professorspork:
counterpunches:
We need to talk about the important big-payoff-that-didn’t. I’m talking about Anna’s memories.
One of the major flaws of the movie was the lack of resolve regarding Anna’s childhood memories of Elsa’s magic. It was presented in the beginning of the film to be the central conflict that sets things in motion: because Anna can’t know about Elsa’s magic for her own safety, the solution is for Elsa to be shut away from her until she learns to control her powers.
Now, there are three steps to resolving the conflict of the story:
Anna finding out about Elsa’s powers.
Anna recovering her memories of her childhood thus repairing the initial situation.
Elsa learning how to control her powers.
One and three? Boom, done. Beautifully done. Tragic, you broke all of our hearts, good job, Disney. But by skipping over Anna’s memories, it does a disservice to the story. The second part never happened and as a result the story still feels…incomplete.
What’s disappointing about it is that the film set up the resolve in numerous instances. They showed moments of Anna slowly remembering things, getting an inkling of realization, but never enough to fully blow her memories wide open. I kept expecting a final epiphany, of that last key of her memories being unlocked (there might have been flashbacks, wide eyes, hair blowing in the wind, and crying in my version of it). But it never happened.
Let’s look at the progression and set-up:
1- Ok, so Anna clearly remembers something about that night, even though it registers as a dream
2- It’s almost like there’s something familiar about this moment. She’s more phased and suprised by Elsa’s hurt than she is by the ice itself
3- Memories of making Olaf in the ballroom might not be there, but he is, and that’s another step closer.
4- They’re real after all. MAYBE IT WASN’T A DREAM, ANNA
5- Look at Anna’s face. She’s listening and recognizing something, but something else. The focus of her eyes shift, she isn’t looking at Bulda, she’s looking at something far away. She’s thinking back on Elsa, through all those years and the party. And when she finally looks back at Bulda, there’s insight and realization on her face.
6- This THIS is the moment right here where it all should have finally coalesced and Anna remembered. We go from “I was wrong about Elsa” to self-sacrifice in a matter of minutes, with no explanation or development of bridging the gap between those two extreme moments. I understand the set up was for Anna to realize Kristoff loved her - and I wholly encourage that! He does love her! And she likes him back! Yay for them, they’re great together! But look, Anna as the innocently questioning girl “Kristoff…loves me?” was also the perfect set up to all her memories suddenly coming back. That awareness would fulfill the gap in her history and also the development of her character throughout the movie. Understanding that Elsa loved her all along should have fueled realization of her feelings for Kristoff. But it didn’t.
Or fuck, even just seeing Elsa broken on the ground over her and have that be the event that triggers Anna remembering when the same thing happened to them as kids. It would have taken TWO SECONDS. (thanks to fairymascot for this completely inspired idea)
All of those moments piggyback off each other, building up the momentum for a big reveal, for Anna finally remembering. But she never does.
And it’s not fair to either Elsa or Anna.
Despite everything, Anna doesn’t understand the true depth of Elsa’s actions. She doesn’t understand that Elsa’s entire life was a slow self-sacrifice, no less than what Anna had given to her that moment on the fjord. Therefore, its an unbalanced relationship.
Elsa’s “freedom”, her understanding of her power, is a gift given by Anna. That’s not to say it isn’t a gift or that it should take away from what Anna did but, it is problematic in that Anna doesn’t know Elsa did the same for her. That everything Elsa did was for Anna, it always was. That they sacrificed for each other time and time again, they always have but never knew it. And that’s not fair.
Anna is the hero of the movie. But so is Elsa. And Anna never remembering her childhood diminishes Elsa’s heroism because Elsa is never recognized for it by the one person who matters most. Elsa is saved by Anna, but Anna was also saved by Elsa and it’s a shame that the second part is completely glossed over in the film. We know what Elsa did and why. But Anna doesn’t, and she deserves to know. All she ever wanted to know was why Elsa closed herself off and they stopped being close. It’s not enough to for Anna to think that Elsa hid herself away just because she had these powers. Because that’s not true, is it. Elsa didn’t hide herself because she has powers. She hid because she’d hurt Anna. Even though she sings that “she finally understands,” the irony is that even after everything, she still doesn’t.
