Monday, May 5, 2014

Why Frozen isnt that bad...



If your house is anything like mine, the “Frozen epidemic” has taken a firm hold on your daily existence. Sure, it’s a good movie and I enjoyed watching it. I even enjoyed it enough to justify buying the DVD and audio CD without resentment. I don’t even mind watching it multiple times when my children request it during the grumpy hour. (You know, post dinner and pre bedtime…)

The fact that my 5 year old children will listen exclusively to the “Frozen” CD in the car has caused minimal problems, but nothing too extreme. In fact, there are definitely some positives to the experience. Oh, and as a side note, am I REALLY the only one who noticed the connection between the release of a movie about eternal winter during our eternal winter? I should hope not…  As for the benefits, I’ll elaborate.

1-    The enhancement of memorization techniques:  My kids don’t always remember things well and lyrics to songs have never been their strong point. They know EVERY WORD to the Frozen songs, however.  And yes, I do mean every word. My daughter especially, although my son isn’t doing badly. They practice often enough, so they should know all the words. That’s got to have some academic benefits. Right?
2-   Pretty music: I haven’t’ conducted an extensive study, but I am willing to state that the quality of music in animated movies has improved recently. While the older movies included some pretty tunes, I would hesitate to say that their music was inspired. The Frozen music, however, is beautiful. It’s very well written and catchy.  It’s easy on the ears and classy. It’s not “kids’ music” despite its presence in a movie made at least partly for children. That something, right?
3-   Excellent lyrics: My daughter has reached a phase in her kid curiosity where she feels the need to understand the meaning of every word she hears. She thinks it’s hilarious that the word “noodle” can mean the food you eat or the bendy toy you play with in the pool. A word geek, myself, I think that’s kind of cool. I’ll tell you this, I love explaining the meaning of the lyrics in the Frozen songs. I love explaining that “isolation” means being alone, but implies much more than alone.  It’s the feeling of being lonely, as opposed to that wonderful moment when you finally get to be alone at the end of a busy and social day. And she gets that. I LOVE that she gets that. We talked about how “the past is in the past” means that her tantrums of yesterday are forgiven and today is a new day. That’s an important life lesson if you ask me.
4-   Excellent female roles: I like romance and love, so I don’t object to a happy romantic ending. That said, I found it refreshing that the “true love” at the end of Frozen was sisterly love, not romantic love. Ana saved Elsa, and then Elsa save Ana. Their bond was recreated. Joy and love was returned to the kingdom. The presence of a romantic relationship for Ana was the icing on the cake. A nice addition. A bonus. Family came first. Nice.

I empathize with parents and child care provider all over the world. I do. I understand how annoying the 7 millionth rendition of “Let it go” can be, especially at full voice in the middle of the supermarket. But hey, it could be worse. It could be the “Thong song”. Right?







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