Frozen Fears

Ice is a powerful substance, having the ability to carry beauty wherever it goes, but it can carry danger as well. Like ice, people can be both good and bad; however, man’s power to decide can determine which way they fall in morality. In the movie Frozen’s pinnacle song “Let It Go,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez give the deuteragonist Elsa a lyrical introspection of escaping and running away from those whom she can hurt with her cold powers, and is now free to do whatever she wants in her mountain of isolation. Looking deeper into the song, however, Elsa’s troubled and misguided decision to evade her fears begin to surface and foreshadow her fate throughout the rest of the movie. Through the use of both figurative language and diction, “Let It Go” paints a vivid picture of the good in liberating oneself from fear and restriction, yet cautions the repressed soul of the bad in avoiding one’s problems.
First, Kristen and Robert Lopez’s use of metaphors and other figurative language accentuates the rising strength and recklessness of Elsa’s character, and thus demonstrates the mixed result in letting go of all doubts. At first, Elsa uses figurative language to emphasize her inner conflict of coping with her insecurities. Elsa initially introduces “a kingdom of isolation” where “it looks like [she is] the queen” (1.3-4), emphasizing how she built the walls which separated her from her family throughout her life in order to manage her fears. Furthermore, she mentions how “the wind is howling like the swirling storm inside” (2.1), likening her soul to a storm that cries in pain from her inner turmoil. However, as the poem moves on, she gains the confidence and strength to break free from the restrictions and fears placed on ...

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...guage and diction demonstrates the harsh truth in evading one’s problems as a solution. Behind the positive and uplifting tone which brings life and joy to someone who hasn’t felt such emotions for so long, the introspectively honest and melancholy truth shines as the real meaning behind the song. Overall, while it is beneficial to free oneself from societal standards that inhibit being true to one’s morals and values, man cannot sincerely “let the storm rage on” (8.6) without suffering nor acknowledging its presence. While one can, for a time, feel free and boundless from the fears that they outrun, they are not really free from their anxieties, and it will always be there to hinder them from actually letting go. Ultimately, in order to be truly comfortable with oneself and genuinely let go of past inhibitions, one must find the courage to face their storm inside.