By Nicole Lee, Staff Writer
It feels like just yesterday when Frozen was first released in theaters and “Let It Go” was being played on repeat throughout the nation. However, as the new year is upon us, 2023 marks the movie’s ten year anniversary. In December 2013, directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee produced the animated feature film that we have all come to know and love. Whether you’ve watched it a hundred times or have never even seen it before everyone knows the name.
Frozen tells the story of two sisters, Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) as they navigate their relationship through wintry obstacles. The fearless Anna teams up with a rugged mountain man named Kristoff and his loyal reindeer, Sven, in search of her sister, Elsa, who has trapped their town of Arendelle in an eternal winter. Despite Elsa being the queen of Arendelle, her people don’t know that she was born with magical powers to create snow and ice. Unable to control her powers, Elsa becomes so consumed in fear that she will harm those around her that she isolates herself from everyone, even her sister whose memory has been wiped of her sister’s powers.
Since its release, Frozen has earned more than $1.2 billion worldwide, becoming by far one of the highest grossing animated films. The movie has received many prestigious awards, including two Academy Awards nominations and a Golden Globe. Its soundtrack has even collected more than seven million Spotify streams and millions of dollars in albums. The movie has accumulated such a vast audience due to its nuanced characters, multi-generational humor and incredible plot arc. Frozen has gained so much popularity especially from younger generations and with the release of Frozen II, in recent years, it is unlikely the series will become outdated.
What caught many fans by surprise was its difference compared to other classic Disney princess movies, neither of the sisters fit the typical mold that many of the animations have used. The girls aren’t in need of a heroic man to save the day but, on the contrary, the prince is the villain. It was refreshing to see Frozen fight the gender norms of having men play the hero and instead, give women powerful representation. Disney and the media itself holds a large influence on children so it is important that they aren’t exposed to toxic gender stereotypes from a young age to alter the way they think and grow up. In most dated princess movies such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid, we see a common damsel in distress theme that demonstrates women as helpless and dependent on a man. Frozen also ridicules the unattainable love at first sight trope. Instead of focusing on a love story between a man and woman, Disney created a movie that highlights family importance which is seen between Anna and Elsa as they fight to protect each other. Love isn’t romanticized like other films but rather demonstrates that it isn’t perfect and requires fighting for.
Including such progressive elements sparked praise and altered the path for Disney’s future projects as they have come out with more socially and culturally diverse projects. Their movies have adopted more meaningful themes that children still love but can also learn from. Frozen not only created an iconic soundtrack many still listen to today but was also significant for many generations. It taught children lessons such as to be themselves and not hide their identity, that power can be within one’s heart and also showed girls that they are strong even when society may say otherwise.
