Disney's Frozen

Frozen, the best Disney princess movie since the last Disney princess movie, or so I have been told. I have seen the movie and I like it, but it was not my favorite Disney movie. “Let it Go” was the only real noteworthy song in the movie and there were a few questions I would have liked answers too, but overall it was a cute movie. And I think that it has many great messages in it as well such as accepting oneself as you are, but while some champion the Disney film because a man did not have to save the princess, I see the movie as being far from a feminist victory.

Let me say before I begin, I am a feminist. In fact, I am more of a feminist that many who claim to be because while many modern feminists seem to believe that a woman’s strength is found in her appearance I believe that a woman’s strength and power is found through her mind. And that is the very problem that I have found with Frozen.

Anna seems like a typical girl. She seems like a normal teenager, especially one who has been sheltered and locked away from the world. She is boy crazy and in love with the idea of love, but she is also clumsy. She can hold her own, but she does not do so with grace. She falls down and makes a fool out of herself on more than one occasion. And even when she succeeds at something (stopping the wolves) it seems more like luck than skill.  

Why can’t she be strong, smart, and graceful? Why does Disney feel the need to make their recent princesses so clumsy? Even Rapunzel was a little clumsy hitting herself in the head with the frying pan. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Tangled, but it seems being an airhead is something that Disney finds appealing. I have seen too many girls play dumb because they think it is cute. It’s not cute and we should not want our daughters to believe that it is cute. We should encourage our daughters to be strong, smart, pretty, graceful, and confident.

I understand that characters need to have some flaws because we, as people, are flawed and would be unable to relate to a perfect character; I just feel that the characters should have varied flaws so that those flaws do not perpetuate stereotypes.

In closing, this is just something I was thinking about while watching the movie. Do I believe this movie is detrimental to young girls? No. I think it is a cute movie with fantastic animation, a couple of nice songs, and many great messages.