Frozen: An Unexpected Heat in China

2013 is apparently an indispensable year for Disney. In that year, Disney released a new film that stirred the whole world and reverberates in animation history to some extent. In that film, Disney invested billions of dollars in filmmaking and produced one of the most detailed fantasy movies at that time. More importantly, with the help of the creative storyline, this movie earned applause from the audience of the world. This film is called Frozen.

Although Frozen is a film for children, its excellent scenes and meaningful quotes gain great popularity all over the world, especially in China. It is surprising that Frozen gains such popularity in China, a country that has a completely different culture from the United States. However, the meaning behind Frozen is actually a perfect fit for the Chinese audience, especially at the time when the Two-Child policy is first published in China. For a long time, to control the crazy population growth, Chine imposed the One-Child Policy, in which every couple could only raise one child. In 2013, the demographer was afraid of the Chinese rapidly-aging society and decided to replace the One-Child Policy with Two-Child Policy, in which every family could have at most two children. All of sudden, many Chinese parents and children faced a new situation: the sibling connection. Frozen, then, was imported to China and gave an excellent answer to the Chinese audience. The redemption story between Anna and Elsa reveals the reality of sibling relationships: sibling connection is not only about mild love, but also a heavy responsibility, which may hurt each other. But in the end, the complicated sibling connection can be the key to support and save each other in the darkest of times, especially when parents are gone. Therefore, Frozen helps the Chinese audience to consider the real meaning of sibling connection. In turn, with great empathy, the Chinese audience could understand Frozen and helped it gain huge success in China.

The first most important thing Frozen does for Chinese audiences is to destroy the dream of the mild, soft scene in sibling connection. Many Chinese parents believe that the second child will be a life-long company for the elder child. In Zhihu, the Chinese quota, there is a question “Why you choose to have another child after the Two-Child Policy” (Zhihu). Specifically, many parents, especially elder parents, answer that they would have another child because they are afraid that the elder child will be lonely in the family. Also, these parents expect that the second child would give the elder one more love with the new sibling relationship. However, these Chinese parents seem over-optimistic in this issue. Instead, with younger siblings, the elder child probably has to take over more responsibility, which may cause a self-identification risk for the elder one. In Frozen, Elsa has mysterious magic which used to be a treasure for her and Anna. However, after Elsa unintentionally hurts Anna with her magic, Elsa is told to conceal her power to protect others, especially Anna. This is never an easy thing. The magic is a part of Elsa’s identification. The gloves, on the other hand, seem to help Elsa control her power and protect Anna, but actually further locks Elsa into self-identification risk. As an adolescent, Elsa sunk into identification risk and was afraid of her magic. What is worse, Elsa locked herself in the castle and refused family life with her parents and Anna. Becoming more and more reliant on gloves to control her magic, Elsa is more and more trapped by self-doubt and identification risk: in the family, she is the elder sister, not Elsa, so she has to do these to protect her younger sister.

Granted, many Chinese audiences blame the parents for enforcing Elsa to do so. However, the responsibility is mostly derived from the love between Elsa and Anna: Elsa does not want to hurt Anna, so she adopts these actions carefully. Kelsee Brady, a writer, supports this idea. According to her, the accident between Elsa and Anna is the most realistic part of sibling connections. “I can vividly recall the same fear that Elsa felt in Frozen when my sister would get hurt, even if it was not my fault. There is an instinct that comes with being an older sibling”, said Brady (Brady). Thus, it is fairly clear that most elder children will have this responsibility to younger ones, which is natural and instinct. This scene evokes the Chinese audiences to consider the “imbalance” between siblings. At first, adults always agree that the elder should give way to the younger. This opinion derived from an ancient Chinese story “Kongrong Gives Up the Biggest Pear”. In the story, Kongrong, a five-year-old boy, gives up the biggest pear and takes it to his younger brother. Giving up is a valuable Chinese virtue, indeed. However, for today’s family, it is inappropriate to ask elder children to give up everything for their younger siblings since it will bring a huge imbalance between siblings. Frozen is successful in reminding Chinese parents of the imbalance, and many Chinese parents change their family rules to offset such “imbalance” and start taking care of the elder’s mental health. For example, Huke, a Chinese actress, is widely applauded for her education to her two sons. Instead of controlling every detail in her sons’ sibling relationship, Huke chooses to let themselves solve their problems, such as the time slot for watching the TV program. As a result, her sons are very close and are good at dealing with relationship problems with others (Zhihu).

