"Frozen" Appeal: Theme Writing

Quality of 'Frozen'

Last week, I talked about Disney fairy tale movies in general.  This week, I will address one particularly, the one that is easily the best crafted.  My favorite is still "Tangled," But I can say without hesitation there is no mainstream cartoon more literary, if such can be said of film media, than "Frozen."  Disney's "Frozen" broke a billion very quickly.  There must be a reason for that, beyond the catchy tunes and the toddler appeal.  It's the kind of movie that appeals to people of all ages.  Why may that be, one may wonder.  For me, a big part of it is its tight writing around a central theme, that of loneliness.  [For a little about the script writing process, here's a transcript of part of an interview with one of the main scriptwriters, Jennifer Lee, in which she details the writing process with the brilliant Pixar and Disney crew.  The blog also links to a podcast with the original interview.]

Universal Themes 

The key to the brilliance of the writing and appeal in "Frozen" is that its theme of loneliness is a universal one.  We live in a world full of lonely people.  So many people feel isolated in the modern Western culture, people who are isolated from fellow humans by technology, by cubicles, by psychological issues and various disabilities, by so very many things.  Historically, families would live and work in large communities.  One's existence depended on teamwork with others.  Now, one can live and work an entire day without leaving their house once.  Some people's primary connection with friends and relatives is social media.  I, for one, work from home and only sometimes meet humanity apart from my family if I specifically seek them out.

The Frozen or Isolated Heart

"Frozen" opens with its theme song with its thesis statement, "Beware the Frozen Heart."  Every major character in the movie starts out with a frozen and isolated heart, either figuratively or literally.  Those who overcome those frozen hearts by reaching out to humanity are rewarded in the story, while those who do nothing to overcome it face an unhappy end.

Elsa is raised to "conceal, don't feel" by parents who seem caring and yet seem to spend all of their energies isolating Elsa from the rest of humanity.  True, it's for mutual protection after a childhood accident, but her parents could have instead taught her to engage humanity and control her gifts.  This is a form of abuse that she continues to inflict on herself when her parents, her only contact with humanity, pass away.  It seems to be a figurative punishment or isolation due to disability or unique features.  This isolation is amplified when she feels she has proven her parents right by lashing out with her powers, thereby facing apparent societal rejection.  Her declaration of the freeing power of isolation and her frozen heart comes in the form of the song that redefined the entire movie in the writing process, "Let it Go."  In the song, she seems to affirm that isolation and loneliness are the only way, that through isolation, she can't hurt anyone and no one can hurt her. "Don't let them [meaning the outside world] in, don't let them see/Be the good girl you always have to be./Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know./Well, now they know."  Yet at the same time, it's her ignorance of how to deal with her own powers that continues to harm outside her self-inflicted prison.  It is a false empowerment, an error based on her parents' error that isolation is the only solution.  Later in the story, her real freedom and empowerment come through getting past her frozen heart and embracing love and humanity, especially through the love and sacrifice of her sister.

Anna, too, is isolated by the same parents and Elsa and for less of a reason.  Their hearts and lives are frozen in isolation that Elsa embraces and Anna rejects but feels powerless to resolve.  One may argue Anna's warmth and passion show she's not frozen, and yet listen again to her duet with Prince Hans, "Love is an Open Door."  Both characters hint their desire for each other is not based in love but in what the other has to offer, thereby confessing to frozen hearts.  Anna sings that she loves him for the freedom from her isolation he offers. "All my life has been a series of doors in my face./Then suddenly, I bump into you...Love is an open door."  She does not love him for who he is because, as Kristof points out, one cannot know someone else that quickly.  She loves him because he appears to want to open her doors, to set her free.  Hans, meanwhile, hints in the same song and makes it very clear later that she offers him power.  "I've been searching my whole life to find my own place." [Emphasis added.]  He wants her because she offers a place he can control.   Anna, at least, does not acknowledge her reasoning, though Hans clearly hides his until there is no danger in its revelation.  Just like Elsa, Anna finds a way past her isolation and frozen heart when she reaches out to others and finds ways she can love and serve.  In the slow transformation of Anna's figurative frozen heart to a literal frozen heart, she begins to learn how to unfreeze her heart, by acts of true love and sacrifice.  She at first thinks she has to be the object, to be acted upon by a prince, but instead learns that her own love and decision to reach out opens the door.  The only heart of the main characters that remains frozen and isolated from the rest of humanity in his own selfishness throughout is Hans's.  Therefore, he, is banished.  He will not open his heart, so he is not welcome because of the dangers created by frozen hearts.  To emphasize this punishment to the frozen hearts of the narrative, Duke "Weaselton" suffers roughly the same fate.

Kristoff, too, embodies isolation and a frozen heart in the beginning.  No human embraces him, so his only regular companionship is his reindeer, as he sings in "Reindeers are Better than People."  That song is his declaration of a frozen heart.  Throughout his early interactions with Anna, he maintains his frozen and isolated heart, rejecting any connection with her on every side.  However, when he is forced to consider her humanity and his value to her, he chooses to thaw his own heart and reach out.

The Thaw:

The figurative thawing of hearts hinges on the warmth of the literal frozen hearts of the story: Olaf and the rock trolls.  None of them have a beating heart, yet they embrace everyone else with "warm hugs" and words of love.  They are the Shakespearean clowns of the story, especially Olaf.  They seem so innocent in so many ways and yet know the most important thing to overcoming loneliness and thawing broken hearts: how to love.  Their antics and words amuse, yet they are the ones who retrain the other characters, the frozen hearts, how to get past their isolation and become a community of people capable of joy.  The warmth and thawing effect even rubs off on the apparent abominable snowman, Marshmallow, who sheaths his spikes and embraces Elsa's kingdom of ice.  His inclusion in the community is reinforced at the end of "Frozen Fever," when he allows a family of Snowjis inadvertently created by Elsa, into his home.  Embracing family and friends thaws all of the hearts. 

Using Thematic Writing:

In studying how the great storytellers of Pixar/Disney weave meaning into their story, a writer can see how to make a story successful not in spite of its meaning but because of it.  While it's true that the film probably wouldn't have been as successful without funny character and great music, what really appeals in the end is the story's heart.  There are a lot of cartoons and other movies out there with funny characters and sometimes even great songs, and yet they don't have quite the universal appeal of this movie.  "Emperor's New Groove" is brilliantly funny and witty with hilarious characters, and yet it didn't have the success of this movie.  It had the theme of friendship, but that theme was not so successfully woven into the characters and the story.  "Tangled" has the same artistic style as "Frozen," has catchy songs, great characters, and an awesome story, yet it didn't catch fire like this one.  The themes weren't as strong and did not resonate with the audience quite like this one.  It, too, was about an isolated and abused child with Stockholm's syndrome from which she struggles to break free, a story of kindness and friendship, but the themes and meaning don't come together to create the magic "Frozen" has.  The same can be true of so many other movies and stories.  

Conclusion: 

What makes a successful story and film?  Truthfully, it's probably a blending of all of the above, great characters, brilliant storytelling, humor, but above all, meaning that resonates with the audience.  What meaning touches the souls of all of society? If you can find those themes and combine them with brilliant writing and great characters, you may yet find the fire and magic Disney has with "Frozen."