The Ice Queen Trope, Explained - Why She Always Defrosts

the coal never bothered me anyway all hail the ice queen this cold and cunning leader reigns with her icy fist and piercing power by all means move at a glacial pace you know how that thrills me whether she's a literal snow queen or a ruthless boss she has some common characteristics that can help you spot her she doesn't show traditional emotions you're so profoundly sad no it's just my people are nordic she uses an aloof and cold exterior as armor happiness isn't my concern not now not ever she doesn't mind or even craves being alone yes i'm alone but i'm alone and free her actions seem to suggest she thinks she's above everyone else quite a glittering assemblage king stefan royalty nobility the gentry and even the rebel and her story arc generally requires her to defrost or die but beneath that icy surface the ice queen typically struggles with more intense feelings than most of us overwhelming fear anger or even tragedy i had wings once they were stolen from me that's all i wish to say about it which is why she works so hard to keep everything under control i'm so sorry miranda you want me to cancel your evening i can don't be ridiculous why would we do that one of the most misunderstood characters of all time the ice queen is someone who has been cast as a villain often for failing to live up to heteronormative ideals of womanhood i'm telling you she is a real ball buster a real ice queen and it's telling that the phrase ice queen most often pops up as an insult a guy uses for a woman who doesn't welcome his advances the legendary ice queen the ice queen that's what they call her over at county nobody i know has gotten so much as a dinner date with that woman so what is it about the ice queen that makes her worth rooting for here's our take on why her iciness might not mean what you think [Music] if you're new here be sure to subscribe and click the bell to get notified about all our new videos this video is brought to you by mubi a masterfully curated streaming service that showcases exceptional films from around the world right now mubi is offering our viewers a 30-day trial click the link in the description below to discover a new hand-picked film every day for free [Music] the seeds of the ice queen can be found in fairy tales the evil queen first made her appearance in 1812 when the brothers grimm's snow white established the infamous archetype of the scorned malicious aging woman who can't accept that her beauty is fading who is the fairest one of all defined by her jealousy and spite the evil queen stands above all in her mountaintop castle hating the younger and kinder snow white simply for being more beautiful then i'll be perished in the land from her narcissism to chosen isolation the evil queen laid down the blueprint of what makes an ice queen then hans christian andersen's the snow queen fleshed out that blueprint further by introducing actual ice the snow queen is the first literal manifestation of an ice queen living in her ice castle with powers that can manipulate snow and bring it to life she's the greater power that anderson's protagonists need to defeat those who dare to judge my way will pay the price the rest of their days disney's frozen is largely inspired by anderson's tale with elsa acting as a more sympathetic take on the tormented snow queen whose powers are too strong for her to understand what have you done this is getting out of hand it was an accident i'm sorry hannah long before elsa though our screens were graced with less literal ice queens greta garbo's ninochka is a cold and driven soviet agent who's determined not to leave room for any mistakes distractions or frivolous antics with men must you flood well i don't have to but i find it natural surprising but perhaps the most iconic and aspirational ice queen in classic cinema is the hitchcock blonde also known as the icy blonde who's mysterious independent and often masking a questionable agenda behind her cool beauty you have no feelings to hurt hitchcock's films comply with the tradition of fitting the ice queen into two possible tracks the hard to get love interest or the unrepentant villain with these roles come two possible conclusions to the ice queen's story if she's a love interest her defrosting or if she's a villain her defeat the ice queen who's a love interest or a broadly sympathetic figure may begin with villainous traits but it's almost guaranteed that her cold heart will thaw by the end of the story as compassion from suitors and or friends works to defrost her the hardcore can't understand the hardcore do understand but i can't watch my friend be killed in ninochka this hard as nails soviet woman who's been sent to do a job the men who came before her were too soft for still eventually melts you know the jokes you told me a few days ago i wake up in the middle of the night and laugh won over both by a charming man and by the delights of capitalism i was felt a little hurt when our swallows asserted us in the winter for capitalistic countries now i know why we have the high ideal but they have the climate in north by northwest eva marie saint's calm mysterious and lethal undercover government agent eve kendall appears to entertain protagonist roger thornhill's advances only for the sake of her job how does a girl like you get to be a girl like you lucky i guess but in the film's final moments kendall marries him come along mrs thornhill tippy hedren's marny is similarly opaque and morally questionable no cute ideas about absconding with a wick win silver but we eventually learned that her icy veneer stems from trauma it's time to have a little compassion for yourself once this is resolved she's ready to be happier and warmer in the arms of sean connery's mark rutland similarly in the charles dickens novel great expectations and its