It's Only A Paper Rose

Short answer: Go see it.

Somewhat longer, art-and-social-analysis answer: I've been afraid for a while that Disney had forgotten how to evolve. It makes sense, in a way, that they'd do so in fits and starts; they're the masters of finding a formula that sells, and given what they spend on the Disney Hypermarketing Juggernaut, it makes sense that they would stick to what they know works. Even when they come under fire for it, as they have for the sociopolitical issues with the princess-story formula that made them so successful in the 1990s, they're hesitant to change; as Michael Eisner infamously said in an internal memo, "We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective."

And, in all fairness, Disney's never tried to claim they were anything other than popular entertainment, reflective of the zeitgeist rather than zeitgeist-determining. Whether or not they have a moral responsibility to teach better lessons simply because they're such a cultural juggernaut and so prevalent in kids' minds is a fascinating and complex discussion, and frankly beside the point right now. What matters is, they've never been trailblazers. When they change, it's largely because they're forced to, because market forces are moving away from whatever their previous formula was. You see it in the differences between the simplistic nature of the classic Disney films (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White) versus the Second Golden Age of Disney, where the heroines start to show some agency and take matters into their own hands (even though their ultimate goal is still to get married and live happily ever after, and even though they're still constantly going on about how everything is all their fault). Mulan was something of a redheaded stepchild in this grouping; it had a romantic subplot, but was more about family and cultural values than romance. Though I loved it at the time, it must not have done as well at the box office, because afterward Disney seemed to be floundering with the whole princess deal; Tangled was visually stunning, but a huge step backward in terms of character and story. (I'm not including Brave in this analysis, as it was done by the folks at Pixar, who've shown themselves over and over to be willing to take risks and tell far more complex stories than the House of Mouse, even after being absorbed into it.)

So you can see why it is that I'm so excited to see Disney come out with a princess story that's not only not centrally about romance, but in fact is in many ways a deconstruction of the princess-story tropes. It shows that our culture is changing, that people are saying they want better role models for their daughters. Anna and Elsa embody common princess-y tropes, but they're fully developed characters with motivations and flaws. Anna's aggressive wide-eyed naiveté especially is played, not as a desirable quality, but as a state of arrested development that gets her into trouble. Elsa's repressive and insecure coming-of-age is perhaps a touch heavy-handed in the metaphor department, but for anyone who's been through adolescence and puberty and the difficulty of learning to own one's own power, it's hard not to identify with her turmoil.

And then, of course the visuals are just stunning, from the ice and snow to the summer landscape at the end - they obviously got the art team from Tangled to work on it, but this time paired them up with a proper screenplay. Plus there are a number of subtle-but-entertaining visual and audio nods to the 90s-era princess films, which make for a nice acknowledgement that most of the parents taking their kids to see this now probably grew up watching them. Also, as a side note, I was especially entertained by a direct visual quotation from Watchmen, of all things - when Elsa raises her ice palace while belting out a showstopping number, it's very reminiscent of Dr. Manhattan's watch palace coming out of the sands of Mars. Brian cracked me up when he commented "Maybe Dr. Manhattan would've come off as a lot less of a sad sack if he'd had a little musical theatre in him."

Speaking of which, holy crap - the music! Maybe I'm just still scarred from the awful movie version of Les Miserables, but it was So Refreshing to hear awesome musical numbers sung by people with the pipes to do them justice.

Absolutely worth seeing, possibly more than once. And especially worth supporting, because as near as I can tell, the marketing on this one has been rather restrained - I admittedly don't live in an ad-saturated environment, and don't have kids, but even I usually hear of upcoming Disney films more than a week in advance. I suspect Disney is sort of testing the waters to see whether this angle on the princess film has commercial legs, and I really would like to see this be the bellwether of a whole new phase of their development, rather than another one-off.