The Dark Side of the Snow Queen: The First Mentally Ill Disney Princess.

            Disney’s latest film, Frozen, has been a major topic of conversation since its release almost a year ago. With the praise will come the critic, and I have found myself too often with my lips pursed shut as my peers complain about how it is a horrible story and a terrible movie. I’m not going to fight for the defense of plot holes or other complaints, but I will take the side of what I think makes the movie transcendent: the other princess, or queen, Elsa.

In the original drafts of Frozen, Elsa was originally written to be the villain. However, after writing the song, Let It Go, the writers decided that the empowering song about freedom and self acceptance didn’t fit a villain, and instead rewrote the whole plot.

Yet, Elsa, being the oldest Disney princess at 21 as well as the only true queen of the Disney Princess franchise, has more than a few things that separate her from her Royal brigade. She is the only one to be considered an anti-hero, as she can be represented as a “problem” rather than actively fighting the external antagonists. Hers are all internal.

There is a possibility that Elsa is mentally ill, which is touching on an American taboo. So, Disney made a movie about one, which is a huge step forward to mental health awareness as Disney is mainstream (yay). But, how is she mentally ill, or comparable to mental illness? Let’s start with the parents, who are abusive and neglectful to their eldest daughter.  

The first scene with Elsa and Anna’s parents is when Elsa hit her sister in the head with ice trying to save Anna from falling. Note, they are children here, yet her parent’s immediately blame her, with a nasty tone of “this is getting out of control,” and “what did you do.” Kids make mistakes, it’s just a fact of life, but rather than realize that, they just heap the blame on Elsa.

Speaking of the parent’s tone, when they are asking the Trolls for advice, the dad glares at his daughter when he says “born with it.” Not her fault there, bud. In fact, as she gets older, they reinforce her fear after telling her to emotionally castrate her from the world. In the Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? song, Elsa has an accidental ice blast. The queen goes to console her, but Elsa just recoils and says she is “afraid to hurt [them].” The parents just look at one another, like “yup, we are too,” when Elsa needed that support. Be the good girl you always have to be, and not yourself in any regard. Conceal, don’t feel, because you aren’t a human and should not have emotions, let alone express any.

The one time they smile at Elsa is when she bows to them before they leave on a ship and practically whimpers “do you have to go?” The parents just nod and smile gently, almost emotionally castrated from her, as well. Then the parent’s turn and hug Anna, showing Anna affection and attention that Elsa so desperately needed, but was denied, even from herself. Best parents ever.

Its pretty straight forward that Elsa’s snow and ice shows an emotional imbalance. “I can’t escape the storm inside of me,” her “inner storm” is something that follows her around everywhere, and she can’t escape it; much like a mental illness. People can’t see that battle the afflicted face, but they can in Elsa. My favorite examples are when she is cornered in herself, the ice turns red and jabs towards her, showing how much she hates herself. Or when she is dealing with grief, and her snow is frozen in time, which is an accurate analogy for anyone who has ever dealt felt that solitary emotion. When she is happy, she has control of her powers and is capable of producing amazing feats of art. These ice powers give voice to the invisible struggles that cage people who are mentally ill everyday, making it easier to empathize those who are suffering from it.

Elsa, because her lack of control, finds herself to be a villain. After her powers are discovered, she flees the kingdom as her ultimate fear of being discovered happens, and she doesn’t feel either safe or good enough for her kingdom. Her parent’s helped her swallow the pill of it being all her fault, taking root in the traumatic experience of almost killing her sister. There is actually a thing where Disney villains love saying fools.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOeFkAthM-w

And in the reprise of For The First Time In Forever, Elsa calls herself a fool for waiting to be free, which is a little Disney nudge of “Elsa thinks she is the villain.” Why? - Because she was raised to think so, and society pointed fingers for that to be true. Anna, on the other hand, tries to understand and open up communication, which ultimately saves her sister by proving her love for her, regardless of what she is (spoilers!).

Since I already ruined the ending (sorry, not sorry), let’s move on to the crisis point. Hans tries to kill Queen Elsa, although this time it is different than when he went to her Ice Palace – she doesn’t defend herself. Why? Because she feels that he is right, she needs to go, especially after Hans tells her she killed sister. Elsa believes her powers are such a curse she can only cause harm, and to save everyone and escape her internal (external) storm, she is willing to end herself as she sees it as the only way. Yet, what saves her? Anna’s sacrifice. Love. Understanding. Someone proving to her she is worth something, and in that realization, she is free from the cage of her mental turmoil.

On the surface, the movie is a fun, pro-empowering and independence, pro-family movie with Broadway songs and a lot of laughs in the snowman, Olaf. Yet, under the immediate layer is Elsa’s abuse, pain, and turmoil, exposing the world of Arendelle and the audience to the horrors of being trapped with “the storm inside of me.” Despite this darkness, it is enveloped in humor, songs, and impressive animation. And as another Disney movie puts it, “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”.

Response to new Jurassic World Trailer: Too Much or About Time?

            The movie trailer for the highly anticipated Jurassic World dropped early today, showing something that was always wanted from but never achieved by INGEN. A fully functioning Jurassic Park, renamed Jurassic World.

            It’s on an island, as was the dream, with kayaking down rivers of stegosaurus and riding through glass balls to watch walking Apatosaurus – it seems like a dream come true of all the original ideas with new upgrades (and not touring through carnivores, about time they stopped that mistake). With even more ideas than before, such as an outside amphitheater to watch a Svalbard Pliosaur jump out of the water? That’s insane. How in-depth is this island in its immersion of dinosaurs? It is more than a park, it seems like this is, indeed, an actual world you are being flung back into.

