More Than Just Appearances: A Frozen Essay

Introduction

With this being my sixth Frozen essay in the four months since it was released to theaters, there is no doubt to my friends and readers how much I love this movie. By seeing it so many times, I eventually realized that out of my favorite Disney films, I have ranked Frozen behind only Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. In fact, I see quite a lot of comparisons of it to the former, from the similarities between characters to particular scenes in both films. One of the strongest features that these two amazing films share are the themes of true love being found within, and not to judge others based on their appearances and actions.

Even on the side, I also noticed that Frozen's love story is similar to that of Enchanted. In both films, the main heroine immediately falls in love with the prince, with whom she shares a duet, and they conspire to marry as soon as possible. After a disaster, the heroine has to spend time with another man, and finds out in the end that her true love is actually not the prince, but the person with whom she spent more time. And of course, both films feature Idina Menzel as one of the major characters. In Enchanted, she plays Nancy, who is the girlfriend of the deuteragonist, Robert, while in Frozen, she plays the deuteragonist, Elsa, who is the sister of the protagonist, Anna.

So this essay discusses the similarities and (small) differences between each major character in Frozen and Beauty and the Beast. In short, Anna compares to Belle, while Hans compares to Gaston, but I can see that both Kristoff and Elsa share traits with the Beast. Beauty and the Beast is definitely one of the greatest animated films ever made, and I believe Frozen is one of the best Disney ones to come since, so I hope this is another essay that you all can enjoy!


The Beautiful Protagonists

As the protagonists in their respective films, Belle and Anna have quite a bit in common. Both girls are beautiful, loving, kind, strong-willed, and selfless, the latter of which is demonstrated when they put someone else's needs first, all because they love that person: Belle offers to take her father's place as the Beast's prisoner so her father will be free, while Anna sacrifices her life to save Elsa. They are also dreamers who seek adventure and have their own songs (that they sing, but not as solos) in which they dream about wanting changes and/or more in their lives than what they currently have. Belle sings "Belle," in which she dreams of having more in her "provincial" life while living in her village. Anna sings "For the First Time in Forever," in which she expresses her excitement to meet other people at Elsa's coronation, since she had been isolated from other people for almost her whole life. Later, when someone close to them is exposed (Beast and Elsa) with unintended results, they both plead and defend the person by saying that he/she is not a monster, despite the crowds' fears of him/her. They both befriend talking, magical creatures; Belle befriends the enchanted objects, especially Chip, while Anna befriends Olaf. Additionally, both are locked up and trapped by the villain, but are saved by their magical friend.

Out of all the things they have in common, both Anna and Belle also have a handsome enemy who wants to marry them, but for their own selfish reasons and not because they really love them. When Gaston proposes to Belle (in a very absurd way), she rejects him and tricks him towards her door before he can kiss her. Unlike Belle, Anna immediately accepts Hans's impulsive proposal, then later he rejects her and refuses to kiss her (when he reveals his true nature to her). More so, both girls nearly get their close loved ones killed due to the main villain's plots: Beast and his enchanted servants are nearly killed as a result of Belle exposing the Beast's existence to the villagers when trying to save her father from being taken away to an asylum. After causing Elsa's powers to be exposed, along with searching for her, Anna unknowingly places Elsa in grave danger to Hans because of her relationship with him.

As a possible reference to Beauty and the Beast, because Anna is attracted to Hans, she comparably quotes the three blonde Bimbettes, who are actually infatuated with Gaston. While they say, "she's crazy" followed by, "he's gorgeous," (the former quote referring to the fact that they Belle is crazy for rejecting Gaston), Anna says, "I'm awkward" followed by, "you're gorgeous." But after discovering Hans's true nature, Anna states, "The only frozen heart around here is yours!" This is strikingly parallel to when Belle defends the Beast by saying, "He's no monster, Gaston! You are!" Again, Anna says this related line, but it's when she defends her sister after the Duke calls her a monster.

The only difference these heroines have in their relationships with these men is that Belle never trusted Gaston from the start, while Anna did initially fall for Hans. Belle's judgments with Gaston and the Beast show that she does not care about looks, but for personality. At the same time, Anna does seem to care more for looks than personality, at least initially. It was also because of her naiveté and being confined in the castle her whole life that she developed a false concept on what love truly is, especially because Hans acted so perfect (even almost too perfect) and appeared to be too good to be true.


