This
past year millions of little girls have likely belted out the Oscar-winning
song from Disney’s Frozen, “Let it
Go.” The catchy tune has been hailed as
an anthem for individuality and girl power with lines that encourage girls to
“test the limits and break through,” to reject rules, overcome fears, and
abandon dictates to be a “good” and “perfect girl.” The song has even been embraced by LGBT
communities as a subtle coming out song.[1] The film itself has found mass appeal and has
been lauded as a feminist success (with feminism, in this case, having one of
its rare positive connotations in pop culture).
According to its supporters, Disney has created its best princess film
to date: one that features two strong
female protagonists and rejects the traditional fairytale ending. So, mission accomplished: we’re now raising girls in a female paradise
where they’ll encounter only positive gendered imagery. No more feminist media
critics needed, right? Well, perhaps we
should re-check the cultural pulse.
For as much praise as it’s received, Frozen has still sparked quite the debate in the blogosphere about
whether it has truly earned its feminist title. For many, the main complaint
rests with Disney’s use of its source material, Hans Christian Anderson’s
fairytale “The Snow Queen.” Most
consider the original tale quite feminist, which is surprising considering its
time of publication and its author.[2] The original tale features Gerda, a young
girl who embarks on a journey to save her best friend, a boy named Kai, from
the Snow Queen. Kai is the only
significant male character in Anderson’s original story; the remaining characters
are diverse females: a powerful villain,
a wise witch, a clever crow, a helpful princess (who swears to only marry a
prince as intelligent as her), a set of female bandits, and many more. Disney’s adaptation erases this cast of
female characters, replacing them with various mountain men and leaving only a
set of sisters (Gerda becomes Anna and the Snow Queen becomes her sister,
Elsa). Gerda’s solo journey to save a
platonic male friend becomes transformed into a journey that features hints of
the all-too-familiar love triangle, adding in male suitors like Hans and
Kristoff.
Despite the addition of these male characters, supporters
of the film have insisted that the film is revolutionary in that it does not
focus primarily on a quest for romantic love and end in a way that highlights
the importance of male/female partnering.
However, critics have enjoyed systematically unraveling this body of
praise. For example, in “The Problem
with False Feminism (or Why “Frozen” Left Me Cold),” Dani Colman compares Frozen to its predecessors to prove that
it is not as groundbreaking as some want to claim. Other Disney princess films have provided
female characters with non-romance centered goals (e.g. Ariel wants to
experience life as a human, Belle wants adventure, Pocahontas wants
independence, Mulan wants to bring honor to her family, Jasmine wants to
overcome patriarchal control, Tiana wants to run a restaurant, and Rapunzel
wants to learn the secret of the glowing lights), and, in the majority of them,
they are rewarded for reaching that goal – with the bonus prize of landing a
prince. In Frozen, one of the first
goals Anna vocalizes is to find “the one,” and that is what she gets, with the
other results (e.g. reopening the castle gates, renewing her relationship with Elsa)
becoming her bonus prizes.[3] Those who really want to see Frozen as a positive anomaly point to
the fact that, despite the romantic storylines within, the film does not end in
a wedding. However, nor do most Disney
films. In fact, only seven of the
Disney’s forty-three animated feature films include an on-screen wedding.[4] And while the vast majority of them end in a
heterosexual happily ever after (be they human or animal pairings), Frozen is not an outlier in this case
either as the film ends with Anna and Kristoff partnered off, not with Anna as
the rare single girl at the end of the movie (as is the case with Pocahontas,
for example).[5]
If we just accept that romance is a staple of the
princess genre, or the Disney oeuvre, then the feminist complaints about Frozen have to be directed
elsewhere. So many have focused on
debunking the claim that the film features two strong female characters,
arguing that having two female lead characters is not the same as having two strong lead characters. In fact, Anna has been criticized for being
self-absorbed, naïve, condescending, and lacking ambition; and Elsa has been
described as self-repressed, pathological, and anti-social – not necessarily
the staple traits we want in so-called feminist characters.[6] And while Frozen
has garnered the same complaints as other Disney princess films (e.g.
reinforcing Western/white beauty standards), it has also been read as
sexualizing its young female characters.
