People are freaking out about the messages they are seeing in the movie Frozen.
Some see it as the most Christian Disney movie to date. Some see it as a movie about coming out. For others it’s hyper-sexual, empowering to women, a promotion of teenage angst, propaganda to normalize the gay agenda, or a satanic attempt to turn kids gay (which I find most strange since the people who made the movie mostly seem to believe you can’t “turn” gay or straight. But I digress).
So, what do we need in all of this jumble of mixed messages about Frozen?
Why, another blog post about it’s messages, of course. That’s where I come in.
I decided to watch the movie for the first time last weekend and see what all of the fuss was about. I didn’t like the movie when I saw the first teaser trailer a year or so ago. I really didn’t like the movie when it came out and everybody talked about how great it was. So, I saw the movie with the expectation I would hate it.
The only thing I hated about it was how much I loved it.
It was musically well done. The characters were (mostly) believable. It was chock full of meaning.
My kids are now old enough to watch movies I am interested in, including superhero movies like Spider-man and Man of Steel. To help them process these movies, we discuss the meanings embedded within them. After watching a movie, we discuss the themes and meanings that the movie expresses. They have taken to the process, and now always want to talk about the meanings of the movies they watch. They’re learning that some movies are pretty terrible, with no coherent themes or meanings. Some movies, like Frozen, are full of meaning, and lead us to hours (or, more realistically, minutes) of discussion about a range of important topics. Such a discussion happened after we watched Frozen. We both picked up on a number of important themes, and they agree this movie is pretty great.
I thought I’d examine the many messages of Frozen in a way that hasn’t been done before: with the expectation that there are many meanings in the movie, and that those meanings are revealed in the relationships between the main characters. This movie isn’t about just one thing, but about many things. There is one overarching theme that is expressed in the resolution of the film, but we’ll get to that later.
I’m starting the movie again now, and we’ll progress through the messages as they are presented in the movie. Feel free to watch along with me as they are presented.
[Obviously, what follows contains spoilers. So, if you are the last person on the planet who hasn’t seen Frozen, be ye warned.]
Here we go:
Elsa/King and Queen of Arendelle
Key quote: “Conceal it. Don’t feel it. Don’t let it show.”
While she is still young, Elsa accidentally hurts her sister Anna with her magic. Their father and mother take them to see the trolls for healing and advice. Anna is healed, but not without removing the memory of Elsa’s magic from her mind. The trolls give the advice that Elsa should learn to control her magic abilities. The head troll says, “You must learn to control it. Fear will be your enemy.” How right he turns out to be! From this time on, Elsa fears her powers and tries to hide them with her parents’ help.
[Aside: Elsa is “born” with the powers, not “cursed,” “and they’re getting stronger.” Elsa’s character represents people who are born different from others. She is advised to “conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know.” While Elsa could represent anyone who is different from others, I believe she most clearly represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. [Aside within an aside: Like other writers, I agree that the song “Let it Go” is Elsa’s coming out song. I will not analyze this song for two reasons: 1) I’m not qualified to speak about what it is like to come out, and 2) I’m not analyzing characters in this post, but relationships. End aside within aside.] While Elsa represents LGBTQ people, the movie is not about trying to get your kids to be LGBTQ. It is about the reality of their existence, and what both they and we are going to do about it. The King and Queen choose to try to hide it, which turns out to be bad advice. End aside.]
Until Elsa can learn to control her powers, he father shuts her away from everyone, to “keep her powers hidden.” This hiding becomes her modus operandi for the most of the rest of the film, and becomes the major source of conflict between Elsa and the other main characters.
Message: Some well-meaning folk will tell you to hide who you are. While they mean well, their advice is ultimately harmful.
Anna/Elsa
Key quote: “Do you want to build a snowman?” “Go away, Anna.” (From the song “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”
Anna is confused that Elsa is suddenly withdrawn and unavailable. She wants to return to her happy relationship with her sister and doesn’t understand how or why the change occurred. Anna still loves her sister Elsa, but Elsa is afraid of what might happen if she “opens up the door.”
Even after the death of Elsa and Anna’s parents, Elsa remains withdrawn. Her coronation as Queen is the first time she opens up the gates to the castle. For Anna, this is a happy event, filled with possibility and promise (see the song, “For the First Time in Forever”). But for Elsa, this is the first time she will have to test her years of training in hiding who she is. For Elsa, the event is terrifying, and her worst fears are realized when everyone learns of her icy powers.
Message: Shutting people out because of fear only damages and prevents relationships. Revealing yourself is scary, but it is the only way to gain real, lasting relationships.
Anna/Hans
Key quote: “Can I say something crazy? Will you marry me?” “Can I say something even crazier? YES!” (From the song “Love is an Open Door”)
On coronation day, Anna is hoping, and maybe expecting, to fall in love. She sees a man does just that, and by the end of the day she is engaged to Hans, a prince from a neighboring nation.
Anna and Hans request Elsa’s blessing. Elsa refuses, thinking Anna’s decision to marry someone she just met is unwise.
Later, Kristoff joins in the critique, saying, “Hang on. You mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met that day?!?” Kristoff tells Anna to her face that he questions her judgement, saying, “Who marries a man she just met?”
It turns out that Elsa and Kristoff’s concerns are justified. Hans reveals he is only using Anna to gain a throne, as he is 13th in line for the throne of his own kingdom. Hans betrays Anna, leaving her to die when she needs him most. If Anna would have slowed down and gotten to know Hans a bit more before committing to marry him, this heartache and betrayal might have been avoided.
Message: Romantic love can be unreliable. It is wise to get to know a person before you commit your life and heart to them.
