Ever since the movie came out in the theaters, I had wanted to take my son and (distant) niece to see the movie at the theaters (even though she had already watched it "seven times"). However, we never got that chance--between teaching and babysitting/family. Before you know it, the movie had come out on DVD already--thank you Red Box!
While watching the movie, I was (in a way) inspired that the creators would emphasize on the principle of "being who you are made to be"--as indicated in the song, "Let It Go." (Pause for the fans to finish singing the stanza).
(Permission by Fair Use at IMPAwards)
OK, now...where were we? Oh yeah...
The idea here is that society may pressure you to keep your strong gifts/personalities to yourself--in fear of not hurting others. For example Elsa, the main character, had to be locked up most of her life in order to not accidentally shoot a snow blast at her sister--or anyone else. However, the struggle is that one would not be true to him-/herself. Elsa realized what she was missing out once she ran away from the palace (and villagers) and created her own ice palace deep into the mountains.
At first, I was impressed with the movie. However, further reflection on it lead me to become quite disappointed. First, I was disappointed that the overarching theme (at least from my perspective) is to obtain self-control and channel one's strong gifts/personalities toward benefiting others but the problem is when you consider the point (or theme) of the theme song, "Let It Go." How can you obtain self-control by just letting things go?
To make this short, personally, I don't think that self-expression will facilitate for self-restraint and, much less, self-control. Those are different concepts. Self-expression, in my opinion, can set things up to work towards self-restraint and self-control...because how can self-restraint or self-control be practiced, if there is no self-expression to work with in the first place?
My final disappointment is that, at the end, the "Snow Queen," Elsa, was the one who, not only brought snow and ice to the land (or stopped it from coming), but she also ushered in Spring? I'm not trying to make something big out of something minute but...in order to be consistent with the dynamics of gifts and personalities, one tends to be more one than the other--not both and.
With that being said, I thought the movie was quite entertaining (and even hilarious at certain points). It's entertainment value is quite high in my book...but in terms of philosophical value, it is indicative of the self-expressive culture that we live in today--one without any restraints.
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For those interested, here is the original folk tale version:
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