In today’s world, witches can be
seen in many areas of entertainment and are heavily pronounced in movies. An
example of a modern witch found in film is Elsa from Disney’s Frozen. Elsa is a
young woman who has magical powers that can turn anything in her environment
into ice. Throughout the movie, we see Elsa inducing snowstorms, freezing man-made
objects, and turning humans into life size icicles. Elsa portrays many
qualities that are similar to those witches we have seen in our readings, but
she also differs in ways that bring about more contemporary aspects.
Similar to the witches in our readings, Elsa is outcast from society. Once her powers are seen by the kingdom and portrayed as a threat, the whole town goes against her and she is no longer welcomed. Many of the members fear Elsa and her magical powers. Due to this social severance, Elsa flees the town, and runs off to the snowy mountains just outside the kingdom where she makes her own castle out of ice. In correspondence with the readings, Elsa is hunted by some of the townspeople because of her sorcery. They believe that she is a source of evil and must be captured (it is a children’s movie so I’m not sure they could hunt in hopes of torturing her). Elsa shares a commonality with the witches from the readings in that she is defiant to social norms and exemplifies a strong sense of female independence. She leaves to go live her own life in the mountains without a male partner, and says she is going because “the cold never bothered her anyway”. This is going against the established social rules of the people in the kingdom. She is also “revolutionary” in the ending of the movie because it is she, not a male lead character who saves her sister from death. Although it is believed that a male’s “true love” will save Elsa’s sister, like we commonly see in most fairytale endings, this remedy fails just as the sister is dying. However, Elsa comes along just in time to save her sister with her “true love” in sisterhood. The concept of a woman saving the day in this story gained a lot of praise from the when it first came out. It is a contemporary, strong representation of female power.
Elsa also displays some differences from those witches found in our readings. Unlike the old-time witches, Elsa is not a peasant. She was born into a royal family and grew up destined to be the queen of the kingdom. She is also a very beautiful woman; not described as “hideous” or “fowl”. Elsa also differs in that she means well, and has good intentions for those around her. Along with her claim of independence, part of the reason Elsa leaves her kingdom is to protect the others from her powers. She feels that she cannot completely control them, and she does not want to hurt anyone. She also ends up using her powers for good in the end, and is celebrated and accepted back into the kingdom, instead of being tortured and put to death for her “crimes”.
Contemporary witches such as Elsa embody many aspects of the witches from our readings such as female power, independence, and social segregation. She also must deal with the challenge of being hunted for her crimes. Elsa also differs from those witches in characteristics such as looks, lifestyle and placement in societal ranking. It is interesting to see these similarities and differences take place in our modern world, and I am curious to see how these characteristics will continue to change in future “witches”.
I agree entirely with your interpretation of the witch Elsa because she was considered a revolutionary character. One thing I find so fascinating about her is how realistic and humanistic she is. In many contemporary representations of witches, the women are strong, resilient, and rarely make mistakes because they always have some magic spell hiding up their sleeves ready to save the day. Elsa is unique because she is flawed and doesn't always have the answers. In fact, a majority of the movie revolves around the numerous mistakes she makes. She scares her own people with an accidental display of her powers, freezes the whole kingdom, and freezes her sisters heart. Although her mistakes are the reason for the movie, Elsa is not viewed as an emotionally unstable woman wrecking the lives of those around her. She is seen as an extremely strong, powerful leader.
ReplyDeleteElsa is also the epitome of a "woman who don't need no man." Throughout the movie, she is not chasing a man or being saved by a man. The heroes in the film are her and her sister. Even though she is considered attractive, (as far as cartoons go) she never once uses her looks to help her get things done. The crisis in the movie does not end with her getting her true love, it ends with her rekindling the love between her and her sister. When most witches are portrayed as either evil or adulteresses, it is hard to remember they have feelings and relationships too.
You are also correct when you state all of her differences from the witches of the past in Palmer's writing. We even discussed in class how witches were so easy to accuse in the old days because they were people who made up the largest social class, the peasants. Elsa was not easy to accuse of being a witch because if any commoner had said it, they'd likely be put in jail for such crazy thoughts. The only way Elsa really fits into the old ideas of a witch is that she was also an outcast.
Surprising as it is I have yet to actually see the movie but I've gathered enough of the story from listening to everyone talk about it when it first came out. From either common myth or truth, which I’m not sure, I’ve heard that Disney movies tend to have a lot of symbolism in them that typically reflects social trends of their respective times. Compared to the readings Elsa appears to be a strange choice; she’s attractive and wealthy as opposed to ugly and poor, and appears to want to help others instead of harming them. While it can be drawn that she is dealing with issues of self-caused isolation from being in a position of power, its curious what other symbolism was intended and what exact social trend the movie was trying to mirror. As you described in your post she tends to freeze objects near her and maybe not be so much of a help as a hindrance, I’m sure there’s some obvious social underpinning intended there but until I have watched the movie in its entirety I’ll leave my interpretation open.
ReplyDeleteI think that we have seen a lot of recent movies bringing up a new perspective toward the witch: They are not born to be evil anymore, and they have similar moral standards like human beings do. Elsa is a typical representative. She is a witch but she never uses her magical power to hurt people in purpose. Instead, she is responsible as a queen, and she is kind and thoughtful as a sister. When her power is seen by people, she chooses to flee because she doesn't want to hurt anyone. However, when the kingdom is in danger, Elsa comes back and saves people using her magics as a witch. Then people admit and admire her as a queen. This shows that people's opinions toward witches can be altered. People choose to believe in what they really see rather than making prejudgements.
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