MovieChat Forums > Tangled (2010) Discussion > Rapunzel & Flynn's age difference

Rapunzel & Flynn's age difference

posted 9 years ago by coollikewhovian
32 replies | jump to latest

I ADORE this film, I think it's beautiful (both narratively and visually), it made me cry and I feel for the characters. However, does the age difference between Rapunzel and Flynn bother anyone else? He's supposed to be around 26, while Rapunzel's only just turning 18. 8 years isn't a lot of time in the grand scheme of things, but it's a considerable gap for a teenager (especially one who's been locked in a tower her whole life). I'm 18 and if I brought home a man in his mid-twenties, people would be iffy about it.

I'm just wondering, does anybody know why Disney did this? They easily could have made Flynn a 20/21 year old or something. I don't know, it just kind of bothers me.

Thoughts?

[–] Blackjack254 9 years ago

Before the 20th Century, there really were no such thing as "Teenagers", especially since people didn't live as long. Even today, 18 is considered legal adulthood, with the exception of being able to drink or gamble.

So when Tangled takes place, Rapunzel is a full fledged adult and has been for some time.

In fact, I've heard that all the Disney princesses are supposed to be in their teens, yet before the 21st century movies they all looked and sounded around a decade older.

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[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

I liked the age difference. Eugene has life experience and Rapunzel does not. A twenty year old boy would be just that,a boy. Of course,age and maturity does not always go hand in hand but I think it this case, Eugene being older was good for both of them. Eugene was also ready to stop running and settle down. A twenty year old Flynn would not have been.

On the other side, Prince Phillip in "Maleficent" was too young for Aurora. She was definitely going to be the brains of that outfit.

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[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

many teenage girls prefer men a few years older and with some experience, and find boys of their own age gauche. 8 years isn't that big a difference really. anyway, rapunzel's parents should be grateful to Flynn for rescuing her from the tower, they'd never have got her back otherwise. It would be very ungrateful of them to get iffy about it. though actually i can't remember his age ever being stated in the film.

[–] MarblesLove 9 years ago

It didn't really bother me at all.

Once upon a time there was a magical place where it never rained. The end.

[–] Stratego 9 years ago

His age is never mentioned in the movie, so you could very well make 20/21 your headcanon.

[–] number9-4 9 years ago

Yeah, I've also wondered why the filmmakers decided to make him that age, when, yes, by today's standards, it is a little controversial for a girl who just turned 18 to be with a 26-year-old guy. Maybe they really wanted to keep Zachary Levi, but thought his voice sounded older or something, so it wouldn't be believable for Flynn to be, say, 21?

But then again, I read in some early interview with the two directors that Flynn's age was undecided and he was maybe in his early 20s, so I'm not sure why or when they changed their minds and established that he was 26. Seems they were almost setting themselves up for backlash. Making him 21 or 22 would have been safer and believable, I think.

And the argument some people make that Flynn wouldn't have been ready to settle down at that age is pretty silly, I think, because the movie's supposed to take place, what, several hundred years ago? Everyone got married young back then, so I don't think it's accurate to project these 21st-century fratboy fears of commitment onto Flynn.

[–] Stratego 9 years ago

I think, because the movie's supposed to take place, what, several hundred years ago? Everyone got married young back then

I don't think that's true. The age of 26 was pretty average for men to get married for the first time. They first had to build up a steady income to provide for their family,

[–] number9-4 9 years ago

And your source on this is...?

I mean, I realize I'm speculating here as well, but saying 26 was an average age for men several hundred years ago to get married sort of warrants attribution.

And, regardless, it certainly isn't all that uncommon even nowadays for men to get married at 22 or so.

We know that Flynn's persona is just that, and the real Eugene is sensitive and and kindhearted. So for people to think that just because he seems like a player he wouldn't want to get married to Rapunzel in his early 20s is sort of ignoring who he really is. Plenty of people do it.

[–] Stratego 9 years ago

Uhm, statistics. You can look it up yourself. There's information all over the internet. Being from Western-Europe myself it's also something I learned in school.

I'm just going to be lazy and give you a Wikipedia link about the Hajnal line, which shows that Western Europe had a relatively high age of marriage for both men and women for several centuries before our modern age:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajnal_line

Flynn was also a person who kept others at a distance and put on another persona. I think they have a point that he wouldn't have been ready to act more mature and show his true self in his early 20s.

[–] number9-4 9 years ago

I wasn't saying I couldn't figure out how to look it up myself; I was saying you should put some kind of attribution in your statements if you want people to take them seriously.

[–] Stratego 9 years ago

You didn't exactly back up your statement with sources either.

I don't think there was any reason to call my claim into question. Unless you felt sure your own claim was correct for some reason.

I gave you a number and a link, you can do with it what you want.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

many books give the typical age of marriage for people in the Early modern era as about 26 for men and 23 for women - for example The Tudor Housewife by Alison Sim, and Life in Elizabethan England by Alison Plowden. of course, rapunzel isn't set in any recongisable real era, but certainly there's a vaguely medieval/early modern suggestion to the costumes, architecture etc. This would apply more to ordinary people who needed to establish a home etc before marriage. it is true that young people from wealthy families did often marry at an earlier age than the population in general, and royalty in particular might have early marriages arranged for them. if rapunzel had led a normal royal life she could eAsily have been married before 18. but she hasn't led a normal life of any kind. For a man from the common people, like Flynn, it would be quite normal not to be married at 26, and certainly a man who has led his kind of life probably has had no oportunity to marry, even if he wanted to.

[–] browntable759 9 years ago

Where does the movie say he was 26? I've only seen it once, so I can't remember those details.

[–] ameliaseyruun (2) 6 years ago

His age is never stated but it’s listed on his Disney biography that he is 26.

[–] MovieGuy92 9 years ago

It'd be kinda wierd today, but in the time period the movie took place in, things like this were actually pretty normal. Women would marry men drastically older than themselves and a lot of times would marry before 18. This was because people back then didn't live as long and so they set the legal adulthood age at earlier.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

although royalty sometimes married young, very youthful marriages were not common among the general population. the typical age of marriage for ordinary girls was the early 20s, and for men just a few years older. marriages where the ages were very unequal were often subject to mockery, as in The Canterbury Tales for example. People were aware of the drawbacks to such a union.

[–] rosewater86 9 years ago

I don't think Rapunzel married Flynn at 18 remember at the end Flynn said "after years and years of asking, I finally said yes" so I'm guessing they waited a while to get married which I think is quite fitting because Rapunzel's life just started so I think traveling and having more adventures with Flynn would be good for her before settling down.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

Yes, and she needs to get to know her parents as well, who after all are virtual strangers to her.