Analysis Of The Snow Queen And Frozen

The definition of a 'fairy tale' could be described in the loosest of terms. From the dictionary of Merriam-Webster, it is defined as “...a simple children's story about magical creatures, or a false story that is meant to trick people. (Merrium-Webster 2014)” Some people would say that it is an ‘unrealistic and possibly untrue story,’ which highlights the need of society to deconstruct and put meaning to every tidbit of information that is presented to them. This need to understand the so called transformation and changing mindset of ideas, and the concepts of gender equality and inequality as the tides of society change, is seen as quite prevalent in relation to the stories of The Snow Queen and Frozen - its new age counterpart; more so, with the deconstruction of Frozen, the inequality of the female character(s) and independence, is rather rampant. Though several relatively strong ideas found in The Snow Queen, have transcended the pages of time to be found in Frozen, a good majority of what makes The Snow Queen to be a strong story of female independence, empowerment, and equality to the male archetype, is lost.

Disney has made many notable classic fairytales into so called 'digital classics' through the last few decades - Beauty and The Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Cinderella, to name a few; the most recent fairytale that they have ‘adapted,’ is the tale of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen a.k.a. what we now know as the blockbuster movie entitled Frozen.

In the Andersen version of the tale, The Snow Queen, the relationship between two childhood friends, Kai and Gerda, is the main focus; however, Gerda takes the cake as the main protagonists. In the fairytale, an evil mirror is sent down to Earth by a Troll and hi...

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...; in media, literature, magazines, posters, billboards, etc. Very rarely, is there a tale told that deals with the ideologies of female empowerment, strength, and independence; however, The Snow Queen, has these strengths. With Gerda’s transition from frightened child, to strong heroine, she is able to realize her inner strength; this helps her to succeed on her quest as well as set a great example for individual’s young and old alike. Gerda brings to light the idea that girls can be the hero of their own stories. That they can be independent, intelligent, and strong, and be feminine while still being the hero or completing a hero’s journey. That there is no one standard to acclimate to, even if living in a male dominated world. Frozen, with its modern day quims, ‘spunky’ undeveloped princesses, and giant budget fall short of this; and that, is the cold, hard truth.