Frozen (Disney film): Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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(I cannot think of a better trope than the category name, which is super-broad, but it's definitely Characters As Device)
(Basic rule of Alphabetization, Sludge -- you ignore "a", "an" and "the".)
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{{tropelist}}
{{tropelist}}
* [[Adaptational Villainy]]: Played straight with Hans and inverted with the trolls.
* [[Adaptational Villainy]]: Played straight with Hans and inverted with the trolls.
* [[An Ice Person]]: Elsa, of course, as the Snow Queen of this tale.
* [[Anti-Villain]]: Elsa, who is only "villainous" by accident and out of fear.
* [[Anti-Villain]]: Elsa, who is only "villainous" by accident and out of fear.
* [[Award Bait Song]]: "Let It Go", which ended up winning the [[Oscar Bait|2014 Academy Award for Best Song]]. Its potential was understood from the moment it was first played for the production team: they rewrote the entire movie into a completely original story because it was entirely too positive and life-affirming to be a [[Villain Song]] and they didn't want to lose it.
* [[Award Bait Song]]: "Let It Go", which ended up winning the [[Oscar Bait|2014 Academy Award for Best Song]]. Its potential was understood from the moment it was first played for the production team: they rewrote the entire movie into a completely original story because it was entirely too positive and life-affirming to be a [[Villain Song]] and they didn't want to lose it.
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* [[Gender Flip]]: Kristoff is based on The Robber Girl.
* [[Gender Flip]]: Kristoff is based on The Robber Girl.
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: While ''The Snow Queen'' is built around playing this trope straight, this story is a definite subversion.
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: While ''The Snow Queen'' is built around playing this trope straight, this story is a definite subversion.
* [[An Ice Person]]: Elsa, of course, as the Snow Queen of this tale.
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: Hans Kristof Anna Sven.
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: Hans Kristof Anna Sven.
* [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]: Applied to the young Anna by the rock trolls, making her forget Elsa's accidental attack on her.
* [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]: Applied to the young Anna by the rock trolls, making her forget Elsa's accidental attack on her.

Revision as of 12:58, 19 August 2014

Frozen is Disney's 53rd entry in its animated canon line-up, based on Hans Christian Andersen's longest Fairy Tale "The Snow Queen". It's animated in 3D using computer-generated imagery.

The movie has gotten a lot of attention as the source of the song "Let It Go", sung by Idina Menzel. The song made such an impact that, in the words of Co-Director Jennifer Lee, "the minute we heard the song the first time, I knew that I had to rewrite the whole movie."

Released on November 27th, 2013, Frozen quickly became the highest grossing animated film yet made.

A series of sequel novels has been announced to start in January 2015.

Not to be confused with the 2010 drama/thriller film of the same name.

Tropes used in Frozen (Disney film) include:
  • Adaptational Villainy: Played straight with Hans and inverted with the trolls.
  • Anti-Villain: Elsa, who is only "villainous" by accident and out of fear.
  • Award Bait Song: "Let It Go", which ended up winning the 2014 Academy Award for Best Song. Its potential was understood from the moment it was first played for the production team: they rewrote the entire movie into a completely original story because it was entirely too positive and life-affirming to be a Villain Song and they didn't want to lose it.
  • Composite Character: Elsa is a composite of the Snow Queen and Kai.
  • Characters As Device: Hans is the mirror from The Snow Queen in human form, always reflecting the emotions of people around them back at them. Even confirmed by Word of God.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: The Duke of WeaseltownWeselton, for sufficiently medieval values of "corporate" and "executive".
  • Demoted to Extra: Gerda and Kai were the heroine and damsel in The Snow Queen.
  • Development Hell: Oh my Lord. This film is over 15 years in the making! Disney planned to produce this in the 90's as a hand-drawn feature, but they scrapped it during their change in management and their shift to CG features starting with Chicken Little and only just recently picked it up again.
  • Evil Redhead: Prince Hans is a lot more manipulative, devious, and nasty than he initially seems to be.
  • Fairy Tale
  • False Widower: In order to seize the throne of Arendelle, Hans claims that he married Anna in the minutes before she died from her sister's attack, when in fact he has locked her away to die.
  • Freudian Excuse: Hans. Maybe. Even though it's implied that his older brothers are good men at the end of the film, it sounds like at least some of them took brotherly teasing and pranks a bit too far:

Hans: I have twelve brothers, and three of them literally pretended I was invisible for two years.

