"Movie Analysis : Frozen"

Disney's "Frozen" 

Anna & Hans

Last Thanksgiving, Walt Disney Pictures released the new animated classic, "Frozen". The story follows Princess Anna on her journey to help her sister Elsa. Elsa possesses magical, and at times uncontrollable, winter powers that she spreads across the land of Arrendale. Along the way, she finds romance, deceit, friendship and sister-hood. The film received high critical praise by Forbes.com. 'Frozen' is Disney's triumphant reaffirmation of cultural legacy."(Mendelson 2013). It cemented its’ place in history by becoming the number one, highest grossing animated film of all time (McClintock 2014).

Disney has dominated the animated movie genre since its’ release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1937. "Frozen”, continues to exemplify many of the traditional dialogues typically found in fairy tales and romance movies such as; being saved by prince charming, finding true love, and living happily ever after. However, it also questions those scripts with a plot twist challenging cultural norms, when true love is found between two sisters, rather than in a romantic relationship.

I will take a critical lens to the relationship of Anna and Hans to explore and reveal many of the gendered expectations and relationship scripts, working in the film. This relationship defies many culturally accepted dynamics surrounding fairy tales and serves as an interesting case to further investigate.

Cast of Characters

Princess Anna 

Princess Anna is the younger sister of Queen Elsa. As children, she and Elsa were very close. Their parents feared for Anna’s safety and insisted that she remain  unaware of Elsa's powers. This secret, however, lead the sisters to grow apart. Unfortunately, their parents died at sea and Elsa was heir to the throne. Elsa accidentally revealed her powers at her coronation. After the reveal Elsa fled. Anna gave chase in an attempt to save her. Anna's personality is strongly defined by her positive attitude and silly, charming, quirkiness. 

Prince Hans 

Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles, is the youngest of twelve brothers. He is strongly motivated to be king. He met Anna and proposed marriage on the same day. She accepted. When Anna fled in search of Elsa, Hans was left in charge of Arrendale. By a turn of events, towards the end of the film Hans had the chance to save Anna's life with true love's kiss. He denied her the kiss and admitted that he did not love her and only wanted to marry her to be closer to the throne.

Queen Elsa

Queen Elsa has magical frozen powers that are hard for her to control. From a young age she was told to  conceal her powers so as not to put anyone in danger. As a consequence, she spent most of her childhood in solitude. When her parents tragically perished, it was up to Elsa to take the throne. She was unable to control her powers at her coronation and released winter upon the land. In fear, she fled and built her own ice kingdom in the mountains. Elsa is not a villain, she is kind and fair but her emotions make it difficult for her to control her own strength. 

Kristoff 

Kristoff is an orphan who grew up in the woods with his reindeer. He makes a living selling ice, which is now in danger due to the newly found winter conditions. He met Anna and helped her on her journey to find her sister Elsa. Along the way, they challenged and helped each other. When he heard that Anna and Elsa were in danger from Prince Hans, he ran back to their rescue.

Prince Hans and Princess Anna's First Meeting

The scene shown above is the first meeting of Anna and Hans. Anna is skipping down the side of the road and runs into Hans's horse, which causes her to fall into a boat. After this mishap Hans behaved as the perfect gentleman. He offered Anna his help and apologized.

From his first presentation in the film, Hans is depicted as an idealized male character. His 'knight in shining armor' image is perfectly clear. He is handsome, polite, well dressed, and offers his aid. In a study done by Janna Kim, researchers developed a new coding system that highlights the heterosexual scripts on popular television dramas and sitcoms. Using this framework Hans's behavior could be categorized as 'Masculine Courting Strategies' (MSC) (Kim 2007). Hans is able to show that he is a protector, and his royal status makes him a capable provider. Anna conversely blames herself for the accident, taking a passive stance by referring to herself as "just me". Her behavior could be coded as 'Feminine Courting Strategies' (FCS), in which women are passive, indirect, objectified, and wait for the action of men (Kim 2007). The two dichotomous heterosexual scripts in play depict that men are to be the dominant actor in a relationship while women are to be passive. 

Love is an Open Door 

The song "Love is an Open Door" illuminates the progression of Anna and Hans’ relationship. The adorable duet features the couple dancing, giggling, sharing stories, watching shooting stars, and even a proposal.

The tone of romance is clearly depicted throughout the musical number using lyrics, sound quality, and imagery. A study done by Anne Bader, looked at media myths in popular love songs (Bader 2007). Using her twelve defined myth categories, here are some of the myths present in the song (Bader 2007). Myth number three, your soul mate should know what you are thinking and feeling without you having to tell them, becomes evident with the lyrics...

Anna: I've never met someone--

Both: Who thinks so much like me! Jinx! Jinx again! Our mental synchronization, can have but one explanation

Hans: You--

Anna: And I--

Hans: Were--

Anna: Just--

Both: Meant to be!