adaptations the protagonist fixates on estella a woman who's open about feeling coldly toward men pippa i tried to warn you not to love me but you wouldn't be warned you thought i didn't mean it but her refusal to love them is framed as pathology explained like in marnie by how her mindset has been warped by a dysfunctional maternal figure estella will make men weak she'll break them i taught her well meanwhile when the ice queen is a true villain with her stone cold heart too far gone to be saved everyone who isn't us is an enemy she must be defeated by the end intriguingly one reason hitchcock liked to film blondes is rooted in them making good victims he said they're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints and the ice queen lives in this curious territory that's somewhere between villainy or victimhood or combining both the defeat of a beautiful ice queen is satisfying on some level to many viewers because it proves that one way or another men can in fact get through any icy barrier i cannot bear to be handled by anybody or just me you men i'd rather stay with you how'd you love whether she melts or dies the ice queen's persona defining ice always evaporates in these classic versions of her story it's never even really seen as an option that we might accept the ice queen for who she is a cold independent and non-traditional person with something different to offer the gloves will help see conceal it don't feel it don't let it show her is to take a sun chill granted some ice queens are true villains but we can also see how many of them lean into that role after being cast that way by their societies just imagine what they're gonna write about me the dragon lady career obsessed snow queen drives away another mr priestly obviously the ruthless white witch from the chronicles of narnia is a baddie yet it also feels that she's adhering to the category she was put into by the rules of her world where aslan is cast as the indisputable good guy have you forgotten the laws upon which narnia was built do not cite the deep magic to me witch i was there when it was written and while cruella de vil is as cartoonishly evil as it gets her name sounds like cruel devil it's that devil woman and she wants to kill puppies drown them it's interesting that the film chooses to make it stand in for the devil a woman who's not interested in being a humble homemaker this horrid little house is your dream castle and poor roger is your bold and fearless [Laughter] one of the most iconic ice queens in recent cinema the devil wears prada's miranda priestly doesn't feel that she has to be nice to those who don't rise to her level of excellence is there some reason that my coffee isn't here has she died or something thus she's villainized as a result of what sage young describes as her being a demanding woman who refuses to change her demeanor to make other people comfortable okay she's tough but if miranda were a man no one would notice anything about her except how great she is every job big boss miranda is presented as a foil to the younger naive anjanu andy a narrative setup that is used in many ice queen stories young female heroines are often paired with career-obsessed female villains to paint an example of how the younger woman should not act i could do what you did to nigel miranda i couldn't do something like that cold to the bone ice queens like cruella miranda and house of cards claire underwood hark back to the original misguided career woman ambitious lady macbeth whose original sin was departing from behavior seen as natural to her sex and sex me here and fell me from the crown to the toe top full of tyrus cruelty but the career woman ice queen is a victim of double standards as male characters with the same personality type are usually celebrated for their complexity and tenacity and are never referred to as ice kings but rather just kings meanwhile mad men's cold betty draper illustrates how impossible standards will also plague icy women who don't choose a career inevitably they'll fail to live up to our ideals for the perfect wife and mother nobody cares that he's really really really gone sally go watch tv fundamentally the ice queen has come to exist as a symbol or even a cautionary tale of what happens to women who fail to live up to traditional notions of womanhood thank god you're not a mom you are such an ice queen any baby nursing from you would get brain freeze it's no surprise that the ice queen insult is often hurled at a woman who's rejected a man or at an ex who's blamed for making him miserable would you do call my house to speak to the ice cream the ice queen is vilified for things like not performing warmth in social interactions not showing interest in sex or marriage simply growing older or neglecting to have kids do you regret it not having children do you ever regret having them in most cases an ice queen has been alienated and turned into a villain by a sexist society though the stories that frame her can vary a lot as to whether they participate in or critique the misogyny that has contributed to her psychology nick dunn took my pride and my dignity and my hope and my money he took and took for me until i no longer existed that's murder however villainous the ice queen is ultimately a tragic character one who lashes out because she feels overwhelmed by hurt rage and fear cruel cersei lannister on game of thrones lives through a level of pain most of us could never imagine joffrey is dead marcella's been sold like livestock and now you want to ship me off to highgarden and steal my boy my last boy not only losing three children but also living most of her life emotionally trapped by a prophecy that already told her this would happen gold will be their crowns gold shrouds in a more familiar context the office's jan is a prime example of how the ice queen can sabotage