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Home , Aladdin (franchise), Chris Buck, Elsa (Frozen), Finding Nemo (franchise), Frozen (franchise), Jennifer Lee (filmmaker)

In contemporary popular culture, the word “” has become synonymous with the franchise as well as Disney’s re- establishment as ’s leading production company. Since its release nearly three years ago, Frozen has gained widespread international acclaim and popularity within multiple demographics as evinced by its worldwide box ofce gross of approximately $1.2 billion and its status as the highest-grossing animated flm in history, a title which was previously held by Disney’s Te Lion . 1,2 Within months of its release, Frozen earned two , a Golden Globe for best animated feature, and a signifcant cultural following — it outperformed all eight of the other animated feature flms released in 2013, and was the frst Disney-led flm to outperform a flm led by Studios in the same year (Monster’s University), despite Disney overseeing all Pixar production by this point.3,4 Te success of Frozen as a “modernized princess movie” can be examined in various ways, such as its spread through social media, its strategic marketing and its cultural relevance to contemporary gender politics.5 Frozen has received a near-universal reputation of having highly feminist themes for a Disney flm and for being revolutionary in terms of its artistic and technological production. However, this essay argues that despite all of its achievements, Frozen re-established Disney as contemporary animation’s headliner by maintaining the Disney status quo built upon decades of conventionality through its themes and artistic depictions. Once Pixar Animation Studios merged with Disney in 2006 to form North America’s commercial cinematic superteam Disney-Pixar, a hybrid animation style solidifed itself in the revamped companies’ co- productions, with Disney’s classic hyperrealist, partially hand-drawn (but mostly computer-generated) style complimenting the neatness and complexity of Pixar’s three-dimensional CGI technology.6 Frozen spent a decade in development, although it was produced within the span of two years — an anomaly since it normally takes three years to produce a Disney feature flm.7 Co-directors (screenwriter for Disney’s Wreck- it Ralph) and (director of Disney’s ) then divided the

79 RUtH LEViNE tasks of supervising the writing and animation processes, respectively.8 Frozen was regarded as a follow-up to and Brave, flms which also saw young princess protagonists being “modernized” for present- day audiences in Broadway-style musical numbers while demonstrating the new Disney-Pixar merged animation style.9 However, Frozen has been recognized in popular media by diferentiating itself from these precursors in its production, its distribution and its narrative content – to an extent. First, to briefy outline the flm’s premise: Frozen’s narrative is very loosely based on Christian Anderson’s “Te Snow Queen” (incidentally, this was Frozen’s working title).10 Te setting is the kingdom of Arendelle in Norway, where the two female protagonists, sisters and , live as princesses and the sole heirs to the kingdom afer the untimely passing of their parents.11 Due to an unfortunate incident during their childhood where Elsa accidentally harms Anna with her magical snow and ice producing powers, Anna has her memory erased and Elsa chooses to cease all interaction with her sister until her coronation years later. However, at the ceremony, Elsa exposes her powers to all in attendance, forcing her to run away from her kingdom to build an ice fortress, where she fnds she can be free to accept herself and her highly destructive powers (cue the song “”). Meanwhile, Elsa has incited great fear in Arendelle’s townspeople because, in the process of running away, she has inficted a magic-induced winter on the entire kingdom. Having suddenly understood her sister’s avoidance, Anna believes that the only way to end the winter is to bring Elsa back and have her reverse her magic. Te flm then follows Anna as she befriends an iceman named Kristof, his expressive (yet mute) named , and an anthropomorphized talking snowman named , who help her on her quest to bring her sister home. Anna also falls in “love” with an attendant to Elsa’s coronation, Prince Hans, who later reveals his sinister intentions to take over Arendelle by imprisoning Elsa for her cataclysmic powers. Eventually, Anna is imperiled when Elsa accidentally delivers a blow of ice to her heart, magically freezing her unless true love saves her life. Te flm’s climax reveals then that the true love Anna required was not that of a romantic interest, but the familial love of her sister. Te story ends with the sisters reuniting, the magical winter subsiding and Elsa’s powers being embraced by the townspeople as she becomes the Queen of Arendelle. As can be easily inferred from this plot, snow and ice play a large

