Accepting my new "Frozen"-based reality

[jinasphinx]

I was rewatching "Frozen" again last night, like you do when you have small kids, and I started thinking about Kristoff. On the one hand, it's a bit of a bummer that Anna needs the help of a guy, unlike Merida, who doesn't even think about asking her three suitors for help -- she ends up being helped by her little brothers, but only towards the end of the movie.

On the positive side, Kristoff is a lot more three-dimensional than most heroes in Disney animated movies, and he differs in other ways as well. He's basically the anti-Prince Charming. Not only is he not a prince, his status in society is pretty low. Of the non-princes in Disney animation, John Smith is an explorer from a rich and powerful country, and Mulan's guy, Li Shang, is an army captain and a general's son. Aladdin becomes a prince via the genie. (Although Kristoff is a step up in society from Flynn Rider, the wanted criminal.) And he's prickly, not charming: he gets thrown out of a shop and follows it up by having an argument with Anna while they're being chased by wolves.

He might be the only Disney hero with a great sense of humor: "But people smell better than reindeers / Sven, don't you think I'm right? / That's once again true, for all except you." And although all the Disney heroes are brave, Kristoff also worries about everyone else first. Even at the end when he's frantically riding to save Anna ("like a valiant, pungent reindeer king!" as Olaf says) and he and Sven the reindeer take a spill on the breaking ice, he has to make sure Sven's okay before he takes off running.

And there's the "unmanly blondness": except for John Smith in "Pocahontas," I think Kristoff's the only blond "prince." (Here's a picture of the Disney prince lineup that's recent enough to include Flynn Rider.)

Comments

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

Ok so a friend of mine (w a little daughter) told me the story would be as good if not better (and make just as much sense) if all of the male characters had been totally left out. Do you agree? I have not seen the movie and my main source of info was a website that stressed the ways the movie is NOT that faithful to the experiences of the Saami ppl who it is nominally based on.

Also I know there is a song reflecting the glory of the majestic reindeer but so far my friend (and his daughter) have neglected to sing it to me.

[jinasphinx.livejournal.com]

Without the menfolks, it would be a different movie, and probably just as satisfying a narrative (depending on what else they used to fill the time). But part of what "Frozen" does is to respond to the preceding decades of Disney fairytales.

Apologies for large image:



Sorry if this is a slight spoiler, but as you may have heard, there is a charming, handsome prince that Anna meets who turns out to not be Mr. Right. The movie juxtaposes him with Kristoff, the anti-Prince Charming.

I had not heard that the film was supposed to be based on the Sami people; I thought it was inspired by the story, "The Snow Queen," by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. There is a Sami-inspired song but as far as I know it's not about the glory of reindeer; it's apparently set to the tune of a Danish Christian hymn.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

I have actually heard NOTHING about the guys and as far as I know, the movie is about her and her sister! I can see if I can find the Saami article. It was prolly on tumblr, which I find hard to search.

REINDEER ARE BETTER THAN PEOPLE isn't an Ungulate Power anthem? ;)

[jinasphinx.livejournal.com]

Well, it's definitely the case that the two sisters are the main characters. It's funny, the movie spends most of its time with Anna, but as far as my kids are concerned, Elsa is the coolest character ever and they both pretend to be her. Nobody wants to be Anna. They also pretend to be the snowmen.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

OK Kristoff is supposed to be Saami and a Saami guy goes into why it's not a great representation. That article, one conversation with a (white) friend of Nordic descent, and a brief conversation with a (white) colleague from Finland is the entire breadth and depth of my knowledge of the Saammi people though I guess my Inupiat friend is sort of related?

I will see if I can get my friend's little kid to talk to me about the differences b/w Elsa and Anna!

[jinasphinx.livejournal.com]

I had no idea Kristoff was supposed to be Sami! I feel bad for the Sami guy who wrote that tumblr; every time we watch "Lady and the Tramp" and the Siamese cats come out and sing that godawful racial caricature of a song, I have to leave the room. I mean, some of the stuff he mentions, like that the boots have no laces or the sled is too heavy to pull or that no Sami rides reindeer -- I'm like heck, did you notice that Anna and Elsa have eyes bigger than their wrists? Disney's not realistic. But yeah, I can imagine how painful it would be to have your culture misrepresented in popular media this way. Thanks for the link.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Isn't John Smith's country mostly rich and powerful in our hindsight? That's not how Pocahontas and her people regard the ship's crew. I liked the presentation of Smith and the others as scruffy wanderers, and Pocahontas's family as neat, civilized nobility.

[jinasphinx.livejournal.com]

I didn't remember that about "Pocahontas," but I haven't seen all of it in a long time; I should probably rewatch it. Thanks for pointing that out!