Okay, so I've heard it all - Frozen was amazing. Idina Menzel is fantastic, 'Let It Go' is still playing in our memories, Kristen Bell as Anna is a win, everything was fantastic, obviously. But somehow people didn't "get" Frozen II. It just didn't live up the the hype.
I feel like the majority of people missed the deeper meaning of this movie. I don't think it was meant to be as we saw it, but rather how we felt it. I think, it solidified my initial feelings about the first movie - in that Frozen was about Elsa's personal journey to accepting herself.
"We assumed that, Aliya." I know, they did a great job of portraying that in the first movie.
BUT THE SECOND MOVIE IS GOLDEN, TOO! (spoilers ahead)
Frozen II is entirely about a journey within Elsa: The castle of Arrendelle is her body. To free the forest is to free her soul from her past - the past (this is assuming you believe in past lives, and the soul remembering more than the body actually endured. I subscribe to this belief, and it helps with my theories). Frozen I was about self acceptance, this one is about the deeper journey within herself.
To better understand this concept, let me introduce you to the cast:
Anna - is excitement, which is sometimes also anxiety/fear. She's been quieted down for years - when Elsa's powers and gifts were stunted and imprisoned as a child, when her parents misunderstood "learn to control" and took it as "hide it away". When Elsa accidentally hurt someone and her powers and excitement for her self had to be shushed, instead of strengthened and worked, like a muscle. This part of her just always wanted to be accepted and loved.
Olaf - is the childlike wonder, and the child within the Self.
Kristoff - is the love and protection of the Self, and the deeper warm acceptance that everyone is born with, but is most often times unseen.
Elsa - is Elsa's higher self, her own essence. (don't worry, I'll explain).
Aaaand here we go... As bullet points and following the movie as best I could where it would still make sense!
- Arendelle is Elsa's “Self”. She’s been told by the elders within (she trusts the elders) that the Self isn’t safe. She knows that the Self may be changed, and has to go on this journey to save her Self.
- “Can you face what the river knows?” There is a part inside of you that knows. It’s Truth. It isn’t necessarily knowing the good or right response, but it is your truth. And facing the inner truth can be extremely hard, and often-times impossible. We get used to the things we see and live. We think it’s all we’ve we’ve known, and to derive from that could be total loss of self. Exploring those waters, it’s a leap of faith in one’s self.
- Ahtohallan is frozen. Frozen in time, frozen within herself.
- Elsa is the only one who can cross the river, because it's HER river. Her parents couldn't do the work she has to do herself.
- Elsa diving into the river is her diving deep into the scary darkness that had to lead her to who she is. It's a scary place to dive, because your mind tries to keep you from it. The mind has blocked it off, because it didn't know how to handle the truth, when it was presented, and so the mind continues it's life thinking it never has learned how to deal with it. The action of diving into the waters that could kill you, is only an idea presented by the mind in an attempt to protect the Self, even if it no longer applies.
- Elsa says she “has always been a fortress, cold secrets deep inside”. She knows she needs to find out who she is. “Show yourself, I’m ready to learn.” the entire song is the awareness and the knowledge that she needs to find out who she is. Every line in this song is a deeper awareness of her Self, and her awareness.
- The entire time Elsa is at Ahtohallan, she's deep within a meditative state within herself. She IS the one she's been waiting for her own entire life. She is stepping into her own powers, and is learning the secrets of the past that only her soul knows. She just had to drop down inside and find herself (easier said than done, you saw those waters, too).
- Finding what happened in the past that she personally wasn’t there for is the soul’s journey beyond the body.
- When Elsa becomes frozen, her childlike wonder/her younger self - i.e. Olaf turns into flurries, and seemingly goes away. She needs help to be pulled out from the depth that she dove. The body of Elsa is scared and almost hopeless, and trying to find its courage. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear. And that is Anna singing 'The Next Right Thing' and moving forwards, despite her pain and fear.
- Everything Anna thought she stood for, she realized was wrong. The body was going through deep emotional pain. it was Anna - the excitement and the fear who had to stand up - walk through the ultimate fears (everyone gone) and move forward, one step at a time. Even knowing everything would be crushed, was crushing all around her, because she knew they were already too deep into it now. Doing nothing would literally be doing nothing. She had nothing left to lose, and death wasn’t an option. “Take a step, step again, it is all that I can - to do the next right thing.”
- “Arendelle has no future unless we make this right.” Anna has caught on, The body is starting to work together. It knows the ultimate sacrifice will be the ultimate savior of the Self.
- To save her Self, a very strong wall within has to be torn down. She needs her whole body to come together and work together.
- Sometimes there are parts on oneself that we would rather ignore. Fear of danger, fear of self. And during this whole inner journey, the self realized there was a place for everything. The boulder giants had to be awakened to destroy the dam/wall, and helped make a better and stronger Self. They had to be heard, everything needs to speak, and to feel heard within the Self to Be.
- When Elsa emerges, she knows her place within the world. She is grounded and feels safe within herself. She knows how to rule, and be her most powerful self!
- The waters at the end, that were threatening Arendelle and came rushing at the castle - the Self - are easily maintained with an almost obvious level of confidence that Elsa gains once she comes out of her journey.
- In the end, Arendelle isn’t harmed, but the only way to save it was with an idea that could only come after Elsa braved diving into the waters at Ahtohallan.
- The place within her that was hidden finally comes back into sight. it is seen and can see, and Elsa find her place within the world.
- At the end, Kristoff tells Anna she is extraordinary. The Inner Love saw the Self that just wanted to be seen, and promises to always see that part of her. Elsa feels safe, protected, loved, and seen, so she is able to come into herself. She had the power within all along, she just had to access it. - "Step into your power".
- In the end, everyone is on the same page. Anna and Elsa share watching over the self, in her different places, and this allows Elsa to be who she is as a whole, and her higher self to explore.
- “Where all is lost, and all is found” you must let yourself let go, and be ready and okay to lose some of your self, and that is what allows you to find more.
And just to top it off: If it were an easy journey, we all would have done it by now.