The Handsome Villains

Much like how Anna and Belle share common facets with each other, being a villain, Hans shares a good deal in common with Gaston. One most notable feature that they share is that they are very handsome on the outside and use this to manipulate others in order to gain their admiration and respect. A difference in this is that Gaston is already admired by his town's villagers from the start, while Hans has been left in the shadows for years because he has twelve older brothers. Both men want to marry the beautiful protagonist of their films, but they don't love them for who they are. The main dissimilarity with this is their motives of the marriages: Gaston wants to marry Belle due to her beauty (which he thinks makes her the best, so he deserves her because of that), while Hans simply wants to use Anna to gain access to Arendelle's throne. Another difference is that, from the beginning, Gaston displays a lot of negative traits: he acts very rude, arrogant, narcissistic, sexist, and condescending around Belle, so he easily turns her away from him (while the villagers don't seem to notice or care about Gaston's personality). With Hans, while he is also very cruel, arrogant, and ruthless, when he is first introduced, he puts on a mask of a noble, charismatic, and caring prince, which makes Anna fall for him from the moment that they meet. Then when the time is right, Hans shocks Anna by revealing that he never loved her and was just using her.

Once Gaston and Hans bring out their true, sinister, murderous sides, they aim to kill the individuals who are close to the protagonists because other people fear them and view them as monsters; in this case, Gaston tries to kill the Beast, while Hans tries to kill Elsa. The men also want to kill these individuals for cruel reasons, especially because they are in the way of what these villains want. Gaston wants to kill Beast because Belle loves him instead, and it infuriates Gaston that she would reject him for someone who doesn't even have a better-looking appearance. As the town already views him as a hero, he knows that bringing down a "threat" like the Beast will make the villagers see him as an even greater hero. Hans wants to kill Elsa in order to bring summer back to Arendelle and become the new ruler of the kingdom. But when he manages to convince everyone that Elsa is a monster, he is also eager to kill her because the people of Arendelle will view him as a hero and savior – something that he never had because of him having so many brothers before him. More so, the villains lock up the protagonists in order to prevent their plans from being foiled.

While both villains also lead a mob to the "monster" to ensure the "safety" of the citizens, Gaston exposes details of his plan to a public crowd and makes it clear that only he will deal with the Beast. When Hans leads soldiers to Elsa's castle in order to find Anna, his true nature has not yet been revealed, and he even orders them not to harm Elsa. In a sinister move, however, because he has kept his plans to himself, it is likely that he was still planning to kill Elsa while at her castle, in a way so that it would look like an accident. This especially may be the moment when he aims the thug's arrow at the chandelier, which makes it come falling down to kill Elsa (though she moves away in time). Interestingly enough, when Gaston comes upon Beast in the castle, he shoots him with an arrow first. Then when Beast refuses to fight back (because he has become depressed since Belle has left), Gaston grabs a club-like object from a piece of the architecture and plans to kill Beast right then and there, because he is in a vulnerable state. But when Beast sees Belle from below, he quickly regains his strength and grabs the club, surprising Gaston. Similarly, when Hans tries to kill Elsa once and for all, he first lies to her that she killed Anna with her magic. This devastates Elsa to the point where she falls on the ground and mourns, putting her in a vulnerable state. This gives Hans the chance to murder her at last, so he pulls out his sword and raises it above her head. But seconds before he can hit her, Anna jumps in front to stop his sword, with the freezing curse finally taking full effect. The impact of the sword hitting her body makes Hans fall unconscious.

In the ends of both films, the fates of Hans and Gaston differ. Gaston fights with Beast until he is disarmed and Beast tries to kill him. When Gaston pathetically pleads for mercy, Beast reluctantly lets him go and only tells him to leave. But when Gaston sees Belle and Beast embrace at the top of the tower, Gaston follows him and stabs him in the side. Ultimately, he loses his balance and falls to his death in the chasm below. With Hans, he regains consciousness and is confused to see Anna alive and well after the frozen curse. Anna says he is the only one with the frozen heart, then she punches him off the ship they are aboard and he falls into the water. Having survived this ordeal, Hans is imprisoned on a ship back to the Southern Isles and is said to be punished for his crimes when he returns home.


The Misunderstood "Monsters"

Much like the similarities between the protagonists and antagonists of both films, Elsa definitely shares traits with the Beast. For one, both characters are royalty who are cursed with dangerous abilities. However, a major difference between them is that the Beast was a human prince who transformed into the Beast, with a hideous appearance and dangerous capabilities, while Elsa was born with her snow and ice powers. Both characters have blue eyes, wear two different capes with the same colors, and have signature clothing that is blue. The first capes of Elsa and the Beast are purple, then their second capes are blue. But their signature outfits differ because Elsa's second cape is part of her Snow Queen dress, which is crystal blue, while Beast's signature outfit is his dark blue suit without a cape.

