When Frozen came out in 2013, it quickly became a worldwide sensation. Everywhere you looked, there was something Frozen related. Frozen dolls, tissue boxes, toy cars, bouncy balls, cereal- you name it- you could pretty much find anything that had either Anna, Elsa, or Olaf on it. This became a real annoyance to a lot of people, rightfully so, because you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing anything Frozen related. Dare I say this was worse than the minions? It might be.
Like with Despicable Me and the minions, Frozen began experiencing a lot of hate. Not because of the movie itself, but how because every company tried to get in on the Frozen frenzy. It was hard for people to look past this saturation of Frozen items on the market, so they began misdirecting their frustration onto the movie itself. People started to call it “not that good of a movie” and “overrated”. Why do I care so much, you might ask? Because Frozen made me feel seen.
There is a huge parallel drawn between Elsa’s struggle with her powers and depression. As someone who has suffered from depression since I was 12, I felt so validated by this movie. One of the main themes of the movie was that in order to control her powers, Elsa had to “conceal, not feel”. So many times in my life, I had felt like that was the best way to deal with my depression- to try not to let it take place, to just ignore it, and it would go away. However, this movie shows that it is best to embrace your struggles in order to solve the problem at hand, in this case, Elsa’s powers. The best way was now not to ignore, but to try to learn and grow.
I was nearly 18 when I first saw Frozen, and I saw it with my sister who was five at the time. She loved the movie and thought it was hilarious, but I honestly think I loved it more. Sure, it was funny and was focused more on familial relationships rather than romantic ones, but underneath that, it was deep. It showed how great of a difference the love and support of your loved ones can make you feel better, and problems are always best solved when you have someone to help you. I connected to this movie so much that I even got a tattoo of one of the quotes, which I still proudly show off today.
The excessive marketing of literally almost every company almost took away from that. Everywhere I went, people hated on Frozen just because it was everywhere. They weren’t thinking about the actual movie now, they were thinking about how annoying it was that everywhere you went, you would see something Frozen related, or hear Let It Go on repeat. I know this can be common with popular movies, but it can still be disheartening.
Although this is silly in the grand scheme of things, I still feel lucky that I was able to not get pulled into that and let it kill my love and appreciation for the movie. This movie changed how I thought about myself, and even today, six years after I first watched it, I still think of it and find inspiration in the songs and the story. One day, reader, I hope you find something similar.
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