It is natural to realize in Frozen that the imbalanced responsibility will hurt both sisters, which is an important lesson for Chinese parents who just raise their second children with the Tow-Child Policy. For Elsa, the long-time self-isolation and identification risk damage her mental control. Therefore, at the coronation, when Elsa has a sharp conflict with Anna, Elsa has a breakdown and smashes her magic everywhere. Then comes the most important scene for Elsa: the epiphany with Let It Go. Within the song, Elsa finally gets rid of all controls and embraces her true self. In the scene in which Elsa makes an icy stairway, Elsa hesitates to step on it at first, and the stairway looks spinous and dangerous. However, when Elsa makes the first step, the stairway turns into a beautiful, smooth stair and guides Elsa to her new home. In this scene, the stairway indicates the courage to reveal the true self during identification risk. At first, it could look dangerous and hurt, but as long as the first step is made, everything will be fine, and new life will be coming. This scene inspires many Chinese audiences, especially Chinese parents. With two children, parents always put more effort and attention into the younger ones. In Zhihu, there are many elder children, especially elder sisters, share their experience when their parents or relatives ask them to help take care of their younger siblings. “I am so tired of taking care of her (the younger, three-year-old sister) all days. I have my own life: I need to study, meet friends and have my own entertainment. It is not me who brings her to the world. It is my parents’ responsibility to take care of this little baby, not me. I am also a child, but my parents seem to forget this thing. (Zhihu)” Many parents regard the elder child as a helper to take care of the younger ones. Many elder children struggle between the “son and daughter” role and the “sister and brother” role. This problem is hardly realized by parents, and parents ignore the necessity to cultivate the elder children’s independent personality. In fact, many elder children in China are in the same stage as Elsa does. They are standing in front of the “icy stairway”. Some of them are afraid of the stairway’s spinous looking, but the intuition will push these children to step on to it and embrace a new self

The elder children are not the only ones who are hurt by the “imbalance” responsibility — — the younger children will get hurt, too. In the movie, Anna, an innocent girl, also faces years of isolation, which makes her so desperate for love and so easily fooled by Prince Hans. Specifically, in the love song Love is an Open Door, Anna expresses her loneliness when Elsa shuts her up and closes the door. With years of loneliness, Anna needs love so desperately to reach her emotional need. In Love is an Open Door Anna said: “all my life has been a series of doors in my face, and suddenly I bump into you.” It is Elsa’s self-isolation that hurts Anna so much that Anna falls into love with Hans so easily. This situation is common in Chinese families, too. When elder children are facing identification risk, it is hard for them to love younger siblings as an elder sister or brother should do. As a result, it will cause mental problems for the younger children with the lack of sibling love. In the end, these young children have to find another way to fix up the hole, while falling in romantic love can be a choice. As adolescence, however, it is extremely easy for these young people to get hurt in such romantic situations as Anna suffers.

