This Could Have Been Frozen

Several years ago, in the kingdom of Arendelle lived two princesses: Anna and Elsa. Elsa was blessed with ice powers, which had never failed to make her sister Anna happy. One fateful evening, Elsa accidentally froze Anna's brain. When their parents came rushing in, all they saw was Anna, lying on the floor and shivering, and an open window; Elsa was gone.

Unsure of whether or not Elsa would return, the king and queen took Anna to the trolls to clear her head of all memory of Elsa. Unaware that she had a sister, and feeling frustrated that her parents had babied her, Anna found solace in books. After the king and queen were shipwrecked on route to a treaty signing when she was 10, Anna delved deeper into the books. Her only company was Chipo, an African woman hired as a nanny to Anna. 

6 years into her uncle's rule (onset by the untimely death of his brother), Anna's coronation date had arrived. Midway through the ceremony, the Duke of Wessleton brought up an argument: Anna could not rule the kingdom as the sole queen. In order to assume royalty, she would have to wed.

Her uncle arranged a debutante ball of sorts that very afternoon, but Anna was bored: although several of the men were attractive, none of them could keep up with her intellectually. Angry that her uncle would even bow to the suggestion of marriage to a man she had just met (especially given how supportive he was of her independence beforehand,) Anna retreated into her favorite story: that of the Snow Queen.

Legend would have it that the Snow Queen would be ushered in by a flurry of snow bees. Her army was comprised of wolves made of icicles. The Snow Queen herself was beautiful and deadly, but she was not as unforgiving as the legend led the folk to believe.

That evening, a vicious snowstorm buried Arendelle and plunged the kingdom into eternal winter. Unsure of what this possibly could mean, Anna consulted almanacs and weather guides; either way, a snowstorm of such magnitude was logistically impossible. That's when Anna heard a knock on the door.

A young Arendelle peasant girl named Gerda came to the king's palace in need of help: in the ensuing snowstorm, her best friend Kai's heart had been frozen and he had been taken prisoner by the Snow Queen. Although the uncle urged Anna to stay indoors, she could not be so contained; although she was aware magic couldn't exist, there was no other explanation than the story of the Snow Queen coming to life. Ergo, Anna embarks on a journey with Chipo and Gerda in tow.

Along the way out of the palace, they meet a robber girl named Synnove. Starving and trying to support her very sick mother, she had tried to raid the pantry of the kingdom. Although Anna had almost told Synnove to leave, Gerda suggested that she go with them to the kingdom of the Snow Queen.

They journey across the tundra for a week, where Synnove teaches the girls how to hunt, Chipo teaches the girls how to cook, Gerda teaches the girls how to do needlework, and Anna reads them stories for entertainment. The 4 women get to know each other better: Gerda has been raised by her grandmother since her parents died, and Kai was adopted into their family. Synnove and her mother were abandoned by her father when she was 5, leaving them to fend for themselves. Chipo was the daughter of a tribal chief whose village was taken into slavery by Americans, and it was only by the grace of Anna's parents that she had escaped slavery. It is their individual healing processes that bring them together.

Upon reaching the ice palace of the Snow Queen, they are encountered by none other than Elsa, Anna's long-lost sister. Upon running away after the incident, Elsa was taken in by the Snow Queen and her wolf army and raised to hone her powers. However, in a coup, Elsa had taken the Snow Queen's place and, after years of embitterment, plotted her revenge against the world. Since the world has given her nothing but coldness, she will give that coldness back to them and consume the world in it, starting with Arendelle.

Anna beseeches the Snow Princess to give summer back to Arendelle, exclaiming of all the families that have been torn apart. It is here that Elsa reveals to Anna their relationship. A bombshell if their ever was one, it literally sweeps Anna off her feet. The four girls are thrust out of the Snow kingdom, and out into the snow.

Anna sets back out for Arendelle, realizing that without anything they could do the planet is doomed to suffer an eternal winter. Gerda, of course, loses her temper. If Anna could just realize how far they've come to saving Arendelle and Kai, she wouldn't give up. Although Anna retorts by saying that it's the logical thing to do, Gerda finally tells her the truth: logic doesn't solve everything. After their pep talk, they set back out for the palace.

