Frozen Is Cool! Elsa the Snow Queen Rules!

In both Frozen movies, Anna receives a proposal of marriage, and she accepts both times. However, the circumstances surrounding Anna’s relationships with both men results in her acceptances, and the reasons for her acceptances, being completely different.

In the first film, Anna meets Hans on the day of Elsa’s coronation. For the first time in 13 years, the castle gates are opened and strangers from all over come to Arendelle. Having spent all those years alone and shut out by her sister while never knowing why, Anna sees the day as a chance to change, or rather, escape, the boring, lonely life she has lived and find companionship, possibly even romance.

However, because the gates would be closed and locked again the following day, Anna’s desire to find love is really out of desperation. She is desperate to find someone who will pay attention to her and not ignore her after years of being rejected by Elsa. She is also desperately bound and determined to avoid returning to her painful life of being confined inside the castle and isolated from the outside world. 

So then once she meets, then spends time with, Hans, Anna gets her wish. Not only does he give her the positive attention she had craved, but he presents himself as the EXACT kind of man she had hoped to meet: handsome, charming, noble, polite, smooth, and flirty. Hans sweeps Anna off her feet with all of these traits the moment they meet, and he continues this later when the two spend the entire evening on a “date”. During this time, Hans and Anna engage in all of the classical romantic clichés: dancing, talking, flirting, making each other laugh, taking moonlit walks, looking at the stars, and even sharing a romantic duet.

These clichés are exactly what Anna thinks romance is all about and what two people are traditionally supposed to do together while they fall in love. Because she does all of these things with Hans, she believes that she has found true love in him, despite knowing him for such a short time. And since he does yet ANOTHER classic romantic cliché by proposing to her at the end of their duet, Anna readily accepts with no hesitation.

By the end of Frozen, following Hans’s deception to take over Arendelle, Anna shares a kiss with Kristoff. While it may seem just the contrary because they share their first kiss, she is not in love with him. He may love her (although it may be easier to say “he loves her” instead of saying “he likes her” umpteen times), but she does not love him. After Hans was revealed to be pretending to love her and indirectly tried to kill her, Anna has become traumatized by his betrayal. It has made her realize that love is not at all what she thought it was. It does not happen fast, it is not always obvious, and it does not need to involve romantic clichés.

Despite their kiss, Anna is only just BEGINNING to fall for Kristoff. She wants to make sure to avoid the mistakes she had made with Hans by taking things slow with Kristoff so that they can get to know each other and build up a relationship based on mutual trust and respect, one that could someday lead to love.

By Frozen II, Kristoff and Anna have been dating for three years. In that time, they have really gotten to know each other, and there’s no doubt that they see each other and do something together almost every day, which would make the three years feel even longer. Once he makes his first appearance in the film following the prologue, Kristoff is shown to be finally ready to take the next step in his relationship with Anna by wanting to marry her and starting a family.

Kristoff first admits his love for her out loud at her party in Frozen Fever, but by the full-length sequel, the love between the couple has become mutual. This is shown on Anna’s part when she kisses Kristoff’s lips (which he doesn’t expect, since he first tries to make his proposal to her) and addresses him with a term of endearment, saying, “Thanks, honey. Love you!” And while she exits the library immediately afterwards, Kristoff calls to her (though in a disappointed voice since he didn’t get a chance to ask her) “Love you, too.”

A running gag throughout the film is Kristoff making more attempts to propose to Anna, with all of them ending in failure. But upon everyone reuniting once the dam is broken is the mist is lifted from the Enchanted Forest, Kristoff makes one more attempt, and finally succeeds. However, unlike Hans, he doesn’t jump the gun by immediately asking Anna to marry him and kneeling down while he says it. Rather, he kneels down, tells Anna how much of an extraordinary person she is, and that he loves her so much before finally asking the question and presenting the ring at the same time.

Like when Hans proposed to her, Anna does not hesitate in accepting Kristoff’s proposal...but as I said above, her acceptances are entirely different, and it’s all based on how she really feels about the two men.

Anna’s reaction to Hans is more of a mild happiness, one that is only based on the surface, on the superficial level. This is because she doesn’t really know him, so her feelings for him are just based on a naïve, shallow crush, not true love. While she appears genuinely surprised based on her gasp after he asks her, the way she gasps seems (and even sounds) forced, fake, and rehearsed, as if she was expecting him to ask and her reaction of accepting was based on how she believes a woman is expected to answer. Notice also that Anna subtly shakes her head as she says “Yes”, which is a tell-tale sign that she doesn’t actually mean what she says. Again, Anna was looking for love anywhere because of Elsa’s rejection of her, and she was desperate to not return to a life of isolation. Now that Hans has proposed, she thinks she has found her ticket to a better life, so she accepts just so she can make sure she lives life the way she wants to live.

With Kristoff, Anna knows him very well after three years, and so when he proposes, she is so overcome with emotion that she starts crying tears of joy as she says yes. Unlike her initial relationship with Hans due to his false nature, Anna and Kristoff truly and deeply love each other. This time, she is genuinely stunned when he kneels down. She realizes what he is going to ask, but she was not expecting him to do it, which is proven by when she gasps and places her hands over her mouth. In contrast to her surprise when Hans proposed to her, Anna’s shock upon realizing that Kristoff is going to pop the question is more natural and genuine. Her reaction comes from deep within her that she sobs tears of real joy as she accepts. Also notice that when Anna gasps and sobs before she answers the question, she fans herself with her hands. It seems as though she was so shocked and elated when Kristoff was moving in to ask the question that she was becoming flushed, so she fans herself to cool down from the overwhelming euphoria.

Lastly, since Hans’s proposal was the classic romantic cliché proposal, it felt fake and unnatural since it wasn’t based on true love. Kristoff’s proposal feels more real, more natural, and even more pure, since he’s asking right from his heart, and to the woman he truly loves.

Anna’s reaction to Hans’s proposal was one of mild happiness based on her simple infatuation on him and her desperate chance to change her world of loneliness. But her reaction to Kristoff’s proposal is one of pure joy based on their true, deep love for each other, so they want to be together forever.

And based on the differences of her own reactions below, we can see that Elsa approves of Anna and Kristoff together, as opposed to Anna and Hans together. 😉

The differences between Anna’s reactions concept was requested by @greatqueenanna. And I owe a thanks to my awesome friend and soul sister @minervadeannabond for coming up with this title! 😁👍🏻❤️

When Frozen was released almost seven years ago, I fell in love with it and the love hasn’t stopped since, especially with the following of Frozen Fever, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, and last year’s Frozen II. I am very proud to be in this fandom and have enjoyed expressing my love for it by writing analyses about them, and my friends and followers can rest assured I will never stop doing it, especially as long as there is more material for me to discuss! 😁😁😁

One of the reasons I fell in love with Frozen was because of Hans and the fact that he was a surprise villain. Disney introduced him by making us think he was another typical heroic prince: benevolent, noble, brave, caring, selfless, and kind. Hans tells Anna that he is the youngest of 13 sons from the kingdom of the Southern Isles, and in being the youngest, he has apparently faced ignorance, neglect, and abuse from most of his brothers, if not his entire family. But then in the third act, we discover that Disney had purposely misled all other characters, and even the audience, about who Hans really is. He reveals himself as a truly ruthless, sadistic, dishonest, power-hungry, selfish, two-faced sociopath whose only goal is to become king and gain the status, power, admiration, and respect he apparently never received from his family, and would never gain as the 13th heir of the Southern Isles. So he plotted to take control of Arendelle by marrying into the throne. He initially wanted to marry Elsa just because she was the oldest and rightful heir, which would give him a legitimate chance to become king. However, he decided to pursue and marry Anna when he realized that Elsa was an antisocial recluse, and planned to kill Elsa to get her out of the way and rise to power with him as king and Anna as his queen.

