Yes, she gets her very own post. Why? Because she deserves it and there is enough to say about her that I can devote an entire day's blogging time to her character.
To start of, I want to be perfectly clear that I'm a fan of Elsa. I think she's a complex character and her "development" in the film is probably the most interesting. I like her along the same lines that I like "Wreck-it-Ralph" and Wreck-it-Ralph. I saw the movie "Wreck-it-Ralph" at least four, and possibly five (I can't actually recall to be sure) in the theaters. Ralph is one of my favorite Disney characters of all time. If "Frozen" were centered directly on Elsa's character, I would probably see it five times in the theaters. If there were a t-shirt that said "Team Elsa" on it, I would probably try to convince a friend to buy it for me for my birthday. That's how much I'm a fan of this character.
Granted, by the end of this post you might be convince that I like the concept of Elsa more than the reality (there's not a better word for that, even though she is a work of fiction), but maybe a character's potential is just as much reason to be a fan as their portrayal; Elsa is definitely a character full of potential.
I'm going to work from negative towards positive, so if you want to be upset about her character read on, but if you want to just be happy about her, skip a few paragraphs.
Thing I don't like number 1: During her awesome and epic power song they make a physical transformation in the character that I don't care for. They make the oh, so common cliche of equating power in a woman with sexiness. Power=Sexy is not an absolute.
If you watch that video at the mark of 3:13 or so you will notice that her costume and hair is different and she has a swagger in her hips that is surely detrimental to her spine, her knees, her ankles and her everything. I don't care for the exposed shoulders or the slit up the dress either. I actually think those exposures are evidence of her betrayal of her true character as a guarded individual.
Speaking of her true character (I'm a segue master!), the song "Let it Go," while epic on the scale of classic Disney, and wonderfully performed strikes be wrong in two ways. First, I love the performance of it, but I don't think that the Elsa's narrative earned that song. She went from running scared of herself and her powers to supposedly embracing those same powers and swearing to a life of blissful seclusion (because seclusion away from people is likely to make her so much less lonely than her previous seclusion near people…) without actually experiencing any character event. She also managed to hike across a frozen wasteland and climb up that mountain in about a tenth the time other characters took, but I suppose that is a different story. My second big issue with the song is the fact that it isn't true. About twenty minutes after she sings it she is just as scared as she ever was, and uses her powers to their worst effect. Building and icy palace hasn't made her queen of anything. The next time she sees a person all her fear comes back worse than ever. She didn't actually let anything go.
This next negative is something that I have somewhat touched on thus far. Her character doesn't get to be center stage for most of the film, and doesn't get time to develop properly. I can understand Disney's choice to shy away from the villain-not-a-villain thing for this one; That was the plot of their movie the previous year. But does anyone really think that Anna is the more interesting character? Give the screen time to the girl people are rooting for!
This leads to some of the positives. Elsa has human flaws that people relate to and want to see overcome. She's shy. She's repressed. She's nervous. She wants to keep other people safe and is willing to sacrifice to do it. She has a problem with physical contact. These are human flaws. At the same time, when she tries, she can be a bit funny, a bit mischievous, and she has her head on straight when it comes to marrying people you just met. This is a person who needs a friend that understands her fears, and, more importantly, isn't afraid of the same things. What is Elsa most afraid of? Her power to create ice hurting someone. Gee, wouldn't it have been nice if there had been a character in this movie who knew something about ice. Maybe he could have known how dangerous it is and been prepared to deal with that. Maybe he could have had an appreciation for how it can be useful, and even beautiful. Maybe he could have been a character that had dealt with ice successfully their whole life and could never be afraid of it. Maybe he would have been able to recognize an accident, or a quirk of nature and not blamed her for making magic ice. Heck, maybe he could have been featured in an opening sequence, with an awesome song, alongside a dozen other people who understood all those same things and could have said something if they met Elsa. If only such a character existed…and wasn't told to wait outside at the precise moment when his awe and wonder at Elsa's power over ice could have changed the entire movie and provided a more compelling love story…
Well, that theory might have gotten away from me a bit. I also have a theory about a version of the film in which Hans had magic powers involving fire (he wear gloves just like Elsa for most of the film and takes them off dramatically just before extinguishing a candle, and I really hoped he was gonna have fire-powers) and there was going to be a fantastic and grand battle between fire and ice and Elsa would save the kingdom, as is her duty as a queen, and the people would love her and accept her, and she would finally have figured out that her love for the kingdom would help her control her powers and the fear of her powers was why she was having trouble, and , and, well that didn't happen.
I should probably wrap this up. I'm starting to get too far into the potential of her character (vast, untapped potential) and less about her reality. The reality that I do like is this: Elsa has flaws and weaknesses, but also a tremendous self-sacrificing motivation. She could use a supportive friend or two. I'm a little sad that all she ended up with was one sister.
Go Team Elsa!