As for Synnove and Chipo, they come across a crystal box, encasing a woman in crystal finery with bluish-greenish skin. They chip her out, and they see who it really is: a woman named Eirwen

Upon reaching the kingdom, Anna and Gerda are cornered by Elsa's wolf army. Backed into a corner, Elsa bargains with Anna to join her, asking her to abandon Arendelle and become a Snow Princess. Anna refuses, but Elsa coaxes her, saying that she's asking as her sister. It is here that Anna lays it down on Elsa: Elsa is not her sister, but Gerda and Synnove are. Infuriated by her ungratefulness, Elsa sicks her wolf-general on Anna. Just as the wolf pounces into the air, it is killed by an arrow.

Eirwen, the real Snow Queen, enters on a flurry with Synnove, carrying a bow and arrow. and Chipo in tow. It is here that Elsa draws a snow-sword, plotting to finish what she had started. Rising to the challenge, Eirwen does the same. A rough battle, the four women watch on as Eirwen tries to overpower Elsa. Just when all hope seems lost, Eirwen jabs Elsa in the chest. Instead of bleeding, Elsa immediately turns into a crystalline statue of ice.

Having been victorious, Eirwen restores summer to the world, promising to come back when her time has come. In the coming warmth, Kai returns to Gerda, who explains that their grandmother froze to death. Although she is sad, she now has Kai again in her arms. And she cannot ask for anything else.

Synnove is given a job as a servant in the kingdom along with Chipo, and Anna's uncle, finally having come to his senses, allows Anna her own coronation. Firmly believing that Anna does not need a man to be a strong ruler, he gives her full clearance to ascend to the throne.

Have a great day at work, honey. by Silhouette01

Beautiful Helsa (Hans x Elsa) fan art. This is the love story that Frozen could, and should, have told.

The artist includes the following text with her illustration:

(My own extended review of Frozen appears [here].)

The Snow Queen (2012) Russian Audio with English Subtitles.

If there was a film set in Africa I don't think people would be complaining that there were no white people. Why do people complain about frozen?

If there was a film set in Africa I don't think people would be complaining that there were no white people. Why do people complain about frozen?

just because someone in a disney movie is white doesn't automatically make them a carbon copy of every disney princess omg.

People who don't want to see Frozen because they support TCHBF and want to send a message that enough white leads in a row and misinformation leading people to believe that medieval Europe was entirely white is enough, not to mention that adjective titles and "lol snowman" ads masking the fact that this is a "girl movie" so boys will go see it are problematic: You people are cool.

People who do want to see Frozen because they want to support a female director and well-rounded characters and, let's face it, the movie IS pretty tempting: I like you too.

People who don't want to see Frozen because society has conditioned them to have an innate prejudice against all things animated and/or female leads: You suck.

What More Scenes of Elsa Could Have Entailed

Many viewers who have seen Frozen have expressed how much they would have loved to have seen more of Elsa in the film.

Indeed, this is the most frequent critique of the movie: that Elsa doesn't have enough screen time.

It's a caution that Elsa fans have been expressing for months, ever since the first Frozen spoilers emerged, so these fans feel a rueful vindication is seeing so many audience members echo their own concerns.

The question then arises among some critics, however: what more of Elsa could the film have shown?

Much more.

First of all, the "Don't feel, don't feel" scene in Elsa's ice palace, in which Elsa attempts to control her powers, after having Marshmallow eject Kristoff and Anna (for their own protection), needn't have been so short.

That could have been an incredible sequence -- indeed another song -- a plaintive piece in which Elsa might have lamented that, "Yes, I am a monster after all," as she believes herself to be.

Second, the creation of Olaf passes by in a flash during "Let It Go" -- so brief a scene that many early viewers missed it altogether, when they were asked about it.

It barely exists, yet it illustrates the creation of one of the film's most significant characters.

Instead of making it such a throwaway moment, consider this post, which describes how rich and moving that scene could have been, had it been expanded.

