Friday, 6 June 2014

Frozen: The Story of a True Beauty Queen

I love Disney, but I have to admit it sends out a lot of superficial messages to young girls. Growing up, I longed for fair skin, pretty dresses and my own Prince Charming. It seemed like the ultimate goal. Once I had all of those things, I could finally be happy. Looking back, those messages are horrible, and blinds girls from seeing that there is so much more to life than how they look and finding true love.

The vast majority of us know about Disney's newest movie Frozen. And I can't lie - I'm still belting out the songs (not that I can sing). As much as the movie is sweet and fun, I found it was full of so much more positive messages than past films.

Elsa, is in so many ways a character that I look up to. Fictional, maybe, but with being so influenced with princesses I could never come close to being like, it's nice to be able to connect with one of them. Elsa is a newly crowned queen with what is seemingly a dangerous power (hence the name Frozen) and is full of wonderful character traits.

What I found great, in my opinion, was her view on love. After meeting someone for just a day, her sister Anna is ready to marry him. Elsa openly does not think this is a good idea. Why? Because love isn't as simple as meeting a prince and marrying him - and it's also not the only form of happiness. Elsa, throughout the movie has no romantic love interest (nor does she want to) and is completely happy that way. I think it shows girls that there's an important in loving yourself first.

Her bold character also shows that women are strong and resilient beings. Elsa is a queen, and she doesn't need a king to help her out. Her whole life, she has been in her room, isolated from the world. And yet, she has such strength and will. She makes mistakes (I  mean, she freezes over her entire kingdom and nearly kills her sister), but shows that the real power is not in being perfect, but in taking responsibility.

Her famous song Let It Go shows a lovely transformation from who she is expected to be and who she wants to be. I think that it's so important that girls know that they don't have to follow the norms. There are so many pressures out there, and knowing that you can simply be yourself is an important thing.

All in all, I feel that Elsa is a well-rounded character. Disney has still stuck to what society believes as beautiful (sadly), making its princesses petite and fair, however this time at least they have added some character. Elsa is the ultimate beauty queen, and it's not because of her hair or stunning blue dress, but because of her kick-ass personality.

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