Into The Unknown Lies Nothing

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
― Albert Einstein

On November 22^nd 2019 the much anticipated sequel Frozen 2 was released into theaters in the US, my brothers attended the film in person (being Idina Menzel fans) and I watched the film when it was released on Disney+ from the comfort of my home. The incentive to see the film was the same for me as many others—I loved the character of Elsa and Let it Go gave me chills in the theater. After having finished the film and thought long and hard about the purpose of it (besides to make money which was obvious), I found myself saying with great urgency…..what in the world did I watch?

It took me time to mentally break down why I was so left so completely unmoved by what I saw, and ultimately I came to the conclusion I hadn’t really seen anything. If anything the film could be described as the absence of meaning and the deconstruction of fundamental themes often found in prior better Disney films. The only themes were undertones of Political correctness such as female empowerment, male inadequacy (so that there could be no trace of toxic masculinity), and evil white settlers who steal from natives. And last but not least….there is a wall. But before I go into that lets begin with the basics: characters have no arc. Elsa continues to shut her sister out and question the purpose of her powers. She searches the unknown and battles a frozen horse spirit questioning the grander purpose of her abilities, till she learns the answer was always inside of her. So apparently the grandest purpose any of us can find is within ourselves—basically, we are the answer.

Anna tries to get close to her sister the entire film and help her and really doesn’t. She learns their ancestors were evil settlers, so as a result of her Kingdoms past mistakes, she wants to tear down a wall to let all of Arendel be flooded because of something her ancestors did. So apparently, Elsa and Anna are to blame for their grandparents past deeds. Kristoff has the sole purpose of being completely dependent on the approval of Anna, who does not need him in the slightest and in fact ignores him frequently. We’re supposed to believe this makes her empowered: that she doesn’t need him, yet he must need her. His whole existence is to be with her as he says in his song Lost in the Woods—without the relationship he has no identity. Anna has the relationship in addition to her identity but it in no way completes her. The only main male character is weak, useless, and completely dependent on the female. Because for him to be her equal, or to ask anything of her, or to be competent, or protective, that would be toxic—he must not threaten her identity in any way. That may be politically correct, but it makes for a terribly written romance. Olaf had some very good weed throughout the film since he spends most of it laughing hysterically even when nothing was funny. Songs are meaningless because they have no real truth in them. Into the Unknown is a long drawn out ballad saying What’s out there? A question that is answered by the beautiful song Show yourself, and the answer is: nothing—it’s all inside of you. The song performed by Kristen Bell The Next Right thing in and of itself was a moving and lovely song, but it held no real weight because of the films weaker elements like the poor build up, lack of character development on Anna’s part and flawed aftermath at the movie’s conclusion.

Fairytales, like all myth and legend, are fictional. They are composed of fantastical elements that don’t exist in the real world. Their only meaning therefore, is to convey a real human message that connects to true experience by using the vessel of fantasy. For example I’ll reference a Disney Classic: Pinocchio. There has never been and never will be a talking puppet that longs to become a real boy, or a blue fairy, or an evil coachman that turns boys into donkeys. But the human message and moral theme is very present. Pinocchio is provided with supposed freedom by being able to commit whatever selfish destructive actions he wants (smoking, drinking, destroying property etc.), he and the other boys on pleasure Island believe it makes them free when in reality their indulgence leads them to become slaves to the instigator of those desires: the coachman. Once they’ve become slaves to their selfish desires there is no turning back without supernatural help.

Frozen 2 itself has no true themes with the exception of apologizing for the actions of our ancestors, and complete deconstruction of traditional themes found in Disney. There is no greater power or good than ourselves (as Elsa realizes), a princess’ alleged true love is not essential to her life (as Anna shows us while she rebuffs Kristoff’s every attempt to propose and finds him more annoying than necessary), even defending your Kingdom is bad because of the actions of your ancestors, and in the end Elsa becomes a spirit and everyone is happy. The entire film’s journey was meaningless, and there is no useful life application from any parallel the film draws. According to Frozen 2, the greatest good is that we love ourselves and marry men with reindeers that aren’t essential to our life but are not completely worthless.