When I first saw Frozen, I was very shocked that Hans was the true villain, though at the same time, there were a few moments that made me suspicious of him. After seeing the film a few more times, I realized there were subtle clues of his villainy in many of his preceding scenes, so his villainous revelation did not come totally out of the blue. But Disney using the twist and idea of having a hidden main antagonist, one that was a prince, who is stereotypically a heroic character in fairy tales, no less, was something I very much enjoyed about Frozen because it was something so new, different, unexpected, and very unique, particularly for a Disney fairy tale.

When I saw Frozen II, I wasn’t expecting it to have a villain, hidden or not, since the trope of surprise villains by Disney, which started with Wreck-It Ralph, had been waning and it was getting easier for me to figure out who they were. Needless to say, when Runeard was revealed to be the film’s main antagonist, I was very shocked. I wasn’t shocked in the same way I was when Hans revealed himself to be an evil prince, but for different reasons. For one thing, Runeard only appears on screen as a living character during Agnarr’s story about the Enchanted Forest in the prologue, then as a snowy ice figure Elsa discovers in Ahtohallan years after his death. He has the shortest time on screen than any other villain in the Disney animated canon, yet Runeard also has a major effect on the film’s plot. He is one of the few Disney animated villains who affects the flow of the story from the very beginning, and is rather unique in doing so because he is a POSTHUMOUS main antagonist, the first one from Disney animation. In fact, Runeard is the Greater-Scope Villain of the Frozen franchise as his heinous actions against the Northuldrans not only led to the main events of Frozen II, but also to what became of his bloodline and what led to the events of Frozen. The fact that Runeard has such a short time on screen while simultaneously impacting so much to the story makes his actions even worse than those of Hans.

While the revelation of Runeard being the main villain has received mixed reception from fans and critics like that of Hans did, I can still focus more on the positive about the former’s villainy than the negative. Heck, when you look at both films and both of their main villains, Runeard and Hans actually have quite a lot in common, even though Runeard is far less developed as a character and has a much shorter amount of time on screen than Hans.

The fact that Runeard killed the leader of the Northuldra while Hans didn’t kill Elsa suggests that Runeard is potentially a darker example of what Hans could have easily become if he had succeeded in his goal to kill both sisters and become king of Arendelle. But in the months since Frozen II came out, another possibility on how Runeard is suggested to be a darker reflection of Hans, with the former having succeeded in the past where Hans failed in the present, has been suggested by fans. As I’ve said before, Runeard was the founder and first king of Arendelle. Prior to this accomplishment, perhaps like Hans, he was once a prince who was overlooked and neglected by his family, and he craved power, respect, and admiration after having never received them from his family and/or the majority of his kingdom. Or perhaps Runeard was just a commoner, a poor nobody who still craved power and respect after never having received it, or even anything fine and desirable, in his life...and he ended up getting what he wanted when he created his very own kingdom and was proclaimed its king. AND when he became king, Runeard was set on expanding as well as protecting his power, with his only concern being his own status as a monarch.

Runeard and Hans both have underdeveloped backstories as villains and what makes them as such, even though it feels easier to figure out that of Hans based on what he does reveal to Anna. But considering how much they do have in common, perhaps Runeard WAS once in the same position Hans used to be, and he managed to succeed where Hans did not. With all we do know about them, though, Runeard appears to be far more evil and despicable than Hans, given his bigoted, judgmental, paranoid, hateful behavior towards the Northuldra and the magical spirits and his actions against them.

Hans briefly gets his chance of being a leader when he takes over as temporary ruler of Arendelle in both Elsa and Anna’s absence. He successfully wins the hearts of the Arendellians by acting as a kind, caring, benevolent ruler during the harsh conditions brought on by Elsa’s magical winter. The fact that he earned the trust and respect of the Arendellians and acts very competent as a ruler suggests that Hans really could have been a very good king. However, as I said in “Tyrant Terror”, while Runeard was revealed to be a ruthless, power-hungry, obsessive king in secret, he used the same kind of benevolent mask that Hans used when he appeared in public. Runeard apparently was also very competent as a ruler since he knew how to run the kingdom while pretending to be a noble leader to the public. He led the citizens, the guards, and the castle staff on to believe that his kind facade was his true nature.

Because getting power and respect for himself was all that both men ever really cared about, I have absolutely no doubt that, had he succeeded in stealing Arendelle’s throne, Hans also would have become the same kind of secretly ruthless, power-hungry, selfish tyrant that Runeard was before him.

Now the biggest difference between Hans and Runeard’s villainy is what motivates them to carry out their evil plans. Runeard seeks to destroy the Northuldra because they have ties to magic, something he detests, fears, and towards which he holds bigotry, since he believes it to be a threat to his royal rank and authority. The fact that the Northuldra are peasants who follow magic rather than a government ruled by a king is also how Runeard saw them as a threat. He presumably believed that the Northuldra might try to use their magic to one day plot to usurp him and take over his kingdom. Consumed by his hateful, bigoted, and paranoid feelings towards the tribe and their magic, Runeard decided to destroy them to prevent any chances of them trying to destroy him first.

In Hans’s case, he obviously viewed Elsa as a threat to his plans since she was the legitimate heir of Arendelle, and he plotted to kill her to get her out of his way. When Elsa accidentally revealed her powers and caused the eternal winter, Hans was just as shocked as everyone else. However, while his motive to kill Elsa expanded so that he also wanted restore summer to Arendelle (and appear to be a hero in the eyes of the Arendellians for doing so), Hans was always presumably indifferent to Elsa’s powers. Throughout the whole movie, he never once shows any true feelings of prejudice towards magic or fear that her magic makes Elsa so powerful that she is a greater threat to his goal of taking over her kingdom than he initially believed. The best example of this is when he reveals his true nature and plans to Anna, who says “You’re no match for Elsa!” and Hans callously retorts “No, you’re no match for Elsa!” Hans knows that Anna means that Elsa is more powerful than him with her magic and she could use them to bring him down, but Hans is completely unconcerned and unconvinced about this concept. If anything, by this time, he has realized that Elsa was scared of her own power and of losing Anna...and he knew how to use both of her fears against her.

So unlike Runeard’s fear of magic being his overall motivation to destroy the Northuldra, I don’t believe Hans ever feared or was prejudiced towards Elsa for being magical. He only wanted to kill her just because she was in his way of gaining access to Arendelle’s throne.

As with any Disney villain, though, in the end, Hans and Runeard’s confidence and arrogance ends up being their downfall, and they end up being forever ruined due to their actions. Hans extinguishes all heat sources in the library, then locks Anna in so she will die from her frozen heart. But because Olaf helps her escape the castle, Anna intervenes in the nick of time when Hans attempts to kill Elsa. After the winter is lifted, Hans is humiliated and defeated when Anna reveals that she survived, and many witness the punch she gives him to his face. Hans is then apprehended, imprisoned on a French ship headed back to the Southern Isles, and banished from Arendelle forever. He is later shown working in the royal stables in his kingdom, cleaning up after the horses.

Though he makes no further appearances in the franchise, Hans’s betrayal has undoubtedly ruined him forever and he will probably never be allowed to leave his kingdom in order to try his plot all over again. Furthermore, the allusions to and mentions of him in the sequel shows that he will never be forgiven by Elsa, Anna, and their family.

Despite having succeeded in murdering the tribe leader, the war that Runeard instigates leads to him falling off a cliff to his death and causing the angered spirits to cast a mist over the Enchanted Forest, trapping the people, including his surviving soldiers, in it for decades. Though he is long dead by the time the main events of the story take place, what remains of Runeard’s evil reign is finally brought to an end when Anna and Elsa destroy the dam. This act lifts the mist and frees the Forest, and a true union of peace is at last established between Arendelle and the Northuldra.

