Night at the Cinema: Frozen

Warning: this post will contain spoilers.

Hi, I'm Sarah, and I like warm hugs!  Just kidding, don't hug me.  Anyway, if you have been out in public or on the internet in the past few weeks, you have probably heard of this movie called Frozen.  It's Disney's newest animated movie based on the fairytale "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Anderson.  Frozen was nominated for 22 awards and had 28 wins.  It won both a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award for Best Animated Feature Film.  It was nominated for two Oscars as well.  In addition to the film itself, it also has an incredible soundtrack thanks to its Broadway voice cast.  Idina Menzel's song 'Let It Go' has climbed straight to the top of the Billboard and iTunes charts.  The entire soundtrack has remained as the #1 Soundtrack for quite a few weeks.  While the awards and music are all very well, it's the storyline that really drew me in.

In Disney's adaptation of the story, two sisters get in a fight. One thing lead to another and the entire city of Arendelle was doomed to an eternal winter.  Just kidding, let's go a little deeper.

It starts with two royal sisters: Elsa and Anna. Elsa is the eldest sister with the ice powers.  Anna is the youngest sister who does not have powers.  As young girls, the two enjoying playing in the snow created by Elsa's powers.  One night, the two are playing inside the castle.  Elsa accidentally hits Anna in the head with her ice magic.  The entire family rush to a group of trolls.  They are able to heal Anna, but Elsa is warned that fear of people finding out about her powers will be her downfall.  The trolls remove Anna's memories of Elsa's powers.  Elsa locks herself in her room, shutting Anna out of her life.  Anna continually reaches out to Elsa, trying to win her sister back.  Despite the continual cold shoulder from Elsa (hehe), Anna determinedly persists.  Unfortunately, their parents die at sea.  This only causes Elsa to retreat further into herself.

Finally, Elsa turns 21.  She has come of age for the throne.  It's coronation day!  The gates of Arendelle are finally open after many years.  Anna meets Hans whom she believes is her soulmate.  They rush to Elsa to ask for her blessing on their marriage.  Elsa says no because obviously you cannot marry a man you just met (DISNEY FINALLY UNDERSTANDS).  Anna gets upset, Elsa gets upset.  Elsa accidentally uses her powers and reveals her identity to the people.  She retreats to the mountain and builds an ice castle for herself (she LET'S IT GO while singing brilliantly and looking sassy in her new dress).  Here's where I want to discuss some deeper things.  Anna, despite everyone's warnings and protests, goes after her sister.

This is where things get interesting.  On her way up the mountain, Anna meets a man named Kristoff.  Anna demands he take her up to see her sister, to which he agrees.  Despite the cold, a wolf attack, and an interesting snowman named Olaf, nothing stops Anna from reaching her sister.  She is determined to prove to Elsa that someone still loves her.  She wants to show Elsa that she does not need to fear any longer.  Unfortunately, Elsa does not share Anna's views.  She tells her sister to leave her alone.  Elsa wants to love Anna but she's afraid her powers will hurt Anna again.  And they do.

Elsa becomes upset and sets off her powers by accident.  An icy shot hits Anna's heart.  Anna still refuses to leave, despite the icy force that begins to freeze her from the inside.  She sees the good in Elsa.  She refuses to believe that her sister has become a monster.  Speaking of monsters, here comes one now.

Since Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf refuse to leave, Elsa builds a huge, angry snow monster to chase them away.  (For those of you who are asking the question "Why is Elsa all about protecting her sister one minute and then creating a snow monster to chase here away the next minute?" This is my response, "Clearly you've never had a sister.")

So now that Anna is turning into an icy statue, Kristoff takes her to his family: the trolls.  When the trolls see Anna and Kristoff together, they immediately assume that it's meant to be.  They burst into song about how Anna and Kristoff should be together.  In this song, Kristoff yells, "Enough! She's engaged to someone else, okay?!"  Let's talk about this quote for a bit.

Did he say, "It's not like that!" or "I'm just here to help!"?  No.  He's stating a fact.  He's putting Anna's priorities first.  If she is engaged to someone else, she is off limits to Kristoff.  You can tell he loves Anna, but he's so selfless he would never say anything to compromise her engagement.  He's a simple ice delivery man.  How could the princess love him?  He's not pointing out her engagement to the trolls.  He's pointing it out to himself.  He has to remind himself that she is off limits. End of story.

Meanwhile, Hans has lead a mission to rescue Anna.  He finds Elsa's castle, where he kidnaps her and places her in Arendelle's dungeon.

The trolls tell Anna that only an act of true love can save her.  Typical love story, right?  She just needs to get back to Hans and kiss him and everything is peachy keen, right?  Let's see.

Anna is halfway to her icy fate.  Kristoff wraps Anna up and hops onto his reindeer Sven's back.  With Olaf by their side, the gang begin rushing back to Arendelle.  When Anna reaches Hans, Kristoff leaves with Sven.  Anna is with her true love, so he is no longer needed.  Hans turns out to be a sneaky, conniving, two-timing jerk.  He only pretended to love Anna in order to get Arendelle's throne.  He locks Anna in a room with Olaf and leaves her to freeze.  He goes to tell Elsa, only to discover that she has blasted her way out of the dungeon.  He goes looking for her while Kristoff senses something is wrong.

Kristoff feels like something is wrong.  He hops on Sven and begins rushing back to the castle.  There Anna realizes Hans was not her true love: it was Kristoff.  She escapes the castle to search for her love. Meanwhile, Hans has found Elsa.  Because Elsa is angry and upset, she has created a terrible blizzard.  Hans tells Elsa her sister is dead.  Elsa falls on her knees, devastated.  The blizzard stops.

Kristoff has returned!  He sees Anna struggling to walk outside, the ice almost consuming her.  He runs towards his love, determined to save her.  Anna looks behind her and sees Hans standing over her sister with a sword.

Anna's entire life has been filled with losing people she loves.  She lost her sister when Elsa shut her out.  She lost her parents at sea.  She lost a man she thought was her true love.  She can't lose her sister for good.

With Kristoff too far away, Anna rushes to save her sister.  She stands between Hans and Elsa as his blade comes down.  As Anna transforms into a statue, Hans' blade falls on her solid ice form.  The blade cracks, and Hans flies backwards.

Elsa looks up and sees the face of her frozen sister.  Horrified at what she has done, Elsa hugs her beloved sister.  Kristoff stops running a few feet away.  His one true love is gone.  He hangs his head in despair.  True love's kiss didn't happen.  Anna is gone....or is she?

Since when was the act of true love a kiss?  When was it between a romantic couple?  Why can't the act of true love be between two sisters?

Anna selflessly sacrificed herself for her sister.  Anna's act was the act of true love she needed.  Sisterly love was the saving grace.  This is why I love Frozen.  It shows that men and 'true love' isn't what always saves us.  Sometimes it's the love between family and friends.  It's the love between sisters.  And the thing that I love most about the ending is when Anna and Elsa hug.  Elsa never touched anyone because she was afraid her powers would hurt them.  This is her first hug in years.  Now that she can finally control her powers, she can hug someone: her beloved sister and best friend.

I love my sisters more than anything in the entire world.  I think this is why Frozen is one of my favorite movies.  The love that sisters have is powerful.  Yes, we drive each other crazy.  Yes, sometimes we wish we didn't have sisters.  But at the end of the day, we love each other and we would go to the top of a frozen mountaintop to prove our love for our sisters.

Stay warm and remember: sisters before misters!

Thanks for reading!

Sarah Beth

Philippians 1:20-21