Reply To: Emma + Baelfire = Swanfire

[Josephine]

That was an interesting and informative video. I still question if Frozen is really all that unique in its critique of fairytale tropes. It certainly was not the first Disney film to turn a princess into a heroine, since Mulan and Brave did that whole feminist thing back in the day. Mirada didn’t need a prince to have an adventure. Mulan’s goal wasn’t romance, since she had more important things to do like save China; Shang was just an extra bonus. Nor was Frozen the first film to promote family love over romantic love, since as discussed earlier, Brave did that first back in 2012 with the mother-daughter relationship being true love. Frozen wasn’t even the first Disney film to poke fun of the love-at-first-sight trope, since Enchanted did that back in 2007. Let me say, I adored Enchanted, which put Giselle as the damsel-in-distress-turned-heroine and had great musical scores like “That’s How You Know.” It was highly original and entertaining. Giselle was crossing from fairytale world to modern day NYC and slaying dragons way before Emma Swan ever entered popular culture in 2011. Enchanted was the first real Disney parody of its own making, which had Giselle realize she wasn’t in love with Prince Charming after all, but instead found love with a modern day man from Manhattan.

So, as much as I enjoyed Frozen for what it was, a cute story about sisterly love, I really don’t think it was all that groundbreaking or unique in turning the fairytale tropes on their heads since as I wrote above, Mulan, Enchanted and Brave were the first to do that. I did like how Frozen had a good, yet misunderstood queen with magic powers, made the sisterhood relationship of primary importance, and made the Prince Charming archetype character (Hans) into a villain. I enjoyed watching it for the most part. However, I felt there were several plot holes (e.g. Who was ruling the kingdom of Arendelle until Elsa came of age? There had to be a regent somewhere, yet he or she remained unmentioned), there underdeveloped characters (who exactly was Kristoff and why was he adopted by magic trolls?) and that the story dragged along in several places (the second half until the ending). I wouldn’t want to watch it again and again just for the music, since I could just listen to Let it Go on youtube. I know no movie is perfect, but I guess I couldn’t help but feel stumped why it was being trumpeted by some as the best Disney film in 20 years, since as I said, I liked other more recent films better like Tangled. Well, I guess now I’m better informed, but still not convinced of why Frozen is supposedly the best thing since sliced bread. To each her own I guess.

Slurpeez….everything you wrote I agree with.

Enchanted:
The reason I got in to Once. I loved the “fish out of water” of Giselle in NYC. It was fantastic and great movie. Lana says she patterned Regina on Ursula but I get more vibes as her channeling Susan Sarandon’s Evil Queen.

Tangled:
I felt it was a much stronger picture overall than Frozen. While I did like Frozen, the songs and the story were more interesting to me.

Brave:
Merida’s love for her mother reverses the curse she inadvertently cast upon her family to begin with. She fought against tradition because she wasn’t ready to marry.

I think the flaws of Frozen are that it went through so many hands. Some parts are brilliant but then others seem disconnect to me. It just doesn’t have a cohesiveness to me that other Disney movies have had. And the fact that I teach preschool and have heard about Elsa and Anna daily for too many months to count. The thing is, the kids really can’t tell me the story line of the show, they just like Elsa dancing around in the snow and singing and Olaf.