Relationship Spotlight: Elsa & Anna (Frozen)

How cool is it that the central relationship in what’s basically the biggest Disney Deal of All Time is between a pair of sisters?  I love it – I love that anything romantic is a subplot, I love what it says about the varied nature of true love, and I love that this sister connection is what fuels the story.  This is Elsa and Anna.  (A few spoilers.)

Given where they are in the first act of the film, their actions are major testaments to their love for one another.  Keep in mind, when Elsa comes out of reclusiveness for her coronation, Anna hasn’t seen her in probably about ten years.  Her older sister has literally been in her bedroom for a decade, saying nothing to her but, “Go away, Anna.”  Elsa has her reasons (more on that later,) but Anna isn’t privy to any of them.  All she knows is that Elsa shut her out when they were children.  Despite all this distance, when the big bombshell drops that Elsa has been hiding magical powers, when they accidentally go haywire and plunge the kingdom into eternal winter, and when Elsa panics and bolts, Anna has complete faith that it’s all a mistake/misunderstanding and takes it upon herself to singlehandedly find Else and bring her home.

Another important consideration:  because of Elsa’s situation, the king and queen pretty much shut the palace doors to the rest of the kingdom.  Anna hasn’t seen Elsa in ten years, but she probably hasn’t seen anyone, besides her (now deceased) parents and the palace staff, in that time, either.  She likely hasn’t been outside.  It’s not quite Rapunzel-sheltered, but it’s still crazy sheltered.  Her life has been so so limited, and yet, when her sister is in trouble, Anna doesn’t even balk at the idea of venturing off to help her.  She is not very good at adventuring; she doesn’t dress for the weather, she doesn’t know her way through the countryside, and she doesn’t have the first idea how to climb a mountain.  That said, she approaches it with unquenchable tenacity, never letting any of her slips or stumbles slow her down.  Because Elsa needs her.

And what about Elsa?  It’s indicative of her incredibly-damaged self-image, but the only reason she cuts herself off from Anna for so long is because she’s convinced that she (Elsa) is dangerous and is terrified of hurting her sister.  (Side note:  how awful are Elsa and Anna’s parents?  I get that they’re overwhelmed and well-meaning, trying their best to help their daughter through something they don’t understand, but they couldn’t have gotten it more wrong.  Ooh, our young daughter’s magical powers are directly tied to her emotional state?  I know, let’s do our darnedest to create an atmosphere that makes her feel like she’s a monster?  Seriously, so much parenting fail.)  For the past decade, she’s been lonely, afraid, and self-loathing – no doubt that the loving, optimistic Anna would have been all too glad to offer comfort, reassurance, and caring, but Elsa denied herself all of that out of her desire to protect Anna.  Essentially, due to her misguided fear, she’s showed her love for her sister by not allowing herself to have the sister she loves.  Talk about tragic!

Finally, I love that, in the end, it’s Elsa’s familial True Love for Anna that saves Anna from the “frozen heart” spell.  I mean, I love me some Anna/Kristoff, but with everything that’s been informing the sister relationship, Anna and Kristoff haven’t known each other nearly long enough to compete with that, and it’s so fitting that the sisters’ love takes pride of place.  In recent years, a few fairytales have subverted the usual True Love’s Kiss/Act of True Love trope, but Frozen was the first that I saw, which automatically makes it special for me.

Relationship Spotlight: Kristoff & Anna (Frozen)

 

As I was rewatching Frozen before writing my review, I was struck by how similar their relationship is to Mindy and Danny from The Mindy Project.  It’s not just the basic format:  initial bickering, and friendship before romance.  Like I said when I wrote about Danny and Mindy, these aren’t exactly new narrative concepts.  But it’s more than that – when you get down to the details, the parallels run deep.

 

Let’s see here.  She’s a smart and eager but immature young woman with idealized misconceptions about true love.  He’s a rough-around-the-edges curmudgeon who needs people more than he acknowledges.  They often get on each other’s nerves, but they’re able to make pretty astute observations about one another, and they always come through when it really matters.  It’s a relatively balanced relationship, since they’re both flawed people who help each other – yes, I’m aware that princess trumps ice merchant, but his wilderness knowhow means his skillset comes in handy far more than hers on their mission, so it evens out.  Sound familiar?  (Oh my gosh, and Olaf is totally Morgan!  I’m calling it – Frozen is a family-friendly Mindy Project in microcosm.  Someone make adorable fan art of it.)

 

There’s a lot to like with this duo.  I love Anna’s pluckiness and determination even she doesn’t know what she’s doing – like misguidedly attempting to scale a mountain – and Kristoff’s bemused, deadpan reactions.  I love when she surprises him and comes up with a solution before he does, like during the wolf attack.  I love her scandalized responses to his less-than-sunshiny tendencies; one of my favorite exchanges in the whole movie is when Kristoff wants to tell the summer-obsessed Olaf what happens to snowmen in warm weather, and Anna’s insistence that he doesn’t burst Olaf’s bubble.  It’s such a simple, tiny moment, but so representative of both characters.

 

But for the absolute pinnacle of Anna-Kristoff interactions, I have to single out their discussion about Hans.  I adore that this film throws shade on the fairy-tale idea of getting engaged to someone you just met, and both of them are hilarious in this scene.  Even though Kristoff’s interrogations prove Anna doesn’t know much of anything about her intended, she’s entirely unfazed, assertively giving his last name as “of the Southern Isles” and his eye color as “dreamy.”  And her reaction to Kristoff’s hypothetical scenario about Hans picking his nose (“All men do it,” he tells her) is hysterical.

 

This scene is a great demonstration of their relationship.  They’re arguing, but already, they have such a seamless give-and-take with one another.  They can spar without a hint of hesitation, and each has a temperament so unlike the other, but they’re both still drawn to each other.  Plus, despite the attempts to provoke Anna, I get the idea that Kristoff is trying to help her in his own slightly-grumpy way.  He’s trying to show her the foolishness of her hasty engagement, not just to show her up, but also in the hopes of keeping her from an ill-advised marriage.

 

In short:  they’re fantastically funny together, they’re a great mix of sour and sweet, they help each other out, and they both become better people through the other’s influence.  Is there anything that’s not to like?