Frozen [DVD]

Idina Menzel gave concerts in Chicago (Ravinia) and Milwaukee (Performing Arts Center), shortly before the appearance of "Frozen." I was given a front-row ticket to the Milwaukee concert and was struck, above all, by the numerous young people (college age and slightly older) who were obviously familiar with practically every sung word, eagerly joining Menzel on stage upon being invited to perform numbers from recent Broadway musicals ("Rent," "Wicked"). As a jazz fan (and musician) I must admit the music wasn't my "bag" (with the exception of "Avenue Q," which knocked me out). To my ears, most popular songs of the past 50 years sounds infinitely inferior to the music of Jerome Kern ("Showboat"), Rodgers and Hammerstein ("Oklahoma"), Gershwin ("Porgy and Bess), Rodgers and Hart ("On Your Toes"), Cole Porter ("Anything Goes"), Bernstein and Sondheim ("West Side Story")--in terms of structural integrity, melodic inventiveness, lyric wit, and range and depth of emotional expression (perhaps the reason these are the songs that constitute the library that has come to be known as "The Great American Songbook").In any case, my opinions were rendered meaningless by the profound effect this movie had on my 3-year-old grand-daughter. Although I didn't observe much of a response from her at the theater (either during or immediately following the movie), a mere 3 months later she's singing every single note, every word of the score of "Frozen" (I couldn't even tell you the name of the composer-lyricist). Granted, in that time she's had a birthday, but I'm no less impressed. And it's quite apparent that this "blockbuster" out of the Disney studios is having a similar impact on thousands of other children--of all ages.The tunes from "Frozen" and, for that matter, most other recent musicals, don't lend themselves to jazz improvisation, but neither does much operatic music. Only the passage of time will tell us whether this music will endure like Kern's "All the Things You Are" or Johnny Greene's "Body and Soul" or Harold Arlen's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (to name just a few examples of "classic" American tunes that are part of an inarguable "canon" of American popular song). But I'll be far more hesitant about criticizing it. And even if it eventually sinks into the oblivion of so much pop emphemera, a musical like "Frozen" leads in a musical direction that's considerably more professional and sophisticated than the folk, rock and country music (mostly by guitar-playing singer-songwriters) that has dominated American popular music since the 1960s.Come to think of it, Menzel exhibited a "Broadway voice" that was not all that unlike Ethel Merman's (minus the vibrato--Ethel was the favorite of the early great composers because of her power and elocution, both essential to Broadway shows before the development of the microphone, which was not even a factor in vocal performances until the late 1920s and the emergence of the creative genius who knew to use it-- Bing Crosby). Near the beginning of practically any course that I teach--literature, music, and film--I warn my youthful troops (learning is a risky adventure) that they all possess a bias against anything that is perceived as "old," "past," "before their time" and that one of their greatest challenges will be to surmount their pre-existing bias in favor of the "modern," or "contempotrary" for education (which means "moving out" of restrictive confines) to occur.Education is more about covering epochs of "time" (in teaching linguistics, I endeavor to go back some 50 million years!) than vast expanses of "space." Traveling--even in outer space--is of great interest and even a potentially transformative experience for some, yet it's extremely limited compared to the traveling in time that is possible only through the study of texts from the past. In other words, they'd better be prepared to read, and have an open mind to, a lot of "dead white guys" (not excluding some black ones, like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, both of whom produced music that resonates in consciousness with the creative brilliance of a Shakespeare sonnet or a Homeric epic poem).Already, as a teacher-student, I've no doubt alienated myself from not only some of those "present-bound" youth that occupy my classroom but from of the narrow-minded and rigid Americans on the far right who have condemned "Frozen" as a propaganda piece supporting modern "liberal" notions such as women who can overcome formidable obstacles and attain the kind of powerful automony we like to see in our great national leaders. We're told that such empowerment of women defies all of the patriarchal examples of the past not to mention the teachings of the Bible and other religious texts. Moreover, we're told that by showing us two women who are capable of loving, above all, each other, "Frozen" is brainwashing our youth into approving of homosexuals if not becoming one!Who would have "thunk it"!! (I confess these ideas never occurred to me until I bagan reading and hearing reports about the controversy stirred up by this movie, which had initially left me largely indifferent and about $50 poorer). It occurs to me that we can all "learn" from these alarmists as the vert antithesis of a genuine student, with a mind open to learning. Rather than learning how to interpret a "text" (literary, film, musical, etc.) they're "hardened idealogues" who have become all too well practiced in their habitual litmus tests (i.e. "witch hunts"). I encourage them all to take a few classes in "higher learning," for their own good and the communities they attempt to serve.In the meantime, I'm enjoying my grand-daughter's extended arias-recitatives, lifted from the soundtrack of "Frozen," and being sung with such joyful abandon and power ("mostly" on pitch) that I can feel my house's foundation moving and witness my cats frozen in trepidation as they cling to their preferred perches in the four-story trees (ordered from Amazon). It's enough proof for me to conclude my grand-child (who had just recently conquered "the potty") was, indeed, "liberated," and at the age of 3! Who knows where she'll go from here? I'm simply relieved to know that she won't have limits placed upon her by some perhaps well-intentioned by sadly misinformed hard-liner. If you wish to learn about music, you might do well to talk to and hang out with a musican. If you want to learn about "morality," the last person to consult is a "moralist."

