Touching Elsa

One motif in the film that occurs for any single character would be Elsa avoiding touching or being touched by other people as she grows up, especially from the people she loves most.

After Elsa struck Anna with her magic, she became afraid of touching her or having any physical proximity with her. The only real physical contact she had was with her parents.

However, by the time she was twelve, Elsa noticed how her power was growing stronger, and then she refused to let her parents touch her, even though they were not scared of her.

Even by the time she was eighteen, Elsa still refused to touch them and vice versa, even though when she said her goodbyes to them, she was clearly starved for physical affection from them, and even Anna.

From then on and up to her coronation, Elsa avoided contact with people and continued to wear clothes all over her body and her gloves to try and suppress her powers. Even though she and Anna temporarily reconnected, she refused to explain anything to Anna and still didn’t want to be touched.

Then even after her powers were revealed and Anna understood everything, Elsa still wanted to be left alone and Anna to leave, since the streak was still in Anna’s hair and reminded her of the horrible memory.

It is only after Anna fully succumbs to Elsa’s freezing curse and freezes to ice that Elsa touches Anna. After thirteen years of trying to protect Anna and sacrificing herself for Anna’s own safety, Elsa still couldn’t save Anna. In her grief, Elsa throws her arms around her beloved sister’s figure and sobs.

But then once she notices that Anna has thawed and is alive, she doesn’t hesitate to reach up and hug her sister, and even snuggles into the hug. This is their first real physical contact after all those years. And they even hold hands before Elsa says, “Love will thaw.”

And then after she thaws Arendelle, the sisters hug again, with Elsa longingly reaching out to her sister. Then neither of them want to let go. :)