Grimm's Rapunzel evolving into a Disney Princess

In this essay, the author will explore how the environment of different authors and filmmakers shape short fairy-tales like Rapunzel by the Grimm’s brothers. The author is a feminist at heart, and for that reason, and because the protagonist is a girl, the focus is on what kind of character Rapunzel portrays. Rapunzel changes from being a daughter of poor parents that have to give her away, into a princess that got stolen from her parents. In order to show some variations on the fairytale “Rapunzel”, and to look closely at repeating patterns and changes, the essay starts by looking at the original version by the Grimm’s brothers. Then also to clearly show the change that the environment has on “Rapunzel”, the essay will cover related fairy-tales from different countries. Following the coverage of the fairy-tales, two full length Rapunzel animations, intended for children, will be closely inspected. After which two books for an older circle of readers will be analysed. By looking firstly at the animations for children, and then at the books for adults, it is possible to see how the role of Rapunzel also changes as the age group being targeted changes. Towards the end there will be some speculation on the strength of women characters like Rapunzel, and how they might be shaping the ideas and behaviour of women all over the globe. The essay will end with a small summary, scrutinizing the protagonist, Rapunzel. Although the author is showing mostly a feminist kind of reading on Rapunzel, she hopes to leave a rather open ending for the reader to build his own opinions on