Like many adults, when I first saw the trailers for this, I was uninspired. Sure, kids will always like it, it's a Disney thing, how bad could it ever be! However, under the helmsmanship of the brilliantly creative John Lasseter, the film was made, remade, then remade again into a beautiful animated story.I am a writer, and although I know story is always king, films are different than books, and in a film you must have other visual and sound elements that make it gripping and appealing. Having read "The Snow Queen" by HCA, I can see why that tale would be hard to make into a good movie - too dark, too dull, too disconnected from the public watching it. "Frozen" gives us somewhat flawed, human characters that have been SO-O carefully written, and SO-O carefully animated by a team of brilliant animators, that, although they don't look precisely like normal humans, they do come alive with a spirit that touches us all. The story is of two sisters, who grew up close and then get somewhat separated - although you'd have to account for them seeing each other sometimes, since they both know WAY too much about the other not to have seen each other at all for some 15 years. Still, they have always loved each other, and both cherish the value of family (witness the true painful sadness at the loss of their parents). Yet they have a problem with the oldest child having been born with an incredible power that can create ice and snow from the existing atmosphere, manufacture blizzards, and also create several other things (like dresses, ices skates, and living snowmen) from thin air - all and all an awesome power for someone to have. Now all of this can certainly be fun, but, like all things of power, especially in the hands of a young child, they can also be dangerous, which is precisely what the magical Trolls tell us early on; this provides the monumental difficulty for the two sisters. Thus, because Elsa is just a kid when she discovers this, she has no real ability to control it. Her father's message of "conceal it, don't feel it" is not at all helpful, since she doesn’t practice how to control her powers for all those successive years of growing up; however, the father’s advice is logical to give his precious daughter, trying to keep her, and all those around her, safe.When Elsa’s gift is discovered by the community, and she is thought to be a monster - logically enough - she is left with no choice she can think of but to run off and be alone so she won't hurt anyone, and where she can also be herself. There, in the ice and snow wilderness, she discovers all her powers and LETS IT GO! But Anna, who now comes to the crushing realization of what has been happening with her sister all these years, is personally hurt for not understanding before and is still out of a sibling who she loves; and so, she chases after her, picking up the gentlemanly Kristoff and lovable Olaf on the way. The trek Anna and Kristoff make is interesting and truly charming, with some great music and adventure on the way.But finding Elsa still doesn't make this an easy rescue, for Elsa is still worried about the damage she can cause since, unbeknownst to her, the fear she can't control within her is destructive; in fact, she thinks of it as a curse. Thus, she chases her sister away to try to save her from harm. In the process, she accidentally strikes Anna with her ice-making power again, this time in the heart, harming her. Kristoff realizes it and knows he has to take her to the magical Trolls, which are his family, to save her. However, after some nice Troll music and another group of charming scenes, the Troll king says he cannot save her, cannot thaw her heart, which only an act of true love can do. And here we have the heart of the story, although the writers sort of err, if in a forgivable way, because that “act of true love” is given several times by Kristoff who takes her to find her sister, and later the Trolls, in the first place and then rushes her back to Arendelle to see Hans who will hopefully save her by thawing her heart with a true love’s kiss - but you don't need more of an act of true love than what Kristoff has already done a few times! BUT, they give you one anyway, when Hans tries to kill Elsa, and Anna risks her own life to save the older sister she has always adored.SO, here we are, with two sisters, each of whom loves the other enough to sacrifice herself for her - Elsa, in her lifelong sacrifice of self-imposed solitude, just to keep her sister safe, and Anna, by putting herself in the way of the sword to save Elsa from being slain. Ultimately, it is the quintessential family message of love and sacrifice that saves the sisters, their family, and the kingdom, since Elsa now realizes that love is the way to control her magical power and be a benefit to her kingdom instead of a dangerous curse. This heavy message, so gleefully done, and so brilliantly animated by characters that come alive right before our eyes, with realistic gestures, movements, and expressions, touches our hearts and are what make this film unmatched by any previous Disney animation. The original story idea? TERRIBLE! The dropping of the "Do you want to build a snowman" song - unforgivably stupid; fortunately Lasseter had the common sense to put it back in. Thus, the film they finished with was a spectacular tale of great music, heartfelt pathos, and visual splendor that they are going to have a difficult time repeating in Frozen 2! I mean, the making of the ice castle scene with Elsa singing “Let It Go” (through Idina Menzel’s spectacular voice) is virtually worth the price of the movie all by itself.I have one criticism of the marketing of “Frozen” - it is not a story about a young girl searching for her sister trying to restore summer to Arendelle; it IS a story of the Snow Queen, and how Elsa metamorphosizes from a problem child with powerful magic she can’t control to a full grown woman who learns how to control her power for good utilizing her natural love for her sister, and for her kingdom. That said, there are so many good things about this movie, that everyone should own a copy of it to watch over and over.