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Frozen, by Walt Disney Pictures, revolves around two sisters, Elsa and Anna. Princess Elsa of Arendelle possesses magical powers that enable her to create snow and ice. As children, the two sisters would often use their powers to play together until one day Elsa accidentally injures Anna. After this incident, the King and Queen keep the sisters away from each other and erase Anna’s memories of Elsa’s superpowers. Years later, the King and Queen get lost at sea and Arendelle finds itself trapped in a perpetual winter due to Elsa’s powers. Elsa is afraid that the kingdom's citizens might find out about her powers and fear her, so she flees. A journey then begins with Anna looking for her sister to save Arendelle and help bring her back home.
‘Frozen’ is the fifth highest-grossing movie of all time, and even after 8 years of its release, it is still one of the most loved movies by not into children but also adults. I chose this film as even though it is a children’s movie, it explores many themes and imparts various life lessons. The film revolves greatly around the impact of the sister’s childhoods on their adult personalities and their relationship with each other. It also portrays their insecurities that seem to have arisen from their childhood and how they overcome these together. The movie also heavily depends on childhood memories and the inner forces of the characters which make it very interesting to view from a developmental perspective – mainly through a Psychodynamic lens. The psychodynamic perspective states that the behavior of an individual is motivated by inner forces, memories, and conflicts that are generally beyond people’s awareness and control – this can also be said to be one of the key ideas that ‘Frozen’ revolves around.
Elsa is extremely self-controlled. Throughout her childhood, she was forced to hide the fact that she had superpowers. Throughout the movie, she truly transforms from an unconfident young woman, ashamed of her power, into a strong-willed and determined character. On the other hand, Anna is a naïve, impulsive, and extroverted character. They can be examined through Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory which suggests that unconscious forces act to determine personality and behavior. According to this theory, an individual’s personality has three aspects – the Id, Ego, and Superego. In the context of ‘Frozen’, we can see that Elsa and Anna, are two aspects of the same human being. Elsa is the careful superego, while Anna is the liberated id.
The superego is the internalization of cultural teachings from all around us. It is like an inner critic that operates as a moral conscience. The basic purpose of the superego is to stop us from going against societal norms taught to us throughout our lives. This level of consciousness aims for perfection. Being the princess of Arendelle, Elsa, at a young age was taught to be quiet, closed, and submissive to the chauvinistic forces around her. Thus, Elsa suppressed her desires and concealed her truths. She couldn’t be happy, nor could she be free. There was no liberation for her. This can be seen as she sings “Don’t let them in, don’t let them see. Be the good girl you always have to be. Conceal. Don’t feel. Don’t let them know.” Here, Elsa deliberately suppresses her emotions and her powers, to perform the functions required of her.
In contrast, Id can be described as the unorganized part of one’s personality that focuses solely on pleasure. The id wants to just be as it wants and it seeks instant gratification, not caring about societal norms. Much like Id – Anna wanted to do as she pleased. She didn’t think of the consequences of any of her actions. It was all okay and fine since her heart said so – all she wanted to do was to have fun.
Elsa, the superego, tried to stop Anna from behaving out of the ordinary and being a slave to her heart’s desires. In many instances, we can see that Elsa keeps telling Anna to be more like her – because that’s what she thought was accepted by society. Even though Elsa wanted to play with Anna, she was afraid to leave her room because she thought society would shun her upon the discovery of her powers.
The characters can also be looked at through the lens of Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory. Much like Elsa and Anna, all children and teenagers have persistent thoughts about their lives and future. According to Erikson's, at each stage of this theory, the individual experiences a psychosocial crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality development. Some stages can be connected to the film. These include the Initiative v/s Guilt which is the third stage of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. The question children ask themselves during this stage is “Am I good or bad?” Children have the opportunity to explore their interpersonal skills through initiating activities and by socially interacting with those around them. When it comes to Elsa, she was isolated during this stage. She had no social interaction and therefore could not build on her interpersonal skills. At a very young age, she was kept in a separate room so that she was not a threat to others around her. This inhibited her from developing a sense of initiative and she failed to feel secure in her ability to lead others and make decisions.
Even when it comes to the fourth stage, Industry vs. Inferiority, Elsa faced issues due to her isolation. It is at this stage that the child’s peer group will be of great importance and will become a major source of the child’s self-esteem, but in Elsa’s case, she was all alone. During this stage, the child feels the need to win approval by demonstrating specific competencies that are valued by society and begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments. Being isolated in a room, away from human beings, Elsa was never encouraged or reinforced for her good deeds or even for minor accomplishments. She would constantly feel unworthy and guilty for what she did to her sister. This led to feelings of underconfidence, inferiority, and doubting her abilities. Her parents too, did not spend time with her and applaud her efforts and skills, which further resulted in the decline of her self-esteem.
Lastly, talking about the fifth stage, Identity v/s Role Confusion, we see Elsa finally breaking out of her shell. It is during this stage that the adolescent will re-examine their identity and try to find out exactly who he or she is. At a very young age, Elsa had to have this all figured out as she lost her parents at sea and was the next heir to her kingdom. When Elsa escapes the coronation we see her finally testing societal and parental boundaries. She sings “It's time to see what I can do, to test the limits and breakthrough. No right, no wrong, no rules for me. I'm free.” When Elsa goes on to say that she no longer cares what others think of her, she appears to have been freed from the social anxiety she felt at the beginning of the movie. She seems to have successfully overcome this stage during which teenagers begin to form their own identity, which considerably boosts her self-esteem in the later half of the movie.
In conclusion, I think this assignment has been very insightful – helping me understand the various developmental perspectives in a more relatable and interesting manner. It has shown the impact of these theories on characters and their stories which also portrays the universality of it. This is one of my favorite movies and it was very interesting to see this movie from a psychological perspective as it adds such depth to a rather common animated movie.
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