Frozen: Why It's Not the Miracle Film We're Making It Out to Be

So I’ve wanted to get into a discussion with someone as of late about Disney’s most recent animated film, Frozen. Unfortunately, most normal people don’t find debating about a children’s cartoon to be a fair use of their time, so instead I’ll voice my concerns over the Internet. This isn’t meant to be a review, at least not in a strict sense. I’m more interested in discussing why I don’t think this film is as “AMAZING AND FLAWLESS AND PERFECT” as people seem to think it is.

Let me start by saying that Frozen is, by no means, a bad film. Considering the serious flops that Disney experienced in the early 2000’s (I’m looking at YOU, Home on the Range), it was refreshing to hear that they finally struck a chord with their audiences and fan bases.

While Princess and the Frog seemed to be a small step in the right direction, Tangled burst open the doors to the studio that were beginning to collect dust. Tangled succeeded so well because it returned to the fairytale formula that Disney is best at, thanks to the input and influence of legendary animator Glen Keane, and modernized it for twenty-first century viewers. Frozen, according to many critics and movie-goers, goes one step further than Tangled by producing two strong female leads that, in Layman’s terms, “get shit done.” They aren’t dependent on a man to complete them or to solve their problems. For what they were able to accomplish, Frozen did a great job of establishing strong, three-dimensional characters (literally and figuratively).

But what I do not agree with is the claim that Frozen is the Beauty and the Beast of this generation.

Beauty and the Beast, in my opinion, is the pinnacle of Disney’s potential. Everything about it was perfect, from the music to the story to the pacing to the animation, and it’s going to take a heck of a lot of work and love and dedication on the part of the company to ever produce that kind of excellence again (indeed, I’m skeptical of whether or not that zenith will ever be achieved again). And frankly, Frozen, for all of the positives, is just not even close to that level of perfection.
 
First, I want to discuss what I thought Disney did well with Frozen, starting with the visuals. As usual, Disney maintains their artistic integrity and takes complete advantage of their icy environment that they chose for the setting. Everything visual about this movie is stunning: The backgrounds, the effects, the ice, the characters…it’s one of the most beautiful films they’ve ever animated. I adore the designs of all of the characters, whether it’s their clothes, their hair, or their facial features. I think it’s awesome that Kristoff is not your typical “hot guy” Prince Charming. He falls into the “delightfully cute and quirky,” category, the kind of guy someone would meet in real life. He isn’t out-right gorgeous, but he’s cute. Also, props to Disney for introducing a blonde male lead—the only prince in their cannon to have yellow locks (John Smith doesn’t count). Anna and Elsa are both beautiful and cute; their lovely faces are balanced by also being friendly and inviting. As for Hans…he’s the Gaston character, and they achieve “sexy handsome.” I can’t say much else.

The way they animated the ice and snow is incredible. The entire “Let It Go” sequence is one of the most breathtaking, visually stunning scenes, and definitely the pinnacle of the film. All of the ice, as well as the environment that they set up, is both beautiful and dark—the snow glitters as the sun shines on it, but the harsh winds and dark, black nights bring the winter curse to life. I felt cold just watching it in the theatre.

The characters themselves are some of the best as well. I mentioned above that they’re all multifaceted individuals with personalities and motivation. None of them suffer from the overly simplistic, idealized princesses and princes of the earlier decades. I’m not going to ramble on about each of them because, frankly, I expected nothing less. Disney is getting much better at fleshing out their protagonists and antagonists.
 
Frozen’s music is good. There is a selection of songs that are excellent, but a few of them were borderline silly. Yes, “Let It Go” is catchy. Yes, the “Fixer Upper Song” is stupid.

I also give props to Disney for introducing one of the few sidekick characters in their history that isn’t obnoxious. Olaf was well-written, well-performed, and even though he didn’t have a real significant purpose in the story, he was never in the way.

