The Story of Frozen
It is the little film that could. Designed to be one of Disney’s “filler films” until the big end-of-year spectacular, Frozen is the film that forced Disney into uncharted territory.
Loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, Frozen is the story of two sisters who overcome Elsa’s icy curse and realise they are each other’s true love.
At its heart, Frozen attempts to poke fun at the typical Princess trope: Princess falls in love with the first prince she sees, another princess is locked away in a tower, and it takes a prince to save every princess he sees.
What comes of this story is the message that you don’t need a man to complete your life, love each other for who you are despite perceived curses, and your sister is awesome. It’s a departure from typical Disney films, and that in itself is definitely not a bad thing. Girl Power!
Right from the beginning, Frozen had issues. The film had undergone several re-writes and story changes. It had been put on hold while the studio worked on other films. Eventually, people became happy enough with the script and the film was finally underway.
Within the narrative are several things that are just plain dumb: a snowman sidekick who just wants to live in the summertime, a bunch of trolls who are there for literally no reason, a confused plot with tangents that go nowhere, and more visits to trolls.
Special mention to the music, particularly the lyric, “I don’t know if I’m elated or just gassy”. Generally speaking, the song writing is plain lazy. However, it is clear that the standout song, Let It Go, has had a lot of work put into it and is now a staple for both its performer Idina Menzel, the film in general, and everyone who enjoys Disney songs. (It’s also an ear worm for haggard parents who know every single word by heart and hear it in their dreams.) The lyrics within Let It Go speak of letting go of all the negativity and standing strong against those who wish to pull you down. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is clearly intended to be an ear worm and standout song. The song even won Best Song at the Academy Awards™ and is forever linked to John Travolta’s mispronunciation of Idina Menzel’s name. Adela what?
Disney are masters at merchandising. Frozen was no different. Long before the release of the film, Disney released a ton of merchandise associated with the characters. It was the usual: dolls, toys, clothing, lunchboxes. What Disney did not expect was the immense popularity of the film, meaning merchandise was in danger of being sold out within 9 months of the film’s release. Normally, this isn’t a problem as there’s another Disney film about to be released, which means different merchandise. However, Frozen’s sales were in fact increasing, leading Disney to do something unprecedented: Sell more licences to create more stock.
This new merchandise wasn’t limited to dolls and clothing. The film’s popularity meant that Disney started experimenting with other forms of merchandise. Now, it is possible to buy Frozen-branded toothpaste, car air fresheners, breakfast cereals, pre-packaged fruit… Anything you could possibly want, there’s probably a picture of Elsa, Anna or Olaf on it. In fact, the growing popularity of the film meant that a sequel was ‘rushed’ into production (of course, it would still take 5 years for it to be released), a series of shorts were produced and shown before other films, and the merchandising franchise became its own entity. Most Disney films feature characters destined to be included with existing franchises: think Disney Princesses which feature Snow White, Cinderella, Belle etc. Elsa and Anna were supposed to join the Disney Princess franchise, except Disney discovered they could make more money with merchandise if Frozen was on its own. Therefore, (although technically Elsa is Queen,) Anna should be part of the Princesses franchise yet she is not included.
With the trailer for Frozen II released this week, Frozen fever has once again hit our kids. (Cue Let It Go jokes.) While the US will see the new film around Thanksgiving, Aussie audiences will have to wait until Boxing Day (as usual for big movies, whether Disney or not).
I can only hope that the film fixes some of the issues the first film has.
