My favorite movie villain is Mother Gothel from the Disney
movie Tangled, a take on the classic tale of Rapunzel. Mother Gothel is first
seen at the very start of the movie, where she is depicted as an old and greedy
woman desperate to reclaim her youth. When she learns that the infant Rapunzel
possesses the power to grant her wish, she kidnaps her in the dead of night and
locks her in a tower. Mother Gothel is shown to be vain and cunning, and it is
made obvious that she has no feelings for the child she raised. She is
presented to the audience as ruthless and coldhearted, but Rapunzel, who has no
knowledge of anything but the treatment Mother Gothel gave her, viewed her as a
loving yet overprotective mother. Mother Gothel is the epitome of a classic
villain, using deception in order to get what she wants, knowing that she is
hurting somebody who loves her. She is so villainous to the viewers because she
feeds off of the basic human need for love and fear of betrayal, and warps it
without question. She is willing to kill somebody who loves her, and this is a
more exaggerated symbolism for what people are scared of- giving their heart
and soul to a person, only to be tossed away like they are meant nothing. The
only thing that motivates Mother Gothel’s intentions is greed and vanity, and
her actions hit home because of her similarities to other betrayers and liars
in the viewer’s life.
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