Elsa Frozen

Disney's "Frozen" features two princesses. Elsa, shown here, was born with the power to create ice and snow.

(Disney/AP)

Halloween Warehouse in Beaverton initially ordered an equal number of costumes for each "Frozen" princess: 48 Elsas, 48 Annas.

The shop had to restock the Elsa costumes four times. The first batch of Anna outfits finally sold out this week. The managers didn't bother to order more.

"Elsa has been the biggest thing in years – the biggest thing since Tickle Me Elmo," said Heather Rose, who has managed the store for 15 years. "I think we only sold Anna when we were out of Elsa."

Heather Rose, a manager at Halloween Warehouse, said some young girls refused to compromise and dress up as Anna -- even when the shop was sold out of Elsa costumes.

The National Retail Foundation estimates 2.6 million children will dress up as a "Frozen" character this year – and Rose expects Elsas to outnumber Annas 10 to one. She's not alone in her assessment; Halloween Express, a national retailer, named its Elsa costume the top pick for 2014. Anna did not make their top 10 list.

But why Elsa? The film features two princesses, and Anna, the younger sister, is the more prominent character and obviously, classically heroic. Anna goes on a journey, finds love and saves her sister and the city from disaster. She is naïve, perhaps, but determined, brave and driven by selfless love.

Halloween costumes aren't the only sign Elsa is queen among young fans. An Elsa doll was the second best seller on Amazon.com as of Friday morning, and "Let It Go" has become a generational anthem – one that hundreds of little aspiring Elsas belted out in Portland's Laurelhurst Park at the showing of sing-along "Frozen" in August.

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That power song, possibly the force behind the Elsa craze, accompanies calamity in the film. The snow queen's melodic moment of empowerment kicks off her own fearful isolation. In order to let herself go, Elsa hurts her sister and curses the city with an eternal winter – though some might say she left the city selflessly intending to protect everyone from her powers.

What does it say about our culture that young girls worship Elsa?

Let's start at the source: "The Snow Queen," by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. "Frozen" – like many Disney hits – is based on an old fairy tale. "The Snow Queen" chronicles the friendship and budding romance of Kay and Gerda.

This is a gross oversimplification of the tale, but here it goes:

Kay gets specs of magical glass in his eye and his heart, causing him to become mean and cynical. A seductive snow queen whisks him away to the "wide world" – a desolate yet cerebral land where he becomes interested in art. Gerda journeys to the wide world to rescue him. In the end, her tears lift Kay's curse and the two go home together.

Disney obviously made some changes with "Frozen," but some major themes remain: In the screen version, a young woman journeys to a bleak, frozen land, risking her own life for someone she loves. The captive of the desolate place is cynical but wonderfully artistic.

"You could read it as an allegory of redemption, but I don't see him as teaching and preaching," Maria Tatar, a folklorist at Harvard University, said of Andersen's nineteenth-century tale.

Gerda could be seen as the hero, she said, but it's more likely that Andersen used the tale to "work out his own conflicted personality."

In other words, she said, the story is way too complicated to reduce to a single lesson, and one character isn't inherently better than the other. Andersen didn't overtly paint Gerda as the hero, nor did he conclude the story with a neatly-packaged take-away about sacrificial love.

Disney managed to preserve that complexity in "Frozen," experts said.

"Hats off to Disney for having a bunch of different stories that are interwoven and engaging," said Timothy Tangherlini, an expert in folklore, film and culture at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The complexity of "Frozen" is likely what made it a $1.072 billion global hit, he said. Tangherlini consulted with Disney during the early stages of the film's plot development back in 1997.

As the father of a teen-age girl, he said, he's familiar with the isolationist tendencies Elsa exudes.

"When I saw it, I thought, 'What a brat,'" he said of Elsa's "Let It Go" scene. He was "astonished" Elsa got more attention than Anna, and said he suspects the team at Disney is "pretty surprised," too.

Both experts agreed that isolationist, teenage behavior might be part of the draw for young children.

"As adults we always want to go back to childhood, and I think we sort of forget that children want to grow up," Tatar said.

Elsa exudes rebellion and independence. She's the oldest sibling – a position millions of younger children covet daily. Plus, she has a sparkly dress, a crown, a castle, super powers and an Academy Award-winning solo.

Hazel Hoskins, dressed as Elsa, used her magic freezing power during the photo booth at the Southwest Community Center Monster Mash on Oct. 18, 2014. Roland Poulsen, also pictured, showed off his muscles.

The elder princess also looks like a Barbie doll, Tatar said, with blonde hair, impossibly large blue eyes and a cinched waist.

"Elsa is this charismatic, wildly attractive woman that is so beautiful and seductive you can't really ever be like that," Tatar said. Children might identify more with Anna, but they aspire to be Elsa.

So what does the Elsa craze say about our culture? It says we love to see young women eschew traditional expectations and pursue their dreams, the experts say. It says we are inspired by people willing to live in isolation to realize their creative potential. It says we love power and beauty, regardless of whether or not it's attainable.

To some, Anna is the favorite for her optimism, doggedness and selfless devotion.

Complexity might be what makes a fairy tale timeless. Tatar is considered one of the nation's leading folklorists, yet she said she discovers something new each time she reads "The Snow Queen." Without a clear moral or obvious hero, the story translates differently to readers of all ages and cultures. Perspective is everything.

"When it comes to fairy tales, there's always more to talk about," Tatar said.

Readers: Do you favor Elsa or Anna, and why? What does your preference say about your values? How do your children answer that question? Share your responses in the comments.



-- Melissa Binder