In life, Runeard had been desperate to protect his power, status, and legacy from being ruined by the Northuldra and their magic. But in great irony, his misdeeds caused his own fear to become reality (though not like he had envisioned), and his legacy is now forever ruined by his betrayal.

Introduction

While Hercules isn’t among my top favorite Disney films ever, I still love it a lot, and it was one of the earliest Disney animated films I saw in theaters as a child. Much of what I remember about Disney from my childhood was during the second half of the Renaissance in the mid 1990s, and the very first Disney animated film I ever saw in theaters was The Lion King. Hercules was also the first Disney film I saw with a romantic couple for which I had a lot of passion, that being the HerculesxMegara pairing.

Since I was a child, I had a very soft spot in my heart for Hercules and Meg being together. In fact, I loved their passionate kiss near the end of the film so much that after I got the film on VHS, I went through a phase where I would watch my tape over and over again mostly just to get to see the kiss! Yes, it’s true! I thought it was THAT sweet and romantic! 😊😍❤️

But it’s not just that the couple were a major reason why I loved the movie; it was also about the character of Meg herself.

Meg has always been one of my favorite Disney heroines because her personality, behavior, and views about men and romance make her so atypical from the majority of her predecessors. In my eyes, she is the epitome of Disney characters that break away from their gender stereotypes and expectations. This is particularly shown when Meg first appears in the film: she quickly brushes off Hercules’s attempts to help her while she is in Nessus’s grasp, is chagrined at being called and viewed just as “a damsel in distress”, insists she can handle the situation herself, and is not at all impressed with Hercules’s muscles and his so-called “rescue” of her.

Over two weeks ago, I watched Hercules again after so many years of not having watched the entire film, and like when I was a kid, I loved it, the HerculesxMeg ship, and Meg a lot. In fact, I realized just how much I have loved Meg since childhood that I have decided to write this character analysis about her! Believe me, I find this Disney woman so AMAZING, so BADASS, that I just HAD to write about her!

So I hope you all read this analysis about Meg with as much passion and enjoyment as I had while writing it! 😁

Atypical Character

Like I said above, I have always loved Meg because she is so atypical from many of the Disney heroines that preceded her. She is pessimistic, cynical, bitter, world-weary, sarcastic, cheeky, snarky, and sassy, but also independent, free-spirited, brave, outspoken, bold, sharp, witty, spunky, and plucky.

In fact, Meg’s appearance adds to her atypicality as a Disney heroine with a reflection of her overall personality. Most of her features are sharp and more angular, while most preceding female Disney characters have softer, more relaxed features. Meg's chin, nose, fingers, cheekbones, and eyebrows are sharp and pointed, and even her hair looks these ways at certain times throughout the movie.

Another example of what makes Meg so different from previous Disney heroines, including the Princesses, is that she was in love once before, but her relationship ended in the most tragic possible way. Years before she met Hercules, Meg was very romantic and deeply cherished the relationship she had with her boyfriend, who tragically lost his life one day. Being so in love with him, Meg decided to save him by selling her soul and offering servitude to Hades. True to the latter’s word, the boyfriend was revived, but shortly afterwards, he cruelly and heartlessly abandoned Meg for another woman.

Realizing that her sacrifice ended up being all for nothing, Meg was then left deeply heartbroken, devastated, alone, and a prisoner of Hades for eternity. This consequently turned her into a very bitter, jaded, cynical person who had only contemptuous views about men, with such opinions going as far as her developing a total lack of trust in all people. I have even wondered if the experience made Meg believe that her boyfriend never even loved her in the first place, but that he instead merely used or took advantage of her love for him and simultaneously fabricated reciprocating her feelings. Inevitably, the event left Meg’s heart so hardened that she vowed to never fall in love again, greatly fearing that doing so would only lead to her repeating the same mistake.

And yet despite her reasons for being this way, her cynical, sarcastic, pessimistic, sassy, and snarky attitude is exactly WHY I love Meg so much. These traits make her a very strong woman who is admirable for many of the right reasons. Meg knows exactly who she is, is comfortable in her own skin, and does not care what people think about her. She is an incredibly independent loner and very proud of it. She does not like to rely on others, especially men, for protection, assistance, or aid in any way. She detests being viewed as “a damsel in distress” and anything else considered stereotypical and expected (especially in inferior or negative lights) for a woman of her time, such as being soft, demure, timid, mousy, easily scared, and dainty. Meg has the utmost independent ability to think and stand up for herself, enough that she can kick some major butt when given the opportunity. In her sass, she has a tongue that is sharp as a dagger and is never afraid to say exactly whatever is on her mind, even if she has to be blunt and brutally honest. Meg also rarely conceals exactly how she is feeling, whatever the situation is, and that includes exasperation or annoyance. She is tough as nails, plucky, and fearless, with the latter prominently shown since she’s not at all afraid to make fun of Hades, give him cheeky talk, or roll her eyes right in his face! Heck, any time he goes into his fiery rages (if you’ll excuse the pun, of course! 😆), Meg almost always seems completely unfazed, unsurprised, and even exasperated by them and his resulting destruction.

But I love Meg most in regards to her personality because of the amount of inner strength she has developed since her failed relationship. Her main personality and attitude is a defense mechanism she has created for herself, to protect herself from being hurt, and it’s something that makes her very realistic and relatable. Meg refuses to let her guard or her mental walls down, being firmly decided that she cannot afford to take chances on people and risk any further emotional harm. She is very closed off and won’t show her emotional side because she thinks doing so will make her look weak. She is determined not to give anyone the chance to take advantage of her, to walk all over her and treat her poorly, men most of all.

Simultaneously, when Meg shows her softer, more vulnerable side when she is alone with Hercules, it makes me feel true sympathy for her and how much her plight has affected her and her world views. Despite being proud of her independence and enjoying her solitude, beneath her tough, sassy exterior, Meg also appears to be very insecure and lost because she is all alone in the world. The fact that she says that “my friends call me Meg; at least they would if I had any friends” tells me that she has been entirely on her own, with minimal human contact, interaction, and relationships, since her ex-boyfriend left her. She’s had to learn to get by in life all by herself, stand on her own two feet, and fend for herself with virtually no guidance or support from any other humans. There is apparently no one in Meg’s life, not even family or friends, who truly loves and cares about her. 

So when Hercules comes into her life, his genuine innocence, sincerity, kindness, and love for her makes Meg realize that there is still good in the world. Her falling in love with him gives her a reason to live again (so to speak 😉), and she proves her love and just how much his love changes her when she refuses to continue aiding Hades in trying to destroy Hercules, shows regret at having deceived Hercules after Hades reveals she had been doing his bidding the whole time, and then when she gives her life to protect Hercules from being crushed by the pillar.

Atypical Love Song

Another major reason why I love Meg is for her famous love song "I Won't Say I'm in Love”. Like Meg herself, I’ve always loved this song because it is very atypical and differentiates from the traditional romantic songs of prior Disney animated features. In past films, including the fairy tales, these kinds of songs are sung by the main male and/or female leads, in which they describe their realization of falling in love and how wonderful it feels.

By stark contrast, however, during "I Won’t Say I’m in Love”, Meg sings about how she realizes she is falling in love with Hercules, but is EXTREMELY reluctant to do so because her last romantic experience turned out disastrous. She sings about trying to convince herself why falling in love is a bad idea. She sings about trying to DENY she is falling in love with Hercules. She adamantly and fearfully attempts to repress her feelings and refuses to admit them out loud! Simultaneously, as Meg sings, the Muses immediately see that she is falling in love and try to convince her to accept and embrace her feelings rather than deny them.

Now some of you may not know this, but Meg’s love song was originally one called “I Can’t Believe My Heart”, which was softer and more romantic in the words and melody, akin to that of a ballad. However, although it was recorded with Susan Egan singing it, the writers ultimately thought that such a song did not complement well with Meg's personality. So it was scrapped and replaced with "I Won't Say I'm in Love”.

