Frozen: Part IV

[qindarka]

I think I lost brain cells reading some of the posts on the Frozen tag on Tumblr. Highlights include a person claiming that Disney put Olaf in as a symbol of white pride. Also another post referenced a line from the junior novel about how white snow shouldn't be mixed with the color yellow as a screed against interracial mixing.

My ignore list is going into 4 digits by the time the film comes out.

[jazzflower92]

I think I lost brain cells reading some of the posts on the Frozen tag on Tumblr. Highlights include a person claiming that Disney put Olaf in as a symbol of white pride. Also another post referenced a line from the junior novel about how white snow shouldn't be mixed with the color yellow as a screed against interracial mixing.

My ignore list is going into 4 digits by the time the film comes out.

Man, these people on tumblr are really something.

[qindarka]

Anyway, in regards to the other controversy, regarding gender, I thought these were pretty interesting perspectives:

Even though Snow Queen was my favourite fairy tale growing up and probably the first fictional creation to get me legitimately invested and invoke emotion of any sort it was by no means progressive or beyond scrutiny and definitely not the type of material Disney should consider refraining from their common, well documented and distinctly established tendency to take liberties for. As opposed to the original fairy tale that dwells on a highly stereotypical concept of a mature empowered woman being portrayed as - literally - cold and emotionless villains a young and fierce heroine is bound to outsmart hence why the latter sets out on a life threatening journey to chase her male friend who willingly went to live with the Snow Queen after ~ pieces of devilish mirror got into his eyes and heart making his vision and perception of the world misguided, dark and angsty as the result of which he became cruel and aggressive (a textbook symbolism for puberty phase in boys with a drastic change of behavior, newly developed abusive/inconsiderate tendencies and destructive societal notion of justifying it by assuming they only need a love of a woman to be miraculously “fixed”) Disney’s Frozen is telling a different - and in my opinion considerably more refreshing and valuable - story about a family featuring a “special” child whose uniqueness is not dealt with properly and is kept repressed and concealed instead that essentially leads to crucial and emotionally challenging consequences when said child grows up into reserved, struggling adult afraid of their own incredible abilities due to not being taught how to take them under control and balance them out rather than being instructed on undisclosing their skill for the sake of not coming off as dangerous for society.

This type of approach is what a lot of families mistakenly cultivate when children with extraordinary conditions are concerned and those children later turn into anti-social, psychologically damaged people with no basic knowledge on how to handle their issues in effective and harmless - for them and everyone else - manner. Elsa is undoubtedly an intriguing character (and Idina Menzel is an outstanding actress and performer) for she represents that kind of person, but the story itself is immensely relatable and has major potential to elaborate on psychological context of the story and family/sisterly dynamic, not excluding through Anna’s arc who - contrary to the original fairy tale’s protagonist Gerda - goes on a journey and invests considerable efforts and energy not for the sake of finding and rehabilitating her misguided/devil possessed male friend (seeing as Beauty and the Beast concept if a long over due and thankfully, the romance in the movie is promising to be a minor and background part of it and luckily it isn’t structured by a cliched “I’ll never deserve her unless I live up to her moral superiority” trope that the majority of Disney’s “not a love at first sight” romances - save for the one in Tangled - are based on) and dragging him out of mature empowered evil woman’s grip but is determined to save her sister from herself and provide her with help and support in regards to the issue that she has been deprived of for her entire life. To me, this is an exceptionally uplifting premise for engaging engaging story that deserves attention.

