For those of you who have not seen this Disney work of art, it's an endearing tale of two sisters in the Kingdom of Arendelle. Queen Elsa has the power of freezing to create ice and snow. One day when they were little kids, Elsa accidentally hits her younger sister Anna (completely ordinary, no superhuman freezing skills) and almost kills her. Some rolly polly trolls save her life. Then Elsa remains recluse in her room for fear of hurting Anna again. After a cute song about building a snowman, their parents die when their ships sinks in the ocean. Three years later, things go down at Elsa's coronation after Anna spontaneously becomes engaged. So obviously Elsa loses it, freezes the entire kingdom, and sets off an enternal winter. She retreats to the mountain where Anna chases after her with hunky mountain man Kristoff and his reindeer Sven. They meet a cute little snowman named Olaf, and while Anna tries to convince Elsa to return to the kingdom she accidentally freezes her sister's heart. And in any true fashion of a Disney movie, only an act of true love can save her sister from death.
Now that we all have a general understanding of the film's plot, let's deconstruct the 3 key characteristics: genuineness, empathy, and unconditional positive regard.
Genuineness
If any character from Frozen epitomizes my perception of genuineness, it would be Olaf. He's incredibly...
Self-accepting:
Experiences feelings:
And is authentic:
In my future as a leader, facilitator, teacher, counselor, and human being I hope to be as genuine and as self-aware as Olaf. He's quirky, expressive, and loving and I believe in order to be perceived that way in my future endeavors I must carry myself without any fronts or facades just like Olaf in the film Frozen.
Empathy
Early on Elsa develops a deep emotional connection with Anna as most siblings do... I feel like it's often easier to feel empathetic of another's situation when a strong relationship is already established.
After the accident though, Elsa retreated to her room out of fear of hurting her little sister, thus showing her understanding her powers are what put her sister in such danger. However, as they matured and after their parent's passing, Anna develops a complete lack of empathy for Elsa's situation because she grew up not remembering Elsa had powers.
Non-Possessive Positive Regard (Love)
So Elsa retreats to the North Mountain to escape the fear and the backup inducing nature of Arendelle... (because Elsa is totally an amiable, who else would lose their business like that other than an amiable and then run away?) and explores her powers...
Anna out of her loving and non-paternalistic nature, sets out to find her sister and bring her back from the North Mountain to bring summer back to Arendelle. She meets some guy named Kristoff, but he's just there for that classic Disney facade that every girl must find her valiant pungent reindeer king.
So with the help of Olaf, they eventually find Elsa and her palace. As any amiable in secondary backup would do, Elsa attacks. She feels threatened and doesn't want to hurt her sister again. Unfortunately, Elsa freezes her sister's heart after she did everything in her power to acquiesce in order to protect her sister from herself.
After another visit to the trolls and a speedy trip back to Arendelle on the back of a reindeer, Anna and Kristoff discover only an act of true love will thaw Anna's heart or else she will die... some sad things happen and Anna eventually realizes that you can't marry someone you just met. Eventually she ends up in a blizzard and is pitted between choosing her sister whom she has come to accept and respect and Kristoff who she is falling in love with. But (SPOILER) she chooses her sister out of an act of unconditonal positive regard because her crazy ex-fiance is about to kill Elsa.
Conclusion
To conclude, in my future endeavors as a leader, facilitator, teacher, counselor, and human being I hope to embody all three of these traits in order to be a "fully functioning person." I want others to connect to me like I connect to the characters in this film, I think that's why Frozen became so popular so quickly and so relateable to all ages, because it portrays and demonstrates these essential traits which are valuable to all human beings.
Frozen - Plot Summary (2013). Retrieved (2015, February 2) from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/plotsummary
Various images retrieved from Tumblr, google, and my own personal collection of GIFS.