The first time I listened to it, I really liked "I Can't Believe My Heart", and hearing Susan Egan’s voice singing the song makes it sound so authentic, as if Meg is actually singing it herself. But I agree about the decision to scrap it, because it sounds like Meg is feeling more open on giving love another chance, and that’s not at all how she feels about it in the final film. We see just how bitter, cynical, distrustful, and pessimistic Meg is towards men and how reluctant she is to take a chance on love again. So I think “I Can’t Believe My Heart” doesn’t fit her nearly as well as “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” does.

If you want to listen to it, I have attached here a fan edit video of "I Can't Believe My Heart", and I hope you enjoy it. (And before any of you ask, no, I did not make it.)

With a Little Help from My Minions

Shortly after her meeting with Hercules, Meg is revealed to be working for Hades, although we later learn it is because she is his slave as a result of her past bargain with him. She does everything that he tells her to do because she is legally bound to him and has virtually no choice in the matter. She hates having to serve him since her reason for doing so turned out to be all for naught, and she wants her freedom more than anything else in the world. So Meg hopes that, as long as she continues to serve Hades and do everything he tells her to do, he will one day let her go.

When Meg mentions Hercules interfered in her attempt to recruit Nessus into Hades’s army, she ignorantly reveals that he is the very same person Hades thought Pain and Panic had killed years ago to prevent his scheme of freeing the imprisoned Titans and using them to conquer Olympus from being ruined. Hades sets out to finish what he originally started by enlisting Meg, Pain, and Panic to help him get rid of Hercules for good. They start with Meg bringing Hercules to a canyon, where the two imps are disguised as young boys and “trapped” underneath a boulder, which blocks the entrance of a cave that is the lair of the Hydra monster.

Although she knows that she has lead him into a trap, Meg shows mild impression at Hercules’s vast strength when he lifts up the boulder and “frees” the "boys”. And after Hades praises her for her “leading lady” role in the scheme, she looks down at Hercules and whispers to herself (and indirectly to him), “Get out of there, you big lug, while you still can.” The way she looks here suggests to me that Meg feels a little bit guilty about having lied to Hercules, and is reluctant to see him get hurt, much less killed. I also think that she is starting to realize how innocent Hercules truly is since he’s completely oblivious to the danger waiting for him and hasn’t done anything to deserve being put in this situation.

As Hades watches the subsequent battle between Hercules and the Hydra with pure sadistic glee, Meg also watches, but only with grim feelings. She clutches her throat and stomach in disgust after the Hydra swallows Hercules and belches, then she coldly looks up at Hades after Hercules causes a rock slide that kills the beast, and presumably him at first. However, when Hercules reveals he has survived, Meg smugly smiles at Hades (who is in pure rage), then applauds with all the other Thebans, showing she is, for the first time, truly impressed with Hercules’s selflessness and determination.

Following this victory, Hercules subsequently goes on a winning streak, beating every single monster Hades sends after him, and also achieves fame and glory in Thebes, much to Hades’s complete ire and Meg’s continued impression. With time running out due to the planetary alignment (which will allow Hades to locate and free the Titans for his plot) nearing completion, Hades is more furiously determined than ever to bring his rival down once and for all. The last full day before the alignment occurs, he enlists Meg to woo Hercules and discover Hercules’s weakness. Although she refuses at first, since she doesn’t want to get close to a man again, Meg accepts Hades’s offer when he promises to set her free if she succeeds.

Now although it’s short, there is something about Meg in this moment that I want to share. After Meg says she’s “sworn off man-handling”, Hades reminds her of how handling men has gotten her into her predicament in the first place. He conjures up smoke-like images of Meg, her ex-boyfriend, and the woman for whom he left her, playing them out like a real scene happening, with Meg and her boyfriend in each others’ embrace, the other woman walking by, and the boyfriend running off, after which Meg falls to her knees and starts sobbing. As she watches the images before her, Meg goes from appearing bored to mildly annoyed to finally tormented. Hurt over seeing a visual reminder of her past mistake, Meg wipes away the image of herself and says, “Look, I learned my lesson. Okay?” As she speaks, especially the final word, you can hear how her voice sounds shaky, as if it’s breaking, which is how peoples’ voices often sound right before they burst into tears and cry. So Meg was beginning to break down and it clearly sounded like she was ready to start crying...but then she puts her face in her hand and closes her eyes, attempting to regain her composure.

So why didn’t she cry since Hades clearly upset her? Well, like I said earlier, Meg is closed off and thinks that showing her emotional, vulnerable side will make her look weak. Now she’s not intimidated by Hades, and he actually sounded a little sympathetic to her plight while reminding her of it. But she doesn’t want to give him the satisfaction in thinking that he got to her just now. Meg is under Hades’s control as his prisoner; in a sense, she is a victim two times over in being a slave and being abandoned by the man she loved, which is why she became Hades’s slave in the first place. Meg doesn’t want to paint a bigger picture of herself as his victim by showing her vulnerability and crying right in front of him. So instead, she turns away to collect herself, avoiding Hades’s gaze for the next few seconds.

So having accepted Hades’s offer to be free again, she pays Hercules a visit later that day and convinces him to skip his training and all other events he has booked for the day, and go out with her instead. Going out with Hercules is all part of her assignment, so she can get to know him and closely observe him to discover what his weakness is.

Big Sacrifices

When their date is over and night has fallen, Meg has clearly fallen for Hercules, and he has for her. Now, of course, this complicates things for her since her freedom from Hades remains on the line, but also because she wants to be spared from the emotional pain from which she suffered the last time she fell in love. After her initial reluctance to come to terms with them, Meg realizes that her feelings for Hercules are so strong and deep that she cannot hide the fact that she is truly and very much in love with him. And once she accepts these feelings, she decides that Hercules is more important to her than being free. So immediately after she finishes singing “I Won’t Say I’m in Love”, Hades appears, asking her for Hercules’s weakness. Having confidently made up her mind about Hercules, Meg hotly answers Hades’s question with vehement refusal in helping him anymore. She steadfastly and fiercely chooses to protect Hercules out of her love for him, no longer caring that her freedom from Hades’s enslavement remains at stake. When Meg proudly declares that Hades's plot is doomed since Hercules has no weaknesses, Hades observes her purely intense and close romantic feelings for the hero, and concludes that Meg herself is Hercules’s weakness. So he decides to use her as bait to trick Hercules into giving up his strength for one whole day, granting him the perfect opportunity to succeed in conquering Mount Olympus and the cosmos.

Now this moment is a particularly interesting one regarding Meg’s character. We have seen her be sassy and talk back to Hades before, and I honestly believe that she never carried out his past orders out of fear for her life (pardon the pun! 😆). But I think this is the first time that Meg stands up to Hades with such major defiance. This is displayed with how she stands her ground as she tells him off in a very sharp voice and adamantly refuses to continue aiding him in hurting Hercules. When he blows up at her in response to her defiance, it also appears to be the only time Meg is genuinely terrified of Hades and his ferocious temper (although she does roll her eyes and look at him in annoyance before he explodes). You can see the real terror by her facial expression and body language, with how much she widens her eyes and jumps back while raising her arm up in what looks like a motion of self-defense. Of course, I think Meg is scared of Hades now because he’s furious SPECIFICALLY and ONLY at her. Not to mention, his reaction implies that Meg has finally crossed the line in provoking his rage with her sassy mouth.

Anyway, even though being free from Hades is what Meg originally wanted most in the world, and despite knowing that she will lose it forever if she doesn’t continue to help him, it no longer matters to her. In Hercules, Meg has found true love again, which has given her a new sense of hope and happiness, and something that she finds to be far more important to her than being free.

Unfortunately, neither Meg nor Hercules realize what their love for one another will now cost them when Hades decides to use it against them.