Because as much as I cherished and treasured (and in many ways still do thus the past tense is used mainly for emphasis) the original Snow Queen fairy tale still remembering distinctly how my attention deficit burdened 5 year old self stayed up all night to read it’s concise versions in English to impress my teacher back when the only English words I knew was the count from one to ten the LAST thing Disney needed was to come up with a yet another empowered mature female antagonist (who is, quite literally, solely antagonized due to being mature and empowered because she was cold, emotionless and loveless) outsmarted by a fiercely passionate young heroine that sets on a life threatening journey to chase her male friend who chose to go with said mature empowered woman and live in her castle because he was in his hyper hormonal puberty phase inflicted by the effects of devilish mirror shards getting into his eyes making his perception of the world ~ dark and angsty and his behavior aggressive and cruel. Young fierce heroine risks herself multiple times in order to get to him, receives help on part of other women who serve one and only purpose of contributing to her immensely dangerous mission of finding her male friend, ends up fixing said male friend with the power of her purity and feelings and the mature empowered woman is being left with no slack due to being - ta da - cold, emotionless and loveless.
Now lord mercy, but tell me how THIS is more of a progressive, refreshing and substantial instance of a female representation than the showcase of a family bond value and a young woman’s arc being essentially driven and motivated by her love for her sister and who works in an equal team with a man who has a potential of becoming her love interests because they actually get to know each other rather than her trying to drag him out of puberty struggles insuperable grip of a mature and empowered female villain.

http://expelled-from-heaven.tumblr.com

With that in mind, I've mentioned it back then and stand by it, there should have been more female supporting characters.

[Polizzi]

Well, It's not a bad thing It's rated G. Toy Story 3 was rated G, and look at that dump scene and all the dark it was.

Same for "Monsters University."

[Warm Regards]

Something cute I saw on tumblr: (Nice breather from all the arguing that stemmed from I-don't-know-what.)

[Musical Master]

[DisneyEra]

I think I lost brain cells reading some of the posts on the Frozen tag on Tumblr. Highlights include a person claiming that Disney put Olaf in as a symbol of white pride. Also another post referenced a line from the junior novel about how white snow shouldn't be mixed with the color yellow as a screed against interracial mixing.

My ignore list is going into 4 digits by the time the film comes out.

I wonder what the reaction will be when these people see the muti-racial cast in Big Hero 6 next year.

[SWillie!]

I wonder what the reaction will be when these people see the muti-racial cast in Big Hero 6 next year.

Oh don't you even worry. They'll find some conspiracy. I mean, already the two main characters are male (well, male and male-ish robot)... so that's an easy enough target right there.

[jazzflower92]

I wonder what the reaction will be when these people see the muti-racial cast in Big Hero 6 next year.

Oh don't you even worry. They'll find some conspiracy. I mean, already the two main characters are male (well, male and male-ish robot)... so that's an easy enough target right there.

Hey, at least the main character is Japanese.

[disneyprincess11]

Oh don't you even worry. They'll find some conspiracy. I mean, already the two main characters are male (well, male and male-ish robot)... so that's an easy enough target right there.

Hey, at least the main character is Japanese.

Guys, no matter what: They will complain anyway! I can imagine it:

NOW:
"OMIGGGGGGOSH! THERE ARE WHITE PEOPLE! DISNEY IS SO RACIST! WE WANT BLACK/JAPANESE PEOPLE IN 16TH CENTURY DEMARK! PIXAR, WTH ARE YOU DOING?!"

A YEAR LATER WITH A DISNEY MOVIE WITH POC:
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! THIS IS IN AMERICA! THIS SHOULD BE IN JAPAN!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAH! Disney is making fun of Japanese people!"
"WAAAAAAAAAH! THIS IS A COPY OF MARVEL MOVIES!" (Wait, for it guys!)
"WAAAAAAAAAH! THERE'S THE JAPANESE GUY, MAKING STUFF AND BEING SMART! DISNEY IS BEING SO STEROTYPICAL."
"WAAAAAAAAAH! THERE'S A BLONDE GIRL IN THIS! WE WANT 100% POC"
"WAAAAAH! THE BLONDE GIRL IS STUPID."
"WAAAAAAAAH! IT'S IN CGI! WE WANT 2D!"
"WAAAAAAAH! PIXAR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" (People think Frozen is Pixar)

You know why? Because it's Disney. People always whine and groan about Disney's new movies because it's freaking Disney. People always expect Disney to fulfill their wishes with POC & Animation. When guess what? Disney doesn't care what you want. And their scandals (with subliminal message and Walt Disney as a Nazi or whatever) doesn't help. i can guarantee you, if Frozen or BH6 was Dreamworks, Blue Sky, Illuminations etc., no one would care about the POC!

[SWillie!]

Hey, at least the main character is Japanese.

True, so it'll be "couldn't they have just set the movie in Japan? Do they hate Japanese culture that much that they have to drown it in bland, overused American culture?"

As I said, they will find something.

[qindarka]

Guys, no matter what: They will complain anyway! I can imagine it:

NOW:
"OMIGGGGGGOSH! THERE ARE WHITE PEOPLE! DISNEY IS SO RACIST! WE WANT BLACK/JAPANESE PEOPLE IN 16TH CENTURY DEMARK! PIXAR, WTH ARE YOU DOING?!"

A YEAR LATER WITH A DISNEY MOVIE WITH POC:
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! THIS IS IN AMERICA! THIS SHOULD BE IN JAPAN!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAH! Disney is making fun of Japanese people!"
"WAAAAAAAAAH! THIS IS A COPY OF MARVEL MOVIES!" (Wait, for it guys!)
"WAAAAAAAAAH! THERE'S THE JAPANESE GUY, MAKING STUFF AND BEING SMART! DISNEY IS BEING SO STEROTYPICAL."
"WAAAAAAAAAH! THERE'S A BLONDE GIRL IN THIS! WE WANT 100% POC"
"WAAAAAH! THE BLONDE GIRL IS STUPID."
"WAAAAAAAAH! IT'S IN CGI! WE WANT 2D!"
"WAAAAAAAH! PIXAR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" (People think Frozen is Pixar)

You know why? Because it's Disney. People always whine and groan about Disney's new movies because it's freaking Disney. People always expect Disney to fulfill their wishes with POC & Animation. When guess what? Disney doesn't care what you want. And their scandals (with subliminal message and Walt Disney as a Nazi or whatever) doesn't help. i can guarantee you, if Frozen or BH6 was Dreamworks, Blue Sky, Illuminations etc., no one would care about the POC!

I was of the impression that the females in this movie would be Japanese as well, at least going by the source material.

Anyway, if they changed the setting from Japan into America, it might be a genuine problem. I think the combination of the two can lead to fun stuff, though.

[DisneyEra]

Frozen will have an all-white cast
Big Hero 6 will have a muti-racial cast
Zootopia will have a furry cast
Gaints will probably have an all-white cast
Moana will have a polynesian cast

That's a pretty diverse line up over the next 5 years.

[Musical Master]

Frozen will have an all-white cast
Big Hero 6 will have a muti-racial cast
Zootopia will have a furry cast
Gaints will probably have an all-white cast
Moana will have a polynesian cast

That's a pretty diverse line up over the next 5 years.

Yes, I think that is indeed a diverse line-up of movies, hopefully those crazy (or better yet nitpicky) fans would calm down.

But I'm not getting my hopes up, cause those people will find something to whine about.

[jazzflower92]

Frozen will have an all-white cast
Big Hero 6 will have a muti-racial cast
Zootopia will have a furry cast
Gaints will probably have an all-white cast
Moana will have a polynesian cast

That's a pretty diverse line up over the next 5 years.

If the people on tumblr really cared they would noticed how they put effort into researching a real life culture for Frozen. I mean Frozen really did a good job at incorporating Norwegian culture and heritage into the movie. I mean just because something is from a European background doesn't mean its devoid of interesting culture. Whenever we get into anything European its usually of the theme park version but I love that Disney actually put some effort to the point that they even researched things about certain Norwegian foods and how coronations goes.

But then again tumblr seems to attract shallow people who will not see that.

[pangrizabella]

Frozen will have an all-white cast
Big Hero 6 will have a muti-racial cast
Zootopia will have a furry cast
Gaints will probably have an all-white cast
Moana will have a polynesian cast

That's a pretty diverse line up over the next 5 years.

I expect there will still be complaints about two out of the five having all-white casts. It's a shame really, it seems to me that Disney is making an effort to represent other cultures in their films- and do it respectfully. I always thought that Disney made more of an effort to portray other cultures than most other animation studios, yet they seem to cop a whole lot more criticism than others. It's getting very difficult to look on the Frozen tag on Tumblr, it seems to be about 90% arguments. I do agree that it would have been nice if Frozen did have PoC characters present, but at the same time I don't see the problem in having white characters either, especially when Disney is obviously making an effort to portray Nordic culture as well as possible.

I was very impressed by the 'Sister Like Me' book- gorgeous! I get the feeling that Frozen is going to be a very touching film, I for one am very glad that they took the route of focusing on the relationship between the sisters (not that you'd guess from the trailers, haha!).

[qindarka]

Frozen will have an all-white cast
Big Hero 6 will have a muti-racial cast
Zootopia will have a furry cast
Gaints will probably have an all-white cast
Moana will have a polynesian cast

That's a pretty diverse line up over the next 5 years.

I expect there will still be complaints about two out of the five having all-white casts. It's a shame really, it seems to me that Disney is making an effort to represent other cultures in their films- and do it respectfully. I always thought that Disney made more of an effort to portray other cultures than most other animation studios, yet they seem to cop a whole lot more criticism than others. It's getting very difficult to look on the Frozen tag on Tumblr, it seems to be about 90% arguments. I do agree that it would have been nice if Frozen did have PoC characters present, but at the same time I don't see the problem in having white characters either, especially when Disney is obviously making an effort to portray Nordic culture as well as possible.

I was very impressed by the 'Sister Like Me' book- gorgeous! I get the feeling that Frozen is going to be a very touching film, I for one am very glad that they took the route of focusing on the relationship between the sisters (not that you'd guess from the trailers, haha!).

Not to worry, you just have to use the ignore function.

(I have 250+ people on ignore. Maybe I overdid it a little. Even ignored a few sane people simply because I didn't want to read what they were reblogging and responding to.)

[taei]

I went to Netflix to check out Disney's "Frozen" and it's rated G! After I've read the junior novelization, I thought it was going to be rated PG.

I honestly don't think that this movie will be rated G. Because:

1) They're still making the movie
2) Jennifer Lee would have probably tweeted that it's G.
3) Wolves = PG. Just saying..
4) If cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 is PG, then this will be PG.

Something cute I saw on tumblr: (Nice breather from all the arguing that stemmed from I-don't-know-what.)

I suggest going to her blog and reading all the adventures she's done for Hans. They're amazing. They're the best thing that has hit this fandom. Genius comedy and classic character cameos. Her posts brighten my days (Exams week).

[Musical Master]

I remember when Prince Hans was announced as one of the main characters in Frozen I thought he was going to be yet another boring prince character just for love interest central.

But oh man...

Hans as a twist villian is so great that I think that he may defeat Mother Gothel and King Candy as my favorite Disney villian in this new Disney era for his crazy, insane yet regal and calm attitude about telling his plans to Anna has sold me on him.

[Scamander]

I do agree that it would have been nice if Frozen did have PoC characters present, but at the same time I don't see the problem in having white characters either, especially when Disney is obviously making an effort to portray Nordic culture as well as possible

I disagree with the first part. A PoC character just wouldn't fit in there. I hate it when studios randomly put a poc character in, just to fulfill a quota. I even think a poc character would be quite disrespectful to Northern Europeans. Heck, I'm not even one, but I still would be pissed!
Most of the time Hollywood is solely focusing on films playing in the US, which can be really annoying for people from other nations. Especially since most of the time, if they are showing some other culture it's the American stereotype version of it or they don't even care to use natives. (As a German, born and raised in Hannover, it was NOT fun to watch the latest seasons of Breaking Bad. Especially those parts in which the actors tried to speak German and no one could understand what they were trying to say. -.-)

So, as you said, this time Disney made a truly effort to represent Nordic culture as much as possible in a children movie and people are still complaining, because they don't even see it. White people are not white people. There is a huge difference, between US- and Nordic culture. So could the inconsiderate angry mob please shut the fuck up?