Through the lyrics, Anna and Hans are expressing how connected they feel, and that words are not necessary in relating to each other’s emotions and thoughts.

 Myth number 10, the right partner 'completes you', can be seen in the lyrics...

Hans: I've been searching my whole life to find my own place, and maybe it's the party talking or the chocolate fondue

Anna: But with you...

Hans: But with you, I found my place

Anna: I see your face…

Both: That it's nothing like I've ever known before" Love is an open door!

Hans is expressing to Anna that her love has offered him his own place, something he was never able to experience before her love.

Myth number 11, all you need is love, is shown in the lyrics...

Anna: Say goodbye...

Hans: Say goodbye...

Both: To the pain of the past. We don't have to feel it anymore! Love is an open door!

Anna and Hans share the sentiment that they don't have to feel any more sorrow about their past and that their love has offered them a new life of wonderful opportunity.

Love and romantic ideals are presented throughout the song's entirety.  This is another representation of long embedded romantic ideals, demonstrated by utilizing the medium of song in this film. 

Hans's Betrayal 

The scene above shows the major plot twist in the movie. Anna returns from her journey and Elsa has struck Anna with her frozen magic. She needs an act of true love to save her and asks for Hans to kiss her. Hans leans in as though he intends to kiss her and then pulls back and reveals that he is not in love with Anna. His plan all along was to marry into the throne and kill Elsa in order to take over power of Arrendale. 

This shocking revelation breaks many boundaries in fairy tale genre. Throughout the movie the audience was led to believe that Prince Hans and Princess Anna would live happily ever after. However, it turned out that Hans was using Anna's loving nature and vulnerability to deceive her, in order to further his own power. 

Dr. Holz Ivory did a content analysis concerned with gendered relationships on television. She broke down 21 categories of dominant and submissive behaviors (Holz 2009). Her findings show that males tend to be more dominant than females (Holz 2009). Using her coding constructs, here is how Anna and Hans fit in...

Anna: cries (submissive), shows fear (submissive), shows high commitment to relationship (submissive)

Hans: makes decisions (dominant), gives orders (dominant), shows physical force/aggression or violence (dominant), shows low commitment to relationship (dominant)

Within these categories the relationship between Hans and Anna mirrors the results found by Holz, that males perform more dominant roles in romantic relationships. 

The movie "Frozen" serves as an extraordinary case study in which to explore romantic relationships. The seemingly happily ever after ending with prince charming, that we have all become so accustomed to, may finally be evolving.

Anna is saved by her true love for her sister Elsa. She jumps in front of her sister to save her from Prince Hans and in doing so shows an act of true love. 

It is this moment that sets “Frozen” apart from so many other princess movies. Rather than a princess needing a prince to save her, she is able to save herself. Disney is not a company known to push  boundaries, or defy culturally accepted norms relating to romantic relationships, especially in its’ animated fairy tales. This shift in the empowerment of women, using the love between sisters as one example, rather than romantic love shows profound movement toward what we value as a society in 2014. 

In the end, Anna and Elsa return to Arendell and transform it to its’ prior glory. Elsa learns that love can stop her frozen magic from becoming uncontrollable. The loving act from her sister enabled her to see how powerful love is. Prince Hans is sent back to the Southern Isles to be imprisoned for his crimes. And finally, Kristoff and Anna declare their feelings for each other and kiss.

The film’s conflict is resolved with a romantic relationship, and the message of sisterly love is somewhat over shadowed. As an avid Disney fan who has grown up watching princess movies, "Frozen" offers a refreshing change in perspective. Even though the majority of the movie depicts heteronormative, patriarchal, gender roles the true love between sisters was a much- needed update to the classic fairy tale. The type of love shown in the movie is used to expand the expectations of what "true love" can be, and in doing so opens up fairy tale options by demonstrating a more modern belief system.

Citations

Bader, A. (2007). "Love will steer the stars" and other improbable feats: Media

myths in popular love songs. In M.-L. Galician & D. L. Merskin (Eds.), Critical thinking

about sex, love, and romance in the mass media (pp. 141-160). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum.

Holz Ivory, A., Gibson, R., & Ivory, J.D. (2009). Gendered relationships on television: Portrayals of same-sex and heterosexual couples. Mass Communication & Society, 12(2), 170-192.

Kim, J. L., Lynn Sorsoli, C., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157.

McClintock, P. (2014, March 30). Box Office Milestone: 'Frozen' Becomes No.1 Animated Film of All  Time. Retrieved September 20, 2014, from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-milestone-frozen-becomes-692156

Mendelson, S. (2013, November 19). Review: 'Frozen' Is Disney's Triumphant Reaffirmation Of Its Cultural Legacy. Retrieved September 7, 2014.