My question is what is it about Frozen that is making it break records? Is it the storyline? That plot twist that has everyone in the theater gasping, unbelieving that Disney would make a villian out of a prince? Is it the relaxed princesses? Is it the the broadway followers, appreciating the beautiful voice of Idina Menzel?
Frozen is said to be based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale of the Snow Queen. Hans Christian Anderson's tale is one of two children that struggle in the world. The young boy ran away and met a Snow Queen who offered him a place to live and a home, but the longer he stayed with her, his heart began to freeze. Eventually, his best friend started to miss him, and after finding him, was able to thaw his frozen heart with her love. The only part of this classic fairytale that had stayed in the movie were the actual Snow Queen and the frozen heart thawed by love.
The main theme of the movie was that fear and love were opposing factors. Elsa, the queen of Arendelle, was so afraid of how her subjects would react to her powers she hid them from everyone, including her sister. It was this fear that made her unable to control her powers. On the opposite side of the spectrum is her younger sister, Anna. Anna grew up lonely since her sister hid everything from her, but still had an undying devotion to her sister. It was this love for her sister that eventually taught Elsa the most important lesson in trying to control her powers, that love melts even a frozen heart.
What made this movie so different from other classic Disney movies is the fact that though there were two people who eventually fell in love, it was not this love that was the strongest, but the love and bond between sisters. This is an amazing theme when you think of other princesses like Ariel, who left her entire family for a boy at the age of 16.
The only thing that truly was unsettling about this movie was what made it so relatable. Rather than follow the story of the elegant Snow Queen, we follow the story of her headstrong and unclassy sister. A movie that Frozen is often compared to is Tangled. I was able to ignore Rapunzel's modern speech and quirks due to the fact that she was raised in a tower, unaware of her royal lineage. Anna, however, was not. She grew up raised in a castle and raised as a princess of Arendelle. There was no reason for her to use constant slang and filler words such as "totally" (which we repeated 3 times in one song).
My disappointment falls in the fact that Disney felt the need to remove all etiquette from a princess in order to make her relatable. This princess, with lyrics such as feeling "elated or gassy," seemed to fall short of any princess I think of being raised in a castle. Young girls look to Disney princesses as role models, and I feel like Anna, while she is good to look to as far as love for her family, falls short of class. This makes me worry for our children. It seems like we are no longer concerned with manners and etiquette. Instead our hit soundtrack has lyrics discussing "ballrooms with no balls," "finishing each other's sandwiches," and "tinkling in the woods."
Overall, Frozen was a very entertaining movie, and the music was enjoyable. But when you are watching this movie, just think if that is the way you would raise your own children. The oldest, so afraid of what she can do that she runs away from her responsibility. And the youngest, naive to the world, that she is ready to throw herself at the first boy who shows interest.
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