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OdieFarber — Why Disney's Frozen is Progressive
Published: 2014-07-29 19:39:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 9817; Favourites: 145; Downloads: 0
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A lot of people don't like Frozen. These are reasons why people should.Contrarily, a lot of people love it, but don't exactly know why.
I hope you guys find this inspiring and enlightening
Enjoy!
Edit: A few people have mentioned this and I'd just like to clarify... I am not saying that Frozen is the first Disney film to promote female empowerment or to oppose the gender barrier of tradition. Others include Brave, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog, Mulan, and Beauty and the Beast. The point of this piece is to acknowledge Frozen as the most progressive and most feminist animated Disney film that has come out so far.
Check out some of my fanart too if you'd like!
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Comments: 56
So no... this Shit stain is in no way progressive or feminist. If anything, it's ANTI Progressive and ANTI women. Unless your being ironic I don't get why this shit stain on animation is progressive.
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List of reasons as to why this movie is arguably anti progressive and anti women in general
Let's talk about the characters...
All one dimensional and cliché.
Anna is laidback and fun. Great. Except she also emotionally immature and she never makes on progress with this particular fault. Instead of trying to speak to Elsa and understand Elsa's point of view, she makes Elsa feel like a cold hearted snake and calls her out in front of their guests at the coronation ceremony. Not only does she draw unwanted attention to Elsa, she makes Elsa feel worse.
By the end of the movie Anna is still emotionally immature and actually comes off as a flake rather than an upbeat person.
With Elsa she chooses to close herself off from the world for the protection of those she loves. But she never tries to find a means to end her curse or find a way to control it. She never asks for help and refuses to accept help. Yes, it can be argued that she was reluctant to seek help out of fear, but that fear was instilled in her by her parents after the incident from when she was a child.
Speaking of their parents... Seriously? Separate your two daughters from each other and tell Elsa to 'conceal, don't feel'. Your solution to your scared and now isolated child is to stop feeling? They were the only ones to know Elsa's secret and after they died Elsa was left completely alone. Nice parenting.
Now, this is where I'm probably going to piss some people off, but I have to say it.
I'm not trying to offend anyone, this is just my opinion. If you DO get offended then that's on you, I warned you about the content of MY OPINION.
The story is ANTI-woman.
Think about it, won't you?
Elsa, who is scared, alone, confused and doesn't understand what it going on with her body, is told to STOP FEELING and to simply LOCK HERSELF AWAY.
Stop having emotions and stay out of sight until you do so.
Sounds like the 50's response to women during their periods or puberty in general.
Elsa is alone and reputed by her own sister as being cold hearted because Elsa listened to her parents. The same parents who never tried to find a way to end Elsa's curse or help her learn to control her powers or find her a safe place to live without hurting anyone. No, they just locked her in her room for the rest of her childhood.
If Elsa exposes her true self then she will be seen as a monster and hated for it, and feared and despised. How dare she be her own, unique person.
No, no, no. She needs to lie and pretend to be like everyone else because it's easier for other people to accept what they already know than learn to open their minds and accept something new.
Yay! Be the woman everyone wants you to be. 'Be the good girl you always have to be.'
Anna, a huge flake, falls in love with a prince and wants to marry him right away. After she realizes that he's a jerk she admits she's fallen for the other guy. You know, the other guy she ALSO JUST MET. She never learns to be patient and to take the time to learn about someone new. For her it's all snap judgment and uncontrollable urges. Because, you know, she's a young woman.
She's the ONLY character with this flaw. The men are all aware of building proper relationships, but not Anna.
So in the end, if you're different and a woman, you must live in fear and isolation. If you're a man who's different, either through birth or other harrowing circumstances; Dumbo, Aladdin, Quasimodo, The Beast, Hercules, Stitch, Captain Jack Sparrow, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, etc.; you're encouraged to use your differences to stand out and be a hero.
How is this movie pro-woman?
Don't have emotions, don't do anything to draw attention and by all means don't try to figure it out.
And the moral falls flat in of itself when you stop to consider that Elsa is totally ok with her sister being engaged to another guy after a day in woods and mountains without even knowing who he is and what's hey have in common, so basically no there was no development between either one of them, but Elsa is ok with her going out with someone who could be mentally unstable when you stop to consider that he's never seen another human being in years and thinks his reindeer can talk to him. Oh and Hans reveal was forced, out of nowhere, and unneeded. So it's ok to marry a guy you just met after a day as long as he's not someone who does nothing but good because he would be evil, but it's ok if he's in the woods all his life? Oh no that's not sexist at all.
and in terms of story...
Rips off elements from past films and making them more unoriginal and even worse in the way that tries and fails to be superior to what came before? No that's not being insulting or ingrateful in the slightest.
So... no I don't see how this is progressive while other progressive animated films get tossed in the way side.
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Individualism is not a good value in a consumerist society. And never said Belle just want to be a namby princess, because it's not true.
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It's my 3rd favorite Disney ! That means everything !
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Merida did the same thing she didnt want to wed
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Merida was just stubborn and selfish, her marriage meant a lot for her family and kingdom and was needed to prevent a war.
While Elsa was worried about her little sister's future and possibly the future of the kingdom since she didn't know much about Hans and what could he bring to her country, Merida thought only about herself and her wish to avoid any responsibility that she needed to take as a princess. Elsa at this point is rational and serious, like a true queen, while Merida is just a careless child who wouldn't think about anybody but herself.
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This is a pretty good paper and I see your argument. Is this for school or just for fun?