In an essay for Slate, Dana
Stevens analyzed the climactic, trademark “Let it Go” scene in the film as
conforming to the classic makeover moment found in so many films aimed at
girls. After proclaiming “that perfect
girl is gone,” Elsa appears onscreen scantily “clad in a slinky,
slit-to-the-thigh dress with a transparent snowflake-patterned train and a pair
of silver-white high heels, her braid shaken loose and switched over one
shoulder in what’s subtly, but unmistakably, a gesture of come-hither bad-girl
seduction.”[7]
Always late to the party, I only just watched Frozen last night. Despite being told by family, friends, and
colleagues (all whom I respect) that I would love the film, I was a bit
skeptical. And having read the various feminist
complaints about it beforehand, I was all the more prepared to detail its
various faults. But, I liked it. (This should not be confused as some
proclamation of its inherent value and feminist potential because, after all, I’m
the seriously flawed feminist who still watches The Bachelorette and knows all the words to The Little Mermaid soundtrack.
And while, admittedly, my enjoyment of the movie could be slightly
colored by the fact that it was the first feature film my three-year-old daughter
watched alongside of me (cuddled up in my bed for a sweet mommy-daughter date),
I think there are things to celebrate in this film. And there are things that could be
better. Our work in improving the media
is never done.
So what I liked: 1)
I liked that Anna was openly mocked for accepting a marriage proposal from a
man she had just met. This was a nice
critique of the “love at first sight” theme found in so many fairytales. (However, that’s not to say the film didn’t
buy into that in some way as we do see young little Kristoff seeing Anna when
she was first a child being healed by the trolls and they ultimately end up
together). 2) I liked that the film showed that men can
enter relationships with women for the wrong reason and that not all “princes”
are perfect. (The film sets up Hans to
look like the quintessential hero only to reveal his true selfish, ambitious,
cruel nature when Anna is dying).
3) I liked that the movie had
some subtle commentary about the fact that relationships (and partners) are
never perfect. (During the trolls’ song
about Kristoff being a “fixer-up” I laughed out loud and especially appreciated
the line that clarified, despite the song’s title, that ultimately you cannot
expect to change someone. Take that
counter-message, Beauty and the Beast!) 4) I
liked that, overall, this was not a story about romantic love, but about
sisterly love. (Now admittedly, the film
leads us to believe otherwise at various points. The scene before the coronation when Anna
dances around the castle imagining meeting “the one” is ridiculously cliché, as
is her duet with Hans about love being “an open door.” And when Anna is dying and it is implied that
she will only survive if she receives the kiss from her (male) true love, viewers
are bound to think: yep, seen this
before. But the real message ends up
being that true love is making sacrifices and this is showcased when Anna
sacrifices her life for her sister (running to her rescue instead of toward
Kristoff who she believes can heal her with a smack on the lips). That it is Elsa’s embrace and tears that
saves Anna from her icy death was a refreshing change, as were all the scenes scattered
throughout reminiscing about their childhood bonds and Elsa’s guilt over
accidentally hurting her kid sister.)
5) I liked that the happily ever
wasn’t (purely) focused on a romantic pairing.
(Sure, Anna and Kristoff share their first kiss as the movie nears its
end and their romantic future is implied, but they do not get the last
scene. The last scene is of Anna and
Elsa hand-in-hand as the older sister teaches the younger one how to ice skate
and the kingdom celebrates). 6) I liked Olaf, the snowman. (Okay, it’s not just that he was cute and
funny; it’s what he represents. The fact
that he magically appeared as the embodiment of the girls’ childhood play/bond,
was very sweet… As was how he
represented the naivety of childhood himself as the snowman who dreams of
enjoying summer… And how he was able to
live on during the summer heat after Elsa creates for him his own personal snow
cloud to keep him cold: what else can that
represent than the imagination and hope of childhood?)
