By: Kathleen
Disney, Frozen, writing

Frozen Is Taking Over My Life

Frozen is taking over my life.

Which I suppose should not be a surprise, considering that a) I have a daughter, and b) we just visited Disney World.

Incidentally, we did NOT stand in line to meet Anna and Elsa. We did chortle vindictively every time we rode the carousel, watching the “stand by” clock next door oscillate between 105 and 140 minutes. Who would DO that???? we kept asking each other. No, this was some girl we bumped into at the Christmas store in Downtown Disney. But Julianna nearly shot into the stratosphere, she was so excited.
Incidentally, we did NOT stand in line to meet Anna and Elsa. We did chortle vindictively every time we rode the carousel, watching the “stand by” clock next door oscillate between 105 and 140 minutes. Who would DO that???? we kept asking each other. No, this was some girl we bumped into at the Christmas store in Downtown Disney. But Julianna nearly shot into the stratosphere, she was so excited.

We were kind of late to the Frozen party. We took the kids to see it in the theater and we thought it was a great movie. Then, of course, the kids began singing That Song–or at least their faulty memory of it–twenty times a day for the next ten months, in combination with the Lego movie theme (surely the worst song ever written) and “What Does The Fox Say?” And since That Song is a phrase you use all the time in real life, people were constantly bursting into song at random intervals, thinking they were being funny. I found it so annoying, I kind of put a wall up around the movie.

But I downloaded the soundtrack for the road trip to Florida, and by the time we got home I was as big a fan as my kids.

The music is really good, first of all. Obviously the songs are the wormiest of ear worms, but the lyrics are clever (winter’s a great time to stay in and cuddle, but put me in summer and I’ll be a …………..happy snowman!), and I love the rest of the soundtrack. I think that opening is probably my favorite movie opening of all time. Some of the music is very Disney (which is good, but it really smacks you in the face with its Disney-ish-ness), but a lot of it is quite beautiful in its own right.

The other night as we were supposedly going to sleep, I said something about my heart rate monitor not quite working. “It told me my heart rate was 199,” I said. “I knew that wasn’t right. Then it got frozen there.”

“Did you let it go?” Christian asked.

You know that guttural, back-of-the-mouth sound of deep disgust? Yeah, that was me at that comment.

“Or did you just put up with it because it was the first time in forever?”

Oh, he thinks he’s soooo funny. 😉

On the wall of the Christmas store at Downtown Disney. By the way, do you notice how cold Julianna looks? What IS it with this idea that Florida is warm year round? We've been there four times in the winter/early spring now, and every single time It. Has. Been. Cold.
On the outside wall of the Christmas store at Downtown Disney. By the way, do you notice how cold Julianna looks? What IS it with this idea that Florida is warm year round? We’ve been there four times in the winter/early spring now, and every single time It. Has. Been. Cold.

But it’s not just the music, it’s the storytelling. Anna and Kristoph are so instantly likable. In my fumbling attempt to write a new novel during November, I never really finished figuring out my characters–I know their stories, mostly, but I’m not inside their heads yet. I begin to despair of ever being able to write characters who instantly have you rooting for them. (“Whoa there, Feisty Pants!”)

And a plot line that takes something very, very predictable and does something very, very special with it.

I actually read the Wikipedia entry on this movie, and took heart from what I found there. Frozen has a long, convoluted history, one that involved a lot of failed attempts and not-quites. It gives me hope that if I keep poking at this fiction thing, someday I’ll figure it out. I know my writing is good enough. I just have to find the right concept and characters that will sell.

In the meantime, I have to make sure I don’t over-expose myself to all things Frozen. The last time I did that, I was in junior high, babysitting a little girl who always, always, always watched The Little Mermaid. I got so sick of it, I ran the other way for twenty years.

What about you? Are you a Frozen fan? Or are you ready to hire the snowman to throw the Arendelle sisters out?