Insights into Frozen: Community, Sisterhood and Genuine Love

Just finished watching Frozen at home with my family. I really enjoy this movie and I think it did a lot of refreshing things that haven't been done before in a Disney Princess film. One thing that I have noticed with my literary training is that I am now staring to see themes and insights within everything that I interact with, which includes books, movies, and music. With this in mind, I thought that I would share some of the themes I found while watching "Frozen". So, here goes!

1. Misperceived Romance

One thing I love about this movie is the fact that Anna is completely and utterly wrong about who she is in love with. One thing that has been the rule of most Disney films (And most other films with a romantic subplot) is the fact that the protagonist ALWAYS falls in love with the first person that they meet. This is such a formulaic part of most films that I was expecting Anna and Hans to get married and this is where I was pleasantly surprised. I have occasionally been frustrated by the fact that when a woman in a Disney movie thinks that she might be in love, she usually is and the dude is usually perfect for her and Disney never alludes to the possibility that she could be wrong. I thought I was in love once but it turned out that I was simply infatuated with my perception of this man and I didn't even know him well enough to learn his faults. This film even makes fun of previous Disney films where the man and woman get married after only knowing each other for a brief time (Seriously, Snow White and Prince Charming only met once, as did Cinderella and her prince).
     
2. Sisterly Love

This film truly showcased sisterly love in the relationship between Elsa and Anna. It seems that many Disney films involve a character who is an orphan and an only child which means that for all intents and purposes, they are alone in the world. In cases where the protagonist does happen to have siblings, there is usually an intense level of sibling rivalry which lends to the impression that all siblings hate each other or at least feel burning indifference toward each other. As a woman with ten (Almost eleven) siblings whom I love dearly, I never understood why siblings had to have trouble getting along. I have had disagreements with my siblings from time to time but at the end of the day, I love them so much and nothing can take this love from me. We can observe this in "Frozen". No matter how many times Elsa tries to push Anna away, Anna remains devoted to her sister and sacrifices herself to save her sister in the end. Some people have come to the conclusion that Anna and Elsa are in a lesbian relationship with each other, I think this notion is ridiculous and forgets the fact that Anthropologically speaking, we all have incest taboos and dating your own sister is one of those taboos. Has a thriving sisterly relationship become so foreign to us that we expect other forces to be at work? And what does this say about us if we cannot trust in the existence of an innocent sibling relationship?
 
3. Importance of Community

This movie explores additional interpersonal relationships by looking at the relationship between a woman and her community. Elsa spends most of her life avoiding the company of others in order to follow the instructions of her father. But another reason for doing this is fear that the community will not understand her struggles and assume that she has sinister intentions. But by distancing herself, Elsa misses out on a supportive and dedicated community, an example of which we can see when we look at Kristoff's "family" and this community misses out on the unique and beautiful contribution that Elsa can offer to them as a whole.

4. Vulnerability

Elsa fears exposing her shortcomings because she doesn't think that people will understand her but vulnerability is one of the most powerful forces in bringing people together. When we share our frailties and shortcomings with others, we are saying that we trust them. Kristoff shares all of his faults with his loving family and he eventually shares with Anna as well. Once Anna understands Elsa's trials in controlling her powers, Anna's sympathy increases and she wants to do whatever she can to help her sister.

5. Self-Sacrifice

I really enjoy films that promote self-sacrifice because to me, this is the highest form of love. Analogous to the love that Christ showed in his death on the cross. We can observe self-sacrifice in two places. One is the part where Olaf risks melting so that he can save Anna and help her to keep warm. And the other part is at the very end when Anna gives up what looks like her only chance at restoring herself and then places herself directly between her sister and a weapon that is poised to kill her. We see something noble in self-sacrifice and I think we have good reason to.

6. Love in General

This films showcases many different forms of love: Love between sisters, family members, friends, and of course, romantic love. Although these relationships have differences between them, Olaf's definition can work quite well for all of them when he says: "Love is putting someone else's needs before yours." This definition of love can and should permeate all of our interpersonal relationships. When Jesus tells us that we should "love our neighbor as ourselves" he means that we should put their needs before our own, not that we should start smooching them or anything weird like that.  

7. Not Being Ruled by the Perceptions of Others

Some people have difficulties with Elsa's "Let it Go Song" song because they see it as Elsa's ballad of rejecting community and attempting to face this cold world on her own. While this is true to a certain extent, I think that we forget the fact that Elsa already spent the majority of her life on her own in her room. While she is seeking a more prominent form of isolation, Elsa is also saying that she will no longer conceal herself as a means of achieving approval with the people around her. Elsa is "letting go" of the idea that she needs to maintain a plastic persona in order to have people like her. In the end, it is better to have people dislike you for being yourself than it is to pretend to be someone you aren't.     

8. We all Have Our Faults

This movie has a song that states that we are all a "fixer upper". We all have our failings, our shortcomings, our imperfections and we should recognize this and embrace each other along with any faults that we happen to have. None of us are as perfect as Richmond or Prince Charming or Superman, but we are all endearing in the midst of our failings.