80 CAMéRA StyLo role in the flm and as a result, most of the efort involved in its production process dealt with creating a realistic, detailed depiction of snow. Tis led to Frozen’s animators developing a multi-grid computational fuid dynamics device alongside researchers at the University of – this invention would become Frozen’s famous snow simulator Matterhorn.12 Using an algorithm-based “material point method” of simulating innumerable amounts of particles colliding on various grids, the fuidity of snow in all of its “organic” states and textures (chunky, wet, fufy, or dense) was more easily rendered in the flm.13,14 Matterhorn was also used to create the reaction of the snow when characters would interact with it— for example, it depicts imprints and debris coming of the snow when a character might raise their foot from the ground.15 Furthermore, snow experts were consulted throughout the snowmaking process. Teir involvement led to the creation of 2,000 unique snowfake designs for the flm.16 Tere were many other innovative processes in Frozen’s production; a real reindeer was brought into the studio to assist with the complexities of Sven’s movements, while acting coaches worked alongside the actors to help them develop their character’s voice and physical expressions.17 In addition, animators also hand drew “blocking passes,” two-dimensional key poses of characters either still or in motion that are then used to establish timing and placement in various shots — while some crew members (such as senior animation supervisor Becky Bresee) acted out these poses for the artists.18 Character animators took reference trips to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where they wore heavy full-length dresses and walked in deep snow to test the snow’s movements and natural reactions.19 Tey also visited multiple locations in Norway to fnd key design elements that they could incorporate into the flm’s aesthetic.20 Tis led to Norway’s fords, or enormous “vertical rock formations,” becoming a primary location for Arendelle, and rosemaling folk art having a signifcant infuence on the architecture, décor and costumes featured in the flm.21 Other major infuences on the flm’s aesthetic include Te Sound of Music, which has a juxtaposition of character and environment that is notably refected in that of Elsa and her environment, as well as the observation of glaciers, their natural colors, and sunlight’s efect on those colors.22, i

i Te Sound of Music’s protagonist Maria is ofen situated as being completely alone (and content) in the expanse of Austrian mountains and valleys, despite the turmoil occurring in nearby cities at the turn of WWII. Elsa refects this in her desire to maintain her solitude amidst fords and massive valleys of snow, despite the struggles of the nearby townspeople in the face of a perpetual winter.

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However, despite all these unique design features and infuences, Frozen is not the only animated Disney flm with such a highly complex production process, nor is it the only Disney flm that fxates on every small detail to convey a sense of hyperrealism. Disney animated flms in general are known for their realism and extreme detail, which usually juxtaposes with the fantastical nature of their of-magical narratives. In that sense, Frozen does not stand out as a technological marvel any more than its Disney-Pixar precursors, which utilized many of the same methods to achieve a similar (if not identical) animation style, short of a few unique details in regards to the setting, lighting and snow design. For instance, Tangled is ofen credited with having an extremely complicated process when it came to animating ’s many hair strands— a process which translated to Frozen’s production when it was used on Anna and Elsa’s hair movement. In terms of animators acting out character motions to better animate these movements onscreen, Disney has utilized this technique of live-action models for more than half a century, with classic flms such as Disney’s Sleeping Beauty as a notable example. Furthermore, when looking at the character animation for Tangled’s Rapunzel and Brave’s Merida, Frozen’s female protagonists have almost exactly the same faces and facial expressions as the aforementioned characters, which indicates that much of Frozen’s animation techniques and styles were drawn from past Disney-Pixar flms. Ergo, all of Frozen’s innovative aspects that specialize in creating extreme realistic detail contribute to maintaining the hyperrealist, detail-oriented status-quo of Disney animation studios. On the other hand, one aspect that has supposedly “truly” diferentiated Frozen from its predecessors is its social message, which was generated through various interpretations of its themes and narrative as “feminist” and subversive towards classical Disney conventions. Te idea of Frozen promoting a more feminist-friendly narrative comes from the flm drawing attention to the ofen-used “love at frst sight” trope and immediately turning it on its head when Anna discovers that Hans is not her true love at all. It also arises from the fact that the flm’s plot diverges from the typical romance narrative in Disney flms which usually contributes to most of the flm’s action and results in the Happy Ending, since what becomes central to Frozen’s narrative and plot resolution is instead familial love, a love displayed in Anna and Elsa’s relationship with each other. Te female protagonists in the flm are given what England, Descartes and Collier-Meek describe in their study Gender Role