Disney also stepped up their game with the use of serious internal conflict, something that is rare in their cannon in favor of more simplified storylines and motivation. The character of Beast (a.k.a. Adam) dealt with similar inner turmoil as Elsa does: He is cursed by an outside force beyond his control and forced to cope with the reality of what that means. In doing so, he pushes everyone that cares about him away and gives into the hopelessness and despair that continues to plague him until the arrival of Belle. Elsa’s own curse has placed not only despair and fear in her, but affected the lives of those around her who wished to help. She shuts the world out and loses touch with herself and her sister. While Elsa’s curse can also be viewed as a gift and can never be lifted, it is still a defining aspect of her character, just as with Beast. In this respect, Frozen achieves a level of sophistication that hasn’t been seen in over a decade.

So if there is beautiful imagery, in-depth characterization, and emotional turmoil that creates both internal and external conflict, why do I feel that Frozen is still, in many ways, a huge miss?

Contrary to what many people believe, my qualms with the film have nothing to do with the feminist arguments and the complaints about how Elsa is never given a love interest. I’m sick and tired of people having something to say about Disney’s female characters, anyway. It’s taken far too seriously and, besides that, the same people that complained that Anna was too focused on marrying someone were the ones arguing that Elsa needed a love interest. Come on. We need to stop blaming Disney for the perpetuation of a “male dominated culture.” We can’t even decide what we want to see on the screen. Quit using Disney as the scapegoat for our own disillusions.

Anyway.

My major problem is really one thing: The story. Is the set-up good? Yes. It’s very good, actually. We get a glance at the relationship between Anna and Elsa that is both brief and powerful. There’s also an interesting dynamic between Elsa and her father, who encourages her to hide her powers and is, in a way, responsible for her anxiety. The audience gets the impression that this story is going to center on Elsa and Anna will be the one with less screen time. But, for anyone who paid attention to the trailer, you know that isn’t the case.

And for me, that’s where the story falls flat. Rather than focus on the two sisters, especially Elsa, Disney seems to want to mold three different stories together: a buddy comedy road trip, a love story, and familial conflict. While the first half of the movie is strong, the second half takes a bit of a nose dive for this very reason. They spend an inordinate amount of screen time relaying the events of Anna and Kristoff’s journey for the sake of building a romance between the two, give us a fraction of insight into just what the hell Elsa is doing on the mountain to pass the time (or eat or sleep or function with access to virtually nothing), and establishing the kindness and capability of a character that turns out to be a liar in the end. The one character that the intro sets up as vital to the story—Elsa—is pushed aside for dozens of side stories, other plot points, and comic relief.

The film does redeem itself a bit in the end by offering a twist on the “act of true love” cure for Anna’s curse, but for me, it isn’t enough to make up for the fact that they offer such little time to develop their relationship or even just Elsa’s character. We pity her, but we don’t empathize because there’s hardly anything there to cling to. The act of true love is more powerful for Anna’s character because it reveals the first genuine act of selflessness that she demonstrates in the entire film. But again, why is she the focus? Why isn’t Elsa? Why isn’t Elsa trying to help her sister rather than whine and pity herself? Why the hell did Kristoff battle through the blizzard to get to Anna, only to disappear and end up doing nothing? What was the purpose of the trolls???

To me, these problems all come down to a lack of focus. I think they could have eliminated the character of Hans, allotted more screen time to Elsa and Anna’s relationship, as well as Elsa herself, and increased the role and purpose of Kristoff. I also wanted them to go into more detail about why Elsa had her snow/ice powers: Did it run in the family? Are there others out there like her? Did the power come from another source? I realize it’s just a fairytale, but one of the things that made Tangled’s storyline work so well is that they gave a reason for Rapunzel’s hair to glow by introducing the magic golden flower. They didn’t have to give an elaborate background on it, but they let the audience know that she didn’t just happen to be born with magical hair. I wish they did something like that with Elsa’s powers. If they were given to her through a curse, or an outside force, or some gross flavor of ice cream that the queen ate—I don’t care; but giving that detail builds the background of the characters and adds depth to them. Not to mention the fact that everyone at the coronation ball flips their lid when she accidentally uses the powers, but the writers give the impression that this kind of thing just happens to certain people. Some of the people in this world are born with ice powers. And that’s all fine and well, but then why would the kingdom be so damn freaked out by it? Sure, they can be unsettled, but if you don’t explain why she has these powers and how the rest of the kingdom views the possibility of its existence, it makes their fear and hatred a little hyperbolic.

