Ever since its
doors opened, Disney Studios has been creating magic on the screen. The secret
to their success lies in the motto, "let the animation be felt, not
seen". This deftness of hand is what allows audiences to have their breath
taken away by animated movies. They know that what they are seeing cannot
possibly be real, that it can only exist in this movie, yet they are mesmerized
because the action is executed believably. Tangled, Disney's 2010 animated
movie, was received with critical acclaim. It has all the charm that Disney is
known to carry, but on a closer inspection, what makes this movie so enjoyable?
It is because the world that Tangled presents to the audience is one in which the
laws of physics have been bent to allow unique animated characters to interact
with their surroundings, while still being believable.
The trailers for the movie Tangled
boast that Rapunzel has seventy feet of golden locks. Seventy feet of human
hair would weigh much more than Rapunzel's neck and spine could support, yet
Rapunzel is able to maneuver around like a normal person. For example, Rapunzel
is able to lower Mother Gothel on her hair, then swiftly run away from the
window. With her entire length of hair suspended off of a tower, she would not
be able to dash quickly away without the weight of the hair snapping her head
back.
In another scene, Rapunzel heaves
herself onto a riverbank with considerable ease. With her entire length of hair
drenching wet, she would not be able to support herself out of the river
because her damp hair would be much heavier than her dry hair, not to mention
that the river's current was very rapid. The combined forces of her heavy hair,
and the swirling current, would make it especially difficult for Rapunzel to
support herself.
It may be logical to think that
Rapunzel can support her hair because so much of it lies on the ground.
However, when Rapunzel enters the town, she has her hair braided so that none
of it touches the ground. The weight of her hair would be the same, but the
surface area over which the weight is distributed would have shrunk
significantly. It is certain that her neck and spine would not be able to
support her hair when she has it braided off the ground.
Instead of behaving like heavy human
hair, which would not be able to move and flow so effortlessly, Rapunzel's hair
acts more like a silk scarf. She is able to dash about quickly with her hair
trailing behind her like a ribbon. With this said, her hair also does not float
about in an ethereal fashion as it falls. The makers of the movie made her hair
feel heavy, yet it does not adhere to true physics. This allows Rapunzel to be
able to perform normally, yet still feel like she has very long hair.
Eugene, another one of Tangled's
characters, also does not follow the true laws of physics. Instead of behaving
like a human, Eugene behaves much like a cat, or any other light weighted
animal. This is appropriate because he is a thief. He is able to scale the
castle astonishingly fast. Much like a cat, he is also unearthly quite. His
feet make no noise even though he jumps from towers to roofs, to other towers.
He would be much noisier if he landed with his full body weight like a normal
human would. Conversely, it could be speculated that perhaps the castle walls
don't behave quite like stone. It may be that the material of the castle is
cushioning the impact of Eugene's movements, which would also allow for them to
be very quiet.
Also like a cat, Eugene can survive
falls that would normally be much too high for a human to handle. He is able to
land unscathed after tumbling down a canyon. He is also able to be launched
hundreds of feet into the air, and survive the landing. He behaves as if he
were very light, like a cat, which is able to survive falls higher than that of
humans due to the nature that their terminal velocity is too slow to be fatal
in some cases.
Apart from being very light, Eugene
can also be weightless completely. When he and Rapunzel are running from the
guards, he leaps across a wide canyon and lands on the other side. Compared to
what would happen in real life, Eugene's path of action as he leaps is greatly
exaggerated. The only way he could achieve this is if the force of gravity on
Earth were less than what it really is.
The animations of Maximus the horse
may seem out of place when talking about the subtlety of Rapunzel's, and
Eugene's animations. Maximus is the only character that behaves in a way that
can be categorized as cartoon. Although he exists in the same world as the
other two characters, he is allowed more freedom in his movements for the
special reason of comedic relief. For example, Maximus's head stays suspended
in the air for a split second before following the rest of his body into a
fall. This visual stretch is not something that occurs in physics, but it is
used to really draw attention to the abrupt action that takes place, in this
case, a supporting branch that suddenly snaps.
Maximus's animations also include
the cartoon like power of having super strength, but only at certain moments.
When Eugene is launched into the air, and lands on Maximus's back, Maximus does
not so much as flinch at the impact. If the animators were to adhere to true
physics, Maximus would collapse on impact, and Eugene would most certainly not
have survived.
The steed also exhibits
anthropomorphic traits. He can stand on two legs and use his front hooves like
hands, for instance, he rips a poster off of the wall. He then proceeds to
chomp the poster with the characteristics of a paper shredder. There are times
that he goes from acting like a dog with a wagging tail, to butting heads with
Eugene in the blink of an eye. His movements and actions are extremely
exaggerated to be very fast, and he moves his body in ways a horse never could.
Tangled, like any other animated
movie, has many flaws in physics when compared with the real world. But what
would the point of the story be, if Rapunzel had seventy feet of hair, yet she was
confined to a neck brace and a hospital bed because there was no way her body
could handle all that weight? Once the real physics makes it impractical for a
character to act, then the physics must be bent. Disney bends the physics of
Tangled in such a way that the audience probably does not think about it. They
feel it, but they do not see it. Rapunzel's hair is believably heavy, yet it
doesn't hinder her, Eugene's actions are believably nimble for a thief, without
looking like he has superhuman powers. Maximus is outrageous, but it is for
comedic effect, so the audience still does not question the laws of physics. These
subtleties are what draw viewers into the world, and what makes the world so
believable.
