In case you haven't worked out from my avatar, I love Frozen. Frozen is the film that got me into Disney films, and for that I am very grateful. However, I'm sure we all know that the internet doesn't exactly agree with me here. I constantly see Frozen get bashed everywhere. It's almost impossible to go on a Youtube video for Tangled, or Big Hero 6, or Moana, without seeing a comment saying "This is sooooooo much better than that overrated Frozen crap!!!" If you haven't seen any of that, then go on to Twitter and search "Frozen Moana" in the search bar, and you'll see what I mean. Now of course, if people prefer Moana to Frozen, then I have no problem with that. It's all a matter of opinions. But I don't see the need to bring Frozen into the equation. If you really loved Moana that much, then you wouldn't need mention Frozen to tell people how great Moana is. You could just praise Moana without talking about Frozen.

Now I know what some people might be thinking: "Oh this guy is a Frozen fanboy. He's obviously biased towards Frozen." I'll try not to be, but in this blog, I will try to refute some common complaints about Frozen, and tell people why constant Frozen bashing is worse than people think. If you're not interested in that, then feel free to click off now.

I see a lot of people making excuses for why Frozen was successful. One example is: "Frozen was only successful because of that ONE song!!!" That song, of course, is Let It Go. I won't deny that Let It Go certainly helped the film, but it's not the only reason why the film was successful. NEWSFLASH: Let It Go isn't the first good song to come out of Disney, and it won't be the last.

Another excuse for Frozen's success is: "2013 was a bad year for animation. Frozen had no competition." I feel like people heard I Hate Everything say this and just assumed that it was the truth. Whilst Frozen is probably the only memorable animated film to come out in 2013, it wasn't the only successful one. Monsters University made approximately $750million worldwide, and Despicable Me 2 made almost $1billion. Sounds like competition to me! Additionally, Frozen didn't just compete with animated films. Frozen was released a week after Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Also, a lack of competition doesn't explain the positive public and critical response.

There are other excuses for Frozen's success, but I don't want to ramble on for too long about these.

A large part of the hatred for Frozen comes from the hype, merchandising, and fandom. For this, I must emphasise one thing: the film is NOT responsible for these things. Can Let It Go get annoying after 1000 plays? Of course, much like any other song. Is the Frozen fandom bad? You don't see it much any more, but I've heard bad things about it, but I'd argue that the fandom for any popular thing is going to have a lot of bad people. Is the merchandising overdone? That's debatable, but I'd ask: is seeing a toy on the shelves really that annoying? Anyway, I wrote about the merchandising for Frozen in more detail over here: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:DisneyCWS/Why_Frozen_Gets_Merchandised

So, what about things that ARE in the film? What are the major gaping flaws in Frozen that make it worth hating on like it encouraged genocide? Well first, some of the characters get heavily criticised. Elsa is accused of turning her back on her responsibilities by running away from Arendelle. However, with her powers being linked to her emotional state, running away was probably the best way to keep people safe. She didn't deliberately curse Arendelle with an eternal winter. So when Anna told her, why didn't she come back to fix it? To put it simply, she didn't know how, and she thought she would only make things worse. Similarly, she shut Anna out for so many years because she believed it was the best way to keep her safe.

Kristoff is another character who receives a lot of flak. People claim that he has no effect on the story. Well he takes Anna up the mountain, then takes her to the trolls, then helps her get back to Hans, so he clearly does have an effect on the story. Besides, if he wasn't there, then a large chunk of the film would just be Anna walking up a mountain on her own. How dull would that be?

People make a similar argument with Olaf, saying that he has no effect on the film. This is simply not true. Firstly, the last thing that Anna and Elsa did before their separation was build a snowman called Olaf, instantly giving him emotional significance. But more importantly, Olaf unlocks the door when Anna is freezing to death. He then gives a speech about love, and helps Anna get outside to Kristoff, leading to Anna jumping in front of Hans' sword to save Elsa. Long story short, if Olaf wasn't there, Anna would've frozen to death, Elsa would've been sliced in half, and Hans would be king of Arendelle. I think that counts as a contribution to the story. Some people say that Olaf is annoying. I personally disagree, but that's all about opinions really.

