I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the Disney movie, Frozen.  I actually did not see it for the first few years after it came out. Like Tangled, the title is one word with a negative connotation. It did not seem as pure or good as the earlier Disney movies like Snow White and Cinderella, and not even as pure or good as the middle Disney movies like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.

Frozen is said to be inspired by the Hans Christian Anderson story, The Snow Queen, but it bears little resemblance to this tale. The Snow Queen, itself, is not a traditional fairy tale, but an original story by Hans Christian Anderson.

Eventually, I did watch it, however, and I found it interesting. In many ways, it seems almost an allegory for the state of modern femininity. The main plot of the story is not about love or romance, but about the relationship between two princesses who are sisters, Elsa and Anna.

Two Young Princesses

The elder sister, Elsa, is clearly Lunar, and the younger sister, Anna, seems quite Solar. That in and of itself is interesting. In the Modern West, the Solar is associated with masculinity and the Lunar is associated with femininity. That association is so strong that even the most ardent feminists do not question it. Instead, they tend to elevate the Lunar over the Solar, which is the position of the two sisters in this movie.

The story starts off with the two sisters as children. It appears that the elder sister, Elsa, has magical powers based on snow and ice. Elsa and Anna are having a lot of fun playing with Elsa’s powers until Elsa accidental hits Anna in the head with her powers after slipping on the ice.

Their parents, the king and the queen, come, and the father is annoyed with Elsa and her powers. He looks through his library for a book. It turns out that the book gives directions on how to find trolls. In thinking of this story as an allegory for the present day, I find it interesting that even the king had to seek advice from trolls.

It turns out that the trolls are actually quite nice and well meaning, and the troll shaman is able to heal Anna. The shaman then removes Anna’s memories, and talks to Elsa about her powers. He says that her powers can be beautiful, but they can also be dangerous. He also tells her “fear will be your enemy,” as he is frightening her about what can happen if her powers get out of control. Her father then steps in and hastily assures the shaman that Elsa will learn to control her powers.

The father’s idea of teaching Elsa how to control her powers was to encourage her to lock herself in her room, stay away from her sister, and teach her that she should always keep her emotions hidden and repressed. Somehow, Elsa was expected to learn to control her powers with no one to teach her, while locked away in her room.

No one explained anything to Anna, who was largely left to her own devices.

If we look at the father as a symbol of patriarchy, this situation is quite telling. The father controlled, locked away, and repressed the Lunar Feminine and ignored and neglected the Solar Feminine. Anna grew up without manners or grace. It is no wonder, as it seemed from the story that she was given little in the way of supervision or education, even though she was a princess as well.

Trouble Begins

The king and the queen are killed in a shipwreck three years before Elsa comes of age. Even though the father is no longer around, Elsa has internalized his repression and has become paralyzed by fear. She continues to lock herself away in her room.

When Elsa comes of age, she must leave her room, unlock the doors, and take her place as queen. She is so paralyzed by fear that she can not even hold the symbols of her office during the coronation ceremony without freezing them.

Anna is so excited with her freedom and open doors that she goes wild. She meets a prince from another land, and she immediately falls in love with him. Anna and Prince Hans decide to get married, and they go to Elsa, now Queen, to inform her of their plans. Elsa refuses permission, and her and Anna have an argument in front of everyone. Anna pushes Elsa too far, and Elsa loses whatever thin control she had over her powers.

Elsa, her secret exposed, runs off. It is a common theme in fairy and folk tales that the difficulties of a reigning monarch, no matter how personal, will impact the entire country. In this story, the entire country of Arendelle is suddenly beset by snow and ice.

Let It Go

This leads us to the signature song of this movie, “Let It Go,” which you can see below.

Frozen has been translated all over the world, and I have listened to versions of this song in many different languages. I have to say, I am particularly fond of the Swedish version. The line, “The cold never bothered me anyways,” is translated, “Lite snö hal väl aldrig stört mig,” or, “A little snow has never bothered me.”