Making it appear that he has kidnapped Meg, Hades successfully tricks Hercules into surrendering his strength in exchange for Meg’s safety. He goes as far as having Meg tied up and gagged so she can’t warn Hercules not to listen to or accept Hades’s offer. Once they shake hands to seal their deal, Hades uses his powers to drain Hercules’s strength, rendering the hero in an extremely weakened state. Hades then further humiliates Hercules by revealing Meg had been working for him the whole time. This includes him showing off Pain and Panic as the boys that Hercules “rescued” earlier and telling Meg herself that he couldn’t have accomplished his mission without her help, as if she was a willing accomplice the whole time she had been deceiving Hercules.

This moment is another one that catches my attention about the development of Meg’s character. When Hades says the second half of the line “I mean, your little chickie-poo here was working for me all the time. Duh!”, and then reveals Pain and Panic’s boy disguises, look carefully at how Meg’s face drops. She is clearly showing total shame, remorse, and devastation over the fact that she had been serving Hades, and was, therefore, lying to, manipulating, and deceiving Hercules the entire time.

Why does Meg show all these feelings? Because she LOVES Hercules, simple as that! It’s crystal clear that falling in love with him has already changed her so much, and for the better!

Now Meg had always known that what Hades had been doing to Hercules was wrong, but since she was his slave because of their old bargain, Meg had to do what he said, no matter what. Plus, her freedom was at stake. When Hades finally offered to let her go if she could find Hercules’s weakness, Meg still wanted her freedom so much that she agreed to the deal. What she didn’t count on while carrying out her assignment was falling in love with Hercules. As they spent time together and got to know each other, he showed her true, genuine kindness, sweetness, honesty, and sincerity. In Hercules, Meg saw all the good things she has rarely or never seen in men before, all the things she never believed any man could ever have. He softened her, healed her broken heart, and gave her the strength to take another chance on love. Meg’s love for Hercules brought her great joy, which she not only thought she would never feel again, but it is more than she has ever felt in her life.

So once she realizes she loves Hercules, and that he loves her in return, Meg decided he was much more important to her than gaining her freedom from Hades.

As expected, after learning the truth about Meg’s deception, Hercules is completely shocked, confused, betrayed, and heartbroken. He pushes Meg away as she tries to explain her actions, but she can’t even find the right words and say a complete sentence to do so, and sorrowfully apologizes to him. Deeply ashamed, guilty, and remorseful for having lied to Hercules, and for being the sole reason for his humiliation and now-weakened state, in her absolute despondence and heartbreak over having hurt the man she loves, Meg FINALLY shows her vulnerable side when she breaks down and begins to cry. (And I must profess, seeing Meg cry over Hades revealing she was part of his ploy and what she realizes she had done to Hercules always broke my heart as a kid. 😔😭) Then Hades finally departs to begin his conquer of Olympus, leaving the grief-stricken couple behind. Hercules has fallen to his knees in his heartbreak and lack of physical strength, and Meg has fallen to her knees in her heartbreak and lack of emotional strength, and continues to sob.

While the Titans go with Hades to invade Olympus, Hades sends the Cyclops to kill Hercules. When it starts terrorizing Thebes, Hercules decides to fight the Cyclops, refusing to heed Meg after she warns him that he’ll be killed without his strength. Not wanting to see Hercules die and determined to right her wrong, since yes, she still loves him, Meg finds and frees Pegasus (after he had been captured and tied up by Pain and Panic), and they set off to find and bring back Phil (who had left after Hercules angrily hit him after refusing to believe that Meg had been lying to him). Admitting that she knows her actions were wrong, Meg convinces Phil to come back when she says Hercules will die without his help. With Phil’s encouragement, Hercules uses his wits to defeat the Cyclops, who falls over a cliff and hits the ground below. The resulting shake of the impact causes a pillar to begin to fall over and head straight for Hercules, and Meg heroically pushes him out of the way.

Now the way Hercules looks at Meg and says, “There are worse things” after she warns him that he’ll die if he tries to fight the Cyclops while weak shows that he is still devastated over her earlier deception. Shortly afterwards, he looks at Meg in a similar manner when he tells Phil that “Dreams are for rookies”, implying that he may even blame her for his present state, even though he does still love her. Noticing his gaze, Meg responds to Hercules by looking at him with pure guilt and remorse. But then when she saves Hercules, and he sees that the pillar has fallen on her instead, all of his anger at Meg disappears and he screams out in horror. Because of her injury, Hades’s deal with Hercules is broken, allowing the latter to regain his strength and lift up the pillar. When Hercules asks why she would do something so dangerous, Meg professes her love for him when she answers, “People always do crazy things when they’re in love.”

Now I had already said this on a gif set of this line, but I want to say it again. Whenever I watched Hercules as a child, Meg telling Hercules that she loves him, then smiling up at him with genuine joy and love always made me smile and melted my heart. But just why does Meg smile while saying this? As my buddy @foreverfrozensolid​ said, it’s because she’s happy to admit to him, and to herself, that she’s in love. Hercules literally gave Meg a reason to live again, just as she’s dying. 😊 And it’s not just that she says people do such crazy things when they love someone that did and still gets to me; it’s that Meg selflessly gave her own life to protect Hercules, even though she knew she would be harmed instead, proving just how much she truly loves and cares about him. The previous night, Meg didn’t want to admit that she was in love, yet she couldn’t helping falling in love with Hercules since he was so different from anyone she has ever known, and everything she thought a man could never be. If they hadn’t fallen in love earlier, perhaps Meg wouldn’t have done what she did, effectively proving not just how much she truly loves Hercules, but how much the love between them has changed her for the better. 😉😊😁❤️

Touched by her equally romantic feelings for him, Hercules promises Meg she will be all right before he goes to stop Hades and the Titans. Unfortunately, Meg’s injuries are so severe that she dies just moments before Hercules returns to her. Determined not to lose her, he goes to the Underworld and strikes a bargain with Hades, exchanging his life for that of Meg. He dives into the River Styx to retrieve Meg’s soul, though the deeper he swims, the more it ages him, until he’s very close to death. Ultimately, Hercules not only succeeds in retrieving Meg’s soul, but his sacrifice to save her grants him the status of a true hero and he regains his immortality. After he revives Meg, he admits that he loves her, too, then he is transported back to Olympus on a cloud, with Meg, Pegasus, and Phil in tow. 

Unfortunately, Hercules becoming a god means that Meg cannot follow him. Although this clearly saddens Meg, unlike her last relationship, she does not feel bitter over it this time. As I’ve said before, falling in love with Hercules helped Meg to regain her faith and trust in people, to see that there are still good people in the world. He gave her the courage to take a chance on love again, giving her true happiness and turning her into a better person. So despite her sadness, Meg still congratulates him on his success and wishes him the best as an amazing god. However, while Hercules admits to his parents that coming back to Olympus was what he always wanted, he realizes that his life is not worth living, even immortally, if he and Meg aren’t together. So he decides to forsake living forever on Olympus to live a complete mortal life on earth with Meg, much to her absolute joy. She opens her mouth and smiles widely, completely elated that Hercules loves her and wants to be with her that much enough give up his godhood, which is what he originally wanted most in the world.

Then at long last, after a gentle, loving hug, the couple officially proclaim their love for each other when they share their first kiss. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

And I must admit, one of the reasons why I loved this kiss was because of how much Meg is shown to be enjoying it. She puts her hand on Hercules’s neck, then she pulls him towards her, which surprises him at first, but he continues to kiss her and hugs her closely as she puts her entire arm around his neck, then lifts up her foot. ❤️😍😊

I Need a Hero

Though she wasn’t really in any danger when they first met, within the movie, Meg DID need saving. Yes, I do mean she needed saving from Hades’s enslavement, and Hercules saved her when he sacrificed his life in exchange for hers, retrieved her soul, and revived her. But I’m referring to another, more important way that Meg needed saving.

