ABSTRACT
This chapter develops an interdisciplinary method of analyzing fantasies that explore the prevalence of certain tropes across contexts, and yet make space for critical, culturally specific analyses. The chapter presents a case study of the animated Disney film Tangled. Despite the relative financial failure of another conventional Disney fairy tale film, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled was a commercial and critical success for the studio. In order to make sense of Tangled's contemporary cultural impact, alongside the historical staying power of the Grimm fairy tale, the chapter develops an interdisciplinary analysis that draws on evolutionary life history theory and feminist philosophy of myth. "Evolutionary theory" is a sweeping term, encompassing an array of explanatory frameworks for predicting the development and behavior of organisms as they go about achieving reproductive success—the production of offspring so as to pass on genes to the next generation.
