Since its release in 2010, Tangled has continued to captivate fans of every age. So when news of a potential live-action Tangled was announced, fans across the globe went wild.
Recently, Disney has been remaking several original princess movies into live-action films. In the last couple of years, some of these movies have included The “Little Mermaid”, “Aladdin”, and “Cinderella”. Therefore, it wasn’t out-of-scope to expect a Tangled live-action soon.
“I really loved the live-action “Aladdin” and it’s one of my favorites,” junior Caitlyn Oak said. “so when I heard that there might be a Tangled live-action too, I was super excited.”
However, there was no actual confirmation of a live-action Tangled happening at Disney. The rumors seemed to have been started by fan accounts discussing potential casting.
“Maybe it was because it was all over social media, but I really thought there was a Disney live-action Tangled,” Oak said. “It was only recently that I found out it wasn’t happening.”
One of these fan accounts had suggested actress Avantika Vandanapu, who had been garnering more attention from her performance in “Mean Girls 2024”, for the role of Rapunzel. This immediately sparked a debate on social media on whether someone from the South Asian community could play a well-known, predominantly white character.
“I feel like a role could be portrayed by anyone as long as they show the main characteristics of the movie,” sophomore Vishika Baskaran said. “Like for Tangled, as long as she has long hair- why can’t she be played by someone that’s South Asian?”
Even so, Vandanapu faced immense backlash and racist retorts just from the idea. Comments on her social media soon started to talk about how she wasn’t fit to be Rapunzel due to her race. Vandanapu never took to social media to respond, however.
“I do understand where they are coming from since I would want to resonate with the character shown in the movie, which is hard to do when they don’t look alike, ” junior Emerson Raedel said. “However, I think people took it too far with the racist comments.”
This wasn’t the first time a situation like this had occurred. In another Disney movie itself, “The Little Mermaid”, actress Halle Bailey received criticism for taking on the role of Princess Ariel. Disney responded by stating that there were no criteria set for casting the princess; rather, it was based on who could portray the character’s qualities the best.
“Honestly, I went to watch The Little Mermaid in theaters and loved it,” Oak said. “I didn’t really think or care about the fact that the actress who portrayed the character was a different race.”
Yet, not everyone was against the idea of a South Asian playing the role of Rapunzel. In fact, many people had agreed that Vandanapu shared similar facial features with Rapunzel, herself. Other actresses seemed to share similar sentiments as well.
As stated on her X account, actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, known for her role in “Never Have I Ever”, responded to the controversy, “And they have finally woke up to realize it was all rumors and the sources never existed,” Ramakrishnan said. “And to the racists, y’all still need a hobby (for real).”