So what I didn’t like:
1) Anna continued the tradition of the innocent, naïve princess persona. (Not sure what to say here: It’s a plot
requirement, apparently, that princesses must be reared in near isolation so I’m
not sure how they could be characterized all that differently). 2)
Even in the 21st century, the damsel in distress motif lives
on. (In this film both girls needed rescuing
in various ways. However, Anna attempted
to be the rescuer of her sister and she even saved Kristoff a few times with
some accidental ingenuity, so that was nice to see). 3) The film reinforces heteronormative
sexuality and Western beauty standards.
(This isn’t a surprise and I think it will be a long time before we seen
a princess film that doesn’t do this… although I’m tempted to write a script
about a plus-sized, asexual princess and see where it goes).
All in all, I found more good than bad in the film. I can see the faults that some see and might
agree that hailing it as a feminist film is a bit of an overstatement. One blogger said that the film was “good
enough” and then asked if good enough was really enough. And, no, it’s not. We can still do better and if the progression
of Disney films is any indication, I think we will see better yet. But, in the end I’m left with one
conclusion: I grew up loving The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast (and watching Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White too), and I still turned out
okay. I’m even a feminist media scholar
(although, who knows, maybe it was some repressed anger about all of those
sleeping princesses, captive girls, and voiceless mermaids that prompted my
future career?) Surely, my daughters are
starting out with an advantage over me if their first princess film is Frozen and not those, right?
The
feminist debate over this film reveals the larger media debates about
representations of girls and women in popular culture and about feminism more
broadly. While many will say that the
media has come a long way in its female representations, as is clear in the
discourse surrounding Frozen, there
are still plenty of us out there waiting to point out the leaps and bounds we
have yet to make. While there are many
who want to say that because we have a movie like this (a “feminist” princess
movie, gasp!), that it’s just proof that the women’s movement was successfully
accomplished and feminism is no longer needed.
And then there are others, like me, who write little blog entries to
hopefully prove that this is simply not the case.
[1] Colman, Dani. “The Problem with False Feminism (or Why
“Frozen” Left Me Cold).” Medium.
7 February 2014.
https://medium.com/disney-and-animation/7c0bbc7252ef
[2] Anderson is notorious for
punishing female protagonists for any act that showcases agency. He is, of course, the author of the story
behind Disney’s The Little Mermaid,
where the main character is literally silenced.
For more, see: Feminist Fan
Girl. “Reasons I’m not Supporting
Frozen.” Tumblr. 14 August 2013.
http://thefeministfangirl.tumblr.com/post/54520561695/reasons-why-im-not-supporting-disneys-frozen
[3] Colman, Dani. “The Problem with False Feminism (or Why
“Frozen” Left Me Cold).” Medium.
7 February 2014.
https://medium.com/disney-and-animation/7c0bbc7252ef
[4] Although, when the list is
narrowed down to only include those that could feature such romantic
partnerships, and the concept of wedding is expanded to include betrothals and
engagements, it becomes a bit more even with half of the films including such
an element (Colman, Dani. “The Problem
with False Feminism (or Why “Frozen” Left Me Cold).” Medium. 7 February 2014.
https://medium.com/disney-and-animation/7c0bbc7252ef).
[5] Colman, Dani. “The Problem with False Feminism (or Why
“Frozen” Left Me Cold).” Medium.
7 February 2014.
https://medium.com/disney-and-animation/7c0bbc7252ef
[6] Colman, Dani. “The Problem with False Feminism (or Why
“Frozen” Left Me Cold).” Medium.
7 February 2014.
https://medium.com/disney-and-animation/7c0bbc7252ef
[7] Stevens, Dana. “I Can’t ‘Let it Go.’” Slate. 14 February
2014.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2014/02/_let_it_go_idina_menzel_s_frozen_ballad_it_sends_the_wrong_message.html
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