I know that the hype of the Disney animated movie Frozen has probably melted a bit by now, but I saw it for the first time a little later than most (about a month ago) and have been meaning to write about it since. First, however, I feel the need to express a few unsolicited opinions about this surprisingly popular film.
I'm a bit ambivalent about this movie. Touted as the "best Disney animated motion picture since The Lion King," it has a heck of a lot to live up to. I would be hard pressed to say it was any more entetaining than Mulan or more poetically beautiful than The Hunchback of Notre Dame. And I think it's pretty obvious why it can't be called the best since The Little Mermaid or Aladdin. That's because The Lion King is pretty much unsurpassable. I'll give Frozen this much: it did make me feel like a kid again watching some of those Disney classics. All that withstanding, I take issue with a few elements of the movie.
1. Where did Elsa get these icy powers in the first place. They bear no connection with anyone she is related to. Is she a like an X-Men mutant? In which case, I'd love to see a sequel in which she gets called upon by a time-traveling Professor Xavier. Not really, but you can see it happening, right?
2. I understand that she accidentally almost killed her sister when they were playing as children, but I don't see why it was so necessary for Anna's memory of Elsa's magic to be erased. After the little rock trolls cured Anna, I think everyone could have just taken a deep breath and figured out a sensible way of handling the situation without begetting Elsa's agoraphobic neurosis or Anna's painful separation from her sister and playmate. But then, I guess we would never have heard that tear-jerker of a tune, "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" - or had much of a story-line to follow. *sniff* All she wanted was to play with her big sister. *sniff*
3. Speaking of the rock trolls, what was up with those guys anyway? If they were fulfilling the role of some wise fairy, I think just one would have sufficed. Even three would have made sense, but a clan of unexplained, random, quasi-magical critters known only by a select few humans? I don't know, but they just didn't seem that necessary.
4. Maybe I missed some presumed, great time lapse, but to me it seemed like the majority of the story took place within no more than a few days. This probably shouldn't bother me that much, but it seems a little hasty for Ana to refer to it as an "eternal winter" when the snow has only covered the ground for less than 72 hours. Perhaps I'm being nit-picky.
In any case, my purpose is not to dog the movie Frozen. On the contrary, I was quite edified by one of its themes in particular: fear. "Fear will be your enemy," said the chief troll to Elsa. An unfortunate self-fulfilling prophecy delivered by an oddly conceptualized character, it is nevertheless a very true maxim not only for the ice princess, but for all of us. Fear is the real adversary of this film, even more so than Hans or that greedy old man (whatever his name was). It is the motivation behind Elsa's desire to shut out the world or even run away from her kingdom to set up camp in an icy palace. And yes, I'd say it is even the impetus of that catchy, Oscar-winning hit, "Let It Go." It may sound like a song of personal liberation and the celebration of being oneself. That's all fine and dandy, and certainly fear is no longer holding her back from expressing who she is, but... she's still isolating herself from everyone (did you get the pun in the song?) and subjecting everybody to a winter in the middle of springtime. Why? Because she's still afraid. She's afraid of hurting people, and she's probably afraid of being judged or harassed. But the whole time she's hurting not only her sister, but herself.
Fear in my own life is a most notorious stumbling block. Being the indecisive person that I am, I recently made two hefty lists of pros and cons concerning a major decision in my life. As I was compiling them, however, I realized I needed to make a separate column on both lists: "reasons based on fear." It certainly put into perspective just how much fear played a part in my choices. I had a spiritual director, Sr. Barbara Anne*, who once told me that there are two phrases I should surgically remove from my vocabulary: "What if" and "If only." Whereas the latter is more about regrets, the first is more relevant to this topic. All the "What ifs," that's what I was afraid of. What if this makes me unhappy? What if I regret not doing that? What if people talk? What if some folks are upset? Decisions, however, cannot be based on fear; otherwise we will never truly be satisfied and we will never be able to fully give of ourselves to others. Look at Elsa.
Fear, I think, is also the root of much sin and suffering in the world. I don't believe people often intentionally try to "miss the mark" (a more precise understanding of sin). Sometimes they are just afraid for themselves. They're insecure and are trying to protect themselves from getting hurt or losing their resources. People are often faced with two choices that are both legitimately good in some way. Sometimes it's a choice between protecting themselves or aiding another. They might miss the mark, however, when the decision is not rooted in love. I can't count the number of times I avoided saying something compassionate to someone who is suffering simply because I was afraid of a cold response or making the other person feel worse? On other occasions I have been stingy with my means or time because I was afraid "I won't have enough for myself." We can be afraid of being vulnerable because we might get hurt if we open up to someone. And you know what? It's absolutely true; we can get hurt, and probably will at some point.
From interpersonal relationships to a national or even global scale, consider all the wars that have been fought or have been on the brink of commencing because of fear and mistrust of the "other." Take for example the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Or how about the hazardous obsession with the right to bear arms? Do weapons become protection or a manifestation of insecurities with the express potential of maiming or killing other people? And this whole rant has not even begun to touch upon the issues of racism, sexism and homophobia (note the inclusion of the Greek word for fear in the last one). Talk about fear of the "other." In any case, one can see how fear inhibits healthier, more human relationships but also, left unchecked, can potentially cause a nuclear war! Or, in the case of Frozen, it can inflict a paralyzing winter upon an entire kingdom.
I began writing this post on Pentecost Sunday with the belief that there was some great connection I could make between the Solemnity and this Disney film, but as I am an incredibly slow and easily distracted writer, I finished this entry later than intended. As it turns out, there isn't really much of a link between the two anyway. In the account of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, it merely states, "they were all in once place together." It doesn't say why, and Acts doesn't seem to indicate that they were afraid. After all, it had been over a month since the resurrection by that time. Sunday's Gospel reading from John, on the other hand, tells a different story - not a story of Pentecost, but of Jesus' appearance to the disciples on the evening of Easter Sunday. The disciples were in a locked room because they were afraid, and they had every right to be. Their leader had just been executed two days prior! But the risen Jesus entered into their midst anyway and imparted upon them the gift of the Holy Spirit. At least according to John's Gospel, this didn't actually conquer the disciples' fear. In fact, they were found the next day again in a locked room. Slowly, however, they managed to do what apostles do: go out and preach the Good News to the world - fearful or not. In Luke's account in Acts we get a very explicit scenario of the apostles miraculously preaching to the masses in languages each person is able to understand. And maybe some of them were still scared of the terrible consequences they could and often did eventually face, but something bigger was motivating them, moving them forward: the Spirit and the love of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
I'm not saying that fear is a bad thing all the time or that it is something that must be totally eradicated. Take Elsa's character for example. After nearly killing her own sister twice, I'd imagine she'd still have some reservations about her powers. But love is ultimately what melts the heart of Anna and saves the kingdom from the less-than-eternal but still frightfully dreadful winter, even if she still had inner fears. So to wrap things up, even though I have some critiques about the movie Frozen, its message that fear can wound an individual and relationships but that love heals and unites is one that we can all take to heart - whether we're giddy grade-schoolers watching a Disney flick or world leaders with vast militaries and weapons of mass destruction at their disposal.
* I highly recommend Sr. Barbara Anne's blog by the way: http://euge2001a.wordpress.com/
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