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Portrayal and the Disney Princesses as a mix of masculine and feminine characteristics that are repeatedly seen in Disney flms. For instance, Anna and Elsa’s notable ‘male’ traits are assertiveness, independence and bravery, while their notable ‘female’ traits are fear, shame, emotionality, victimization, tending to appearance and the “collapse into crying.”23 While the study explores Disney princess flms preceding 2010, the authors noted that in later Disney flms, although the princesses showed increasingly more masculine traits, they still had more feminine characteristics in their top three most frequently shown traits – such is the case for Frozen and its female protagonists.24 In addition, the authors explain in their conclusion that princesses rarely display assertiveness to a prince character, and that a princess has yet to perform the fnal climactic rescue scene without a prince’s involvement.25 While Anna and Elsa both show assertiveness towards Hans and Kristof (which contributes to their feminist interpretation) and even though they play a signifcant role in the fnal rescue scene, it is still entirely through the involvement of only male secondary characters that the rescue is able to take place. Tis is another notable contradiction regarding the feminist interpretation of Frozen – there are only two female characters in the entire flm. It is important, however, to note that Frozen is not just a Disney flm, but a Pixar flm as well. Until Brave’s release in 2012, Pixar had never produced a flm featuring a female protagonist. Instead, Pixar’s output consisted of flms that concentrated on the themes of male-centered friendship and platonic male bonding.26, ii In these male-centred flms, female characters are either co-protagonists or secondary characters, with notable examples being Eve in Wall-E, Dory in , in 2 (and 3) and Boo in Monsters Inc. In her article “Are the ‘Boys’ at Pixar Afraid of Little Girls?” Haseenah Ebrahim relates these female characters to Lissa Paul’s notion “heroes in drag,” which asserts that female characters take on male characteristics to “subvert traditional female roles.”27 For instance, Eve’s character in Wall-E is a technologically superior robot in comparison to her male counterpart, because she is independent, faster, goal-oriented and assertive. Jessie’s character in is another female character who demonstrates assertiveness, athleticism and bravery. However, making female characters inherently more “masculine” only emphasizes the message that traditionally “male”

ii Pixar’s Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Wall-E, and Up.

83 RUtH LEViNE character traits are more valuable than traditionally “female” ones, which in turn deters from a feminist message. Furthermore, the key to making a flm truly “feminist” lies in character representation, not just in terms of feminine and masculine traits but also in depictions of race and physicality. Frozen is a female-cen- tered Disney animated flm, where the cast is entirely Caucasian and its only two female protagonists are depicted as waif-like, physically attrac- tive, doe-eyed, graceful (except for Anna’s few moments of clumsiness) and talented songstresses. This very same physicality appears in nearly every princess film animated and helmed by himself.iii Tis pattern reappears in Team Disney-produced flms in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.iv Even in Disney flms which feature princess- es of diferent ethnicities, the princesses still possess all of these physical characteristics.v While the distinct choreography of Disney princesses has added a degree of action and sportiness to its grace and posture as seen in Disney flms such as Te Little Mermaid, this hybridization of action and grace remains in Elsa and Anna’s movements as they dance, twirl and run, proving that the merged choreography from 1990s-era Disney has yet to change.28 In all these ways, Frozen displays a highly familiar, conventional image of a Disney princess, and relies on a singular subversive aspect in its narrative to give it some progressivity in contemporary issues. To fully understand how Frozen maintains a large amount of Disney conventions, one must remove its one defning narrative aspect from their analysis in order to see how the flm’s inclusion of less- noticeable Disney tropes adds up to a highly conventional Disney flm.vi First, Frozen’s central themes mirror those of almost any other Disney flm. Magic is a central element in the narrative, with Elsa being labeled as a “witch” for her powers. Tere is also the inclusion of magical characters like Olaf, Elsa’s ice monster, and the trolls who adopted Kristof. Te timeless and universal themes of self-acceptance, familial love, sacrifce, repression of self-expression, marginalization from society, and the desire to fnd true love are all explored in Frozen’s narrative. In addition, Frozen’s plot structure follows a simple Disney formula, beginning with the briefy-

iii Disney’s and the Seven Dwarves, , and Sleeping Beauty. iv Disney’s Te Little Mermaid (1989) and (1991). v Te princesses in Disney’s , , , and Te Princess and the Frog. vi Te defning narrative aspect mentioned refers to the flm’s “feminist” outcome in Anna being rescued by the love of her sister.

