Having a Disney movie become a massive hit and a critical
success is nothing new for the massive company.
Entire generations have been in love with these films since Snow White came out in 1937. The impressive canon of films that have been
released by Disney includes beloved stories ranging from Beauty and the Beast to Aladdin. Clearly they are doing something right to
have allowed them this level of success for the last 75+ years. Young girls still love to dress up as
Cinderella, Aurora, and Tiana for Halloween.
25 year olds are still debating if Jasmine or Belle is the better choice
for personal favorite (I’ll give you a hint: it’s Jasmine). “A Whole New World” is still played as a
couple’s first dance at their wedding.
The point is that Disney and their fairy tale films carry the power and
influence to influence a massive number of people. They can literally shape how a child views
love, life, and relationships. Which brings
us to the key of all this. Simply put,
Disney has an obligation to continually evolve, mature, and improve the
messages they are sending. Luckily for
everyone, they are doing a wonderful job of this. For proof of this, we need look no further
than their most recent masterpiece (because that is exactly what it is) Frozen.
Frozen starts off
with a familiar feel. We are introduced
to a magical princess, Elsa, and her sister Anna. Due to the uncertain and unfamiliar
characteristics of Elsa’s powers over snow, ice, and weather, her parents seek
the council of the wise trolls who preach that control will be key to Elsa’s
happiness. How do her parents respond to
this advice? Well, they lock her in a
castle and tell her to pretend these powers don’t exist. “Conceal, don’t feel” becomes their motto
every time Elsa comes to them with feelings of sadness or concern regarding her
powers. This approach is not exactly
successful, unsurprisingly, and ends in Elsa losing control of her emotions and
her powers, revealing her secret to her kingdom, and causing a frigid winter to
fall upon the kingdom in the middle of summer.
And from this, Disney provides one of their most important
and meaningful messages to ever come from one of their movies. The realization that emotions are not meant
to be ignored is one that everyone must learn in life. How often are children forced to feel
embarrassment and confusion when experiencing emotions that are new to
them? Boys are told that they are not
supposed to cry because it shows weakness.
Girls are reminded to only feel positive about themselves if they look
and act certain ways. Emotions are a
natural part of being human and trying to push them down or ignore them is only
going to lead to outbursts or explosions that end up hurting ourselves and
those around us.
We see this with Elsa.
At first, she feels a wonderful sense of catharsis and relief at having
to no longer hide her powers. Keep in
mind that her powers are representative of any powerful emotion that people may
experience and have felt the need to conceal.
And although there is a comforting release that comes in the form of the
gorgeous song “Let It Go”, at the end of it Elsa is left completely isolated
and alone. These powers are not
inherently bad. Imagine the happiness
and overall quality of life that could have been experienced by both Elsa and
Anna if she and her parents had instead worked to develop the skills necessary
to gain control over these powers. It
would have produced a far more functional, healthy, and beneficial relationship
between Elsa and everyone around her.
Instead she is told to conceal, don’t feel, and just stay in your
room. Having trouble with this tough
time? Just put some gloves on. We will all face difficult times, challenging
feelings, and other obstacles throughout life.
Avoidance and hiding are not how we get through them. We get through them with the help of our
support systems and those we love. We
get through them through maturation, personal growth, and the counsel of those
we respect and value.
Children need to know that locking the door to their room
will not make the problem go away and will not stop the feelings from having an
internal effect. All it will do is cause
a build up of pressure and stress that will have to be let out somehow. Odds are it won’t be as beautiful or graceful
as an ice castle.
Surprisingly, Frozen isn’t
done here. It stills has an equally
important message to give. Warning:
There may be SPOILERS ahead
if you have not yet seen the movie.
Disney has been criticized in the past for providing inaccurate
and unrealistic depictions of love and how it develops. But then Tangled
came out a few years ago and started laying the groundwork for a new
approach to how young men and women should view themselves and
relationships. There is a wonderful and
comical scene where Rapunzel and a room full of brutal marauders sing “I’ve Got
a Dream” which is all about how we should not listen to societal norms or other
stereotypes that tell us that our goals and hopes are not right for us. If a Viking wants to be a concert pianist,
who are we to tell him not to? If a
strong and independent woman wants to pursue her dream of travel and
excitement, she should be able to do just that, even if she is told constantly
that to do so in unrealistic and outside of her abilities. Frankly, I wish Gunther luck with his
interior design! Slowly, we start to see
Disney telling the boys and girls watching to pursue their dreams.
However, there is another change that Tangled makes that is a little more subtle. It is still a “classic” love story where the
boy and girl meet and quickly find themselves attracted to one another. However, unlike past tales that take place
over three days and preach “love at first sight”, the main couple of Tangled wait two years to get
married. It is only mentioned once at
the end of the movie, but it is a massively important development.
Frozen takes this
as a stepping-stone and leaps off of it.
There are scenes where Disney literally mocks itself. “Wait!
You are engaged to a man you just met today?” and “You can’t marry
a man you just met” are both direct quotes.
I fully admit to being a hopeless romantic who loves fairy tales. Falling in love at first sight is something
that I smile about. But it simply isn’t
realistic or healthy for a relationship as serious as marriage. Taking time to gain a deeper understanding of
a significant other is a really important step in a relationship. Working through the obstacles and challenges
that naturally arise in every couple’s time together is something that is used
to build a really solid foundation on which a marriage can be successful. In short, Disney is taking a genre mainstay
of “love at first sight” and changing it to a more healthy and realistic
depiction of how love looks. That is
something that is encouraging to see.
These princesses are maturing and their audience is better off because
of it.
But wait, there’s more.
These storytellers wanted to take one more cliché and blow it up. There comes a point in the story where Anna is
going to die unless an act of true love occurs.
Naturally, this means true love’s first kiss! I’ve seen Snow
White and Sleeping Beauty! Luckily, Anna has met the man she is going to
marry in Hans. They rush back to the
palace and they are about to share the beautiful moment that will release her
from the curse that is threatening her life.
And just like that, the world flips upside down. Hans doesn’t love her at all, it is simply a
plot to steal the throne. I felt like
the kid in Princess Bride who says
“wait, that can’t be right!”
Anna is left to die and Hans seems to have a clear path to
the throne. All that’s left is to kill
Elsa. Through a series of events Elsa is
left vulnerable with Hans standing over her with his sword drawn. With her last ounce of strength, Anna throws
herself in front of her sister and away from the man who could fulfill the
traditional Disney definition of love.
In this story, true love exists between sisters. And that is massively important. Kids and adults alike are getting a very
important lesson in love here. In fact
throughout the movie, there has been an emotional roller coaster due to the
fact that love can lead to wonderful highs and painful lows. Love can occur between any two people. It doesn’t have to be Prince Charming
standing over his fallen princess. Love
has countless forms that it can take and they are all incredibly powerful.
Through some gorgeous animation, clever humor, and captivating
storytelling, Disney has set itself on a path of challenging its viewers to
think about some very important topics.
And I simply cannot wait to see what happens next. The core theme of “love conquering all” is
still present. What’s different is that
Disney and its viewers are now wrestling with how big and complex that idea
really is.
And that’s why Frozen
is so important! It’s the first real
step Disney has taken to show that it is able to make positive adjustments for
this new generation of films without sacrificing the colorful characters,
fantastic songs, or brilliant stories that gave Disney its reputation.
I love Disney. I
always have and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Also, do you want to build a snowman?
