Frozen

Well, I finally saw Frozen! I didn't really feel that much of a need to go see it before, but we talked about it on three or four separate occasions in my senior seminar on fairy tales. I finally decided, that in order to add to class discussion the next time we rambled onto that subject, I needed to see it.

I liked it. I don't feel a driving need to see it again, and I probably won't buy it when it comes out. I don't buy many films though--lack of money and lack of space make a person much more selective. Anyway, like I said it was nice. I was actually thinking that it was going to be pretty bad and cheesy based on the bits of music I had heard and the previews I had seen.

So why didn't I love it? Well, I thought the story needed some work. Bear in mind though, I'm picky about my entertainment, and I'm not saying that I'm any kind of professional critic, but I have been working on refining my tastes, and I trust my instincts when it comes to a story.

I like a gripping conflict, one that's simple enough to understand but poses many complex questions, answers, and actions. The Hunger Games is a great example of this. You have Katniss who is placed against her will in an arena with a bunch of other kids. Only one of them can survive. Suzanne Collins struck the gold mine there! It's so simple, but so complex at the same time. It brings up so many complicated issues, I love it!

Frozen did not "grip" me, so to speak. Couldn't the two sister have communicated some? I know there were limitations, but it just makes the plot so obvious. Of course if they don't communicate at all, they'll have relationship issues with each other, and knowing Disney, of course their relationship would end up being a key factor in fixing the problem, and everything would end, for lack of a better term, "happily ever after." I wasn't surprised at the plot twist. I wasn't surprised by anything that happened. It was actually kind of disappointing that I called all the shots.

I suppose I like to view my entertainment as a sort of challenge. I always try to see if I can figure out the ending to the story. If I can, it doesn't mean that I win. I don't know what it means exactly, but it leaves me unsatisfied. The best is when I think I know what's going to happen, but I'm surprised completely by the ending, and it's better than the one I came up with. So, Frozen did not do that for me. However, the music was nice and it was nice to just relax I suppose. And I did like Olaf, the snowman. But the story was not, shall we say, intellectually stimulating.

Now onto a slight tangent, I've heard a lot about the hidden meanings of Frozen, and I've heard a lot from people who are upset at those reading too far into the meaning. Which side of the argument does one take? I really think there are hidden meanings in film and literature and there always has been. I'm actually going to be writing my paper on this. But really, everything in our society is written and made by adults (even if it's for children), and it is nearly impossible for authors to separate themselves from their work. Without consciously meaning to even, we have certain structures, stereotypes, and stigmas in our entertainment, and I think we'd be fools not to see it. I think it can actually tell us quite a lot about what the values of society are at various points in time. Were these meanings meant to be there? I have no idea, and I'm not about to come up with an opinion on that--I don't have time if I'm going to get all of my homework done. But aren't those of us studying in the field of the Humanities searching to uncover deeper meanings within art, music, literature, and film?