So I just saw Disney’s Frozen
this December and like a lot of people I really enjoyed the movie and the
characters. (Well, the female characters…) However, I also agree with a lot of
people who said the script feels like it was rewritten a few too many times.
Making the plot a bit too loophole-heavy and leading to some bizarre character
development.
But in a way I think that makes the movie more fun for
discussion because people all have their ideas of what they would have liked to
see more of. A lot of people speculate what Elsa would have been like as a
villain, which is a pretty interesting idea, especially if she’s a conflicted
one. (The song Let It Go really looks
like it was supposed to be the villain song anyway…)
 |
| You can tell she's evil 'cuz she's sexxxxxy. |
And this effect sort of led me to accidentally write a fan
fiction of an extra scene for the movie. Yeah. It started out asking, “Hm, that
climax seemed kind of a letdown. Why? What was missing?” And then this scenario
popped out of nowhere…
Obviously this post discusses plot points that happen later
in the movie, so anyone who hasn’t seen the movie yet and wants to be surprised
shouldn’t read anything. But if you don’t care about spoilers then this is my
take on some aspects of the movie and what I would have liked to see more of
with the characters. (Besides more princesses and less Olaf…)
I was a little disappointed that Elsa didn’t seem to have
much to do after she leaves the ice palace. She mopes, and cries, and tells
people to stay away from her. Even her big moment where she saves her sister is
more just more crying.
As if to say, “I instantly believe the word of this person
who shows up out of nowhere just to tell me that I killed my sister. Oh. He
tried to behead me while I was prone crying and my supposedly dead sister just
ran fifty feet while dying of hypothermia to put herself between me and the
assassin, and now she has frozen for real. Luckily, that dude is also briefly unconscious
allowing me to cry some more!”
(Maybe Elsa’s real talent is water-based, not ice-based.)
So even though it’s probably too mean, I would have liked to
see the Hans character not knocked out by Anna’s transformation, so that Elsa
first deals with that threat before grieving her sister. Because she’s the
queen, she should be more active and use her powers at a critical moment.
(Not to take away from Anna’s moment. It’s still there. But
I think Elsa could be afforded one as well.)
In fact, a conflict between these two is slightly
foreshadowed in the movie when Anna says, “You’re no match for Elsa,” and Hans
replies, “No, you’re no match for Elsa.” A more accurate reply would be, “Yes I
am, because Elsa has done nothing recently but cry and kill people she was
trying to protect. I’ll be fine as long as she’s not aiming for someone else.”
Ha.
Obviously, this is just my opinion of what more I would have
liked to see in the movie. Other people have their own peeves. I personally
felt that the climax was a little underwhelming and that the villain wasn’t
quite punished. Once a character reveals themselves to be truly malicious at heart,
they usually get their comeuppance in Disney movies.
 |
| The awkward moment when you realize it's a romance between a naive future abuse victim and a power hungry serial killer. Hey, they even get their own song! |
I mean, Tangled
didn’t end with Rapunzel telling Mother Gothel, “I hope you feel sorry for your
baby-stealing, back-stabbing ways! The only one without a dream here, is you!”
OK, so this is my idea of what an extra scene between the
two would have been like, based on how the characters act in the rest of the
movie.
Scene
(Anna steps between
the two and freezes. However, in this scenario the sword does not break and
Hans is not stunned. Hans, Elsa, and Kristoff in the distance, are temporarily
shocked.)
(Hans breaks the
silence first. He stumbles back but quickly recovers himself.)
Hans: Well, that’s one down.
Elsa: You said she was already dead.
(Obviously, something
is not right.)
(Hans raises his
sword. Elsa and Hans begin to circle each other on the ice. Kristoff watches.)
Elsa: How long have you been lying to us? To her?
Hans (condescendingly): Oh, drop the tough girl act, Elsa.
We both know you’re a mess. You couldn’t kill anything to save your life.
Unless, of course, it were an accident.
Elsa (to Kristoff who is being to come closer in attempt to
help her): Stay back!
(Elsa is still
uncertain of her powers and doesn’t want to hit a bystander.)
(The pair continues
to circle, drawing closer together, both preparing to strike.)
Elsa (to Hans): Hans, you once gave me the chance not to be
a monster. Do the same for yourself!
Hans (laughing): That was when I thought I still needed you
alive to stop this winter. It’s far too late for that now. No, Elsa, I’ve been
working toward this day for a long time. And I’m about to see my reward.
(Elsa says the
Arandelle equivalent of “Yes, I bet you have.)
(They strike.)
(Hans swings his sword,
but Elsa blocks it with her left hand, causing it to shatter into frozen
shards. Slowly, their eyes are drawn to their remaining hands, his left and her
right. Elsa has simply touched him, but gel-like ice is growing out of her palm
like glue. Though Hans tries frantically to shake it off, it soon covers him in
a block of solid ice. Only his eyes are moving.)
(In that moment, the
adrenaline dies away, and Elsa remembers the wrong she has also done Anna and
all that came from it. She turns grief-stricken and embraces the frozen Anna in
tears.)
Kristoff doesn’t have much to do in this scenario, which is
too bad. I’m not sure how he can get more involved without making this fight
into a gang-up of two on one. Now I feel guilty because he goes through all the
trouble of coming back to the castle, only to have Anna go, “Luv ya, Honey, but
my big sister’s in trouble so I gotta dash.” I foresee trouble for this
marriage if Elsa doesn’t get her act together.
 |
| Again????? |
At first I thought, since Arandelle is quirky like that,
that Elsa might as well just kill Hans on the spot and call it an execution
because he tried to kill the royal family. But I started thinking about how few
Disney protagonists actually kill the villains directly. Before the villain
gets big, scaly, or both. (With the exception of Mulan, who killed both Shan-Yu
and most of his army. Damn.) Even Mother Gothel is killed by accident.
So I think preserving him in ice is the best way to go. It’s
creepy and traumatic, but Elsa doesn’t have to kill anyone in cold blood. Dante
put the traitors in ice, and you can’t do better than Dante.
Of course, Anna should still get to give her comeuppance in
the end. I feel bad that such a scene would have less weight if Hans has
already been defeated. However, punch to the face feels like an afterthought in
the movie anyway. The point is we know Anna is going to be OK, and that she has
no more attachment to Hans.
I think after the winter is cleared up she notices the block
of ice and gives a startled, “Hans?” Elsa, feeling awkward, starts to say, “Um…Anna,”
as Anna approaches the ice. Anna’s eyes are wide, and we wonder if she feels
some lingering regret. Then she knocks the block over somehow, showing they are
most definitely never, ever, ever, getting back together.
During the denouement sequence we see the ice being carried
to the ship on a cart, accompanied by Elsa and the diplomats. Elsa is
explaining, “The heat of the Southern Isles should
thaw the block, and then it will be up to his brothers to decide his fate.
Though if they see their way to a peaceable future with Arandelle, they may
take it into their heads to do something rather drastic.”
 |
| I heard once in this game you win or die. |
No comments:
Post a Comment