{"id":8772,"date":"2014-12-27T05:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-12-27T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=8772"},"modified":"2015-05-25T20:36:47","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T03:36:47","slug":"the-wisdom-of-frozen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=8772","title":{"rendered":"The wisdom of fairy tales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anna: But, lucky you, it’s-it’s just me.
\nHans: Just<\/em> you?
\n–Frozen<\/p>\n

Conceal, don’t feel..
\nDon’t feel, don’t feel, don’t feel.
\n–Elsa\/Frozen<\/p>\n

I had a dream that I was fine
\nI wasn’t crazy, I was divine
\n–Lana Del Rey\/I Can Fly<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are not many movies that bring up emotional responses like Disney movies. People ding them for the whole princess-happily-ever-after thing, but there’s a lot of real stuff in fairy tales, too.<\/p>\n

Like locking yourself in a tower of your own creation.
\nClosing doors against the people you love.
\nCaging up your true self.
\nHiding your inner truth.
\nUndervaluing yourself.
\nHate.
\nEnvy.
\nLies.
\nSadness.
\nDeath.<\/p>\n

Big stuff.<\/p>\n

You don’t think Disney shows life’s deeper side? Let’s watch Bambi and see who cries when his mother gets killed. Right. I thought so. Even the most hardened tough guys cry when Bambi is orphaned. Disney might over do the happy endings, but the movies never shy away from the hard stuff.<\/p>\n

Today I saw two movies, both turned out to be about hiding your true self and not recognizing your own true value.<\/p>\n

Frozen<\/em> and Big Eyes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Only one of them is a fairy tale. The other is biographical. Both are about girls or women who don’t recognize their true worth, who lock themselves away to hide their gifts but who manage to overcome their issues in the end.<\/p>\n

In the case of Frozen<\/em>, a princess with the power of Winter locks herself away to protect her family, shunning her little sister and not telling her why. Eventually she runs away and locks herself into a palace of ice thinking it is for everyone’s good. She doesn’t realize that in running away she has thrown her kingdom into perpetual Winter and doomed her sister. Love is what saves them. For once, though, it isn’t the love of a prince or even a man, but the love of family. Sisters saving each other. The lesson being that love is more important than everything else and love can save you.<\/p>\n

In Big Eyes<\/em>, the woman goes along with fraud in order to placate her husband. She locks herself in her studio painting, never revealing that the paintings her husband is making millions of dollars selling are hers. She locks out her friends and daughter to keep from revealing the secret. She eventually finds the courage to leave her him, but only manages to find the courage to reveal her truth after finding religion. And of course, her gift is the somewhat dubious talent of painting the big-eyed waifs that creeped everyone out in the 60’s. A less satisfying ending to me, because it seems like the message is that she couldn’t quite manage to help herself without divine intervention.<\/p>\n

The thing that struck me in both movies was that people get themselves into all sorts of trouble when they don’t recognize their own worth, and when they hide who they really are. I might not be able to create my own palace made of ice to lock myself into, but I have definitely been adept at closing doors and freezing myself out of things. Like in the movies, I needed help to recognize what was wrong and to start un thawing. People had to point me in the direction of recognizing that I am great the way I am and deserve to be treated well now. Not if I am prettier, or less demanding or more something or less something else. Now. The way I am.<\/p>\n

I am not “just me” any more than a friend is ever “just a friend.”<\/p>\n

Of course, I don’t recognize it all the time, not really…but I am getting there, a little at a time. I backslide a lot. At least now I notice, and catch myself.
\nIf I don’t, there are people who love me who remind me that the only thing wrong with me is that I am human and make mistakes sometimes.<\/p>\n

It’s not like I’ve defrauded anyone or cast my kingdom into eternal winter or anything major. No ice palaces or closed doors for me any more if I can help it.<\/p>\n

Thank goodness I love in the real world.
\nKnow what, that was a typo and I am letting it stand. I live and love in the real world.<\/p>\n

Fairy tales are too harsh for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anna: But, lucky you, it’s-it’s just me. Hans: Just you? –Frozen Conceal, don’t feel.. Don’t feel, don’t feel, don’t feel. –Elsa\/Frozen I had a dream that I was fine I wasn’t crazy, I was divine –Lana Del Rey\/I Can Fly There are not many movies that bring up emotional responses like Disney movies. People ding … Continue reading The wisdom of fairy tales<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/20140706-191531-69331077.jpg?fit=454%2C313&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-2hu","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":841,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=841","url_meta":{"origin":8772,"position":0},"title":"Move along, nothing to see here!","author":"Michelle","date":"August 11, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Vacation, all I ever wanted Vacation, had to get away Almost hit our first deer a few miles from the town of Wallowa. 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