Furthermore, the FanFiction.net writer "emmamagickingom" has penned several captivating stories describing wondrous potential scenes of Elsa in her snow-artist role, forming enchanting ice sculptures – like scenes out of Fantasia, with Elsa creating a whole ice kingdom of her own.

Those scenes could have been far more fun than much of the Kristoff/Anna road trip (e.g., the tedious dialogue between Kristoff and Anna about how much she knows about Hans, or the unfunny "Fixer Upper" troll sequence).

Scenes of Elsa in her creative mode could also have been poignant and bittersweet, because they could have been laced with a hint of sadness, showing Elsa experiencing joy in her isolation but a touch of grief as well, when she reflects on what she left behind.

Some critics complain that Elsa would have had no one to talk to. But why should that have been the case? Remember: this is a character who can create sentient life -- conscious, intelligent life, which is a staggering idea.

Why should her creations have been restricted to Olaf and Marshmallow? Elsa's sidekicks could have come in any form, from animal-like to nearly human.

She could have created sentient companions in her ice palace to whom she could have poured out her heart and bared her feelings, as Rapunzel does to her chameleon, or as the Beast, in Beauty and the Beast, does to his cursed household.

She could have told (or sung!) of the love that she was denied her whole life. Imagine Elsa recalling moments in her life in which she longed to make a connection (not just to Anna, but a romantic connection too – perhaps to a boy whom she once saw through a castle window, and whom she crushed on, but knew that she could never interact with, and what painful longing that caused her).

Imagine her singing of how dearly she always yearned to step outside in the wide world and escape her life of confinement, even start a family of her own -- things that even the lowest commoner in her kingdom could do, but that she could not.

In Beauty and the Beast, some of the most powerful scenes in the entire film are those in which the Beast speaks to his cursed servants, lamenting that Belle is "so beautiful, and I'm-- Well, look at me!"; or later, when he is by himself, ruing that "She will never see me as anything but a monster."

Frozen could have given Elsa powerful scenes such as this.

Or think of the gripping scenes in the Superman films (be it Man of Steel or the Donner movies) in which Clark Kent has poignant exchanges with the ghost of his father, in his Fortress of Solitude.

Or consider similar scenes in the Dark Knight films, in which Bruce Wayne has exchanges with Alfred. These interactions are fascinating and revealing, fleshing out the characters.

Elsa could have fashioned a mentor-like sidekick with whom she could have interacted in such a manner.

But in Elsa's case, such scenes would have been even more compelling because she would have been interacting with a sidekick that she herself created.

Thus, her sidekick would have been an externalization of her own inner struggle.

She would have been speaking with a part of her own soul.

That has never been done before in a Disney film.

At some point, she could perhaps have realized that she had created a companion that echoed the sentiments of her own father – and we do know that the memory of her father weighs heavily on Elsa's mind.

Or, Elsa could have created a sidekick with a sarcastic side, to play off of her seriousness. Or a creation that externalized the feelings of her own conscience.

Or it could even have been Olaf himself who stayed with Elsa, once Kristoff and Anna were chased away. Imagine how touching the scenes between the two of them would have been, with Olaf trying to console Elsa after she learns of the eternal winter that she has unwillingly caused. The scene in which Olaf first encounters his maker is deeply moving, filled with emotion for both of them. It passes by too soon.

Literally any further scenes involving Elsa could have been endlessly captivating, in lieu of countless moments in the film aren't nearly as interesting. Alternatively, such scenes could have added some well-deserved minutes to the running time.

And all of this is not even getting into what many of us always wished for most: an Elsa romantic plotline, in which she at last found her prince, finally achieving the romantic love that she has been denied her whole life.

Her sister is blessed with both sisterly reconciliation and romantic love, at no cost to Frozen's sister story, so why is Elsa deprived of finding a man she loves, and who loves her back? It's grossly unfair, and deprives the film of what could have been "the greatest love story ever told," as Beauty and the Beast was famously billed.

In short, there is literally no end of Elsa material that Frozen could have added to make it an even richer film than it already is.

(Adapted, with permission, from a comment by SweetAspartame.)

(My own extended review of Frozen appears [here].)

I got angry at Frozen again so here's a Siberian Elsa.