Frozen II vs. Frozen!

Frozen and Frozen II both presented unique stories that, while in a fantasy world, resonated with many children in their messages. However, even though Frozen II was a sequel, it was a better movie overall than Frozen. While Frozen has impressive animation, six years passed between the creation of the two movies, and Frozen II presents stunning visuals that far surpass Frozen. 

Frozen laid the groundwork for all the characters, but Frozen II actually got to develop the characters and show a deeper maturity through all of the main characters. We got to see Elsa go through a complete transformation to finally learn and accept who she was and what her purpose for the future was; we got to see Anna deal with grief and grow as a person to make right choices, even when they’re the hard choices; we got to see Kristoff deal with insecurity in his relationships and deal with it in a positive mature way; and we even got to see Olaf gain a bit of maturity through his questions about the world around him! And of course to go with these fantastic character developments come new fantastic outfits. Elsa finally, both figuratively and literally, lets her hair down and creates a new dress which is not the dark colors she started with, nor the lighter blue she created for herself when she finally began the first steps of accepting herself, but a white color of full, pure acceptance.

Frozen II also tops Frozen with their fantastic soundtrack. While Frozen brought home some very memorable songs, such as “Let it Go”, “Love is an Open Door”, and others, Frozen II’s strong power ballads were so much deeper than their predecessors and goes further into more mature storylines. For example, “Let it Go” is a song about Elsa finally accepting herself and her powers, but as can be seen shortly after the song, Elsa still is succumbing to her fears about her powers once Anna shows up. In contrast, “Show Yourself” shows Elsa finally truly going past all her fears and accepting her destiny about the future. This theme of songs with deeper overall meanings holds true throughout the movie with Anna dealing with intense grief where she loses almost her entire family in “The Next Right Thing,” and even in a silly regard Olaf’s songs are matured from “In Summer” to “When I am Older.”

Overall Frozen and Frozen II are both great movies, but because Frozen II goes so much deeper in the plot and this is reflected in every part of the movie, through outfits, , animation, soundtrack, and overall message, it is the better movie.

What The Little Mermaid Did For Disney Princesses

 Through the movie, The Little Mermaid (1989), Disney took a bit step forward in the way they presented women in their movies. Although Ariel's main focus was to date and marry a guy she just met, I do kind of understand Sebastian and her dad’s point on this one, she had a lot more personality than any Disney princess who came before her. The princesses who came before Ariel, Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, had little to no personality at all. And while Disney still had the archaic perception of a woman's only motivation being a relationship, this time Ariel was more than just a glorified animated prop to be in a relationship.

In the movie, Ariel is extremely curious about the lives humans lead, WAY before she even meets Eric. She is a closer representation to what young girls actually can be like, as she was rebellious against her father and curious as to the world around her. This helped advance the portrayal of women in Disney princess movies, as it showed a young girl (VERY young at 16) making decisions for herself, and even rebelling against decisions men had made for her. However, she still very clearly fell in ‘love’ with the first (human) man she even kind of interacted with and the entire movie’s plot was centered around how she was going to get with him, and what she was willing to give up to be with him, while he gave up nothing.

After this movie, Disney still had a LONG way to go to making a movie with a Disney princess that wasn’t centered around her relationship, but it was an important first step in the right direction to fully flesh out and give personality to a Disney princess.

Hans Christian Anderson's Tragic Love Life

Hans Christian Anderson, the author of many famous tales such as The Snow Queen and The Little Mermaid, was a Danish author (who is rumored to have possibly been an illegitimate member of the Danish royal family, but of course that has never been substantiated) who is most famous for his fairytales, but many of the themes in these stories were inspired by his own personal life.

Hans Christian Anderson had a very tragic love life, and this can be seen reflected in many of his stories. He had strong romantic feelings for a man in his life, Edvard Collin, and wrote him many letters about longing to be with him as if he was a girl, saying "My sentiments for you are those of a woman," among many other things. However, unfortunately, Edvard, who was the son of Hans Christian Anderson’s patron who supported his art, did not return his sentiments, leaving the famous author devastated. 

