李慈恩
(4A0C0044)
Advanced English Writing
Frozen, a Movie Freezing the past, yet Heating up the Future
Frozen, “total grosses as of April 27, 2014 has made over one billion
worldwide,” (Box Office Mojo, 2014) achieved huge box office success. This is the
highest grossing animated film of Walt Disney Animation Studios and the sixth
highest grossing film of all time. Moreover, Frozen has been dubbed into forty-one
languages. (Box Office Mojo, 2014) There are lots of factors that contribute to the
success of Frozen. I divide these factors into three parts. First, there are some
untraditional ideas in the plot. Second, Frozen becomes a hit with some devices. Third,
different versions of the theme song publicize this animated film.
Compared Frozen with the past famous Disney princesses, there are lots of
differences. In the past, females’ social status was much lower than males. Women
had been ruled by men. If a woman wants to live happily, she will have to find a man
and depend on him even devote her whole life to the family, the husband, and children.
“Woman has always been man’s dependant, if not his slave; the two sexes have never
shared the world in equality. And even today woman is heavily handicapped, though
her situation is beginning to change. Almost nowhere is her legal status the same as
man’s, and frequently it is much to her disadvantage.” (The Second Sex, Simone de
Beauvoir, a French feminist, 1949) Therefore, the past Disney princesses were also
based on the fixed mode of waiting for a Prince Charming to save her from danger or
difficulties instead of doing something for herself. “The princesses in fairy tales,
taught to be alive dolls and pleasers, only have beautiful surface, good shapes, and
gorgeous clothes. They have to be 'objects' like perfect images of princesses.
Furthermore, the princess lives in expectation and waits for the man who belongs to
her day and night. She deeply believes that she can live happily ever after as long as
she obtains the true love. ” (Journal of CAGST, 2012, p 660) However, feminism is
rising recently. “The images of Disney princesses have changed. They become more
independent, strong, and have freedom, courage to break the curse of the shackles.”
(Journal of CAGST, 2012, p 660) Lately, Disney does not set the princess on the fixed
mode but turn her into a female with decision-making power, independence, and
pragmatism. In Frozen strong female characters appear. The snow queen, Elsa, learns
to accept her innate gift and make good use of it, trying not to be afraid of power and
be true to herself. In addition, the definition of true love is totally subverted. Elsa’s
sister, Anna, plays out an act of true love through self-sacrifice rather than the Prince
Charming’s typical true love’s kiss. Moreover, “it is the only movie of Disney that the
girl saves the girl.” (Kids React to Frozen, 03:23) This describes the love among
siblings. Before Frozen, the princesses had to be saved by the princes.
To become a hit, Frozen has been dubbed into forty-one languages. “We have 76
people around the world in 19 offices that oversee films in 55 languages. It's the only
way to really ensure that the film feels 'local,' our goal is to make every audience feel
like Frozen was made in their country for their people,” said a senior exec at Disney's
Character Voices International unit, Rick Dempsey. (The Hollywood Reporter, Tim
Appelo, 2014) Indeed, it proved worthwhile to make this translation work. Besides,
the theme song “Let it go” has been sung in twenty-five languages. Disney Company
found singers in different countries. “It's a difficult juggling act to get the right intent
of the lyrics and also have it match rhythmically to the music, and then you have to go
back and adjust for lip sync. It requires a lot of patience and precision. We try to
match it as close as possible,” said Rick Dempsey. (The Hollywood Reporter, Tim
Appelo, 2014) So, most kids think this music video is sung by the same singer. Also,
Disney Company made it advertise, get some more money, and show how popular the
worldwide Disney is. (Kids React to Frozen, 04:10-04:23) Besides, the original story
of Frozen is The Snow Queen based on Hans Christian Andersen’s work. “The plot is
the story of two children, a kind Granny and a nasty Snow Queen. The boy, Kay,
becomes mean and nasty and then disappears. He has followed the horrible Snow
Queen to her palace of ice. His sister, Gerda looks for him and after some time
travelling, finds him. She saves him from the Snow Queen. Kay changes back into a
friendly person and they return to Granny.” (The Snow Queen, Penguin Young
Readers) Instead of using the original story, Disney revised it to the princess series in
order to make popularity. What’s more, some new ideas were added into Frozen, such
as the magic power, the funny character Olaf, and no Prince Charming.
There are more and more different versions of the theme song “Let it go” made
by netizen or acted out by entertainers all over the world. No matter the lyric is
revised or the plot is imitated, this advertises the original version invisibly. More
people discuss Frozen, more people who have not seen Frozen will want to see it. At
first, Frozen did not achieve huge box office. Nevertheless, it broke the record of Lion
King and became the blockbuster by word of mouth on the Internet. These KUSO
versions arouse people’s interest. “Frozen surpassed The Lion King as the top grossing
animated film for Walt Disney Animation studios. It became Disney’s first animated
film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, along with an Oscar
for Best Original Song for the film’s breakout hit 'Let It Go.'” (Adam B. Vary,
BuzzFeed staff, 2014) Moreover, the animation is so simple that the audiences can go
to see it with relaxing mood without stress. That is one of reasons why people are
willing to pay for Frozen.
Owing to the above-mentioned factors, Frozen became the highest-grossing
animated feature of all time. There are some untraditional ideas in the plot. There is
no rule that true love must be acted out through the Prince Charming’s typical true
love’s kiss. Women do not have to hide themselves under men. Next, Frozen become
a hit by dubbing into different languages and revising Andersen’s work. Not only get
the media coverage but also hold some fascination. Apparently, different versions of
the theme song “Let it go” publicize Frozen successfully. Without doubt, Frozen
could be so popular worldwide.
References
Simone de Beauvoir. (1949). The Second Sex. France
Audrey McIlvain (Author), Claire Mumford (Illustrator). (2001).
The Snow Queen. London: Penguin Young Readers
Box Office Mojo. (2014, April 27). Frozen. Retrieved April 27, 2014 from the World
Wide Web: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=frozen2013.htm
The Hollywood Reporter. (2014, February 25). 'Frozen' Composer Robert Lopez on
the Perils of Translating 'Let It Go'. Los Angeles: Tim Appelo. Retrieved May 2,
2014 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/frozen-composer-robert-lopez-perils-6
83171
BuzzFeed Entertainment. (2014, March 4). “Frozen” Is The Highest-Grossing
Animated Film Of All Time. New York: Adam B. Vary. Retrieved May 2, 2014
from the World Wide Web:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/frozen-highest-grossing-disney-animatedfilm
Benny & Rafi Fine (Producers). (2014, February 16). Kids React to Frozen - Let It Go
(Multi-Language). Retrieved May 2, 2014 from the World Wide Web:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7WNr8Df1T0
Hui-Chun Chen, Dai-Wen Huang, & Si-Yi Lin. (2012). An Analysis of the Variance
between the Past and Present Disney Princess from A Feminist Perspective
[Electronic version]. Journal of CAGST, P658 – 672.