I am still
behind on a few films from this holiday season that I would like to see. There have
been so many! But There are two that I was supremely looking forward to that left a slight air of disappointment
that I would like to discuss: Frozen
and The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.
Disclaimer:
I still loved both of these movies , but I would have loved them more if they
had done two very important things… Taken their time developing (Frozen), and not giving
into cultural pressure (Smaug).
Maybe Frozen should have been called Rush instead of Ron Howard’s film from
the late summer. Frozen was
fantastic. As a Disney nerd, I loved it and it hit all the high points and
definitely knocked the musical segments out of the park. But one area it failed
in was pacing and development. It was WAY too rushed. When the resolution of
the film was happening, it was like I blinked and everything got summarized.
Frozen is a fairy tale, but it’s a lot more complicated that many other films
of its type. It needed more time to unfold the character and plot arcs.

I wanted
more of Elsa’s isolation, to see her more imprisoned in the castle she built
herself. I wanted more of a struggle about her love for her sister versus her fear of hurting her. I
personally liked that they didn’t make Elsa “get with” anyone because I feel
like, even at the end of the film, Elsa was nowhere near ready to give her heart
fully to someone. She had changed, but still had far to go in finding her own
identity and her connections with other people. I loved that contrast between
her and her sister- introvert and
extrovert differences- and needing relationships desperately versus being afraid
of them. Like the song the trolls sing “Fixer Upper,” it shows that we need the
love of everyone around us to round us
out and help us grow, not just romantic love.
I know the
goal of Disney was to tell a different fairy tale with this one, and in that they
succeeded, but it just wasn’t quite enough. Everything felt abrupt at the end. What they should have done was acknowledged that yes,
love does thaw frozen hearts and Elsa can do it, but she clearly can’t master
that completely in one day and leave it on the hopeful note that someday she
will.
I don’t know what it is about films these days, but I wish we would stop catering to the American ADHD epidemic. Stop rushing films! And saying it's a "kid's movie" is no excuse! I sat through long films when I was a kid, they can suck it up. The only reason they can't sit through them now is because we've spend the last 13 years training them to sit through a lot of short and shallow films. Many films I have seen recently has felt rushed in some form or another and it really bothers me. What happened to just letting the film tell itself and not pandering to people’s attention spans? If they can’t sit through the movie, that’s their problem, but don’t short-change the rest of us who are hungry for a more. I want a substantial meal, not unsatisfying fast-food! And I think many people I know are starting to feel the same.
On the other
end of the spectrum, we have The Hobbit
films. A Trilogy that should only have been two films at the absolute most…
![]() |
The beautiful Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel |
I love Peter Jackon’s Middle Earth. The Lord
of the Rings films (extended versions) are on my top favorite films of all time
and the story itself is my favorite story of all time.
Now, because
of this, I still love The Hobbit films, but they too much reflect the modern
culture and not enough reflection of Tolkien’s actual world. Let me explain…
Peter
Jackson announced long ago he was inserting a female character into The Hobbit
films. I actually liked her character and didn’t have a problem with her being in
the films initially. The problem
lies in the heart behind the decision. They added a female character because
they felt that girls wouldn’t come to see the film if there wasn’t a strong female
character.
This is
stupid, and sorry to all you feminists out there, but to say that women need
stories centered around women or that women can only relate to female characters is more
sexist than anything I have ever heard. I like to think I am a pretty strong
woman, and I loved The Hobbit throughout my whole life. I never
needed it to be about women or have a female character in it to make me love
it. I just loved the story and characters as they were. I have found personally
that I usually relate to male characters more often anyway. Not because I am super
masculine or anything, but simply a matter of interests and personality.
A lot of
people say Tolkien was a sexist and his lack of women is proof. I just have to
do a major *facepalm* because clearly people who say that know nothing about
Tolkien. Ever heard of Arwen, Galadriel, Eowyn?? Yeah… you think many men could
antagonize those three and live to tell about it? I doubt it! Eowyn killed the
freaking Witch King! And Arwen and Galadriel are elven women, ‘nuff
said.
On a side
note, are there truly any women who can take a look at the men of Middle Earth and complain?
I mean come on ladies... ;-)
But all this
rubbish about girls needing to relate to a female character didn’t stop there…
they went ahead and gave into to the pressures of our modern culture and forced
a love triangle into the story. Now THIS is where I take huge issue. The movie
would have been absolutely fine if they hadn’t given into this revolting fad
that has infiltrated our young adult literature and just about every television
show.
Now that being
said, SOMETIMES love triangles do happen naturally, but most of the time they
are just thrown in as a lame conflict builder or as a “Sex Sells” method where love triangles are done just for the sake of themselves, usually on television, to keep people watching. Now, I could take
another blog entirely explaining my hatred for the love triangle culture, but
for now I will just speak in the context of The
Hobbit. It was absolutely unnecessary! This isn’t Twilight for goodness sake!

So while I
still loved Frozen and Desolation of Smaug, I am just
frustrated that they had the problems they had, because it was stuff that could
have been avoided and should have never been an issue. Want to add Tauriel to
the story? Fine! She was pretty damn cool, but don’t make her into the next
fodder for Twihards. Want to keep your animated film applicable to squirming
youngsters as well as adults? Great! But don’t sell your story short. Something
has gotta give!
Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for Saving Mr. Banks and my top films of 2013!
Rant ended.
FADE OUT
In total agreement with your post! I laughed at this..." don’t make her into the next fodder for Twihards." So true. haha!! Well, this a season of movie-making that is appealing to those types of shallow things, but I am interested to see how the pattern for films will transform in the coming decade, for better or for worse (hopefully for better, haha!). I would hope that movie makers will get the message, at some point, that returning to subtlety and simplicity may be good in this era of not well-developed plots and characters. I feel like they are just feeding the typical American consumer who wants to "get to the good stuff" and forgets the value of each step of good, solid story-telling. No more!!! haha!!
ReplyDeleteTotally Erika! I completely agree. :-)
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