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mentioned death of both parental fgures, climaxing with the reveal of one character’s true evil intentions and the rescue scene, and then fnishing with a happy ending – Cinderella is an example of a Disney princess flm that possesses this exact storyline. Frozen even follows Disney’s tendency towards folktale adaptations, since it features a signifcantly altered account of princesses in a fctitious kingdom. In terms of character conventions, Frozen contains the comic-relief in the anthropomorphized snowman Olaf, the non-verbal yet expressive and helpful animal in Sven the reindeer, an evil, merciless adversary in Prince Hans, and relationships demonstrating traditional heteronormative values – as seen in the pairing of Anna and Hans at the beginning of the flm, then the later pairing of Anna and Kristof at the end of the flm. Te flm’s cast is star-studded, with household names like Broadway star and A-list actress voicing Elsa and Anna, respectively. Te flm’s humor is child-friendly, with implied jokes that adults may fnd appealing. A more in-depth examination of each of these conventions would show that the majority of Disney princess flms possess most, if not all, of these tropes and features. Nevertheless, a brief outline alone demonstrates how Frozen has not produced a ‘revolutionary’ Disney narrative at all. Frozen’s popularity and success may be based primarily on limited “feminist” interpretations and a superfcial understanding of Pixar and Disney’s rich histories in both animation production and technological innovation. However, it is Frozen’s marketing and distribution tactics that contributed to its hit status most remarkably. In the article “How Frozen Took Over the World,” Maria Konnikova describes theories put forth by economist Barry Litman in 1983 and psychologist Dean Simonton in 2009 that account for a flm’s popularity.29 Litman suggests that a flm’s performance is less dependent on factors such as genre and key audience but rather its content, release schedule and marketing. In particular, he emphasizes that content with a degree of familiarity and timelessness, positive critical ratings and a release directly preceding increase a flm’s popularity.30 Litman’s theory arose before the rise of the internet and social media, yet Simonton’s theory takes these two factors into account when it suggests that a flm’s story and “social signifcance,” (information which can be easily found online) are the two largest factors in determining a flm’s success.31 In this sense, Frozen achieved all of the factors mentioned; it was released in late November, it presented timeless themes, contemporary issues and characters with relatable traits within a high quality script, and

85 RUtH LEViNE it gained widespread attention for its more ‘revolutionary’ aspects when people shared their thoughts on the flm through the internet and social media. Furthermore, the lawyers associated with Frozen disseminated its music online, leading to the popularization of many of its songs such as “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” and “Let It Go” – both of which topped the international music charts for several weeks.32 Anna and Elsa- themed merchandise, such as costumes, clothing, dolls, partyware, school supplies, fruit snacks and bags sold by Disney and other retailers, have also become highly popular, as have the flm’s soundtrack and its Blu-ray and DVD releases. An animated short, (Disney-Pixar, 2015), was released a little over a year afer its full-length predecessor, while the production of the Frozen is currently underway with no release date set. Tere is also a Frozen stage musical production scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2017 (an unsurprising ofshoot considering the Broadway fanbase associated with the flm and its stars). Frozen is by no means a radical political statement, nor does it present a very large thematic and artistic shif in Disney’s animated feature flmmaking, yet it has earned a reputation as a classic Disney flm within the last year alone. Frozen and its success is therefore representative of Disney’s continuous power as a brand, an animation studio, and as an enormous contributor to contemporary pop culture. It also demonstrates the potential for actually “revolutionary” Disney animated flms in the years to come.

