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.

Single and Not Ready to Mingle

The media is filled with images of love. It's the one thing that every person longs for. They want to find the perfect match, someone that they can spend the rest of their life with. Whether that be in a little house on the countryside or right in the middle of a busy city, it's normal to long to find our happy ending.

The diamond industry knows this well, and is a huge factor behind it all. By painting the perfect image of a wedding ring, people want to attain that sort of happiness, when it's really all a scam for them to make money. I fall prey to this too. One day I hope to find someone who can kneel down on one knee and ask me to marry them.

But here's the thing: love isn't everything. What? Are you serious? Yes, I'm quite serious! While love is such a wonderful thing, there's so much more to success than finding "the one." If finding love is the only thing on your agenda, you might want to think it over. Because having a healthy life means following the dreams that are meant for you and only you. Love may be a separate dream, but it's not the only thing to focus on.

As many girls, I grew up watching Disney princess movies. Of course I wanted to find a prince who would dance with me at the ball, a man who would fight dragons to be with me. But I wasn't taught the most important part of it all: that it was important to form a relationship with myself too. Because building a deep sense of self-worth and commitment is essential to living to the fullest.

Today, Disney has a few princesses who are happy being single. Merida from Brave and Elsa from Frozen are the two that come to mind. The sad thing is, many people think that the reason they are single is they must be gay. Although there would be nothing wrong with that, what is wrong is that they can't be seen as good enough by themselves.

It's okay to be single! It leaves so much time for self care and reflection, and that's great! Of course, relationships can be awesome too, but they're not the only way to live a meaningful life. Because we should not find meaning in another person, but instead, ourselves.