Maybe I’m wildly sentimental about my own childhood,but the ’90s had some Disney bangers. Let’s take a walk down memory lane:Beauty and the Beast (1991),Aladdin (1992),The Lion King (1994),The Jungle Book (1994)Pochahontas (1995),Toy Story (1995),The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996),101 Dalmatians (1996),Mulan (1998) andA Bug’s Life (1998). Some were more memorable than others,but there was a constant stream of offerings and almost all of them were hits – even if some haven’t survived contemporary cultural norms.
“Frozen has its cake and eats it too,” says Thomas Caldwell,a film critic and artistic director of the Children’s International Film Festival,pointing out a noticeable shift in the cultural direction of Disney films in the early 2010s,particularly in terms of female characters.
“I think withFrozen,you’ve got the princess fantasy,which is fun and lovely,but it doesn’t have to define you or trap you,so I do wonder if,subconsciously,kids are responding to that,” he says.
“The films that are giant hits are flukes. They come out of nowhere,and then everyone tries to copy them,forgetting that the reason they were a big hit was because they surprised us.”
In a recent interview,writer and co-director of the Frozen films,Jennifer Lee,highlighted the tension of trying to preserve Walt Disney’s legacy and the “flavour” of the studio,while also pushing boundaries. “We’re not afraid to continue to take risks,but at the same time celebrate what we’re a part of and have always been,and the parts of our legacy that we all connect with,that we have made sure that those come with us on this journey,” she says.
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Frozen certainly has that secret sauce,yet it remains stuck like a tongue on an icy metal pole,maddening the minds of parents with lines like,“Don’t know if I’m elated or gassy,but I’m somewhere in that zone!”
It’s been a decade. Can we get obsessed with another film now,please? I’ve done my time listening toDo You Want To Build a Snowman? Please,I beg of you,let it go. Let it go.
Cherie Gilmore is a freelance writer.
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