In the end, I will say this: Frozen is another step in the right direction. Is it Beauty and the Beast? Heck no. Is Disney getting closer to hitting that mark? Yes. Maybe their next film will be just what we’re all looking for.

Why We Need To Stop Obsessing Over Dating: A Small Rant

I’m going to share something with all of you that has been on my heart and mind a lot in the past few months. If you’re easily offended, it might not be something for you to read. But for those that are interested, be warned that I’m not concerned about being politically correct.

As a young woman half-way through her third year of college, I’ve seen a lot of things that make me angry. People making stupid life choices, the school I attend enforcing ridiculous mandates about how many useless foreign language classes I have to take for my “core classes,” and varying other degrees of foolishness that reach inside my bones and rattle them like a maraca. But if there’s one thing that I’ve discovered in my two and a half years of college life that makes me want to smash a hundred windows, it’s this: College women are obsessed with the idea of dating and marriage.

I get it. We’re all at that age where dating is no longer something cute that we do to entertain ourselves and jingle around with the bells of puberty. It’s a serious element of our lives. We date with the intention to find our future spouse or to have a level of intimate companionship while we wade through the waters of college life (God knows we need a friend to survive some moments). That’s fine. It’s normal. Everyone has that desire inside of them to find The One and settle down.

But what is considered a very average desire within all of us, especially women, has now spawned into a serious problem that is only exacerbated by the rise of social media. Rather than thoughtfully dwell on who we will devote our life to in the future, we have made this desire the central focus of our thoughts, sometimes even above our school work.

My social media newsfeeds—especially my Facebook—have become infested with Buzzfeed articles, blogs, website links that all pertain to this topic. I have grown so sick of seeing these types of posts, that to actually catch one is enough to make me sign off of whatever site I happened to be browsing for the sake of not smashing my computer to pieces. Perhaps the worst offender of all are the articles that are titled, “Things that Real Men Like in Women,” or “Qualities You Should Look For in a Husband/Wife,” or even “What a True Godly Man/Woman Should Be.” Each of these articles ends up saying the same exact things, reworded in a cutesy or funny or serious or sarcastic way, depending on the tone of the piece. All of them are designed to make us feel better for knowing that, hey, I may be single, but at least I know how to conform myself to fit the preferences of someone else!

Clearly, we have a problem.

I’m not saying that there isn’t some truth to these articles. And I know that they’re written with the best intentions at heart. But honestly, when did we, as a group of people, become so obsessed with the desire to find a mate that we will read essentially the same thing over and over again, plaster our Facebook and Twitter feeds, and dedicate entire discussion boards to this very issue? What is it achieving, other than successfully elevating my heart rate?

My main problem with these articles isn’t the content themselves. Most of the time, they’re positive and encouraging for those that may feel like they’ve been run over by the Universe. There’s nothing wrong with a little pick-me-up every now and then (as well as seeing that there still is some hope for the world in the dating arena). That’s fine. My issue is with what people do with them—the constant, viral, explosive re-posting of them everywhere, and the belief that these pieces of writing can somehow change the way the reader views dating, relationships, and the opposite sex.

Here’s a reality check: They can’t.

What it comes down to is a heart issue. As women in particular, we are so concerned about whether or not we will find a man and start a family, that we set aside any other possible life achievements until we hit that milestone. We make it the primary focus. We make it our idol. So much so, that what happens with these articles is that we take them as a How-To Guide and begin to want to shape ourselves to fit what some person on the Internet says makes a good boyfriend or girlfriend.