When we first meet Meg, she is being harassed by Nessus, but insists she can handle him herself. She is not at all impressed with Hercules’s muscular physique or his efforts to "rescue” her. Sensing his attraction to her afterwards, Meg seduces him with her good looks and sassy attitude, presumably to turn him away so he will lose interest in her. After they go their separate ways, she displays her skepticism of Hercules’s good nature, dismissing him as putting on an “innocent farm boy routine”, and saying “I could see through that in a Peloponnesian minute.”

Now these traits of hers aren’t necessarily bad, but due to the negative repercussions that resulted from her last relationship with a man, Meg thinks very poorly of men and instantly distrusts any new ones she meets. But from what I comprehend, her distrustful feelings aren’t exclusively aimed at men; Meg doesn’t trust ANYBODY at all. The fact that she claims to Hercules that “everybody else is petty and dishonest” and that “sometimes it’s better to be alone because nobody can hurt you” (and how sad she sounds and looks as she says those words) confirms my beliefs.

So because of her traumatic past and current plight as Hades’s slave, Meg isn’t willing to give Hercules a chance in the beginning. She initially views him as just another man whose interest in her is only because of her looks, one that is purely based on the superficial level. (This also may been part of her former relationship, and since then, other men may have shown interest in her simply for these reasons.) She sees him as just another person who would hurt her like all of the other people in her life have done.

And yet, little by little, even when they are not together side by side, Meg warms up to Hercules.

As I said earlier, Meg is mildly impressed with his strength when he “frees” Pain and Panic. And since she appears reluctant to see him get hurt, perhaps she begins to sense that his innocence is real, since he is completely oblivious to the danger into which he is inadvertently putting himself. Then Meg becomes truly impressed with Hercules following his defeat of the Hydra and all of his succeeding heroic feats. While she goes out on a date with him only because Hades promised to set her free if she can discover Hercules’s weakness, by the time the day has ended, Meg and Hercules have clearly fallen for each other.

Meg falls for Hercules’s optimistic view on life, for his genuinely kind, sincere, compassionate, selfless, and innocent nature, and for his big, caring heart. He shows her that there are still good, kind, trustworthy people in the world. She falls for everything about him that she has seldom to never seen in people before. In Hercules, Meg sees all of the positive traits that she didn’t believe any human, much less a man, could ever possess.

Once Meg has relented and accepted her feelings, she fiercely defies Hades, telling him off and refusing to help him any further in destroying Hercules. Out of her love for him, she doesn’t hesitate in choosing to protect him, no longer caring that doing so means that she will never be free from Hades’s imprisonment. And after Hades drains Hercules of his strength, the former reveals that Meg had always been working for him, much to her deep shame, regret, and devastation.

Hercules saves Meg. Not just in a physical sense, but in a mental sense as well. He helps her to regain her faith and trust in humanity, to see the good in people instead of just the bad. He saves her from living the rest of her life alone, with nothing but misery, negativity, and bitterness in her heart. He fixes her long-broken heart, allowing her to find the courage to love again, and fills her up with great happiness, something she clearly hasn’t felt in years. Hercules and Meg’s love for each other changes her for the better. From the moment that she decides to no longer help Hades to when she makes the ultimate sacrifice of saving Hercules from the falling pillar and taking the crushing blow of it herself, that’s when he saves her.

Hercules brings out the best in Meg, and that’s what TRULY saves her.

Conclusion

Whoo, now that was A LOT to say about Meg, more than I originally anticipated! 😁

But as you can see, I have many reasons for loving Meg, whom I consider one of Disney’s coolest, toughest, sassiest, strongest, most badass heroines. Now this may sound obvious at first because I am a woman, but I really do love strong female characters in fiction that break their gender stereotypes and are not at all what we anticipate them to be. And since Meg falls into this category due to her atypicalities, it is definitely one of the strongest reasons why I love her so much. 😊

And I wanted to say something more personal about the moment when Meg rescues Hercules from the pillar. Her selfless sacrifice of giving her own life for his made her a hero; so in fact, she is the one who (indirectly) taught him what it means to be a true hero. Then Hercules reciprocated Meg’s love by retrieving her soul from the Underworld, giving his own life so she would be free, and bringing her back to life. The fact that Hercules and Meg saved each other proves unquestionably just how strong, deep, and true their love is. They are each other’s heroes, and their love has brought out the best in each other. They both give up what they originally wanted most in the world, Meg with her freedom and Hercules with his immortality, because they are more important to one another than anything else.

And to end this character analysis on Meg, I can’t help but show off the kiss again, because it is my most favorite scene from the entire Hercules film. 😊😍❤️

Thank you all for reading this long, but VERY thorough analysis on Meg, one of my most favorite Disney ladies! I hope you loved it, and have a terrific day! 😁😄😉

The differences between Elsa’s reactions to Anna’s engagements.

With Hans, it’s pure shock, confusion, and outright refusal since neither she nor Anna really knows him. But with Kristoff, it’s absolute excitement, anticipation, and utter approval. I have no doubt that by now, Kristoff is the only man Elsa truly likes, trusts completely, and to whom she feels very close. They love each other, too, but their relationship is purely platonic, and akin to that of a brother and sister. 😉

Text description of Elsa’s reactions inspired from this gif set made by @kpfun​. 😉

Even though Olga is the oldest and Helga is the youngest of the Pataki daughters, they constantly act the exact opposite in terms of their ages and maturity, especially when it comes to how they handle certain situations presented to them. As a perfect example, one is how they handle the dangers associated with Lasombra and his henchmen in The Jungle Movie.

In the movie, Olga comes off as very childish, melodramatic, pansified (or wussy), ditzy, pathetic, prissy, weak, and even somewhat cowardly following Arnold and the entire class being taken prisoner. When Lasombra reveals who he really is and announces that the entire class are now his prisoners, Olga stands frozen in place, completely terrified. After they are put in the cell and the door is locked, she wails loudly and hysterically like a baby (which probably annoyed the hell out of Lasombra and his men). Olga panics and throws another lame sobbing fit upon seeing the men leaving the camp to go after Arnold, Gerald, and Helga. She resumes her wimpy crying after she says that the beepers are a one-way form of communication “just like me and Che!” And finally, when her parents and Arnold’s grandparents arrive in San Lorenzo and parachute into Lasombra’s camp, just as the guards break out of the cell, the first thing Olga does is run to her father and wail about how Che was mean to her. Enraged, Bob tackles Che to the ground and chases him around the camp, as if he were a lion trying to catch his prey.

On the contrary, Helga comes off as more independent, clever, sharper, bolder, stronger, braver, and even fearless when faced with danger. When Lasombra announces that the group are now his prisoners, Helga talks back to him, calling him “La Bozo” and fearlessly stating who she is and that she will not let him push her around or tell her what to do. Still showing no fear, Helga continues by defiantly telling Lasombra to open the gate so they can leave, and she is the only one of the group who attempts to walk out. Only after two of the henchmen block her way with machetes does she actually stop and look afraid. However, throughout everything she does for the remainder of the film, Helga never lets fear get in her way. When she escapes the camp with Arnold and Gerald, they wander far out into the jungle only using Arnold’s map to guide them. Then they narrowly escape the dangers of the series of booby traps while trying to locate the Green-Eyes’ city. Helga also crosses the rope bridge even as it begins to come apart, and hangs on for dear life over the cliff with Arnold and Gerald when the remains of the bridge are about to completely fall apart. And finally, Helga (along with the boys) helps Eduardo ward off Lasombra by throwing a backpack over the latter’s head, climbing on to his shoulders, and aggressively punching out his lights, all while the man is holding a poisonous dart!