Hans seems to receive a lot of hate too, with some claiming that he is the worst Disney villain ever. Again, it's down to personal opinions, but some make ridiculous claims about him, like saying that he was never really a threat. Erm, what?! He almost killed both Anna and Elsa! That's certainly a threat! Also, let me make one thing very clear: he saved Elsa at the ice palace because he thought that she could reverse the winter. This is clearly explained in the next scene.

Now onto the trolls. The trolls are often labelled as unnecessary. I'll admit that they're a bit of a weakness, but they do have a role in the film. If they're not there, then Anna freezes to death as a child. They're in the film for convenience, but they do have a purpose. Besides, they get like five minutes of screentime! It's really not that big a deal.

Speaking of the trolls, another complaint about Frozen is the lack of explanation for things, such as Elsa's ice magic, or the magical trolls. Firstly, who really cares about the trolls' back story? Secondly, whilst I would like to know where Elsa got her powers, it isn't actually important to the story. All we really need to know is that Elsa has ice powers that are linked to her emotions. Furthermore, there's tonnes of unexplained magic in other Disney films, and no one ever seems to complain about them.

A common complaint I see is that Frozen was filled with plotholes. Whenever people make this complaint, they never actually list any examples. A plothole is an inconsistency in the plot. Therefore, "where did Elsa get her powers?" is not a plothole. There are some logical errors in the film, but that happens in literally every single Disney film ever.

Right, now I'm going to enter a minefield, that may end up with people thinking I'm a racist, but I'll continue. People make the claim that Frozen is racist as every single speaking character is white. This is definitely a problem, but it seems like Frozen is the only film to ever be called out on this. I don't remember any speaking POC in Tangled, or Beauty and the Beast, or The Little Mermaid, but they never get called out on this. I do think that the lack of diversity in Frozen is a problem, but not a big one for two main reasons:

1) I don't think it was done deliberately with racist intentions.

2) I don't think it will encourage young kids to be racist.





Some of you might be wondering why I'm bothering with this. I've been on the internet long enough to know that anything new and popular will receive a mountain of hate. I'm also no stranger to being called mean names for having a difference in opinion to somebody else. So why does it bother me so much when I see people saying "Frozen is terrible and you're an idiot for liking it!!!"? Well, I thought about writing this blog after coming across the Walt Disney Confessions website (http://waltdisneyconfessions.tumblr.com/). I had a read through some of the Frozen ones, and I realised how big of an effect Frozen has had on some people. Frozen has helped people cope with depression, anxiety, identity issues, broken homes, and lots of other stuff. One specific confession hit me hard: http://waltdisneyconfessions.tumblr.com/post/115460952986/trigger-warning-suicide-before-i-saw-frozen-i . Frozen has not only changed people's lives for the better, but it has actually saved lives. It makes me think about what all the hatred for Frozen could do. What if the person who wrote that confession saw a bunch of people telling them that they're an idiot for liking Frozen? Makes you think. On the whole, Frozen has done so much more good than harm. Whether it's prevented suicide, helped people struggling with families, or just made people happy, it's had a positive impact. I don't think the fact that you see Elsa toys on the shelves negates all the good that it has done.

(EDIT: After looking through some more of the Frozen confessions, I found one which shows the point I'm trying to make: http://waltdisneyconfessions.tumblr.com/post/107491343142/trigger-warning-depressionsuicide-frozen-really ).

In conclusion, Frozen doesn't deserve all the hate it gets. Is it flawless? No, of course not. I still acknowledge that the pacing is a bit off, and the parents were dumb, but that doesn't make it worth the hate it gets, especially since it has had such a massive impact on other people's lives. I'm not saying that it's beyond criticism. People are allowed to criticise Frozen, but it's about knowing where to draw the line. If you think Frozen is overrated, that's fine. If you think it's Disney's most overrated film, then fine, I'm not really that bothered. If you think it's Disney's worst ever film, you're pushing it a bit. If you're calling people idiots for liking it, then you've crossed the line. Also, don't bash something unless it's actually relevant to the conversation. If you're asked a question about Tangled, don't bring Frozen into the question. Just remember, if you're gonna needlessly bash something and insult people, you may be cutting deeper than you think.

Anyway, that's what I think of the whole thing. I would end with a "Let It Go" pun, but Frozen blogs always seem to end with them, so I'll go for something Elsa, perhaps something less Anna-oying. Thanks for reading :)