Warning: This piece is anti-Frozen. If you’d prefer a more positive spin on the movie, click here.
Oh my gosh. I know, I’m about to lose more fans than when I declared myself a proud liberal Zionist during Operation Protective Edge.
Well, I have to speak the truth: My sons and I did not like “Frozen.”
When we first saw it, I thought it was just me who didn’t like it and I had to stop myself from audibly exclaiming, “What!?” when things did not make sense and I rolled my eyes a LOT and felt bad that they might be enjoying it and here I was, Scrooge-ing away. But then the truth came out. They didn’t like it. Phew. Dodged that bullet.
How did this come about? My best friend had “Frozen” on DVD and on a particularly bad parenting day that she witnessed (i.e. I may have told her I thought I was going to burn a fuse in my brain or have an aneurysm just trying to make it through the upcoming 24 hours), she urged me to just give myself a break and put on “Frozen” for my boys. So we watched it.
In true Mayim/Scrooge fashion, here are the things I disliked about “Frozen.” I should note that I don’t care for musicals really at all, so that was one strike against this movie in the first place, but I will leave the explanation of my disdain for musicals for another post.
Music aside, here are my three main issues:
1. Plot/Feminism?
Sure, it’s sort of hidden, but the search for a man/love/Prince is still the reigning plot line in the movie, as it is with pretty much all movies for young people which are animated. The sister’s desire to marry this guy she just met, and the other sister getting mad at her–we still have a plot about the identification of a woman being based on her desire and search to meet a man.
Of course, in general, in the Universe, heterosexual women tend to want to meet men and I am one of those women. My issue is not that. My issue is that this is a movie geared to small children who I don’t think need to be focusing on that as the main driving plot of a movie, especially when it’s not a literary or historically-based fairy tale. And these characters are young; certainly not old enough in my socially conservative opinion to be searching for mates!
I’ve had just enough already with this finding a man business in most every kids’ movie. Disney classics were all about this and look where it’s gotten us! Naked billboards of singers and women still not paid equal pay for equal work and ridiculous standards of beauty and body image and campaigns such as “Why I Don’t Need Feminism” and tons of other things proving we still have a ways to go.
Am I taking this all too seriously? Of course I am! That’s because I’m me!
2. Denouement/Male Bashing?
Denouement is French for the unfolding of a story–the final unraveling, as it were. What happens in “Frozen”? The Prince/hero turns out to be a scheming villain. He pretended to love her and then he double crosses her and she gets the lesson taught to her not to trust those nasty scheming conniving men. Because you know, men can’t be trusted? Meh.
I know, you’re confused by me. Yeah, take a number. First I claim to be a feminist and now I claim to be against male-bashing. That’s because feminism doesn’t equal male-bashing. And this movie isn’t empowering because it shows that a Prince is a jerk and should not have been trusted. That’s weird too. It’s just confusing.
All of the talk I’ve heard about “Frozen” revolves around how it goes against all the stereotypes of princess movies. And in some ways it does; it shows one sister trying to convince the other sister not to trust this guy she just met. Then the guy turns out to be a villain and the sisters need to rely on each other, using their love to transform and save them ultimately. It’s a lovely notion, but it was just not executed well at all in my opinion.
3. Women as Dolls?
OK, my biggest problem with this movie was the way the female characters are drawn and animated. The male characters look like cartoon men. They have some exaggerated features, sure. But by and large, they look like they have the proportions of human beings.
Not so with our lead ladies. They have ginormous eyes. Like really ridiculously big. Teeny-tiny ski slope noses. Exaggerated delicate ski sloppiness, actually. Barbie doll proportions of their bodies in general: tiny waists, ample busts, and huge heads. They look like dolls. They don’t look like the same species as the male characters even! What’s up with that?! My sons thought the females looked like BRATZ dolls, truth be told. I kind of agree.
My loquacious almost 9-year-old Firstborn liked the snowman character, but that was about it. Little Man also liked the snowman and I think he enjoyed it at age 6 since I would argue that at age 6 kids don’t really get what’s going on; it’s all about the entertainment value of pretty shapes and colors moving on a screen that is hypnotizing.
I know everybody loved “Frozen” and that I am going to get so much hate for this. But I’m just keeping it real, yo. Or trying.
Love Mayim? Get her latest blog posts delivered straight to your inbox.