Because of their abilities, both characters think of themselves as monsters, so they have isolated themselves from the rest of the world in fear and shame from said curses. Interestingly enough, the main events of their respective films take place when they are both twenty-one years old. When they are discovered, they are both feared and misunderstood by people, despite the films' protagonists trying to convince them that he/she is not dangerous. The theme of their stories also plays with the moral of not to judge by appearance, which is also a definite contrast played with their respective antagonists (Beast with Gaston, Elsa with Hans).

Both the Beast and Elsa are attacked by the villain and a mob for the people's "safety", and they are also provoked by an attacker and nearly kill them in a fit of rage, but then stop before they can do it, since the act makes them seem like they are truly monsters. In the case of the Beast, he nearly kills Gaston after the latter taunts the former, but realizes he no longer has the heart to do so. Elsa also tries to kill the Duke’s thugs when they try to kill her first, and Hans ironically calms her down before she can kill the men.

Additionally, both characters are nearly murdered by their respective villains, who fail to do so due to the interferences of the protagonists. However, the outcomes of these are also very different. Gaston stabs Beast, who temporarily dies due to the wound. Hans almost kills Elsa, but is stopped by Anna when she sacrifices herself to save Elsa's life, at the very moment when the ice curse takes full effect, freezing her to an ice statue. Ironically, Elsa clutching Anna's frozen body and mourning her mirrors the moment when Belle does the same upon Beast's death. But because Belle professed her love to Beast at the last moment, with him having fallen in love with her, too, his curse is finally broken and he is brought back to life in his human form. Likewise, Anna's sacrifice to save Elsa was an act of true love that cured her frozen heart, so she was revived from the curse. This act of love helped Elsa realize that love is the key to controlling her magic, so she was able to remove the winter curse on Arendelle and use them for good.


The "True" True Loves

Although the Beast shares a lot of common ground with Elsa, there are some points of him that he also shares with Kristoff. For one thing, both are the "other" potential love interests for the protagonists, while the "firsts" are the antagonists. In fact, both character types are just about the complete antitheses of the other. The Beast starts off as a spoiled and selfish prince who, after becoming a beast, grows bitter and angry with no hope that he will ever change back. When he first meets Belle, it is anything but love at first sight for the two, and he tries too hard with his anger to win her over. But after he saves Belle from wolves, they start to get along better, particularly when he decides to give her his library as a surprise, which delights her. As he gets to know Belle, he falls in love with her and learns to put her needs before his own, most especially when he releases her from his castle, despite knowing that he may no longer have a chance to change back. In the end, however, love finally conquers all, and the prince and Belle share their first true love's kiss.

In the case with Kristoff, his first meeting with Anna is also anything but love at first sight. He acts very grumpy and rude when they first converse, and refuses to help her locate Elsa, until she reveals she has bought him all of his wanted items. Although he saves Anna from wolves, it ends disastrously because his sled is ultimately wrecked. However, the more time they spend together, he starts to become smitten with her kind and fiery nature, unknowingly falling in love with her. Even though he never out right tells her, "I love you," he learns to put her needs before his own, showing that he does indeed love her. This is especially shown when he rushes her back to Arendelle, then comes back again during a more intense storm to make sure she is safe. The last few minutes of Frozen include when Anna surprises Kristoff with a new sled, to which he expresses his delight. And of course, Kristoff and Anna also share their first true love's kiss.


Conclusion

Although this is not part of the movie, I also thought of another way of how Frozen reminds me of Beauty and the Beast. One of the promotional ads includes Anna and Elsa having a snowball fight. Anna throws one at Elsa, who then magically conjures a bigger snowball in her hands and playfully chases after Anna! Like the moment when Elsa tricks the Duke into dancing with Anna, this little short definitely shows Elsa's more playful and mischievous side. This all definitely reminded me of the snowball fight scene in Beauty and the Beast, because Belle first throws a snowball at the Beast, who then playfully tries to fight back with a bigger snowball. But Belle manages to knock him down again, so he chases after her, but he does it all out of mischief and playfulness, not anger.

With this being my sixth essay for Frozen, I can honestly say, even though I may have before, that I have not loved an animated film like I love Frozen in such a long time! I also love The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast a great deal, and I do not think that Frozen is like a repetition of the latter mentioned film. They are both unique fairy tales with great stories to offer to viewers, especially children. Beauty and the Beast is definitely hailed as a classic, and I think that Frozen is definitely on its way there, too! Its overall financial and critical success definitely seems to suggest that it will go on to be another beloved Disney classic in the years to come.

In conclusion, to all of my friends, I hope you have enjoyed this sixth Frozen essay that I have written, and for those of you who have managed to buy Frozen on DVD, I hope you can enjoy it as much as you did in the theaters! If not, go out and buy it soon! Until next time, everyone!