herself with her attempts to be in control as her suppressed emotions eventually get the best of her she starts off as a fierce boss a woman who's risen to success at dunder mifflin by being highly competent why don't we go around the table and all say something that we know we're good at i will start i am good at public speaking but after experiencing divorce the loss of her job and a failing relationship with michael jan loses her sense of purpose and becomes a whirlwind of raging emotions where the hell do you get off frankly it's overdue your behavior in the last two years has been completely erratic characters ranging from jan to betty to cersei demonstrate how the ice queen resorts to aggression as a means of coping with extreme disappointment even if she's typically used as an antagonist or a warning the ice queen can't help but earn our sympathy as we look closer and discover that she's the one who's suffering from her cold most of all i think are you unhappy of course i'm happy [Music] today we're also seeing a new more complex kind of ice queen one who doesn't have to just defrost or die elsa in frozen revolutionized the ice queen's narrative by revealing the potential heroism of the role elsa's iciness is first met with fear and rejection especially from herself as she's internalized society's expectations of how a nice little girl should act limit her contact with people and keep her powers hidden from everyone but as a young adult elsa's period of isolation allows her to discover how liberating it can be to embrace her ice powers [Music] elsa discovers the ice queen's key lesson she needs to stop suppressing her deepest self but that's not the same as totally melting her ice in fact her ice can be used for good are you ready shira fetter writes that frozen highlights the gendered expectations of elsa explaining that if a woman is authoritative she is considered bossy if a woman is strong she is considered unfeminine if a disney princess possesses unprecedented powers it was considered dangerous you kind of set off an eternal winter everywhere everywhere so as elsa reclaims the ice queen narrative she proves that there isn't just one way of being a princess or a woman she's sort of turned the disney princess around and really allowed this sort of imperfect young woman to be perfect like elsa the character of rebecca and ted lasso personifies a new kind of ice queen in the first episode rebecca is introduced as the classically cunning and deceitful villain version of this trope she plots revenge on the ex-husband who's long betrayed her with younger women by hiring a seemingly inept coach to destroy her husband's beloved english premier league football club my ex-husband truly loved only one thing his entire life this club and ted lasso is going to help me burn it to the ground as the season unfolds however we learn that while rebecca is brusque by nature i can just introduce you all leave your wittering on and slip out and do anything else she has also leaned into the ice queen persona that's been given to her by the english press while the media let the ex-husband who cheated on her off the hook they've harassed rebecca simply for being a woman of a certain age the press is calling her rebecca and your oh deep down rebecca is actually thoughtful vulnerable and fiercely generous no the real rebecca is silly strong yeah but not cold like elsa rebecca learns to reconnecting with both her softer side and her suppressed powers but while ted lasso's goofy charm may work to defrost rebecca a little bit she's still herself her ice queen-like attributes are part of her personality she got some pencil right but he's gotta hop over contrary to the trope of the ice queen being pitted against a younger beauty too the series shows rebecca bonding with and helping its younger female lead if any of the other players needed some branding work done is that something you'd be interested in like rebecca fiona goode from american horror stories coven embodies one of the under-celebrated aspects of the ice queen her role as protector when witches don't fight we burst with her no-nonsense attitude and extreme ruthlessness here's my other offer you can all just die fiona might still be hateable for some of her traits but her supposedly villainous qualities are also what make her heroic she's a valiant warrior who looks after those she cares about i'm going to need you both to turn over whatever information you've gathered on these girls modern queens like these teach us that sometimes a little ice is needed to make our way through the world whether for protecting our loved ones prioritizing our wants or learning to unapologetically be ourselves sometimes it's just a woman's style to be icy rather than running hot made me think of you it's strong and a bit prickly [Music] the cold kind of mean woman in charge reminds us that there's more than one way to be a powerful female leader and we can relate to her because in the end there's a little bit of ice in all of us so maybe one day we can agree to celebrate the ice queen as just a queen there are times for wisdom and there are times for love but there are also times for strength hi everyone i'm 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Channel: The Take

Views: 172,965

Keywords: ice queen, frozen, frozen elsa, the devil wears prada, miranda priestly, ted lasso, betty draper, mad men, the office, hitchcock blonde, psycho, the birds, house of cards, claire underwood, grey's anatomy, cersei, game of thrones, sleeping beauty, the snow queen, maleficent, snow white, ninotchka, north by northwest, marnie, the chronicles of narnia, cruella deville, great expectations, 101 dalmatians, macbeth, gone girl, american horror story coven, mary queen of scots

Id: ZgseK3Kvfo4

Length: 21min 3sec (1263 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 04 2021