  • Gender Flip: Kristoff is based on The Robber Girl.
  • God Save Us From the Queen: While The Snow Queen is built around playing this trope straight, this story is a definite subversion.
  • An Ice Person: Elsa, of course, as the Snow Queen of this tale.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Hans Kristof Anna Sven.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Applied to the young Anna by the rock trolls, making her forget Elsa's accidental attack on her.
  • Massive Numbered Siblings: Hans is the youngest of thirteen brothers. Which puts him so far from the throne that he's willing to lie and kill to become a king anywhere.
  • The Matchmaker: Every last rock troll. They get an entire production number about Shipping Anna and Kristof.
  • Meaningful Name: Olaf, the Comic Relief: "Oh, laugh".
  • Meet Cute: Princess Anna meeting Prince Hans as she trips past him into a rowboat.
  • The Mole: Prince Hans.
  • Named After Somebody Famous: Hans Kristof Anna Sven.
  • Nearly-Normal Animal: Kristof's reindeer Sven appears to be a Mostly-Normal Animal, but he shows signs of having human or near-human intelligence.
  • Non-Human Sidekick:
    • Sven the reindeer to Kristof.
    • Olaf to both Kristof and Anna.
  • Outnumbered Sibling: Hans. Not in gender, but in morality -- it's implied that all twelve of his brothers are good men and will not take his plotting in Arendelle very well.
  • Power Incontinence: Take it easy on the Ice-9 there, Elsa. This trope is the prime mover for the whole plot.
  • Prince Charming: From the moment we first see him, Prince Hans is the classic embodiment of this type as traditionally presented by Disney, right down to a typical Meet Cute moment with Anna. However, he actually turns out to be a charming Manipulative Bastard initially planning to seduce Elsa into marrying him so he can then kill her and take her throne. He switches to Anna when Elsa turns herself in a convenient monster from his point of view.
  • Raised by Rock Trolls: Kristof.
  • Running Gag: "Weaseltown".
  • Shout-Outs:
    • "Marshmallow", the giant snowman created by Elsa to defend herself, is a reference to the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
    • Olaf's dance with the seagulls is a shout-out to Bert's dance with the penguins in Mary Poppins.
    • The first "sand man" he passes in the same number is clearly inspired by the classic "Coppertone" girl ads.
    • The map that falls out of the book in which the King looks for the location of the trolls is clearly inspired by the map of the Lonely Mountain found in The Hobbit.
    • There is a Merida doll in Anna's bedroom.
  • Snowlems: Olaf is clearly Type I. Marshmallow is hard to categorize; created by Elsa to defend herself, it clearly has Type III aspects. But it doesn't seem to be inherently evil -- just protective of its creator.
  • Subverted Trope: This movie is filled with subversions of the "expected" features of Disney films, which is probably one reason why the Moral Guardians who seem to think that Disney is theirs freaked out over it.
  • True Love's Kiss: Invoked and averted six ways to Sunday. Everyone assumes that to reverse her curse, Anna will need a kiss from her Meet Cute Prince Hans. Not only does her prince not care for her, but he locks her in a cold room to freeze to death. And then the audience is supposed to assume it's that other nice boy Kristof. But she never kisses him. Her "act of true love" comes from inside her own heart, as she make a Heroic Sacrifice to save her sister.
  • Villain Song: Averted by "Let It Go", which makes it very clear the apparent villain is just as much a victim as anyone else.
  • Wacky Wayside Tribe: The rock trolls. And the merchant on the mountainside.
  • Winter Royal Lady: Elsa.
  • You Fail Biology Forever: The trolls dismissing head injuries as trivial and easy to fix compared to damage to the heart. Then again, this is a fairy tale, and this may be as much a metaphorical moral as a literal diagnosis.
  • Youngest Child Wins: Subverted by Hans, who is the youngest of thirteen brothers, and a charming but ruthless villain out to seize the throne of Arendelle for himself. Fortunately, he doesn't succeed and is returned to his brothers for punishment.