I am the father of a one year old daughter and Frozen has started to take over our house.
Guys, I get it now. Anna and Elsa are total badasses. Elsa has the voice of 1,000 angels and has magical powers while Anna is feisty and passionate who would do anything for her family and fights for the people of Arendelle. I understand now why young kids are so obsessed with this movie.
My daughter is old enough now that she has started to discover movies and TV. Her and I have a morning routine where we watch a Sesame Street episode before I leave for work. It is my favorite part of the day. Like I said before she’s only a year old so the things being taught on Sesame Street she doesn’t understand. She is just there for the puppets, music and bright colors. As we journey our way through the many streaming services and the available children’ programing there is one movie(s) that grabs her attention instantly. Yes, you guessed it. Frozen and Frozen II. Recently it has been more Frozen II than Frozen. If you are not familiar with the Frozen movies I will try my best to fill you in.
Frozen is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s 1845 fairy tale the Snow Queen and tells the story of two sisters Anna and Elsa voiced by Kristin Bell and Idina Menzel. Anna and Elsa are heiresses to the throne of Arendelle, a fictional Nordic inspired kingdom. Elsa has magical powers allowing her to create ice and snow at will. While playing with Anna one night Elsa accidentally strikes Anna with one of her magic icicles and harms her. Elsa alerts her parents, the king and queen, but they don’t know what to do. They rush Anna to a colony of stone trolls for guidance. The head troll informs the family that Anna will be ok but if the ice were to have struck her in the heart it would have been bad news. Only an act of true love could fix it if that were ever to happen. The king and queen decide that until Elsa can control her powers she will be isolated. Fast forward and the King and Queen die leaving Elsa to become the Queen of Arendelle. During her coronation day Elsa’s powers are revealed setting off an eternal winter and leaving the people in amazement and fear. Elsa has to flee because the people of Arendelle are too scared and outside visitors trying to exploit Arendelle for their own gain convince the citizens that Elsa’s magic is bad. She is chased to the North Mountain, where she, again, is isolated from the outside world. Elsa creates an entire ice castle and an abdominal snowman type thing with her powers to protect herself from the people trying to attack her. All the while Anna has made it her mission to save her sister and embarks on a solo journey into the icy unknown to the North Mountain to try and save her.
Yes, Elsa creates an entire ice castle and protection for that castle with her hands and Anna risks her life to try and protect her sister from harm. This is when you get a taste of what badasses Anna and Elsa are. After that the movie goes on. I won’t go over the whole plot of Frozen here with you today. What I’m really here to talk about is Frozen II where we get full badass Elsa and we see Anna’s full determination.
Frozen II starts out with a flashback to when Anna and Elsa were children before the whole magic icicle debacle. The sisters are playing in Elsa’s room when their father, the king, tells the girls a bedtime story of the enchanted forest possessed by the 4 elements. Fire, water, air, and earth and the forest’s inhabitants, the Northuldra people. When their father was a child his father then king gifted the Northuldra people a “mighty” dam. The dam was supposed to be a sort of peace treaty between the people of Arendelle and The Northuldra. The dam was supposed to protect the forest and also the kingdom of Arendelle. Everyone didn’t realize that the dam was going to get piss off the elements of the enchanted forest and the forest’s ecosystem would be ruined. After a battle ensues between The Northuldrans and the Arendellians…who spoiler alert only built the dam to control The Northuldrans because they feared their magic. A mist covers the forest trapping everything and everyone inside. After being hurt during the battle Anna and Elsa’s father escapes by being saved by a mysterious savior. We are now a couple of years into Queen Elsa’s reign. On a completely normal day Elsa hears a voice that only she can hear singing to her. Elsa becomes consumed with trying to figure out where the voice is coming from. Meanwhile the wrath of the elements starts to come after Arendelle ridding them of fire and water blowing huge wind gusts and the earth begins to move under their feet. The people of Arendelle are forced out of their homes and put their faith in Anna and Elsa to solve the problem and help them. As the movie goes along Anna and Elsa discover their parents shipwreck and find out they were on a course to look for the mysterious river called Athohallan to find out more about Elsa and her powers. Athohallan is described as the river of memory and once Elsa learns that her parents were headed there to try and learn more about her it is game on. Full bad ass Elsa comes to play. Anna, again, is ready to risk her life for her sister and go with Elsa to Atohallan but Elsa needs to do this alone and insists that Anna stay behind.
Elsa, dressed like a russian figure skater, needs to get past giant crashing waves so she can get to Atohallan. After failed attempts to freeze the waves with her powers Elsa does not quit and is determined to break through and doesn’t give up. A magic water mustang appears making it even harder for Elsa to get to her destination. Elsa fights the horse. Surviving the horse’s multiple attempts to drown her, Elsa manages to tame the drenched pony and ride it to Atohallan. Once at Atohallan Elsa learns of her grandfather’s wrongdoing and begins to freeze. Elsa could be frozen forever never to be seen again. Using her magic she sends out a message to Anna with her hand letting Anna know what the truth is.
First let’s address what we are all thinking. ELSA TAMES A WILD MAGICAL WATER MUSTANG. Yes, a magic water horse that tries to KILL HER. If I was a young girl watching that for the first time I would be jumping up and down screaming and cheering for Elsa. I would be watching in total awe.
The movie goes on and we learn of Anna and Elsa’s grandfather’s prejudice toward the Northuldra people and find out the dam was a trap and needs to be torn down. Now it’s Anna’s turn. Anna, fearlessly and without hesitation, wakes sleeping stone giants and leads them to the dam almost being stomped on in the process. The stone giants throw boulders at the dam, breaking it. The water from behind the dam begins to rush toward the kingdom of Arendelle. The Arendellians look on in fear when just at the last moment Elsa arrives on her horse to freeze the tidal wave and save Arendelle from devastation. Let’s break this down again.
Anna does the one thing you never supposed to do and wakes a sleeping giant while Elsa rides a water horse over a vast river to save her home from destruction…with magic. Holy shit. What the hell am I watching?? This is way too inspiring for a kid’s movie. Or maybe it isn’t.
We have all seen this from Disney before. The fearless princess who would laugh in your face if you called her the damsel in distress. These characters have been role models for young children for years and years but when it comes to Frozen it is turned up to another level. A level that as a father to a daughter I am happy to experience with her.
If you disagree.. Let it go
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