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1 Ben Fritz, “A Charmed Life for Disney’s Frozen,” Te Wall Street Journal Magazine, January 12, 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527023 03819704579316722023392130. 2 Maria Konnikova, “How ‘Frozen’ Took over the World,” Te New Yorker, last modifed June 25, 2014, http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria- konnikova/how-frozen-took-over-the-world. 3 Fritz. 4 Konnikova. 5 Fritz. 6 Carolyn Giardina, “Oscars: With ‘Frozen,’ Disney Invents a New Princess (and Secret Sofware),” Te Hollywood Reporter Magazine, last modifed November 27, 2013, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-frozen- disney-invents-a-659175. 7 Fritz. 8 Giardina. 9 Fritz. 10 Fritz. 11 Giardina. 12 Ian Failes, “Te tech of Disney’s ‘Frozen’ and ‘Get a Horse!’” FXGuide.com, last modifed December 2, 2013, https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-tech- of-disneys-frozen-and-get-a-horse. 13 Failes. 14 Emanuel Levy, “Frozen: Setting and Visual Look,” Emanuel Levy Cinema 24/7, last modifed December 26, 2013, http://emanuellevy.com/uncategorized/ frozen-setting-and-visual-look. 15 Idem. 16 Idem. 17 Dan Sarto, “Te Animation of Disney’s ‘Frozen’: Striving to Capture the Performance,” Animation World Network, last modifed October 11, 2013, http://www.awn.com/animationworld/animation-disneys-frozen-striving- capture-performance. 18 Idem. 19 Giardina. 20 Idem. 21 Bill Desowitz, “Designing the Winter Wonderland of ‘Frozen,’” Animation Scoop on IndieWire.com, last modifed October 7, 2013, http://blogs.indiewire. com/animationscoop/frozen-preview-designing-arrendelle.

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22 Idem. 23 Dawn England, Lara Descartes and Melissa A. Collier-Meek, “Gender Portrayal and the Disney Princesses,” Sex Roles 64, no. 7/8 (2011): 558-560. doi: 10.1007/s11199-011-9930-7. 24 Ibidem, 561-562. 25 Ibidem, 563, 565. 26 Haseenah Ebrahim, “Are the ‘Boys’ at Pixar Afraid of Little Girls?” Journal of Film and Video 66, no. 3 (2014): 45. doi: 10.5406/jflmvideo.66.3.0043. 27 Ebrahim. 28 Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario, “Te Princess and the : Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princess,” Women’s Studies in Communication 27, no. 1 (2004): 47. doi: 10.1080/07491409.2004.1016246. 29 Konnikova. 30 Konnikova. 31 Idem. 32 Idem.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Desowitz, Bill. “Immersed in Movies: First Look: Designing the Winter Wonderland of ‘Frozen.’” Animation Scoop on IndieWire. com. Last modifed October 7, 2013. http://blogs.indiewire.com/ animationscoop/frozen-preview-designing-arrendelle.

Do Rozario, Rebecca-Anne C. “Te Princess and the Magic Kingdom: Beyond Nostalgia, the Function of the Disney Princess.” Women’s Studies in Communication 27, no. 1 (2004): 34-59. doi: 10.1080/07491409.2004.10162465.

Ebrahim, Haseenah. “Are the ‘Boys’ at Pixar Afraid of Little Girls?” Journal of Film and Video 66, no. 3 (2014): 43-56. doi: 10.5406/ jflmvideo.66.3.0043.

England, D., Lara Descartes, and Melissa A. Collier-Meek. “Gender Portrayal and the Disney Princesses.” Sex Roles 64, no. 7/8 (2011): 555-567. doi: 10.1007/s11199-011-9930-7. Failes, Ian. “Te tech of Disney’s ‘Frozen’ and ‘Get a Horse!’” FXGuide. com. Last modifed December 2, 2013. https://www.fxguide. com/featured/the-tech-of-disneys-frozen-and-get-a-horse.

Fritz, Ben. “A Charmed Life for Disney’s ‘Frozen.’” Te Wall Street Journal Magazine. Last modifed January 12, 2014. http://www. wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303819704579316722023392 130.

Giardina, Carolyn. “Oscars: With ‘Frozen,’ Disney Invents a New Princess (and Secret Sofware).” Te Hollywood Reporter Magazine. Last modifed November 27, 2013. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ news/oscars-frozen-disney-invents-a-659175.

Konnikova, Maria. “How ‘Frozen’ Took Over the World.” Te New Yorker. Last modifed June 25, 2014. http://www.newyorker.com/ science/maria-konnikova/how-frozen-took-over-the-world.

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Levy, Emanuel. “Frozen: Setting and Visual Look.” EmanuelLevy Cinema 24/7. Last modifed December 26, 2013. http:// emanuellevy.com/uncategorized/frozen-setting-and-visual-look.

Sarto, Dan. “Te Animation of Disney’s ‘Frozen’: Striving to Capture the Performance.” Animation World Network. Last modifed October 11, 2013. http://www.awn.com/animationworld/ animation-disneys-frozen-striving-capture-performance.

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