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Whatsapp Disney was surprised by the popularity of Elsa, they had intended Anna to be the hero

In 2015, no parent can be unaware of Princesses Elsa and Anna, and their adventures in the Kingdom of Arendelle. Frozen is a full-blown cultural phenomenon. Lea Redfern takes a look at why this unconventional fairytale has struck such a chord with modern children.

It all began with the small people. At some point in 2013 I noticed children stopping in supermarket lines and playgrounds to unashamedly belt out 'Let It Go' like small divas who had led lives of great passion.

In time, many of these small singers began to appear in distinctive ice-blue and white costumes. This is the world created by Frozen, the great Disney hit of 2013.

The lyrics of 'Let It Go' reject shame and guilt—emotions little girls are often invited to experience. And it's fast become an anthem for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

My then three-year-old was on to it. She insisted on being taken to the film and then watching it again and again. It was in her company that I began to appreciate the company of Princesses Elsa and Anna and their adventures in the Kingdom of Arendelle.

Unlike many other successful films Frozen has spawned an ongoing following; it is inarguably a bona fide cultural phenomenon.

Anecdotal evidence: four Princess Elsas at my daughter's book week this year. Frozen isn't even a book! (At least it wasn't until the film was made.)

There are dress-ups and mash-ups, official merchandise and cheap imitations. There are pre-school singers and teenage buskers, Elsa impersonators and at least one person who claims Elsa's life story is based on her. There are Frozen birthday parties and playground fights over the hierarchy of characters (try suggesting to a four-year-old that Olaf is 'better' than Elsa).

Every day there is a new Frozen story in the news. As I write, the princesses might be related to Tarzan.

The elements that go into a hit film are elusive. Millions of dollars can be spent without getting them right. The princess angle must be a plus when pitching to Disney, but the most successful animation in film history is interesting because it deviates from the formula.

These are princesses with a difference. There is no stereotypical handsome prince character, and ultimately the sisters have to save each other.

For Samantha Turnbull, author of The Anti-Princess Club and mother to a keen Frozen fan (of course), the ongoing obsession with Frozen proves that 'kids want more, or they are at least open to more than that clichéd girl-meets-boy tale in which they live happily ever after'.

Disney anticipated that plucky optimistic Anna, the younger sister, would be the popular heroine of the film, but instead the little people fell in love with the complex, flawed Elsa. Turnbull points out that Elsa's powers make her more like a superhero—a film archetype usually aimed at boys.

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Whatsapp Frozen, made for US$150 million, generated US$1.2 billion at the box office

Music critic Dorian Lynsky never thought he'd be 'the guy who talks about a Disney film'. He's a father of two daughters in the right demographic, and has written extensively about the film. He's now a self-declared, if reluctant, Frozen expert.

Lynsky points out that although Frozen is aimed at children, it was brought to life by some 'very clever, grown-up filmmakers'. These include writer and co-director Jennifer Lee.

Lee is the first female director of a Disney animated film and the first woman to direct a film that went on to gross more than a billion dollars.

In Frozen, Lee draws from and builds on a storytelling tradition stretching back to before Hans Christian Anderson. The original Snow Queen was a remote and quite terrifying creature. She is beautiful and dangerous—her first two kisses bring numbness and forgetting, but a third kiss kills.

And here is where we return to 'Let It Go' and the magic of the film.

While you could argue that the catchy, mantra-based 'Let It Go', by husband and wife songwriting duo Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, was always going to be successful, there's more to it than that.

In fact, the song changed the film itself. Most soundtracks are written once the film has already been produced, but Anderson-Lopez and Lopez were part of the writing process for Frozen, and until they returned to the studio with 'Let It Go' Elsa had been a villain.

The lyrics of 'Let It Go' reject shame and guilt—emotions little girls are often invited to experience. According to Lynsky, it's fast become an anthem for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people: 'It's funny how some distance/Makes everything seem small.'

It's difficult to view our millennial Snow Queen with real trepidation now that we know her as Elsa—a young girl with powers she cannot control, a sibling so desperate to protect her little sister that she locks herself away.

This idea of exploring another's story and simultaneously letting go of some of our own difficulties seems to be just right for this generation of small people.

And there is much to thank the clever filmmakers for. I'd like to send a shout-out to the costume designers: Frozen has almost single-handedly brought an end to the ubiquity of pink in little girls' wardrobes.

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