I, like almost all Americans my age, grew up on some excellent Disney staples. I think I spent most of second grade singing Beauty and the Beast songs on the jungle gym, and became quite torn over my favourite movie when Aladdin came out. At 14, I condescended to forget I was a teenager long enough to go see Mulan, which made a nice little change from the other princesses. While I never went to Disney as a kid (my parents preferred to spend money on vacations to Williamsburg and Plimoth Plantation, for which I am eternally grateful), it is inevitable that these Disney incarnations of ancient tales in many ways shaped my childhood. As a teen, I moved on to finding my heroines in Star Wars (the original trilogy) and Xena: Warrior Princess (yeah, that was a phase, we don’t need to dwell on that). I grasped at Eowyn as a role-model in Lord of the Rings, though I hated her for loving Aragorn when he clearly couldn’t love her back. As a young adult, it was with great joy that I discovered the work of Joss Whedon, the new Battlestar Galactica, and Veronica Mars. In my childhood, books and real life provided me with the truly strong women; in that, the silver screen failed me.
I really, really wish that the world had been ready for Frozen about 20 years earlier.
A few years ago, I heard that Disney was doing a version of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” and I remember thinking briefly, “Well, that’s a terrible idea.” I thought it would easily fall into the same traps that Once Upon A Time had been finding itself in during its first season: buying into the fairytale idea that if a woman doesn’t fit the traditionally feminine expectations set out for her, she is evil and should be punished.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Years later, I first became re-acquainted with the idea that became Frozen when a friend posted this little gem on Facebook:
(I won’t condescend to call this girl cute or amazing– she is phenomenally talented and she’s only 9 years old. If you don’t want to watch now, feel free to enjoy it later, because it’s worth it.)
I loved the song the moment I heard it, and it got me curious about the movie. I still had no idea that Frozen was the final incarnation of “The Snow Queen.” In fact, I had absolutely no idea what it was about. Seeing the occasional clip of Olaf the Snowman had led me to think maybe it was the next incarnation of the Ice Age franchise or something. But when Frozen won the Golden Globe for best animated feature and I heard Idina Menzel was involved, I realised this might be something I needed to go check out.
It makes sense that the song “Let It Go” was what got me interested in Frozen: the song was what changed the course of the whole movie. Written by Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez of Book of Mormon fame, “Let It Go” was the earliest piece of composing that made it into the final film. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, Kristen said, “We … [were] still walking the line– is she a villain? Is this about good versus evil? And then we put ourselves in the head space of someone who would have to leave everything they knew, who was keeping a secret their whole life and then messes up once. Just once! And gets chased out.” From then on, she said, the story became about hope versus fear, rather than good versus evil.
However, I would say that the success of Frozen started even before that, but was the reason that “Let It Go” had to happen: Kristen and Bobby were writing this film for their daughters. I would argue that nothing else worked before “Let It Go” because good versus evil creates one dimensional women that are not sufficient for the daughters parents today want to raise.
In another interview, Bobby and Kristen tell us their favourite lines in the song are, “The cold never bothered me anyway,” and “That perfect girl is gone,” respectively. Bobby cites the subversiveness of the former, and how much he loves introducing that to a female Disney character. Kristen says she can personally relate to the latter, because as a career woman, she feels she constantly has to block out those feelings that she’s not being a good enough mother, wife, or woman. She literally has to “Turn away and slam the door.”
This is a far cry from “Tale as old as time,” or, “I can show you the world.” It’s even a welcome improvement on “Be a Man.”
Yesterday, I serendipitously ended up seeing Frozen with two friends after a lunch date. The moment it opened with a Saami chant, I knew I was in for something truly special. (The Saami are an indigenous people who live in far northern Europe, mainly Norway, Sweden, and Finland.) Visually, it was beautiful. I strongly recommend going to see it on the big screen in HD, because moment after moment left me gasping. The music is phenomenal. And the story is one of the best ever told. I laughed and cried, and laughed so hard I cried, and became totally lost in the wonder of it all. Oh, and did I mention Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) voices Anna, and Idina Menzel (Wicked and Glee) is the power behind Elsa? Plus, the cast is full of a host of other acting gems like Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening and Glee) and Alan Tudyk (Firefly and Dollhouse). Dare I say it, but Frozen may be the best film of 2013.
I really hope that Anna and Elsa mark the start of a new era of Disney princesses. I’m aware that both Tangled and Brave made way for these ladies in recent years, and I hope to watch both those movies in the near future. But Frozen has that combination of excellent writing, phenomenal visuals, and truly inspiring music that makes true Disney magic.
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