Frozen Too

Have you become Frozen 2 by the Frozen phenomenon?  Haha!  I have, did not intend to or expect to, but here I am!  You might ask "Why is Frozen 2 the number 1 movie in the world?", or "Why did Frozen 2 break all the box office records?"  First of all kids love it!  They loved the first one and Frozen became an obsession in every household that had children!  It had great messages throughout the movie as well as great music and humor.  It was also popular with the older crowd because Disney finally ditched the damsel in distress routine in a way and pointed out the absurdity of the true love at first sight notion that governed so many past Disney movies.   They made the characters more realistic, they made love more realistic.  There has also been a great deal of hype surrounding the possibility of Elsa getting a girlfriend, which was the hope for many in the LGBTQ crowd.  After Frozen debuted in 2013 there were many articles out there expressing opinions on every aspect of the film.  There were the opinions that Elsa had to be gay since she had no love interest in the movie and "Let it go" was her coming out anthem. This opinion became propagandized by all sorts of media.  So the first time in history that Disney makes a princess with some common sense, "you can't marry a man you just met", "OH well she must be gay then", said only a portion of the media mass, yet it was so widely spread that it was easy to think this was the opinion of the masses!  Strange to me because Elsa's character was not just familiar to this one group of people, but to anyone who has ever felt isolated, alone, doubtful of themselves and their abilities, or persecuted for who they are.  Let's see who can relate, UM........ EVERYONE!!!  This propaganda was spread far enough that Disney faced accusations of indoctrinating the children with this controversial issue even though the movie was never intended to be about that at all.  I even read some other mommy blogs that accused Disney of suggesting Kristoff was living a lifestyle of beastiality because his best friend was a Reindeer.  There was also accusation that Disney made Oaken of Wandering Oaken's trade post gay as well.  When Oaken points to his family in the hot tub there are a few men and women, but nothing suggests exactly his relation to those people.  Is it possible that there are many out there who are seeing something that isn't really there?  Yes, definitely.  There is no such thing as bad publicity!  It's great that so many can find relation with Elsa's character, that is what makes a movie successful, this is why people get emotionally involved and enjoy the movie so much.  Movies can touch us in some way because of the relatability of the the characters.

I have to admit, amidst all of the swirling notions of what Frozen 2 could bring, I was a little nervous.  My kids love Frozen and they wanted to see Frozen 2.  I want my kids to be able to watch kid movies and just be a kid while maybe learning some good moral in the process and hopefully not getting confused by some underlying political agenda.  With Disney changing the game and leaving out traditional love stories that have been their niche for so long, I had hope they would keep the main love story in Frozen 2 between the sisters.  Disney animated films have always been targeted to children and mainly the traditional family, but also any kind of family, as times change they want to appeal to everyone.  The traditional Families probably make up the majority of their Disneyland goers, and animated film watchers.  Disney does not only want the kids to be happy watching it, but the majority of the parents too.

In the early days of Disney, Mickey Mouse helped spread propaganda about WWII and Hitler, unsurprisingly, it was not that popular.  When people sat down to watch Mickey Mouse they wanted to relax and have a laugh not see a rehash of the war and other public issues, if they wanted to watch that they would watch the news.  Mickey Mouse was generally targeted to children so this had the parents asking why are we spreading propaganda to the children?  Even though the children may not understand it, it was still there. Disney has since moved it's animation away from propaganda and controversy, for the most part.  Well, I'm pretty sure Wall-E, although had a good message, was propaganda, at least to some extent, haha!  You could argue that many of their love stories about waiting for your prince to come are controversial, at least now with ongoing feminist movements.  Maybe this is one reason Disney is kind of re-branding the old classics in their live action remakes.

Back to Frozen 2!  I have to say this movie surpassed them all thus far, in my opinion!  I did not expect to get so caught up in it or be so touched by it.  Visually, it was one of the most beautiful animated movies I've seen yet.  I personally enjoyed the songs better than the first as well.  How could you possibly surpass Let it go, right?  Well I think they did! In Frozen 2 Elsa is still struggling with who she is and where her powers come from, she still doesn't feel fully accepted.  Anna struggles with her biggest fear of losing everything and being alone.  Kristoff struggles with insecurities in his relationship with Anna.  Olaf struggles with growing older and trying to understand everything around him.  The themes and messages in this story were deep and heartfelt.  Olaf sets up one of the main "set up and pay off" moments, or theme in the movie when he informs them that water has memory.  Anna's theme throughout the movie is to just "do the next right thing".  Elsa desperately wants to know where she comes from and is still living in the shadows of doubt.  She hears a voice calling her to an unknown place.  When she recalls her parents telling them of the enchanted forest and the Northuldra people she starts thinking that it must have something to do with that.  They journey north to find it.

Elsa's power does weird things like make ice and snow statues appear that are scenes of the past, paying off the water has memory theory.  They discover that their mother was Northuldra and that she saved the enemy, who was their father, when the battle broke out between Arendelle and Northuldra.  They always believed that Arendelle was the peaceful people, until Elsa sees the truth at a place called Ahtohallan, which is believed to be the place that holds the truth about the past.  Elsa follows the voice to Ahtohallan, but not before they discover their parent's shipwreck washed up from the Dark sea.  They discover that their parents journey was to Ahtohallan to find the source of Elsa's power.  Elsa tames the great water spirit and rides the water Nokk to Ahtohallan.  When there she sings the most amazing song "Show yourself".  Her song suggests she is looking for someone, a person who can tell her who she is and give her answers.  She reaches a room where there are massive ice walls and she sees her mother and hears her mother's lullaby.  This scene was so moving to me.  Not what I expected at all, but she continues singing this duet with her mother and she sees scenes from her childhood, perhaps how her mother saw her and she sees her mother's love for her.  She sings about stepping into her power and growing into something new.  She sings that she is found, she is the one she has been waiting for all of her life.  This suggests that she was the one holding herself back and she was the one not fully accepting herself and this vision helps her finally discover that she is enough!  This scene is like a mother daughter heart-to-heart about self worth, it's so beautiful!  Elsa gets a new look in this scene, it's like she uncovers the last layer of herself, she is finally who she is meant to be and she fully accepts herself!  She finds out that what Anna suggested earlier is true.  Elsa was gifted the powers by the nature spirits because her mother saved her enemy.  Elsa becomes this 5th spirit of nature.  Anna says she is the bridge between the Northuldra and the Arendellians.  Elsa later clarifies to Anna that there are two sides to a bridge and that their mother had 2 daughters.  This gives both of them new meaning and responsibility. 

