Mother Knows Best (song) siren motif" for Gothel's appearance and personality. A "big" musical number, "Mother Knows Best" begins within the first fifteen minutes of "Tangled" during the film's first act when, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel finally summons enough courage to ask Gothel for permission to travel and see the floating lanterns in person. Gothel, whose eternal youth and beauty solely relies on the safety and protection of Rapunzel's magical hair, denies this request by sarcastically reminding her that "mother knows best," warning her ward that "the world is full of wicked people who want to steal her hair's magic,"
Mother Gothel causing the character to become "too dark." Ultimately, the filmmakers voted in favor of having Gothel be subtle as opposed to having her remain "a one-note, domineering mother," similar to Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's cruel stepmother, from Disney's "Cinderella "(1950). As reported by "The Korea Times", the thought of Gothel being a villain who is both a "greedy, selfish woman and a mother figure to Rapunzel" was initially "perplexing" for animator Jin Kim, and it wasn't until after Kim heard Gothel's "Mother Knows Best" for the first time that he "came up with the 1940s Hollywood screen siren motif" for the