What strikes me most about the two final scenes I described for both the Pataki sister, which are also featured in the gifs above, is how they each handle the situations before them. I personally thought the way Olga told Bob about Che was very childish and immature. She wailed as if she were a young child tattling to her parents about a bully who had hurt her. It shows me that, even though she is 23, a young adult, Olga has little to no ability to be independent, to do things on her own and fight her own battles; rather, she still counts on her DADDY to fight for her! But on the other hand, her MUCH YOUNGER, 11-year-old sister doesn’t hesitate to stand up for herself, to leap into action and fight her own battles against the bad guys, even when the bad guy is a ruthless, merciless river pirate! When the situation calls for it, Helga doesn’t sit around, waiting to be helped or rescued. If she can fight the villains, she will do it, and she’ll even give them a taste of her fists as she does!

All I have to say about these scenes are, only the strong survive! Helga may still be a child, but I hardly think it’s difficult to see that she is the stronger, braver, more reliant, and more resourceful Pataki sister here! And Olga may be much older, but she seriously lacks many of the capabilities her “baby sister” has been proven to do. Guys, Helga is the sister who is doin’ it for herself, and she does it well!

As a finishing note, I wanted to add that Bob and Miriam aggravate me so much with how think they have such a wonderful, perfect daughter in Olga while they simultaneously grossly underestimate Helga by having no ability to see that she is unquestionably the most amazing Pataki daughter! As described by my dear friend @minervadeannabond, Helga is an absolute kick ass girl, while all Olga does is whine like a spoiled brat!

This analysis is for @minervadeannabond, my best friend, little soul sister, and fellow Hey Arnold! fan, who also suggested the title and the term “pansified” to describe Olga! You are the best, little soul sister! Love you, girl! 😄 ❤️

We know that Cinderella’s stepsisters are pretty much her antitheses in just about every way, from their appearances to their general demeanors. The major contribution to their differences are the ways in which they were raised. Drizella and Anastasia were spoiled, pampered, and lived the easy life, so they have become very selfish, ungrateful, vain, needy, and unkind. On the other hand, after her father died, Cinderella was constantly mocked, abused, bossed around, forced to do all of the work, and pretty much treated like dirt every day. But despite her hard life, Cinderella remained a nice, kind, gentle, caring person.

So while living rough has made Cinderella turn out for the best, living easy has made her stepsisters turn out for the worst.

Anastasia and Drizella act extremely childish and immature many times during the course of the film, and I have said before, this is because they have been excessively spoiled all their lives. I think this supports my belief that they haven’t changed since they were kids. If anything, they are just more childish and more spoiled than they used to be. The girls are unable to do anything for themselves, much less think for themselves, since their mother or Cinderella has always catered to their every whim and desire. Growing up, they always got what their wanted when they wanted it, had things their own ways, and even if anything ever went wrong or not their way, they always took the easy way out by blaming others.

So now, even though they are all grown up, being raised the way they were has caused Drizella and Anastasia to develop extreme feelings of entitlement. They think life will always be easy and things will go their ways all the time. But since they have been raised in only this one way, Drizella and Anastasia would never be able to adapt to the realities of the world, or living any other way. They would have this false concept that they can live life easily for the remainders of their lives.

My point is, Drizella and Anastasia have never experienced the hardships that Cinderella endured in her life. They are so incompetent and unable to do or handle anything of which Cinderella is capable, so they would never be able to deal with any kind of pressure or torment. If either of them were given the chance, it wouldn’t be too long before they reached their breaking points and started throwing tantrums and screaming for their mother or someone else. Additionally, if they faced torment or even something scary or dangerous, I believe that Anastasia and Drizella would behave like cowardly fools. They would cower in fear or just run away because they wouldn’t know what to do.

So from these examples, it’s not to difficult to realize that these two idiots wouldn’t know how to act or do anything if they were in Cinderella’s shoes.

Now that part about shoes was an inside joke right there. Drizella and Anastasia have much larger feet than Cinderella, whose feet are about half their size and quite dainty. The girls’ foot sizes are especially noticeable when the stepsisters try, and fail miserably, to fit Cinderella’s small glass slipper on their big feet.

So as we see from those scenes, Drizella and Anastasia would not be able to put themselves in Cinderella’s shoes, in a literal sense, since their feet are much too large. In a figurative sense, the girls would still not be able to put themselves in Cinderella’s shoes because they have not experienced a difficult life. These two dummies would not know how to handle or do anything Cinderella can do.

In my opinion, not only is the 1950 film Cinderella one of Disney’s greatest animated films, but one of the greatest animated films of all time. It is so beautiful and wonderful that I actually hold contempt and great dislike for the sequels. Part of it stems from the fact that they were made by DisneyToon Studios and not Walt Disney Animation Studios, and so I consider the animation and stories by the former to be inferior. But I have more personal reasons about why I don’t like the sequels than just the differences in the animation.

The two Cinderella sequels were made more than 50 years after the original film was released. By now, all of its cast and crew is deceased, including Walt Disney, and only they could tell audiences what is canonical to the film or not. Due to the year differences between the films, it just makes me wonder how much their filmmakers could keep the characters similar to their original film counterparts. I have a feeling that the people who made the sequels might have made them the way they want them to be. Like it was done that Cinderella had a reconciliation with her stepfamily; in this case, with Anastasia, because it is what the filmmakers wanted to happen.

However, in the original film, neither Drizella nor Anastasia appear to have any redeeming qualities, which makes me believe that the chance of either of them turning good would be very unlikely. I honestly can’t see Drizella or Anastasia ever wanting to make amends with Cinderella after their mistreatment of the latter. This is particularly because they have no concept of the difference between right and wrong or good and bad. Not to mention their mother taught them that what they did to Cinderella was not bad or wrong, so I think that the chances of them changing after behaving badly for years is very slim. And let’s not forget that they have had this lifelong jealousy of Cinderella that I don’t think will ever stop. It’s obvious to me that they would continue to hate Cinderella with a burning passion after the latter married the prince, because she again succeeded at something that they failed to do. On a minor note, since the Tremaines hate Cinderella, they would be glad to have her out of their lives once she got married. But simultaneously, they would still be furious that she, of all women, won the heart of the prince when they couldn’t, and even with Cinderella gone, they no longer have someone to do the housework, boss around, or torment.

In terms of preserving continuity with the original title character, I don’t think the sequels strayed too far because Cinderella is still portrayed to be so good and pure of heart that I don’t think she would hate her stepfamily and be prone to forgiving them if given the chance. If you remember what I have said in the past, Cinderella never acts out with anger and sadness in the original movie because she does not want to stoop to the Tremaines’ level and act just like them. That is just what they WANT her to do! And Cinderella does not want them to think they can take away her dignity and pride, nor will she let herself be their victim.

I got to thinking that if they ever attended the castle for balls or parties, Drizella and Anastasia would still view Cinderella as the girl they loved to torment, not as a princess, even though she would now be legally above them in terms of social class. So if the three Tremaines were ever alone with Cinderella after the latter’s marriage, I think they would treat Cinderella no different than they used to treat her. But if they were in the presence of Cinderella AND the prince, then they all would become afraid and kiss up to her in her presence. But even if they feared her, they wouldn’t be genuinely nice to her, nor do I believe they would ask Cinderella for forgiveness. Hell, I can bet their mother never taught them about forgiveness, either.

I have to admit, given what they did to their stepsister in the original film, I would like to know what it would have been like had Anastasia and Drizella encountered Cinderella again after her wedding. But I don't think the concept with Anastasia redeeming herself is what would happen if WDAS made the film instead of DisneyToon. Like I said earlier, these two dipsticks have no real redeeming qualities, and they have hated Cinderella for almost their entire lives; a hatred I doubt would ever fade, especially and even after Cinderella married the prince. She succeeded once again where they failed completely.

No, in my mind, Drizella and Anastasia would continue to hate Cinderella for years beyond the events of the movie. They are their mother's daughters, and Drizella and Anastasia have no love in their hearts, so they are not worthy of asking for forgiveness and reconciling with their kind, loving stepsister.