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It was an assignment that I took really far
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If by “progressive” one means “trendy” and “zeitgeistig,” then I agree that Frozen is progressive. I suspect people will still be reading “Snedronningen,” though, when Frozen is as much a footnote as The Monstruous Regiment of Women.
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What's funny is that Elsa is actually very traditionally feminine.
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I love this. lmao. especially with ariel. Really??? lmao
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Lmao, u are like, the most truthful artist ever! I love it! Niceeee
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Okay, now that i've finished reading the whole text, i have to say that you basically hit the nail on the head.
I also would like to wish you the best of luck in your personal endeavors with your own sister. the sequence "Do you wanna build a snowman" was a direct reflection of my early teenage childhood isolation from my younger sister (by 5 years) and I hit home with me. Luckily she and I share a love for animation and entertainment and so we are finding wasy to bond rather than working around our differences which are now relatively few
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Awh! I love when movies and books can actually improve the quality of one's own life.
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It wasn't a pixar film (I'm still reading the essay but i couldn't hold it back anymore, why do so many people think that frozen was pixar?)
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Frozen actually was created in association with Pixar. Disney purchased Pixar in January 2006 for $7.4 billion, and Pixar's technology and methodology was utilized by Walt Disney Animation Studios. John Lasseter, who is chief creative officer of both companies, was involved in the film's production. The same Pixar employees took part in Frozen's wonderful execution. There is also a lot of controversy over the involvement of Pixar in the creation of Wreck It Ralph, just as is the case with Frozen. No, Frozen wasn't advertised as a product of Pixar, but both companies, which fall under the same ownership, were involved at an employee and technology level.
Here is my source: disney.wikia.com/wiki/Frozen
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I just realised that. If you'll see my reply to another person (or you, i've got no idea) I did recall that pixar was bought by disney and so they have the advantage of working together.
as i mentioned with Prioncess and the frog, the idea for that particular film was originally for a pixar film butthe guy with the ideas moved to disney and presented his ideas there, thus giving us the 'disney' movie we know and love today,
So after a moment or two i realised what was going on.
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Right
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It's just one of those things people kind of look over. My belief is that it is because Frozen has a quality of animation usually attributed to Pixar. See relationship between Brave and Tangled, for instance. Disney films have evolved since the release of Tangled and Up, moving more towards the Pixar exemplar of 3D computer animation. Where people are kind of stuck is that we all grew up with classics like The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Mulan. Even Lilo & Stitch. The last major traditional Disney film was, most say, The Princess and the Frog, so the change has been made in recent years. People still think Planes, Planes 2, and Cars 3 are Pixar, and they aren't. That's what I think haha.
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Well I'll admit Pixar has a tendency to be more consistent in quality, but disney is catching up to that standard, in animation and in story.
I was a 1900's born fan so i've got a lot of memories of 2D and well done 2D for that matter, but anyway, I don't mind the CGI movement so long as the leave things that are already 2D alone unless they can pull it off convincingly.
I also know pixar was bought by disney so they kind of have that advantage of being able to work closer with one another.
The idea for Princess and the Frog was come up with originally for a pixar film, by a pixar worker who then went to disney and presented his ideas and that's how that production began. (or so i've heard in the DVD commentary, i can be corrected if I'm wrong)
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This was an amazing essay.
Worthy of a favorite and a bookmark
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Your arguments are well thought out...its good that Disney is improving, its a refreshing change.
Although I would say this change start before Frozen.
An example of this would be The Princess and the Frog...Tiana was the herione in that film.
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Yes, but I never said Frozen was the first attempt at empowering girls.
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Fully fleshed out argument. S for Superb Com padre.
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Your WELCOME!
Also I think the long term impact of Frozen is that it will make ice powers very popular,
the same way vampires have gained popularity this past decade.
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That's because Mulan is more of a strong independent woman, so I can't really put her down.
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THIS IS TRUE
LOL I accidentally added this to the wrong collection XDDD
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haha it's cool.
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What about Rapunzel in Tangled? Her and Flynn (Eugene) also show the dynamic that Anna and Sven do, if in a different light due to circumstances and a different story.
I love that people like Frozen, I just wish people would remember that it wasn't the first to make the princess the power player. (Though, I agree, it IS the first to show that a woman CAN be a Queen/figure of authority and NOT go mad with power) They may have taught different lessons, and had very different stories to tell, but I think Tangled might have made it easier for Frozen to finally make it into the spotlight, and thus should get some credit in all of the Frozen hype that's still fluttering around (not that it's a bad thing, of course).
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I think the first Disney animated film to have a princess become a queen would be "Atlantis the Lost Empire.
Kida became Queen of Atlantis (Milo became her consort).
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Another good example would be Tiana from Princess and the Frog. Not only did she not love Naveen at first, she outright detested him and his lack of work ethic (not to mention the whole distaste about Princesses just waiting for things to happen for them).
Poor Kida gets overlooked a lot of the time, as does 'Atlantis' in general.
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Don't get me wrong though. I love Tangled.
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Tangled is a more recent film. And yes, it does represent female independence etc. But I still think Frozen is more progressive. Not once did I say Frozen was the first girl-power Disney film. But it has a lot more pro-woman messages than even Tangled. Tangled's only real message is to be independent. However, Rapunzel trusts the first man she meets, right off the bat, and falls in love with him.
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you forget mulan? because i think there too many cliches about the princess was broked before frozen.
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I never said Frozen was the only pro-woman Disney film.
Also, Mulan isn't technically a princess.
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wasn't this already in your gallery? O.o I remember I already have it in my faves X3
Anyway Elsa seems to be the only clever disney girl -.-
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