            This “world” doesn’t look like it was on its “grand opening,” either, or its pretesting like in the initial Jurassic Park: it is up and running. Swarms of people are seen throughout the trailer, with sun hats and taking pictures and videos with their iPhones. I mean, the parents of the two unnamed kids are totally fine with letting their sons (who can’t be of legal age) go to the park alone. Although, the for the Jurassic Park franchise, the parents have always seemed okay with putting their kids in questionable danger. “Hey, why don’t you go ride in this tour car with complete strangers by a king of the dinosaur’s exhibit when a tropical storm is coming.” Or my favorite, “go ahead and para-glide with my weird boyfriend by a condemned island known for years for murdering people that come near it.” So the question of how long and how safe the island is from the trailer from the kids going alone is only so sound, considering the franchises track record, and can only be speculated on so much from the trailer.

Genetics is the new theme, or the advancement of genetics is, with “a whole new frontier.” In the trailer, it is announced proudly that the “first genetically modified hybrid,” was created, with a questioning Chris Pratt. Of course things would go wrong, and they have to hire a known, skeptic badass to come save the day. That plot point seems a bit overdone, from Splice to the creation of MewTwo, but there is something that is different in each of them: how do they stop it. And that’s what I want to know.

From the trailer alone, I can tell that the soundtrack is already fantastic and the cinematography is superb. The money and talent is definitely behind the movie, bring even Steven Spielberg back to produce it. I mean look at how many extras there are. Even if the movie has a disappointing plot, from the CGI and imagination put into it, it’s going to be a hell of a summer movie. 

Here is just my reaction to the trailer:

Hearing the original theme brought back on piano brought me straight back to my five year old self watching Jurassic Park on repeat while squeezing the life out of my triceratops toy. I grew up on this movie more than any other (besides maybe Alien) and just the fan service from the trailer its making me get goose bumps. I mean, motorcycle with raptors? My heart is pounding from this trailer, I want to know what happens so bad. Yes, I want to know what that dinosaur that they made is, but what I really want from that movie that even the trailer gave me a taste of is that nostalgia. Going back to this impossible dream that even though everything goes wrong, there is a serene magic there among the blood and ruin. From one nerd to another, if you liked the first Jurassic Park, I feel like this movie is going to deliver that heart flutter of the original more so than any of the previous sequels. I have a good feeling about this movie.  

The Park Opens June 12

Book Review: The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

            I came across this book several times, and my interest of lighthouses kept drawing me into the cover. Never judge a book by its cover is a rule I try to go by, but a book about cats probably won’t have a lighthouse on it. By the time I passed it for the third time in the library, it snagged me, and I found myself checking it out.

            The book is, indeed, about a lighthouse. The story takes place in 1920’s Australia, where a World War I veteran and his wife live at a remote lighthouse and a corpse with a live baby wash up on their island.

            What drew me into the book was the style – the novel is lyrical and has some powerful imagery and metaphors. Like “a pod of whales weaving their way up the coast to calve in warmer waters, emerging now and again with a fluke of their tails like needles through tapestry.” The writing style matches the lyrical tendencies of the time, with the almost poetry of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Virginia Woolf. A favorite metaphor of mine was when the farm boys of Point Partageuse, the major town of the novel, are described as “Men who were the prime cut to be sacrificed on tactical altars a hemisphere away.” The writing style is a sigh of the first fall air after a long, hot summer: fresh, crisp, and relaxing.

            There are a great deal of characters in this book, so much so I get lost on occasion with some of the more minor ones. My favorite was the complex, mentally scarred Tom Sherbourne, who is the protagonist of the novel. He was an officer during the Great War, and is a beautifully distant, indulging character that I found most sympathetic towards, from beginning to end. The rest of the characters I became angry or annoyed with at point, but I always cheered on the sidelines for Tom, almost wishing I could run in myself and help him. He was certainly the best choice for the main follow. The story does take other characters and points of view, as well as the omniscient views of the town and the effects of war, but none of them hit the nail on the head like Tom.

The plot is decent, the story has a real life feel to it. The story is rather slow. The novel takes turns to the surroundings, and follows the life of almost every person affected by the couple’s decision regarding the baby they found. Whole chapters recite the pains that the war left on the town of Point Partageuse, and the scars that continue to follow the residents. As the information is needed in context, especially with the theme of children never coming home, form war or otherwise, it does begin to grow monotonous towards the end. The story started slow, and would not pick up until almost 70% in before I was sucked into what were the decisions that were going to be made. Although, once the crisis passed, I put the book down with my mouth in a thin line. I was not entirely pleased, it was not a bad ending for sure, but I was hoping from this author, a slight glimmer of hope and salvation. It might just be the Jay Gatsby in me, to hope for such miracles. The end, as well, seemed a bit too much of a draw out. I had grown quite attached to the characters, and to find the end of the story was more a slap in the face for what I was hoping it would be. Although the way it ended meshed with the rest of the novel, with the drawn out, to the very end details and information, was just not enough for me. 

            Setting is the magic of this book, especially when the lyrical description are thrown into the mix. Reading about southwestern Australia in the 1920s is almost a fantasy world, but the writing style is nonchalant and approachable, just adding to the realization “this place is real.” I have even googled Janus Rock and seen its isolation, but with that intimate feeling of being there from the novel. When reading to escape the mundane of everyday and a heart to see the great wide somewhere, this book is perfect for getting away. Like a mini vacation, except for broke people. Plus the combination of lyrical style and setting is a knockout. Reading a beautiful description of a bathtub is nice, but of a relatively unknown place where two oceans meet that few people get to see, is a whole new beast.

Overall, it was a decent story with a great character, real life problems, told in a poetic prose. Although the novel may not strike out as a home-run for my tastes, it was worth the time to sit down and absorb the tale and feel the tragedy of the characters. I would suggest giving this book a look over, if not the afternoon to enjoy over a cup of tea.