Elsa/Anna
Key quotes: “None of this would have happened if she’d just told me her secret,” “Elsa, we were so close. We can be like that again,” and “For the first time in forever, I finally understand. For the first time in forever, we can fix this hand-in-hand. We can head down this mountain together. You don’t have to live in fear. ‘Cause for the first time in forever, I will be right here” (from the reprise of “For the First Time in Forever”).
After Elsa accidentally reveals her powers to the world, she runs away to hide (and sings the most popular song in the movie). Anna comes after her. Anna now understands her sister’s strange behavior, and comes to apologize for the misunderstanding, lamenting that, if she’d known, there would have been no problems.
Anna arrives at Elsa’s ice castle, and tries to reconcile with Elsa. Elsa is still afraid, though, and turns away from Anna again, an in the process accidentally freezes Anna’s heart. Anna is now destined to freeze to death, unless saved by, as the chief troll puts it, “an act of true love.” Anna and some of the less-wise trolls believe this refers to true love’s kiss, and Anna takes off for Arendelle to find Hans. Hans at this time betrays Anna, revealing his true intentions. A kiss from Hans is not to be, so Anna leaves to find Kristoff, who might be her true love and might warm her frozen heart.
Message: Hiding who you are can deeply injure those who love you. Reveal yourself – there are people who will love you no matter who you are.
The last four relationships epitomize the main theme of the movie: self-sacrificial love. In the relationships between Kristoff and Anna, Olaf and Anna, Sven and Kristoff, and finally Anna and Elsa, the theme of true love crystallizes in the last half of the movie.
Kristoff/Anna
Key quote: Anna, to Kristoff: “Are you going to be okay?” Kristoff: “Don’t worry about me.” Kristoff to attendants: “Make sure she’s safe!”
After nearly half of the movie spent together, and after acts of kindness (Anna buying carrots for Sven), surviving trials together (like escaping the snow golem), and even meeting Kristoff’s family, Kristoff develops feelings for Anna. Anna, however, is convinced that Hans is her true love.
When the trolls reveal Anna’s fate of death by freezing and the only cure as an act of true love, Kristoff takes Anna to Hans, in spite of how he feels about her. Kristoff leaves Anna with the person she wants to be with because her happiness more important to him than his own.
Message: True love (as opposed to romantic love) cares more about the needs of others than the needs of the self.
Olaf/Anna
Key quote: “Love is putting someone else’s needs before yours,” and “Olaf, you’re melting!” “Some people are worth melting for.”
Olaf finds Anna on the brink of death, abandoned by Hans and left to freeze. He builds a fire for her and helps her over to it in an attempt to save her life. The fire is a bad idea for Olaf, being a snowman, who begins to melt. He delivers his memorable line, solidifying the theme of selfless love that Kristoff initiated.
Olaf doesn’t melt, but instead goes to the window and sees Kristoff and Sven racing to find Anna. It is Olaf who tells Anna that Kristoff truly loves her.
Message: Some people are worth sacrificing oneself for. Self-sacrifice is the picture of love.
Sven/Kristoff
Key quote: “Sven!” Sigh of relief as Sven climbs out of the water. “Good boy.”
As Kristoff is racing to find Anna, Sven carries Kristoff with all haste across the frozen harbor. The ice begins to crack, however, and a safe way forward is impossible for both Sven and Kristoff.
Sven jumps one last time onto an small island of ice and catapults Kristoff safely to the other side of the frozen water. The action, however, also sends Sven into the ice-cold water.
The first time I saw the film, I though Sven falling into the water was an accident, and I expected him to die. After consideration and a second viewing, I thought that such a death would only detract from the true climax of the movie (still ahead), and that Sven’s action was intentional. He bears discomfort for one he loves.
Message: Those who love will sacrifice their own comfort for the needs of the ones they love.
Anna/Elsa
Key quote: Elsa: “You sacrificed yourself for me?” Anna: “I love you.” Elsa: “Love will thaw. Love. Of course!”
As Anna is left with only moments to live, she is faced with a choice: run toward Kristoff and save her own life, or run toward Elsa and sacrifice herself to save Elsa from Hans’ sword.
She chooses to sacrifice herself for her sister.
This is the act of true love that resolves the conflict in the movie and unfreezes Anna’s frozen heart. Elsa learns that love can unfreeze the world she has accidentally frozen, and the movie ends with a celebration of Elsa’s powers.
Message: No one has greater love than this, that she lay down her life for others.
Conclusion
Frozen is all about love. In particular, it is about the reality of LGBTQ people living among us, and what they and we are going to do about it.
We can tell them to hide it away, which will ultimately cause harm and separation.
They can run away and be who they are, but that life of isolation is only slightly better than hiding who they are.
Ultimately, the only “solution” to the “problem” is for us to love them and even sacrifice ourselves for them.
This theme of sacrificial love is juxtaposed against romantic love, but ultimately lasting love of any kind will only come with self-sacrifice and acceptance.
Regardless of your opinion of or religious or spiritual beliefs about homosexuality, the solution to the conflict in our culture is self-sacrificial love.
I am happy that an increasing number of people, be they conservative or liberal, religious or spiritual or neither, are affirming LGBTQ people and expressing their willingness to sacrifice themselves on their behalf. For this theme, I am proud to recommend the movie Frozen and to talk to my kids about how we treat people who are different. Kudos, Disney, for offering up such a valuable allegory for learning to understand and love people who are different than us.
Disney dreams of a world where “them” and “us” simply become “we.” May that day come quickly.
Church Without Boundaries 