Anna still needed to learn why because it’s the most important piece of the puzzle, what will complete their story and put them on equal and even footing once more. Anna needed to learn that yes, Elsa loved her, and Elsa’s reclusivity and fear stemmed from love for Anna and her desire to protect her. That’s the key to Anna’s sacrifice. The whole picture is still hidden from her and it was almost within her grasp the entire time.
first of all, A+ META WELL DONE WELL THOUGHT-OUT YES.
and I gotta say, most of me agrees. When I walked out of the movie the first time (though granted, when I walked out of the movie the first time i was still looking for reasons to hate it, that didn’t go well) my biggest complaint, aside from evil!Hans, was “BUT WHY DID ANNA HAVE TO LOSE HER MEMORY IN THE FIRST PLACE? IT DOESN’T PAN OUT, ALL OF THOSE YEARS WERE WASTED FOR NO REASON, THERE WAS NO RISK AND NO CONSEQUENCE.”
but also much like evil!Hans, it’s something I’ve come around to the more I think about it, because of what this story is trying to accomplish
which is to say: Frozen is a PTSD narrative, and that matters. A lot. everything in this story is about repression—repressed memories, repressed powers, repressed feelings. and that’s very true to life, because the most common response to trauma—especially childhood trauma, like Anna’s head injury—is to forget it. it’s a defense mechanism, and Grandpabbie says as much. the blessing is that it’s a Disney story and he gets to “leave the fun”— most kids don’t get even that much.
repressed memories can resurface, as flashbacks or in sort of dribs and drabs, as Anna experiences throughout the film, but they don’t, always. some people go their whole lives with missing pieces, and like. that’s okay. that happens, and to talk about it like it shouldn’t, however compassionately intended, i think kind of misses the point.
anna doesn’t need to know what happens, because she can see it. she wouldn’t have stopped Hans otherwise. it doesn’t matter that she says she was wrong about Elsa, because in basically the same scene she says she doesn’t know what love even IS. Hans totally spins her about and unbalances her entire moral compass, but she’s righted almost immediately by Olaf. and as any Frozen fan worth their stuff will tell you, Olaf is the love between her and Elsa. when Olaf tells her “love is putting someone else’s needs before your own,” the example he GIVES is Kristoff taking her home, but how does he KNOW that? because he was forged during Let It Go. because Elsa is incapable of creating a life unless it knows that lesson already, before it begins. Olaf knows “love will thaw” BEFORE ELSA DOES— some people are worth melting for.
so to argue that Elsa is denied some kind of heroic accolades by the text seems like a skewed reading. i don’t blame you for being disappointed by the lack of resolution, because it does feel like a missed chance for catharsis, and also rather like a plot hole, and both are bummers. but anna doesn’t need to remember to know, and I really think that’s the point of it all.
is it, as you said, “unfair to Elsa and Anna?” Yeah, probably. but life’s not fair, and it’s beautiful anyway. I don’t think it makes their relationship unbalanced, because they’re just doing what they would have done anyway. Elsa saves Anna, Anna saves Elsa right back. they don’t need context or excuses or reasons, it’s not ABOUT keeping it balanced between them.
they’re sisters and it’s what they do.
Reblogging for important added commentary.
You’re right, for the most part, for all the reasons stated above.
"Anna doesn’t need to remember to know, and I really think that’s the point of it all"
I agree, and to let go of the other side of the argument is really sad. But I also don’t think it’s fair to have to choose one or the other. That’s one of the complicated things about Frozen, is that there were legitimate issues with it, both in creation and execution, and yet there’s still so much good in it and this continues over into analysis as well.
"repressed memories can resurface, as flashbacks or in sort of dribs and drabs, as Anna experiences throughout the film, but they don’t, always. some people go their whole lives with missing pieces, and like. that’s okay. that happens, and to talk about it like it shouldn’t, however compassionately intended, i think kind of misses the point."
This is probably the best counterargument out there, that to find fault with the lack of resolve is to somehow deny or feel like real people’s real life experiences (or Anna’s) or qualities are somehow ‘lesser-than’. And while that isn’t necessarily the case, it’s a fair point. But, I dunno. The fact is that this is a Disney movie and Frozen is packed with great messages, but I think it could have kept them without plot gaps.
I think what it comes down to for me is I agree, but I also still agree with the initial perspective. And I think it’s okay to believe in both. Because both are really important, for different reasons, and it’s okay to struggle with accepting multiple things at the same time.
I’ve been sitting here for a good 40 minutes and I can’t seem to tease out all my thoughts in any sort of coherent manner, so I guess this will have to suffice for now, sorry.