Just a kid's movie? Look again...
The Spiritual Lessons in Disney's Frozen
Have you seen the Disney movie Frozen? If not, I highly recommend it. It’s filled with music, a cute storyline, a little hidden adult humor, and a happily ever after story of true love.
However, after having watched it 25 times now with my three-year-old daughter, I’ve come to see the deeper messages of the movie, from a spiritual perspective. It’s actually quite insightful!
Here’s the summary:
Elsa, the older sister, is born with magical powers. She has the ability to freeze things and create snow and ice. The underlying theme of this “power” is that Elsa is “different,” and her gift is frightening to the adults in her family, but seen as amazing by her younger sister, Anna.
Early on, this power is all fun and games, UNTIL, Elsa accidentally freezes her sister’s head...she doesn’t quite understand how to wield this power she was born with.
Her parents, who also happen to be the king and queen, are horrified that Elsa froze her sister, and they rush to the Troll King (another person with a Spiritual Gift) to save their younger daughter.
The Troll King tells the family that, in order to protect Anna, he is going to erase all of her memories of Elsa’s magic powers, and the family should hide Elsa’s “gift” until she knows how to control it.
The parents overreact, close the doors of the castle, and isolate the children from each other and the world. Elsa feels shame and guilt for possessing this gift; she hears the message that it is NOT okay to be different, she must repress her true self.
At the same time, Anna feels confused and abandoned. No one explained to her what happened. She is completely removed from her sister’s life. The girls grow up in the same castle, but as strangers. Anna feels insecure and wonders what SHE did wrong that caused her sister to abandon her.
Elsa’s gift keeps growing stronger, but in an effort to further repress it, the father puts gloves on Elsa and tells her to hide, control, and conceal her powers. Yikes, talk about pressure for a little girl! Elsa feels more guilt and shame, while Anna suffers because of the unexplained abandonment.
This messaging screams that Elsa must conceal and repress her true self, she has to hide her gift, even from the people who love her...in order to protect them.
Anna is left alone to figure out why she isn’t lovable. It leads her to yearn for love. We all know how well that works out, right?
Years later, the parents leave on a trip and, due to a storm at sea, never return. The girls are left to grieve, alone. Elsa can’t tell her sister the truth and, in an effort to protect Anna from her powers, she avoids her. Little does Elsa understand that this lack of truth hurts her sister deeply, and it’s killing her too!
The day comes when Elsa becomes the queen and must face everyone in the kingdom. She tries her best to hide her true self - believing she must “conceal it” - but it all blows up, and the next thing you know - she freezes the whole kingdom, and everyone thinks she is an evil sorceress.
I think this could be considered her “come to Jesus” moment - she simply must be free, she can’t hide her gifts anymore.
For the first time in her life, she feels the freedom to be herself, but at the expense of hurting everyone else, because she is so powerful that when she expelled her fear, rage, and anger, she also happened to freeze summer and create an eternal winter. She doesn’t even realize what she did and runs away. She feels unwelcome, unlovable, and dangerous.
Anna has her moment of recognition too. She finally understands why she’s been rejected for so long by Elsa. She feels bad for upsetting her sister and making her freeze the kingdom, so she goes after Elsa. It’s her sister; she has to. She loves her.
Along the way to find Elsa, Anna meets a boy, a reindeer and a magical snowman who help her find the way. Unfortunately, the meeting between the sisters doesn’t go very well, and Anna is kicked out of the Snow Queen’s castle and sent packing.
Elsa banishes her sister, all in an effort to protect her. She doesn’t want to hurt her sister again, so she makes her go away...but she accidentally hurts her anyway, almost killing Anna by freezing her heart.
So - we head back to the magical trolls. They tell Anna her heart can only be unfrozen by an act of TRUE LOVE.
Wow, lots of messaging here…
Anna still believes in the power of love. After years of suffering from the belief that her sister abandoned her - Anna didn’t give up. However, she was rejected again...and cast out...receiving the final blow...one that threatened to freeze her heart forever.
Elsa was ashamed and hated herself for having these powers. She was so afraid of hurting Anna again, that she couldn’t see that rejecting her was so much more painful than any amount of damage her powers could cause.
So now what?
Well, since only an act of true love could save Anna, everyone assumes that a guy needs to be the one to unfreeze Anna’s heart; but, that’s not what happens. It ends up that Anna saves herself.
Hmmm...kinda like in real life? No one else can save us, only we can save ourselves...but I digress.
What happens next? Well, Anna saves Elsa. She sacrifices her own life by standing in front of a bad man, a man she thought loved her, who is about to kill her sister Elsa. Of course, this all happens about one second before Anna is about to become frozen forever. She chooses to save her sister instead of herself.
Her selfless act of true love for her sister actually saves her life! It unfreezes her heart...that is powerful.
I cried the first five times I watched this movie. It metaphorically demonstrates something that I innately know.
Love is always the answer...no matter what.
Even when all seems hopeless - when people are rejecting you, and being mean, when you are told you are bad, unworthy and unlovable by others - loving yourself and staying true to those you love is always the answer. Love brings healing, redemption, and salvation to even the bleakest of circumstances.
The other message from Frozen is that being your true self is always the answer.
Don’t hide who you are because you think you will be rejected or think to hide your truth will protect those who love you from being hurt or embarrassed. Being your true self is all that matters. The ones who really love you will always love you...no matter what.
If you have a chance to watch Frozen, I hope you too will see the deep messages embedded in this beautiful movie. Love is always the answer. Don’t hide who you really are. Repressing our shadows and our less desirable characteristics can lead to disastrous consequences. And lastly, demonstrating committed, non-judgmental love of another can overcome even the most frozen of hearts.
AUTHOR: Laurie-Elle is an OSYL Higher Self Messenger, Intuitive Energy Healer, Intuitive Guide, Akashic Records Channel & Reiki Master. Her main purpose in this lifetime is to help you hear the whispers, the cues, and yes, even the roar of the Universe. She shares the information that will lead you to more JOY, more ABUNDANCE and to experience a greater sense of PEACE in your life.
Find out more about Laurie and her services HERE.