The music to this song is quite powerful, but the lyrics in English are very troubling. I think that they speak to many of the problems and misconceptions of the modern feminist movement and others seeking to reclaim feminine power.

In this song, Elsa has decided to free herself of the restrictions she has grown up with and to reclaim her power. This is a positive development, but as she is doing this, she has neglected her responsibilities as queen. She mistakes being good with the restrictions of patriarchy, as she sings, “Be the good girl you always have to be.” She rejects the past entirely, as well as all rules or notions of right and wrong. She sings, “No right, no wrong, no rules for me,” and she sings over and over, “Let the storm rage on.”

Now, despite what she sings, as she is testing her power, she uses it to make nice and beautiful things. She re-creates the snowman she made as a child for her little sister and creates a stunning palace for herself. It seems clear that even in her rage, she is gentle and feminine. Her confusion about what it means to be good is also clear, however, when she sings in the last verse, “The perfect girl is gone.”

Rescue Attempt

Meanwhile, back in Arendelle, Anna shows her true fiery, Solar nature by deciding to go off and rescue her elder sister and the country. She leaves Arendelle to her new love, Prince Hans. Prince Hans is a 13th born prince of a neighboring kingdom, but it is clear that he has had more training to rule a country than Anna, the 2nd born princess of Arendelle.

Here is where the adventure begins. Along the way, Anna meets a man in the business of collecting and selling ice, Kristoff and his reindeer, Sven. They also meet Olaf, the snowman who dreams of summer, who was created by Elsa during her storm. With the party complete, they set off to find Elsa’s ice castle.

When they find Elsa, Anna enters the castle by herself to talk to her. Anna tries to reason with Elsa and coax her out. She poignantly pleads to restore their relationship. Elsa, still wracked with guilt over the childhood accident, refuses and asks to be left alone. Anna tells her what happened to the country, but convinced she can do nothing about it, Elsa refuses to try to help.

In the ensuing argument, Anna again pushes Elsa too far, and Elsa lashes out and accidentally freezes Anna’s heart. I think that one of the sadness things that has happened in the struggle to reclaim feminine power is that women have turned against each other. This has been particularly damaging to the Solar Feminine, it seems.

Thawing a Frozen Heart

Kristoff takes Anna to our old friends the trolls, who apparently raised Kristoff. The troll shaman says that “only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart.” Kristoff and Anna assume that means that a kiss from Prince Hans will save her. They return to Arendelle.

In the meantime, Prince Hans had gone to Elsa’s castle, captured Elsa, and imprisoned her. When Anna returns to Arendelle, she discovers that Hans never loved her at all, but was using her to gain power. Not only does he refuse to kiss Anna, but he locks her in a room and puts out the fire. At the same time, Elsa escapes her confinement, and Hans goes off to find her in order to kill her.

Olaf arrives and rescues Anna, and Kristoff realizes with the help of his reindeer Sven that he loves Anna. With this new knowledge he returns to Arendelle to save Anna himself.

Anna sees Kristoff and as they were coming together, she also sees Hans trying to kill Elsa. In an act of true Solar courage, Anna turns away from Kristoff to rescue her sister. She places herself between Hans and Elsa and freezes, thus protecting Elsa from Hans’ sword. Elsa filled with love for Anna embraces her and Anna begins to thaw.

Olaf, the snowman, makes the connection as to what has happened. It was Anna’s act of true love that thawed her own heart. Elsa then understands that love is the key to controlling her powers.

A Happy Ending

After that Elsa restores Arendelle with her newly controlled powers, and Anna frees herself from Hans in a rather masculine, but I have to admit, satisfying manner. Elsa assumes her responsibility as queen, and she uses her powers to make a ice skating rink for her subjects. Elsa even gives Olaf, the snowman, his own personal snow cloud so that he can enjoy summer without melting.

Perhaps if this is an allegory, it is good news for femininity. Maybe despite all of our current struggles, we will be able to reclaim the power of both the Solar Feminine and the Lunar Feminine and bring them together in harmony for the good of all. I hope so.