*WARNING:
CONTAINS SPOILERS*
Yesterday
I went and saw the new Disney princess film, Frozen. From what I’ve gathered
it’s received a very positive response and everyone’s buzzing with love for the
story, songs and characters. I’ll just start by saying I liked it. I liked it a
lot. I thought it was funny, touching, had great catchy tunes, the characters
were very likeable and it took Disney princess films into our modern era
without loosing the magic and simplicity they’ve always had.
But if I
had to summarise my feelings towards this film in five words, I’d just say: Hans is such a jerk.
Usually in Disney films I love the villain.
They tend to be sad misunderstood people (or animals) who got the raw end of a
deal in life. More often than not I barrack for the villain and they end up
being my favourite character. This is not the case in Frozen. For the first
time ever here is a film where the bad guy is a lying, deceiving, cold hearted
jerk who hurts people just to get what he wants… and I don’t feel sorry for him
in the least. They’ve actually managed to create a villain who is hateable.
One of the first songs in the film is sung
by the protagonist Anna. She’s excited because the gates are going to be open
for her sister’s coronation day, a ball will be thrown, and for the first time
in forever she has a chance to meet someone and fall in love. Typical Disney
princess dream. Then she meets Hans. He’s a handsome, kind prince who treats
Anna like the princess she is and they have a wonderful night together talking
and laughing, he understands her and they have a lot in common, she feels she’s
finally met someone who won’t just close the doors on her and who genuinely
cares for her. At this point I loved Hans. He was pretty adorable, I mean, look
at him:
By the end of their one perfect night
together they decide they’re madly in love and are going to get married. As an
audience member I didn’t question this for a second, it’s a Disney film, love
at first sight and instant proposals happen all the time. Anna’s sister then
gets angry, accidently curses their village into an eternal winter and runs
away to live in a ice castle up a mountain. Anna leaves Hans and her home to go
bring her sister back. On her way she meets ice-lover, reindeer befriender;
Kristoff.
(Did anyone else notice that the two main
male characters are called Hans and Kristoff and Frozen is based off a book by Hans Christian Anderson? I thought that
was cool).
It’s pretty obvious that Kristoff is going to
become Anna’s main love interest. He tells her that she’s silly for getting
engaged to a man she’s only just met and that true love is something more and
something greater than that. And suddenly this isn’t just a typical Disney
princess film where love at first sight isn’t questioned and is somewhat
expected or normal for the protagonist – Kristoff brings in our modern day
belief that you need to get to know someone over a period of time before you
can really say whether you’re suited for each other and if you love them. This
is where you realise that Hans isn’t going to be Anna’s main love interest and
that it’ll probably end up being Kristoff (actually, you probably worked that
out just from the trailer), but Anna is still insistent that Hans is “the one”
and I really liked Hans at this point so I was rooting for him too. I mean,
look at him:
So then Anna gets struck in the heart by
her sister’s icy powers and only an act of true love will be able to save
Anna’s life. So Kristoff rushes her back to the castle so Hans can kiss her. Now
for the part that made me exclaim out loud in the cinema, which I don’t usually
do (unless I’m having fun with friend’s or something, but that’s different).
When Hans and Anna are finally reunited she explains to him that he has to kiss
her because only an act of true love can save her life now. He sits her down on
the couch, puts his hand on her cheek and slowly leans in to kiss her, but then
unexpectedly decides to pull away at the last second and says: “Oh Anna, if
only there was someone out there who loved you.”
For a fraction of a second I thought he was
going to continue and say something forgivable like, “I thought I loved you but
I’ve realised that just one night isn’t enough time to really know. I think we
jumped into calling it love too quickly, I’m sorry.” That would’ve been okay.
That would’ve been understandable and human and I wouldn’t have hated him. But
that’s not what he went on to say. After Anna’s “what!?” he continues with
something along the lines of: “It was so easy to deceive you. You were so
desperate for love you couldn’t even see that I just wanted to marry you so I
can have the throne. Who accepts a marriage proposal after just one night!? I
never loved you.” How could he do that? He was so sweet. I mean, look at him:
Then Hans runs off leaving Anna shivering
and dying on the wooden floor. She tells her snowman friend Olaf that she once
dreamed of finding true love but now she doesn’t even know what love is
anymore. Good one Hans, you win the prize for biggest jerk in a Disney film
ever.
So yeah, I loved Frozen because you’re
typically meant to despise the villain in Disney films and it’s nice to, for
once, actually feel that.
