My favorite Disney movie is unsurprisingly the movie "Tangled." Something about a princess wanting to live out her lifelong dream on her birthday only to discover she is a princess and has fallen in love with a thief just makes me happy. If you’ve ever seen the movie, you will recall the scene where Flynn Rider takes Rapunzel to what is essentially the hangout spot for “ruffians and thugs.” As it turns out, these bandits all have one thing in common: they have a dream.
The whole pub breaks out into an extravagant song during which hard-looking criminals admit their deepest passions and dreams—and some are more surprising than others. As the song mentions, “Bruiser knits, Killer sews, Dan does little puppet shows, and Vladimir collects ceramic unicorns.” This scene is one of my personal favorites in the movie because it not only reinforces the good lesson of “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but it also shows that everyone has a dream.
The scene concludes when a ruffian helps Flynn and Rapunzel escape from their pursuers while uttering my favorite line in the movie, “Go, live your dream.”
The movie turns this line into a joke, but in it, I find great truth and some of the best advice for children, college kids, and adults in the professional world.
The quote is obviously about following your dreams, but let’s break it down because at first glance, you might miss the depth of the quote.
The ruffian starts his advice with the word go. This word implies action. In order to follow your dreams, regardless of what they might be, you have to start, you have to go. Each dream has a starting point, and no dream is fulfilled at that starting point. To truly follow a dream, you have to start with go.
Next, the ruffian does not advise Flynn and Rapunzel to find their dreams. Rapunzel and Flynn already have an idea of what their dreams are. Similarly, to fulfill your dreams, you need to first define what they are.
The ruffian also does not instruct Flynn and Rapunzel to follow their dreams, even if that is what the quote implies. If you only follow your dreams, who is to say you will ever be able to catch them? You cannot simply follow your dreams; if you really want something, you have to live it.
Which brings me to my next point. The ruffian instructs Flynn and Rapunzel to live their dreams. This implies active and constant determination. Finding and following your dreams are not enough. If you want something, you have to live it out.
Finally, the last truth to be gleaned from these four words (and forgive me if you truly think I’m reading way too into it) would be this: Flynn and Rapunzel are to live their own dreams. The quote is, “Go, live your dream.” Your dream. Do not waste your time living someone else’s dream. If you end up living in a way that is not what you want, go and live your dream. Life is too short to do otherwise.
So if you won’t take it from me, take it from a ruffian who lives in the imaginations of Disney’s finest scriptwriters and, “Go, live your dream.”
