Walt Disney Pictures
In genuine stories of sisterhood, blood or otherwise, men tread lightly until the gals sort things out. That’s the basis of Disney’s 3-D animated movie Frozen, in which older sis Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) and younger sibling Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) must get to the bottom of what tore them apart as children.
Co-directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, with sharp music provided by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, Frozen introduces the female protagonists as children of royal lineage who delight in Elsa’s magical powers in the northern European kingdom of Arendelle. A flick of her wrist instantly materializes snow, ice and other winter-weather expressions. One day, though, Elsa goes too far and her sorcery literally knocks out Anna. The king and queen hustle their offspring to a wise troll who gently proclaims Elsa’s magic to be uncontrollable and potentially life-threatening to Anna. He erases Anna’s memory, obliterating her remembrance of Elsa’s powers, and advises the parents to keep Elsa and Anna far apart.
Frozen quickly sets up the Mercurial archetype, which rules siblings, as well as the Venusian affection Anna has for Elsa. Elsa, however, willingly espouses the Neptunian archetype of a higher love – she’ll sacrificially cut ties with Anna to protect her from the harm her powers may inflict.
The girls’ parents die shortly after. Fast forward to Elsa’s 18th birthday and her imminent coronation as queen. Anna, who continues to be in the dark about Elsa’s reasons for the estrangement between them, anticipates the ceremony will restore sisterly affections. But despite Elsa’s wearing gloves to help quell those icy energies emanating from her fingertips, the day brings nothing but havoc and sends Elsa fleeing for her life. No surprise: Anna sets out to find and, ideally, save her sister and, as a bonus side-effect, rid the kingdom of frostbite.
Other characters enter the mix, as Anna’s powers, even from afar, freeze the lifeblood out of Arendelle. One chap is Hans (voiced by Santino Fontana), a royal suitor with lots of male siblings of his own who instantly wins over Anna, but whose marriage Elsa forbids. Another is Kristoff (voiced by Jonathan Groff), a commoner who sells blocks of ice, accompanied by his Chewbacca-esque reindeer, Sven; and Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad), a snowman with a unitooth who provides comic relief.
It’s presumably no accident that Frozen evokes the myth of Persephone, an adolescent kidnapped by Hades into the Underworld, which prompts her distraught mother Demeter to mess with the natural order of vegetation and keep crops from growing until her daughter’s return. The movie fuels anticipation of Anna’s restoration of the status quo. Through Anna’s connecting with her own transcendent powers, which includes self-sacrifice, she’ll thereby thaw Elsa’s inner Saturnine frost.
Like a fierce winter, Frozen’s bone-chill factor is more profound than you’ve bargained for. Sibling (Mercury) love (Venus, Neptune) runs deep, sisters.
Astrology Film Rating: ☿♀♆ (Mercury, Venus, Neptune)
