Frozen: The Agendas and the Story

Over the course of the movie Frozen's theatrical release, it drew much acclaim and criticism, some of which I think was warranted, and some of which was nonsense. An alleged "gay agenda" was decried by a well-behaved Mormon grandmother and negated refuted quite well by a gay dad. It received several awards, and was labeled Disney's most progressive movie to date. Unfortunately, for all this buzz, little of praise or complaint was substantiated with evidence from the story itself. Certainly, "Let it go" and other elements of the film could be used to promote an out-of-the-closet mentality, a 3rd-wave feminist perspective, or a more general rebellion against parental authority. Whether or not Disney had these things in mind, I can't say. What I can say is that the story does lend itself to one approach with ease if you examine the flakes in the flurry, rather than allowing your biases to turn the snow of this story yellow. [Be warned: yer on the DVD-end of the release, so here there be spoilers.]

Frozen opens with a group of men who appear to be Sámi, indigenous people of the Nordic countries, acting as a Chorus to warn the audience to "beware the frozen heart." We are then introduced to Anna and Elsa, royal daughters who enjoy a close relationship and love to play in the snow created by Elsa's magical power. However, as they play, Anna's impetuousity causes Elsa to accidentally strike her with a blast of ice to the head, rendering Anna unconscious. The King and Queen take both girls into the forest to seek the aid of trolls, who are able to restore Anna and remove her memories of Elsa's magic, but warn that while the head can be persuaded, the heart would not be so easily changed. The trolls also tell Elsa that she must learn to control her powers because they can create beauty or danger, and that fear will be her enemy. In order to protect Anna, her parents decide to keep the palace closed and seclude Elsa from society and her sister, thus setting in motion the plot: how to reunite the two sisters without further endangerment.

As Anna attempts to reunite with the estranged Elsa, who eventually runs away once her powers have been revealed to her subjects and thrown the land into winter in the middle of summer, we see the differences in personality that drive the conflict and love between these sisters. Anna is a fun-loving, care-free, happy-go-lucky type who seldom looks before she leaps. In one obvious instant, she decides to marry Prince Hans, a man she's just met. When Elsa objects, Anna says doing so is allowable "if it's true love." (Remember that phrase for later.) In a more literal example, she jumps down from a cliff into the arms of the unsuspecting Kristoff, an ice-cutter who helps her track down Elsa, remarking "Wow, that was like some kind of crazy trust exercise!"
Elsa is more reserved - frigid, even (if you're going to argue the "gay agenda" thing, you'll have to admit that Disney would be slamming homosexuality pretty hard by having the "gay" heroine have ice-producing powers and no romantic relationships), but that's not a bad thing, because she calculates everything very carefully, making sacrifices to protect those she loves, even from herself. But therein lies the tragedy: in protecting others from her uncontrolled powers, she severs relationship with them, creating a sort of abstract love, as opposed to Anna's in-your-face variety.
Neither expression of love, of course, is ideal. And the resolution of the story is found when an anthropomorphic snowman, Olaf, introduces a novel definition of love (for Disney, at least). Olaf is a creature of Elsa's creation, and on my first theatrical viewing, my least favourite character; he's the classic annoying Disney sidekick, replete with cheesy one-liners.

After a "true love's kiss" doesn't work to save Anna, who is now turning to ice because of a second accident with Elsa - this time, one which struck her in the heart, Olaf explains that "Love is putting someone else's needs before yours." Anna begins to understand that Kristoff, not Hans, is her true love - he puts her needs before his. And so she seeks a kiss from Kristoff, even as Elsa is in mortal peril. But at the last second, Anna turns away from Kristoff and saves her sister. In doing so, though, Anna's heart finally freezes completely, turning her to ice, her last breath a puff of frost.
Elsa weeps, Kristoff and Olaf are downcast, and all seems lost - but then, Anna turns back to flesh, living & breathing again! After this eucatastrophe, Elsa says "You sacrificed yourself for me?" And Anna replies, "Of course - I love you!" In case we didn't get it, Olaf states, "An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart!" Elsa now understands how to control her powers - "Love will thaw."
As Paul Asay points out in the conclusion to his review on PluggedInOnline,

[Elsa and Anna] inhabit a tale that's not so much about a princess falling in love as it is about learning to love. It's not about staying a child forever (a la Peter Pan's Neverland), but figuring out how to grow up. Under the veneer of traditional Disney magic, Frozen gives us a bit of the emotional depth Pixar so excelled at. It's a movie that doesn't just entertain. It tries to speak to us, giving us insight into the nature of family and friendship - why sometimes those we love seem to go a little crazy and what we can do to help bring them back. (Elsa's struggles could be seen as a metaphor for adolescence in some ways.) It plays with Disney's well-worn messages of feel-good hope (be true to yourself; follow your dreams), modifying them and molding them into something stronger and more mature.

Love is what brings this movie to life. Anna's love for Elsa motivates her to search for her sister while others decry her as a monster. Elsa's love for Anna leads her to run away from the only life she's ever known (which, granted, is a miserable one) to protect her sister. Kristoff's love for Anna brings him back to save her even after he thinks she's found true love with another. On a smaller scale, Olaf is willing to melt to keep Anna warm by a fire, and Sven (Kristoff's reindeer, and my kind of Disney sidekick) returns Olaf's carrot nose after finally getting his mouth on it.
And that's what brings life to the Gospel of Christ - that God so loved the world He would send His only Son to die; that the Son would put reconciliation between sinful humanity and a holy God above His own life, and die a shameful death on a cross; that the Spirit would work in the hearts of broken people to make us more like Christ when we would naturally quench His every move.
As Elsa learned, perfect love casts out fear and allows us to love others with a sacrificial love reflective of Christ's love for us, using our gifts for His glory. What better way to read this story?

Update 6-Apr-14 21:25
Wow, I suppose I really dated myself by mentioning the "DVD" release; we live in the age of Blu-Ray now.
Anyway, a friend mentioned that my blog seemed to be more academic than personal, and I realised I never gave my own likes and dislikes of the movie, so here goes.
The first thing that comes to mind is simply the magic of the story - from the overture and the first song ("Frozen heart"), Frozen demands to be recognised as a powerful piece of storytelling, and I think it cements this depth masterfully with "Do you wanna build a snowman" (my personal favourite). Granted, "Let it go" is great, and I really like that while Elsa sings "No right no wrong, no rules for me," she is ultimately confronted with the problems caused by her selfish way of thinking, and forced to change for the better (meaning that using this song as a "gay anthem" is counter-productive to the gay rights movement).
But perhaps my favourite aspect of this film is the dynamic between Anna and Kristoff, who are both strong leads, and yet who respect each other. Kristoff works with Anna, gently correcting her and occasionally directly confronting the problems caused by her impulsive actions. Simultaneously, he's not threatened by her as a proactive female protagonist, and because of each character's confidence in their abilities & roles, they make a great team. I think that's an excellent picture of how God made men and women to work alongside each other in different but equally honourable roles. Kristoff's need to tell Olaf what will happen to a snowman in summer, and Anna's desire to keep Olaf's dream from being crushed is my second-favourite piece of dialogue in the movie (after "You sacrificed yourself for me?..."):

I'm gonna tell him.
Don't you dare!
...
Somebody's gotta tell him!

And lastly - the troll who says "I passed a kidney stone" was a great one-liner.