There is another viewpoint about Elsa and Anna’s sister relationship, which is widely accepted by the Chinese audiences. According to Kowalski and Bhalla, Elsa, since years in adolescence, has developed “unconscious, envious feelings toward Anna — — not only due to her position as the youngest in the family and her greater access to and attention from, and their parents but also due to the fact that Anna is ‘normal’ and ‘uncursed’. (Kowalski, Bhalla)” Besides, Kowalski and Bhalla conclude that “rivalry and envy are a normal aspect of sibling relationships” (Kowalski, Bhalla). This topic, the envies among siblings, is discussed heatedly among the Chinese parents. Most Chinese children do not have any experience with dealing with siblings because of the decades of the One-Child Policy. More importantly, Chinese girls will be more sensitive to the Two-Child Policy. In old times, some Chinese families prefer boys over girls since the elderly thinks boys can “continue their family blood while girls will be other’s wives finally”. Although this tradition is less mentioned today, girls, especially young girls whose parents raise a younger brother for her, will be sensitive about the truth. As a result, it is natural that these girls “hate” their siblings rather than “love” them. All of sudden, these children have to accept the fact that there will be a newcomer in their family. Usually, children will regard these “newcomers” as invaders, not sisters or brothers. To strive for parents’ attention, these children, both elder and younger, will develop rivalry and make the family a battleground. The most shocking news is that a five-year-old girl threw her young brother out of the window because she heard from cousins that her parents will not love her anymore because of the new baby.

However, when many Chinese parents are worried about the great envies developed among siblings, they forget a truth, which Frozen reminds them of, that sibling connection is the key to support and save each other during the hardest time. It is the first time that a Disney movie prefers sister connection over romantic love. In Frozen, although Hans and Kristoff contribute to the part of romance, the main characters, Elsa and Anna, draw a real and beautiful picture of sisterhood. In this scene, Anna sacrifices herself to save Elsa. Anna and Elsa are in the center of the picture. The friendship (Olaf) and romantic love (Kristoff) stand beside them. Thus, this scene indicates that sisterhood can be the key to redemption in the darkest of times. What is more important, sisterhood is irreplaceable to friendship or romantic relationships. Many Chinese parents, therefore, decide to raise their second child. When parents are gone in the future, sibling connection will be more important because a sibling is the only remaining family member.

A fifteen-year-old teenager, Limamou, reveals the truth of sibling connection: “A sibling is like a salad, sometimes you like it, sometimes you hate it, but it’s always good for you. (Rhodes)” This is also what Frozen tries to emphasize, and the Chinese parents are taught by watching it. During the Two-Child Policy, Frozen provides a clear answer to the dilemma of sibling connection: sisters can hurt each other unintentionally, but sisterhood can also be the key to redemption. Frozen earned the Chinese audiences’ hearts by drawing the most real and beautiful picture of sibling connection.

Frozen is not only an excellent animation for children but also a successful reflection of globalization. As a Disney production, it is amazing that Frozen can capture so many Chinese audiences’ hearts. Obviously, Frozen is produced by a western company, which has a completely different culture from China. Although Frozen is produced in a culture that emphasizes individualism and courage, it is still widely accepted and applauded by the Chinese community, which prefers collectivism and collaboration. More importantly, the Chinese audiences find a new perspective to view Frozen, which is the magic for globalization: a cultural object can be widely accepted by different cultures, and these cultures can even explore various perspectives to view the object. At first glance, Frozen focuses on girl’s power, which emphasizes the independence of girls and their powers to save themselves. However, in the context of the Chinese Two-Child Policy, the Chinese audiences shift the point from the girl’s power to the sibling connection, which further applies this movie into their own lives. Although it is amazing to see how Frozen gets accepted by the Chinese audience with different cultural perspectives, it is unsure whether Frozen is a “good” way to teach the Chinese audience to deal with sibling problems. In other words, although globalization reduces the cultural border, cultural differences can still lead to misunderstandings for different people.

References

Kowalski, Christopher, and Ruchi Bhalla. “Viewing the Disney Movie Frozen through a Psychodynamic Lens.” Journal of Medical Humanities, Springer US, 14 Oct. 2015, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10912–015–9363–3.

“Frozen Shows a Realistic Relationship between Sisters.” Vikingfusion.com, 20 Feb. 2020, vikingfusion.com/2020/02/20/frozen-shows-a-realistic-relationship-between-sisters/.

Rhodes, Giulia. “‘A Very Deep Connection’ — What It Means to Be a Sibling.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 Nov. 2017, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/25/a-very-deep-connection-what-it-means-to-be-a-sibling.

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