Disney Duster wrote:Here's the question: what would we have seen if she did love Rapunzel, I ask those who say she didn't.
I haven't commented on this yet, but I am of the "she didn't
really love her" camp, so I think I'll put my two cents in.
Firstly, though, more importantly, I want to point out the things Gothel wouldn't have done-- she wouldn't have chained her up, she wouldn't have murdered her love interest in cold blood, she wouldn't have gaslighted on the "stars/floating lights," and she wouldn't have kidnapped her in the first place (or she would have at least returned her, ala the Beast). Among other things. But then, if it had been so, she wouldn't have been a Disney villain. And there wouldn't really have been movie, either.
As for what
would she have done-- let's use another character as an example. Off the top of my head, I think King Triton is a pretty close parallel to Gothel-- they both want to "protect" their daughters, but I think in TLM, the human world is justified as a more hostile world (for fish, anyway) than the world Rapunzel is kept from. Regarding their motives, Gothel's was always a selfish one-- remember that the tower was not merely built to protect Rapunzel but to keep her to Gothel, so Gothel alone can use her power, and also, perhaps more menacingly, so Rapunzel's parents can't find her. Triton, on the other hand, had good reason to fear for his daughter-- some of us really are spineless, savage, harpooning fish-eaters-- whereas the only men I know with pointy teeth are featured on Ripley's Believe it or Not.
Now let's skip to the end-- when both Ariel and Rapunzel have been exposed to the... Er... Human world, I guess, and have both proven that they can survive in it, and have fallen in love with someone from it. Triton sees his daughter watching Prince Eric. Knowing how much he will miss her, because he loves her, he releases her to Eric-- because he loves her. This is an important parallel because he too holds the keys to his daughter's chains as Gothel did. But what does Gothel do? We'll get to that in a second-- let's start at the beginning of the end.
At this point, Gothel has watched Rapunzel interact in the "human world"-- she can survive out there, there's no question about it now, so Gothel isn't protecting her from anything any more. But Gothel really never cared about that-- it was always a ploy to terrify Rapunzel from leaving her, and because, once again Gothel's motive is selfish-- it isn't love.
Now let's talk about Flynn Rider-- Gothel tries to kill him not once but twice. The first time, she sends him off to the palace for the royal guards to do her dirty work-- but of course, he escapes. When Rider comes to the rescue Rapunzel, Gothel stabs him in cold blood, right in front of Rapunzel. And once again, she doesn't do this to protect Rapunzel. She does this because Rider risks taking away her fountain of youth-- she murders him like one would shoot a thief in the night who broke into one's house to steal one's possessions. Perhaps, if she truly loved Rapunzel and saw her as a person, she would have allowed Rapunzel and him to be together-- because that's what Rapunzel wanted.
Ultimately, love boils down to a lack of selfishness-- not wholly, not complete selflessness, but moments where you do things for those you love, despite yourself. Even given that opportunity, not once do we see Gothel put Rapunzel first-- like Triton did. Making someone their favorite dish, or getting them a nice present isn't love-- but it does offer a wonderful guise of love-- which I think both Rapunzel and Gothel might have been deluded by. But it wasn't the real stuff.