Be This

Don’t Be This

Don’t Do This

Like This

Don’t Like This

Act In This Way

Love In This Fashion

Be An Upstanding Citizen

Know Your Mate Like The Back of Your Hand

Be An Astronaut

Discover The Answer To World Peace

Cure Cancer

Have Brown Hair

Don’t Have Brown Hair

Hide Your Freckles

Freckles Are Sexy!

Skinny Women Have It All

Curvy Women Are “Real” Women

Know How To Communicate

Forgive Everything

Hate Nothing

Own A White Horse

Don’t Cater to the Prince Stereotype

Men Are People Too!

Women Don’t Need Make-Up To Be Sexy

A Little Make-Up Is Okay

MAKE-UP IS THE DEVIL

Volunteer On The Weekends

Big Boobs Are Awesome!

Be Ashamed Of Your God-Given Breasts (Or Lack Thereof)!

Pray For Nothing But Your Future Husband

Men Want This

Men Don’t Want This

Men Are Stupid

Women Are Too Sensitive

Men Aren’t Sensitive Enough

Be Perfect In Every Way, Shape, And Form

It’s absolutely, 100% absurd.

I’m sick and tired of someone else telling me what I should be and where I need to stand emotionally/spiritually/physically to be good enough to date. People are not stock characters; we are living, breathing, constantly changing and growing individuals. Not everyone is going to possess the “ideal qualities” for a mate, and not everyone has the same standards for who they want to marry. These articles, while having good intentions, end up becoming nothing more than a “This Is How You Get a Boyfriend/Girlfriend” guide that is, ultimately, useless, because people don’t operate on such a superficial level. Some people like blonds, some people like brunettes, and some people just don’t give a damn what color your hair is.

God has a person picked out for us and plans to introduce them at the right time and place in our life, regardless of what we can or can’t do, where we are or aren’t at spiritually, or how mature or immature we think we are. God isn’t waiting for us to “get our act together” and know every last detail about what makes a Godly man or Godly woman; He’s waiting for our life to line up with that of the person He’s picked for us at a time when He knows we need them. Because let’s be honest, if God was waiting for us to be “spiritually mature,” no one would ever be married.

It’s the same thing with salvation: If God wanted us to be “cleaned up” before we could come to Him, no one would be saved.

Every single one of us is our own individual. I’m a very short, loud, Disney-obsessed white girl who has lots of compassion and love for people but also struggles to keep her words under control and uses her hands too much to hurt others. And guess what? I’m always going to be that person. God will continually work in my heart to change the things about me that are sinful, but my inner self is never going to disappear. I’m always going to be the same strange, quirky, writer-type who struggles with anxiety. Do I have good, “dateable” qualities? Yes. Do I have ugly, “undateable” ones? Oh yeah. But the nature of love isn’t that you find someone who fits every last stereotypical detail, but someone who loves you despite the fact that you aren’t perfect.

And perhaps the biggest note that I would like to get out there: 

Life doesn’t start when you find your significant other.

It starts today. Now. Right in this moment, as you draw in each breath. Everyone has dreams and goals they would like to achieve that have nothing to do with dating or getting married. Chase after those dreams—the ones that are burned into your very soul—because those are the ones that are part of who you are. They are the things that define you as a human being. They are the things that will continually be true, even after you settle down. Don’t spend all of your time lamenting the fact that you’re still single—live in the present. Pursue your dreams. Pursue you. Pursue the God who made you. And then one day that special person will arrive, exactly when they’re meant to, and you’ll have plenty of stories to tell them when they do.


"When we commit our way to God, we allow our thoughts, goals, and lifestyle to be shaped by His will and the things He loves. In other words, we acknowledge His right to determine whether our longing fits His plan. If we rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, we rely on Him to work out circumstances, even when the desire He's given us seems impossible. When He is our first love, our hearts become focused on making His glory known in our lives." --InTouch Ministries (original article located here)