lessons. (I learned that Rowling was really brilliant in using astronomy in her books, but that's another post.) He's very nice and tries to be engaging so we don't fall asleep in those lovely soft reclining seats. It's really amazing to look at pictures of the stuff out in space and realize the beauty and complexity and sheer magnitude of Heavenly Father's creations and then learn a little better how they work.

Chemistry 111H: Honors Principles of Chemistry - This is the most intensely involved class I think I have ever taken! I am beginning to question just what I was thinking when I signed up for it, but it is a challenge I am determined to conquer. I think my thought process was something along the lines of "I don't know what I'm doing anymore. Maybe I want to major in science. I should explore that a little. Hey, chemistry! I've never taken that before, I think I'll try it. But I already know about atoms and molecules and that stuff, I should take Honors. They learn about thermodynamics. That sounds cool, I want to know what that is. Okay, I'm signing up for the super-intense-every-day-move-through-stuff-really-quickly chemistry class!" Yeah, that may have been a little ambitious. It takes me hours to read the book and finish my homework, but so far I think I am comprehending, so I'm going to stick it out. Hoping I can find the time to excel. Cross your fingers.

French 361: French Civilization until 1715 - I really love history and I still want to take French classes even if I don't major in it, so this was the choice. After the first week, I was a little nervous, because the graduate student who is going to observe our class in preparation for his first time teaching it next semester was in charge while the actual professor was giving a presentation on the cathedral of Ghent, Belgium in front of said cathedral. He is the leading expert on it, and so I was worried that it was going to be intimidating and he was going to expect a lot. But he is the funniest french professor and he has no problem having discussions in either French or English, depending of course on the language of the primary text, and he doesn't really worry about your grammar. That is really nice, especially because we are talking about complicated issues relating to culture so you can just concentrate on formulating the concepts instead of the sentences.

New Testament - That class is going to be just terrific. Sis Burgon is the sweetest person and she just loves the Lord. She has given us some really fascinating insights into the background of the New Testament, with all the wars and conquests of Israel and Jerusalem and how all of it was really important in preparing the people in that area to receive the gospel. She's also talked a lot about knowing Christ, not just in the sense of knowing facts about Him and His ministry, but to really know Him as He is. She spent all of the last class period talking about how in order to truly come to know Him, we have to know not only who He was on Earth, but also how He was before He came to Earth and the nature of His Godhood. She really knows how to bring the Spirit in and I've already had some major revelational breakthroughs. I just really like religion classes and I've been very lucky as far as professors go. My testimony is definitely going to grow and be strengthened!


I'm thinking of starting another blog and cataloging all the amazing stuff I learn about. If you'd read it, let me know and it will get done faster! :)

The only other update is that I've got some new roommates who are just awesome! Samantha moved in with me and we've been having a blast! Okay, that's it 'til next week! :)