Why Elsa is a Terribly Written Character

funding for Schafer illness is provided by Skillshare tune in to the end of the video to find out how you can try Skillshare for free yes free more on that later well I haven't complained about modern Disney movies in a while allow me to fix this most egregious oversight so I've gone on the record saying that I like frozen I think it's good solid six out of ten the animation is stellar the songs are hit or miss but the hits really hit and I just really liked the characters Anna Kristoff and Olaf are all really funny and have great chemistry making for a super fun adventure pre twist Hans is also pretty likable and to be honest I consider him an entirely different character to post twist Hans it's not a big deal since they only has like five minutes of screen time and the duke of weasel world is kind of a walking disaster and the rock trolls make me want to die when i got rocks in my shoe i got a shoe in my rock Oh overall it looks like the good outweighs the bad in terms of these characters who are too relieved because I think one more bad character would have tipped the scales and really make me think negatively about this key aspect of the film hey wait a minute I forgot about this piece of trash elsa is a terrible character in every way I'm sorry I don't mean to burst the bubble of the five year olds who like dressing up as her because of her cool ice powers and fun song or whatever but I take pleasure in bursting the bubble of grown adults who somehow think she's an amazing character she's not amazing she's not even painfully average Elsa is awful if ever there was a Disney Princess tear list I also would be in like DT earth next to Merida she's that bad especially compared to many of the other Disney Princesses like really think about this Elsa as a character does not hold up when you compare her personality to some of the other princesses take a look at Ariel what's her personality well she's young and naive and boy-crazy her on eclis the thirstiest disney princess is the one that lives underwater but she's also highly curious and giddy when it comes to learning more about the human world and she's very determined she won't take no for an answer and she's willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants she's motivated and her personality is distinct what's Belle's personality she's an intellectual she reads books and longs for adventure she's naturally curious and kind but she's not airheaded she has her limits when it comes to Huck boys and she desires something greater than what her current life can offer what about Tiana she's goal minded in a hardware who doesn't have time to slow down and goof off Moana she's funny and quick-witted but also determined despite being in a little over her head Hana even has a distinct personality she's quirky and naive and sheltered willing to open her heart to anyone what about Elsa she she has ice powers and she's serious and I don't know honestly oh wait she's free and she lets it go and she's liberated and empowered I know this because I've let it go yeah I'm not gonna lie I love let it go as much as the next guy it's a great showcase for Elsa's powers and her personality until you realize that let it go is all that Elsa has can you name a single character trait that comes out of Elsa outside of this song can you quote a single line of dialogue yeah it's pretty hard that's because Elsa is not a character she is the dress the hair and the song that's it this movie features in my opinion one of the most fleshed out Disney Princesses ever may be the most fleshed out honest funny she's interesting she's quotable and she goes to a dynamic character arc over the course of the movie she's right there and yet the media and the fans pour all their focus and praise into this bland ass piece of frozen bread what is there to praise here how is she a good character she runs away from all her responsibilities and refuses to even try to make things right with her people or the only family she has left this is an obviously wrong decision that is reversed by the end of the movie and yet everyone praises the moment when she decides to do this you know why because it's this moment let it go is great musically but its popularity is almost a detriment to the story and the character no we shouldn't be happy that Elsa's abandoning her sister and continues to do so like nice going your sister is probably marrying evil sideburn guy and throwing the kingdom into chaos do you even care look maybe I should start from the beginning it's clear that Elsa was traumatized at a young age out of fear of what her powers could do to people and she was definitely raised wrong as a result thanks for that you stupid Rock troll guy I hope you choke on a pebble and then get hit by a steamroller you waste the talent in animation I understand the need to keep Elsa's powers a secret from Anna as they're growing up and so I understand the need to keep the two separate but once the parents are dead and Anna is basically an adult why can't we tell her about the powers exactly there's no higher authority here Elsa is with whole this information from her adult sister for literally no reason hey Anna I have magic ice powers I can't control it I don't want to hurt you that's why I stayed away from you during our entire childhood is that so hard is she worth holding this information because that's what her parents would have wanted I find that hard to believe I don't think they seriously intended to keep this a secret from adult on earth and yet that's what Elsa does this leads to their big blowout at the party where honour asks what did I ever do to you this is a moment of serious emotional vulnerability coming from someone who's felt rejected and lonely for her entire life and then we get this exchange I can't live like this anymore and leave no rational person would ever say this now is the time when you tell her what the problem is it could've been such a simple fix to Elsa could have said Anna I need to talk to you in private or you in Hans whatever they go to a private room she shows her ice powers and explains that that's why they've been distant all these years then the duke of weaseltown comes in thinks he sees witchcraft drags her out and tries to expose her which is when her eyes powers accidentally get shown to everyone and the story continues as normal at least then Elsa wouldn't come off as an emotionally unfeeling jerk however there is another angle to consider this character from people don't always act rationally when suffering from anxiety and depression which also seems to be even though it's never explicit it makes sense since she was traumatized by the stupid rock troll vision isolated from everyone out of fear of hurting them and then she lost the only people she could talk to about her powers if we view this character through the lens of depression then the way the story is set up actually does kind of work she doesn't want to involve on us and she already considered herself a burden to her parents and she doesn't want to place that on her younger sister of all people this is what depression can do make you irrationally think of yourself as a weight on people's shoulders even though they love you no matter what so from that angle the setups all right but that brings its own host of problems once Elsa does leave sure she can't hurt anyone anymore as far as she knows but his further isolation from society really what else it needs is having nobody in her life to confide in