After this moving mother daughter scene she sees animated snow statues of the past, her past and long past.  She follows her Grandfather's statue deep within Ahtohallan, too deep.  She sees her Grandfather attack the Northuldra leader.  She sends it to Anna with her power just before she freezes to death.  While all of this is going on Anna and Olaf have become lost in a cave.  When Anna sees the snow statue scene she knows what has to be done to make it right so the enchanted forest can be unlocked.  As Olaf begins to flurry they feel something is not right and that Elsa may have gone too far.  Olaf then is gone and Anna knowing what must be done to right the past wrong, knows she has lost everything.  Arendelle will be destroyed if she does the right thing.  Kristoff is off somewhere, Olaf is gone, and Elsa is gone.  Anna struggles to move forward knowing her biggest fears have all come to pass and of course she sings about it, in a great song about having lost all hope, but taking one step at a time toward the light to do the next right thing!

As Anna finds her way out of the cave she does exactly what she knows she must do and when the deed is done Elsa unfreezes and rushes on her new awesome spirit horse to save Arendelle! Anna saves Elsa again from death and Elsa saves Arendelle, the forest is unlocked and all is restored to Anna.  Elsa finds peace and solace, she finds a new home with the Northuldra people.  It's no surprise that she decides to stay with them after finding out the truth of her mother.  Even though her mother has been gone for awhile, it's like Elsa had this incredible opportunity to make some deep connection with her by looking to the past.  After finding the truth she feels she belongs among the spirits of nature and the Northuldra.  Elsa then of course knows that the best thing for Arendelle is for Anna to be Queen.  Anna gains this more regal and responsible title through her actions first.  She, after all was the one that saved everyone.  Throughout the movie she seems to make more connections to her father through the Arendellian soldier found in the locked forest, Mattias.  Of course she could not accomplish the task of being the hero without the help of Kristoff and Sven.  It's only right that they end up together, and they do.  At the end Kristoff finally is able to propose without blunder.  He struggles the whole movie trying to propose, but winds up making Anna more doubtful about their love.  Very realistic and entertaining!

At this point I have seen articles in the last 2 weeks about how Elsa will for sure have a girlfriend in Frozen 3.  Well I wouldn't get any hopes up because Disney said they have not even thought of the possibility for a 3rd Frozen yet.  In my opinion if Elsa had any love interest, it would kind of ruin it.  The A plot line love story is between Elsa and Anna.  The classic love story took place in the B plot line between Anna and Kristoff.  Elsa has become this almost mythical Goddess of the forest type and she likes solitude and being on her own.  She is independent to the extreme and she has all the love she needs from her family and kingdoms.  She knows who she is and is now comfortable with it, she has her purpose.  Disney made Elsa this ultra powerful, strong kind of feminist character that goes against every Disney movie of the past that had a mindless love story.  Elsa is also this super hero that relates to everyone, on some level.  Could Elsa fall in love?  I suppose so, would it be nice to see, maybe, but right now she is a great representation of all of the strong single people out there that are also super heroes!  Frozen 2 ended in such a way that there is no need whatsoever for a 3rd installment.  Elsa and Anna's story will live on for everyone who loves it, but the movie ended leaving nothing really hanging for a 3rd story.  Frozen 2 truly had the Happily Ever After to end all Happily Ever Afters!   The first Frozen sort of ended that way, but begged the questions Why does she have powers and where did they come from and why is there no one else like her?  Frozen 2 answers them all thoroughly.

I love this movie because it sends this strong message that we find pieces of ourselves when we look to the past.  We can have these deep connections with our family members even with the ones who have past on before us.  When we look to our parents we find out more things about ourselves and that can make us more confident and accepting of ourselves.  Even if our families may have pasts that are bad or we have ancestors that committed wrongs, we have the power sometimes to make it right somehow.  The Frozen movies clearly illustrate that the power of Love extends beyond just the true love kind or the marrying kind.  It shows that you can be powerful and strong and happy with the love of your family!  This movie has a strong message about change and the challenges and fears that can come along with that.  All the characters seem a little scared of change in the beginning of the movie, but they all evolve and change in big ways throughout the movie.  I loved everything about this movie and I could watch it over and over.  I'm sure that's what I'll be doing when the movie becomes available on dvd.  My daughter who does not like anything girly, so she says, but every once in awhile I get this little glimpse of her liking something girly, said "Mom, that was an amazing movie!"  Everyday she asks me if she can watch it, haha!  We don't quite understand the concept of movies being in the theater and then it takes a few months before we can watch it at home.  I took my kids to this movie a second time and the second time around we were practically the only ones there and she was singing along with all of the songs, it was so cute!  My son, well he thinks he is Elsa sometimes so of course he loved it!

To all who have seen it or will see it, or won't see it, just see it!!  Enjoy it and become Frozen 2, I mean too, haha!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsViIjplMJo