Disney has always captured people of all ages with its
stories. The music is happy and to me, well, magical. But in all Disney movies,
there seems to be one thing in common—princesses all need a Prince to survive.
Ariel literally morphs herself so a man will love her. Sleeping Beauty and Snow
White can only live if a Prince kisses them. Even Mulan, a strong independent
soldier who risks her life impersonating a man, ends up with the dazzling
savior.
Two of Disney’s newest movies, Frozen and Brave,
are finally catching onto something. There is no need for the focus on “True
Love” for a fairytale to be successful. Girls can be strong without the help of
the Prince. Brave is all about independence and coming
of age, and while there is love, there is no romance. Frozen has also caught onto the trend: it has
both the love and romance, but the romance does not control the story—or the
girls.
Frozen tells the
story of two sisters, Anna and Elsa, who rule a beautiful Scandinavian landscape.
Elsa conceals herself from the public because of her inability to control her
power to freeze anything that comes across her path. Things go horribly wrong
and Elsa ends up freezing the entire land. (I’m not going to say much more
because if you haven’t seen it, you need to.) It’s funny, it’s silly, it’s
climactic, and the music is wonderful. But the most important part of Frozen is
its focus on sisterhood and relationships between two women.
Between Brave and Frozen,
it seems that Disney is getting it. While stories of romance are nice,
audiences do enjoy something more. There is now a shift, a focus on a different
type of love: Brave and Frozen are stories that depict strength and
love between oneself and one’s family, and not just a general focus on a
significant other. Could
this finally be the end of the depiction of weak women in children’s films? The
impact both Frozen and Brave have on young audiences is
significant—they grow up with these movies, this is what they learn, this is what
they choose to watch over and over. When the girls are strong, brave, and
independent, it creates a completely different—and better—image at a young age.
By: Becca Kranz
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