going to finally make her happy as far as the movie is concerned yes because Elsa does so while singing let it go really think about the implications of this song being so triumphant and empower it's sending a message to little kids it's seeking emotional reconciliations with the people you love is bad you should just run away from those who care about you it's fine you get a cool dress and hair and ice castle and yeah let it go I love that song oh my god I love frozen it's no secret that Elsa was originally intended to be the villain in this movie but then this song came out so good and then decided hey let's make her good but they forgot to change the trajectory of her character arc it seemed like she was doing just fine on her own until honest showed up she never realized that being alone and apart from the people who loved her was making everything worse for her because it really didn't the only scene with her alone is let it go what message does this send that isolation and removal from society will indeed make you happy until your pesky loved ones come barging in that's not what the end of the movie is telling me it's telling me that love was the answer this whole time okay why couldn't Elsa have learned that before why couldn't she have one scene where we see her alone in her fortress of solitude where she's trying to be happy but ends up feeling miserable that's all we needed I'd like to take this opportunity to real quick discuss the favorite this is also not a movie that is explicitly about depression the focus is on the two women competing for Queen Anne's affection much like how frozen is focused on the journey of Elsa's sister regardless it's very clear that Queen on is depressed after suffering many losses in her lifetime the movie doesn't need to spell this out for us it's blatantly obvious from her performance alone the favorite also explores the importance of dealing with grief and depression by surrounding yourself with people who love and care about you or at the very least one person who truly cares about you it also showcases how drastically things can get worse when that one person isn't around I'll stop there to avoid spoilers since this movie's excellent and you should see it this is the kind of dynamic that frozen could showcase the idea that Elsa needs Anna just as much as Anna needs Elsa and that running away from the one person in her life that truly loves her has made things so much worse for us she doesn't come to this realization on her own and she doesn't return to Anna or arendelle by choice she has chained up and forcefully brought back the movie doesn't allow Elsa to cope with her depression and a healthy it shoves her into a resolution that doesn't feel earned and you know what I can already hear your dumbass fingers on the keyboard typing out Lowell it's just the kids movie why would it talk about depression kids movies are capable of some truly groundbreaking things they can speak to anyone at any age and help them cope with and understand some truly heavy themes I don't love big hero 6 as you all know that mistake was his but one thing it does exponentially well is thoroughly explore grief and how it can manifest in both positive and negative ways the villain is Garbo as I've said before but they get one thing right about him he's a perfect example of how grief can warp a person and get them fixated on revenge which is a great contrast to how grief affects the hero The Lion King is also a story about grief and what it means to bottle up your emotions over the years and essentially leave your problems or responsibilities behind accepting the Lion King there's a key moment where Simba is confronted with his actions and responsibilities and one of the most powerful and breathtaking scenes not only in animation history but in film history from the Magnificent swelling of the music to the majestic vision of Mufasa appearing in the sky the Simba's realization that his duty is with his pride and the responsibility that his father who never truly left has bestowed upon him he learns an incredible truth in such a short amount of time Elsa didn't learn [ __ ] her big moment where she decides to return to her Kingdom and responsibilities never comes her moment where she realizes that love and the person who cares about her more than anything is the key to controlling her depression comes after the deed is already done she never grows she never learns anything I can't believe people actually called frozen the best Disney movie since Lion King frozen is not even in the same league as Lion King and I think this is the perfect example of why this character is bland at best and actively damaging at worst I don't understand how anyone could possibly consider her a good role model anyway though in terms of the future frozen to looks like it's gonna be leaps and bounds better than the first one and maybe even put the focus on Elsa this time around which I'm all for I would love it if they redeem this character give her a more distinct personality and a character arc that makes sense she still has plenty of room to grow and I'd love to explore her relationships with Anna and other characters a bit further a bunch of people really want Disney to give us a girlfriend be some really cool representation it's not gonna happen since Disney doesn't care about social justice they only care about money and gay stuff doesn't sell in China but ideally that'd be cool I would love for Elsa to have any love interest at all because that could really flesh our out and make her more interesting we could really get to know her and see her open up to someone for the first time in forever because honestly I feel like right now I don't know anything about her she's an alarmingly poorly written character given how popular she is but this sequel could get me invested in her now that the story isn't hastily being rewritten to change her from a villain to hero I'd be all for it and while I would love it if Disney gave Elsa a girlfriend at this point I'll settle for Disney giving Elsa a personality and now a word from our sponsor do you want to make your own videos want to build a better brand on Twitter and get more people interested in your opinions and contents well have I got a site for you Skillshare an online learning community with thousands of classes covering dozens of creative and entrepreneurial skills Premium 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Channel: Schaffrillas Productions

Views: 3,166,439

Rating: 4.8200784 out of 5

Keywords: Schaffrillas Productions, Disney, Frozen, Elsa, Anna, Olaf

Id: VyRbIg64oiE

Length: 13min 8sec (788 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 25 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/ThisIsMaddening]

You're about a week late on April Fool's Day, buddy.

[u/OptimalOboes07]

Okay, I think Elsa is a great character. And I’m gonna say it; I like her better than Anna. I still love Anna in her own way but I relate to Elsa more.

He said that she doesn’t have character development but she literally went from being locked in her room, afraid of even touching anything for fear of freezing it, to thawing the fjord and hugging Anna openly.

She has a personality as well, it’s just not as “extreme”, for lack of a better term, as the other princesses. But I think that’s intentional so that there’s even more of a contrast between the sisters.

Idk. But I liked frozen a lot. and my rant is finished.

[u/TheBenjimin]

Well Elsa did get a WAY better character arc in F2 than in F1.