So, Disney’s Frozen won Best Animated Film and Best Original Song (for Let It Go) last night at the Oscars. Let It Go also won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song. I love the movie, and feel like it’s such a positive thing for so many reasons, but then I read article after article that seems to get a completely different “take” than I have, and focus on all these negative qualities that Elsa is showing during the song.
Here’s my take.
Elsa, Princess of Arendelle, gifted from birth with the ability to create ice and snow, and control those elements, has been cut off from her younger sister Anna after a childhood accident where her gift knocked Anna unconscious. Her parents, out of fear for the damage her gift can cause, taught her only to hide her gift, to “conceal, don’t feel” because when she feels fear, her gift is uncontrollable. They misapplied the wise troll’s words when he healed Anna, and had told her parents that she should learn to control her gift. She has lived for years shut up in her room, apart from her sister, and never taught how to manage her gift, only to be ashamed of it and hide it. Since her skin is the conduit for her gift, they have her cover everything, including wearing gloves to cover her hands, in order to not risk the gift manifesting.
Anna, on the other hand, is the perpetual optimist who has been sheltered –shut up in the castle– without her sister to play with, and is naive and looking for SOMEone to love her and to be with her. She is more “balanced” in appearance, not hiding everything from everyone, and wears a shoulder revealing ballgown for the coronation of Elsa.  After the coronation, Anna approaches Elsa with Hans, whom she just met and who is a prince from a neighboring country, to ask permission to wed, and Elsa, through a chain of events, reveals her gift through the reaction she has to Anna arguing with her in public. Let It Go immediately follows, as she is fleeing the party and people who want to arrest her as a witch.
As Elsa sings Let It Go, she transforms not only her clothes and hair but also builds a castle with very controlled use of her gift. She is the proverbial “sheltered girl” letting go of all the errant doctrine she has been taught and learning to think for herself. The song speaks to letting go of the shame and oppression; and spoke to me as someone who has been told to “cover up” a figure that is considered “less than modest” by the conservative Christian circles I am a part of.
Here are the lyrics to the movie version (as opposed to the credits version, sung by Demi Lovato), with my “take” on each part.

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I’m the Queen.
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I tried
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
Well, now they know
Elsa, raised from about age 7 in a bedroom of the family castle, acquaints only feelings of shame, isolation and failure with who she is. She has been raised in a bedroom of the family castle from age 7 or so; taught to “not feel fear” and to use gloves to cover her hands so she can’t manifest her gift.
Let it go, let it go
Can’t hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don’t care
What they’re going to say
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway
It’s funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can’t get to me at all
It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I’m free
Here, on the top of a mountain away from everyone, she finally is able to exercise her gift, learn to control it, and it manifests in an mind-boggling gorgeous display of control and beauty. Her ice-palace is one of the best pieces of graphic animation I’ve yet seen work around a character who is perfectly timing the movement to the song. Which girl, especially those raised in oppressive environments where they are told that their god-given bodies are “shameful” or “tempting to men” or “should be hidden” won’t stand in front of a mirror and pull a shirt in around their curves, wiggle their hips? Yes, Elsa creates a dress that is more Barbie like than Babushka like. She trades in her gloves-and-neck-to-floor dress with added modesty-sleeves (obvious because they’re black and the dress itself is a beautiful formal strapless dress with Nordic details) for a sparkly gown with amazing details. It has a slit (to the knee). It shows her curves. It is something I would encourage my daughter to wear for a formal evening when she grows up. Here are the two dresses:
Image
Image
I’ve had people quibble about Elsa’s shimmying walk and her dress with a slit. For someone not raised in the hyper-conservative culture of “modest dress” where ANY skin below the collarbone on women, sleeveless tops, pants, skirts above the knee, or form fitting attire were considered “immodest,” this may not seem like such a big deal. Let me tell you, it is. I wasn’t raised as conservative as some, but even my parents quibbled about skirt length and neckline, how loose a shirt was and whether or not we wore pants at all. This is a big deal. More for those girls raised to believe that their bodies are inherently sinful because men look on them and will be tempted. For those who were raised with the mistaken belief that women are the cause of men’s lust. Lust is in the heart of man (or woman) because of sin. It is something we must EACH take personal responsibility for, we can not lob responsibility into the lap of someone else. If I look at something and sin in my mind, it’s *my fault,* not the fault of the thing I looked at. If a man is going to lust after seeing a woman’s ankles, or collar bone, or underarm, this is not an issue of the woman’s clothing, but the man’s sin. Elsa, while freeing herself of the constraint of legalism, realized she was free to express herself. She wears clothing that covers her decolletage and arms. She creates a dress that shows her figure, but it doesn’t reveal her private parts or overly emphasize those parts of the body that our culture deems sexual. She, in all honesty, is more covered up in that dress than many who wear tank tops and shorts. Does this mean tank tops and shorts are immodest? No. It just means that Elsa’s dress isn’t immodest; it’s her choice. I wouldn’t say it’s appropriate for all occasions, but she’s a Queen in a time where dresses are the norm; and Queens dressed up in gowns. Her gown is appropriate. As the movie progresses, her “shimmy” disappears, it was only present during the song as she was exhilarated from the freedom of letting her gift out. She walks like a normal person at the end of the movie, no undue hip-swinging or wiggling present.
Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You’ll never see me cry
Here I stand
And here I’ll stay
Let the storm rage on
My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I’m never going back,
The past is in the past
Let it go, let it go
And I’ll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand
In the light of day
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway
These last two verses are the saddest. Elsa is willing to give up EVERYTHING, her crown, her sister, being around people, in order to keep her gift from hurting someone. She realizes her gift is part of who she is, how in the world is she supposed to live and hide it? When Anna shows up and begs Elsa to come back to the kingdom, they argue and Elsa inadvertently sends a blast of her power into Anna’s heart. The culmination of Elsa’s transformation occurs when Anna, continually weakening from the ice-shard to the heart, sees Hans about to kill Elsa, and inserts herself between the two just as she is turned into an ice statue. This act of selfless love breaks the curse on Anna, and also shows Elsa that true love (the love she has for her sister) is the only way she can control the gift she has. She releases Arendelle from the winter, and is able to control her gift effectively. The movie ends with Hans being sent back to his brothers (who are many, and more honorable than he is), and Anna and Elsa again friends as sisters should be, and with Elsa in full control of her gift.
I loved the movie. The message that “love at first sight” isn’t always the reason you should marry was pretty strong, and one I can fully get behind as a parent. I want my children to base their relationships not on the outward things, but on the deeper connections of friendship and self-sacrificing love. I want my children to also see that siblings are some of the closest friends you can have, and while they aren’t the “only ones” you should have, they are valuable, and should be there for you no matter what.
Another message, though, to children, is that we should LIVE our gifts. LIVE our calling. Don’t let others tell you what you are called to do. Don’t let others shame you for being who God wants you to be. Don’t throw all rules out, but instead, self-govern your gift through love. Love for other people will naturally result in our curbing harmful behaviors. Love for other people will result in our gifts being used for good.
The biggest application, as I explained above, in my circles, applies to the modesty debate. People try so hard to come up with “rules” by which they can judge every article of clothing. But what they end up doing is judging each body, which are each so unique, and so different from each other. Not all bodies will fit clothing the same way, and something that is “covering” on one person will be “revealing” on another. Love people. Let your love for people help guide your clothing choices. If someone is wearing something that you wouldn’t feel modest in, don’t judge them for being immodest, love them for being who they are.