Motif of Doors in Frozen

It’s probably no secret to fans by now that there is a motif of doors shown throughout Frozen. It is expressed in most of the songs by having the word “door” in the lyrics or showing doors being knocked on, opened, or closed, most especially for “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” and “Love Is An Open Door.” Five of the songs include “door” and “anymore” as a rhyme to each other:

In “Do You Want to Build a Snowman," 5-year-old Anna sings, "I never see you anymore , come out the door .”

, come out the .” In “For the First Time in Forever," Anna sings, "The window is open, so’s that door . I didn’t know they did that anymore .”

. I didn’t know they did that .” In “Love is an Open Door," Hans and Anna sing, "Say goodbye (say goodbye) to the pain of the past. We don’t have to feel it anymore . Love is an open door .”

. Love is an open .” In “Let It Go," Elsa sings, "Let it go, let it go. Can’t hold it back anymore . Let it go, let it go. Turn away and slam the door .”

. Let it go, let it go. Turn away and slam the .” In “For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)," Anna sings, "Please don’t slam the door, you don’t have to keep your distance anymore.”

Although the film shows many moments of doors opening, closing, or being knocked on, I selected ten of my most favorite moments with doors based on their significance, major or minor.

First gif: Elsa closes the door to her new bedroom right in front of Anna. This begins the separation of the girls, which continues as they grow up. For years, Anna constantly knocks on Elsa’s door, but Elsa never comes out. Second gif: On her coronation day, Elsa walks over to a set of doors that lead outside to a balcony to look out at the kingdom that is now hers. This represents how she is literally taking a big step with this new change in her life as a ruler. Third gif: Followed by Hans, just as they sing “door,” Anna opens the doors to an outside tower. Throughout the entire song, they sing how their “romance” is a “door,” or a chance for a new beginning in their lives. Fourth gif: Right after she accidentally exposes her magic to the guests, Elsa flees outside of the ballroom doors. These are the first set of doors out of which she runs to escape what she has done. Fifth gif: After singing “Let It Go,” Elsa slams the balcony doors with a wave of her hand and goes back inside. This represents her desire to be alone for the safety of people from her magic. Sixth gif: Anna enters the barn right after Kristoff finishes singing. This represents her reaching out to Kristoff to help her on her quest, igniting the start of their relationship. Seventh gif: After hesitating for a few seconds, Anna finally knocks on the door of Elsa’s ice palace. As she hesitated, Olaf took notice, wondering why she didn’t knock. This is one of my favorite moments of the motif because it represents major déjà vu for Anna. Before this, she had knocked on Elsa’s bedroom door many times, never knowing why she was closed off from Elsa’s life. Now that Anna finally understands everything about their past, she wonders if Elsa will remain closed off or finally open up and let Anna help her. Eighth gif: After dropping Anna off at the castle, Kristoff waits at the gates to see her off completely until they close right in front of him. Before they do, Anna glances back at him. Once they are closed, Kristoff remains for a few more seconds, then he sadly turns around and begins walking away…though Sven stays behind a little longer. I also really like this moment because by now, Kristoff has changed so much since his journey with Anna began. He initially thought she was a spoiled, annoying, helpless princess, but after what has happened to her, he has grown to care about her so much. He waits until she is out of view to make sure she is safe, and he stays behind momentarily because he thinks he might still be able to help her. But then Kristoff just brushes all of it off; Anna already has a fiancé, someone who is above him in status and who is sure to save her. While he has come to love Anna, Kristoff believes that there will always be someone better than him, that he is not good enough for her and never will be. Ninth gif: After revealing his true colors and plan to take control of Arendelle to Anna, Hans locks the door to the library and leaves her inside to die. This could also be seen as a nod to earlier, when he promised Anna he would never shut her out…rather than do that, he shut her in instead! Tenth gif: As a reversal to the previous photo, Olaf uses his nose to unlock the library door and finds Anna close to death, so he rushes to create a fire for her.

Special thanks to arendellesnowflake for creating the gifs for me! :D