This theme of unrequited love and heartbreak is most clearly reflected in Hans Christian Anderson’s story “The Little Mermaid''. In this story the young girl loves the prince so much she would do anything for him, and at first loses her voice and lives in excruciating pain just to be around him. But the prince only ever views her like you view a younger sibling, and never truly loved her, much to the devastation of the young mermaid. Eventually the prince meets his true love, and the young mermaid would so much rather see him happy and alive than to kill him and live herself, so she accepts her fate of death. This is a clear allegory to the love life of Hans Christian Anderson, who had to live in excruciating pain of knowing that Edvard did not love him the same way, but still choosing to be around him and watching him marry someone else. Hans Christian Anderson was not only doomed to fall for someone who did not love him back, but doomed to fall in love with a man in a very non-accepting society, and these are the themes that are reflected in “The Little Mermaid.”

Little Red Riding Hood Throughout The Ages

When I read through all of the versions of Little Red Riding Hood (the French Version, the German Version, the Italian Version, the poems by Ronald Dahl, the Chinese Version, and the African Version) I was surprised at how from all different cultures how similar the stories were. I was also surprised at how graphic some of the versions were! Specifically the Chinese version, where instead of typing a rope to Little Red Riding hood (or in this version just a young girl) she ties her brothers intestines to her and just expects her not to notice! 

Although these stories were all from extremely different cultures, there were a lot of similar elements in the stories. One common theme was that a relative (normally a grandmother but in one case a brother) is brutally murdered by an animal, normally a wolf but in the Chinese version a tiger and in the African version its the Marimo (a tribe of cannibals). Also a surprisingly common theme was how often the wolf (or other animal) tied a rope to the little girl while she went outside after she convinced the animal she had to leave. The last common element that I noticed that was obviously common in all of the stories was the constant wearing of the color red by the little girl, either as a hood or as a cap. 

The more I thought about the common theme of Little Red Riding Hood constantly wearing the color red, combined with the small moral at the end of the French story, where it warns young girls about letting tame wolves into their homes, and into their ~chambers~, the more I came to an interesting conclusion that the Little Red Riding Hood story, in its original form, is likely about warning girls to protect their virginity. The color red often symbolizes love and passion, and very easily can represent virginity and sex, and Little Red Riding Hood is always a young naive girl. I thought this symbolism was incredibly interesting as I had never made that conclusion before reading the older versions, as the modern version that I had grown up with has lost most of the direct symbolism that was apparent when you read multiple versions of the story across many cultures.

Happiness

For me happiness is really subjective, on one hand if you asked me scientifically I would tell you it's a combination of chemicals; dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin. However, if you asked me how I defined it on a philosophical level I would definitely take a pause. What happiness "is" will have a different definition for everyone, but for me I'm not sure if I have a direct definition, it's a little bit hard for me to pinpoint. I know that I am happy when I'm around people I care about, I always feel as though I'm at my happiest around my friends, but also I know that there is more to it. So I guess there isn't a perfect answer for me, I'm still figuring it out.

I think happiness is an ideal that many people are chasing for their entire lives. Not to be morbid, but I think for some people happiness isn’t possible. I think it can be achieved through a certain mindset, but I also believe that the more you chase pure happiness the less likely you are to find it. This is because we live in a flawed world, and what many consider to be true happiness, happiness that has no flaws or drawbacks, doesn’t really exist. So the more people chase this dream of pure happiness the more they are disappointed in what they find, leaving them even further from happiness than someone who wasn’t chasing happiness at all. I think happiness is possible in my life, and it is relevant, but it’s not really something I’m chasing. I am simply following my passions and living my life and it’s something I am finding along the way, in the little things. Little things like late nights watching TV in my dorm with friends, or playing soccer on the quad at 1 in the morning. It was a ton of fun, and I have tons of happy memories, but I didn’t go into those activities thinking “Maybe this will make me happy.” So I plan, and hope, that I will continue with happiness in the future, but I definitely am not planning on chasing it at any point.

Hello! Intro Post!

 Hi! Welcome to my blog! I'm a freshman living on East this year and I'm loving it! I'm hoping to double major in Math and International Comparative Studies and I'm excited to be taking Writing 101 Decoding Disney this semester because I'm such a Disney Fan!

My favorite Disney movie is Frozen 2, and my favorite character is Elsa! This is probably because I was so inspired by the most powerful character in the movie not having her entire story based around a romance. While classic romance stories are fun once in a while, I love that the story was centered around Elsa finding out who she is and the extent of her power. As a queer woman, it was wonderful to watch a main and popular Disney character not have her main story center around the man she is dating. 

I have been a Disney fan my entire life! I even got my first ever haircut at Disney! Being at Disney World one of my most common childhood memories because I used to go every year, so I'm super excited to analyze the movies and stories. I'm excited to explore more of the nuances of the stories instead of just the surface level stories. This semester will be a lot of fun:).