In Hey Arnold!, we fans know that Arnold is the idealist while Helga is the realist. These kinds of differences between the two give them just what the other person needs, which is part of why they are a perfect match. At the same time, though, there are times in the show when Arnold is the more practical person and Helga is more optimistic, particularly if it has something to do with their relationship and what their future may hold.

A great example of them switching personalities is when Arnold’s takes Rhonda’s origami test in “Married.” Much like in “Friday the 13th,” this episode shows how realistic Arnold can be because he does not believe in curses or superstitions. So he is not at all convinced that the test will really predict his future wife, most especially after he is paired up with Helga. As can be expected, because he faces teasing and tormenting from her on a daily basis, he is dismayed about this result, and he probably thinks Helga would feel the same way. But on the contrary: Helga, who is hiding and listening in on the whole thing, is overjoyed and convinced that the test is correct. Even though he still doesn't believe in the test, Arnold ends up taking it again and gets Helga. In the end, after he comically takes the test 110 times, Arnold always ends up with Helga. XD This completely dismays and terrifies him, but Helga is well over the moon about it. In one of my favorite moments in the episode, the scene quickly pans back and forth between the two as they prepare for bed while showing them at opposite ends of the spectrum: Arnold says it’s horrible, a nightmare, he’ll never marry Helga. Helga says it’s wonderful, a dream come true, she and Arnold will marry each other.

Another good example which never came about would be an aftermath of “Girl Trouble.” In that episode, Phil tells Arnold that he went through the same thing as a kid, with Gertie constantly teasing him, playing pranks on him, and getting him into trouble. The end of the episode reveals that that Gertie is now Arnold’s own grandmother! In summary, that episode has a hidden message in it, saying that, if Arnold’s grandparents once had the same relationship he and Helga had when they were kids, but still ended up together, then Arnold and Helga will, too.

Moving on, Arnold never learns that the same Gertie who picked on his grandfather is now his own grandmother. If and when he learned the truth, I think his reaction would go two different ways, regarding if he found out before or after Helga confessed. Before Phil tells Arnold his story, he suggests to Arnold that Helga picks on him because she likes him (which made him the first person to make this very suggestion). But Arnold dismisses said possibility as crazy and thinks that Helga just hates him, period. If Phil had told him the truth about Gertie before Helga confessed, I think Arnold might have just brushed it off as a mere coincidence because he wouldn't know the truth about Helga’s feelings for him. In not knowing how Helga really feels, he wouldn't take it as a sign of fate or anything serious.

However, if Arnold learned about his grandparents’ pasts after Helga’s confession, his reaction would probably be somewhat different. Knowing about Helga’s feelings would give him a chance to rethink about his own repressed feelings for her, and he might be more open to the idea of them being in a relationship, particularly since he admitted to Gerald that it wouldn't be so bad if he ever did marry Helga. At the same time, though, because of his practical side, Arnold would also be very confused and freaked out about the whole thing. He would not come to the immediate conclusion that just because his grandparents went through the same thing as kids and still ended up together, that he would take it as a sign of fate, embrace it completely, and make sure that he and Helga have a future together.

Now contrary to Arnold’s potential feelings on the situation, if Helga somehow learned that Arnold’s grandparents were just like the two of them as kids, she would wholeheartedly take it as a sign that she and Arnold will meet the exact same fate. Of course, while Helga does not always seem to believe in superstitions or ghost stories, a big factor in why she believed that Arnold’s marriage test results predicted the truth (and why she would believe that they would end up together just like his grandparents) is solely because she loves Arnold. Despite being mean to him and playing pranks on him, Helga still loves Arnold and wants to be with him. Since the day they met, after he was nice to her, she’s had eyes only for him. She’s never had a crush on any other boy and her feelings never changed over the years. Even though her feelings for him often seem to border along the lines of an unhealthy obsession and possession, Helga truly cares about Arnold. They may still be kids, but her love for him is deep and real.

Whether or not Arnold would believe that he and Helga would end up together, while she would, just because his grandparents were just like them, we fans still consider it foreshadowing. The best part of it all is that Craig Bartlett himself said that Arnold and Helga are meant for each other and will end up together, and that’s all I need to hear to make me very happy. :)

If you remember the appearance of Arnold’s cousin Arnie from “Weird Cousin” and “Arnold Visits Arnie,” you may remember that there are some resemblances between Arnie and Arnold. But at the same time, they still look very different and have completely different personalities. In a sense, Arnie is pretty much the exact opposite, or antithesis, of his cousin.

Here are all of the major differences in their appearances:

As far as different personalities go, Arnie is basically what Arnold would be if the latter gave up on life. Arnie just exists, has very few, odd interests, and is very passive and inactive about doing things that make him happy. On the other hand, Arnold lives, has many interests, and always takes action in order to be happy. Arnie’s unusual hobbies include counting things, collecting lint, reading ingredients labels, and chewing plain-flavored gum. He is also well-known for his gross, phlegmy snort and for speaking in a very low, boring, droning tone of voice.

Arnie is also remembered by fans for being involved in a love parallelogram that includes Arnold as well, in which he likes Lila, Lila loves Arnie, Arnie loves Helga, and Helga loves Arnold. There is never any real explanation provided as to why Lila likes Arnie while the latter likes Helga. If anything, it’s just meant to be pure comedy that Lila falls for Arnold’s exact antithesis when he’s been trying to win her over, then Arnie falls for the very girl who truly loves his better-looking-and-acting cousin.

Then during Arnold’s dream in which he visits Arnie, he meets Arnie’s girlfriend Lulu, who is the exact antithesis of Lila. He also meets Hilda, who is not an actual antithesis of Helga, but is Helga when she is being herself and not in bully mode. The situation with the two boys and two girls creates a mirror image of the real world: Lulu likes Arnold, Arnold loves Hilda, Hilda loves Arnie, and Arnie (supposedly) loves Lulu. (Not much can be said about Arnie's part, since he just accepts both girls by his side and doesn't make any real effort to choose between them.) The overall purpose of Arnold’s dream is to help him realize that Helga is the perfect girl for him while Lila is not.

As a continuation of this analysis, I want to further explain about how I see that Lila is a complete mismatch for Arnold as opposed to Helga.

The way I see it, Lila and Arnold are people who are both so nice and so kind to the point that they might even be considered to be WAY too nice, and that's something about them of which people might take advantage. You have to remember that Lila treats everyone nicely, even those who don't reciprocate it. She is pretty much nothing but nice and sweet, as if she is all sugar and no spice (as said by my dear friend minervadeannabond), and that's part of the defense mechanism she uses.

By being kind and sweet literally all the time, I think Lila’s use of her defense mechanism has gotten to the point of making her very innocent, but also extremely naïve and ignorant. It is so much at this point that she is completely unable to be suspicious or aware of someone if they are trying to set her up for a prank or situation that would harm or humiliate her. (Even in “Ms. Perfect,” Lila seemed to be totally oblivious to the fact that the girls had been trying to set her up before they finally succeeded.) Furthermore, I can tell you that there are people out there who would just LOVE to take advantage of Lila because of her innocence and optimism (such as Wolfgang). She wouldn't be able to see anything bad coming because she only looks for the good in people while possibly simultaneously refusing to dwell on the bad and accept that not all people are good.

Moving on, Arnold and Lila are so much like each other in many ways, including being very positive, confident people. Arnold can be more realistic than Lila sometimes, but he can be ignorant to the point that he cannot always tell if he is being set up for a trick. It is also because he tries so hard to see the good in people that he does not always accept the fact that not everyone has good in them. In other words, Arnold and Lila's highly optimistic view of people (and the world, in Lila's case) can and will get them hurt; they have to understand that not EVERYONE is good or can change.

My overall point is that because Arnold and Lila are just like each other in this particular way, it’s concrete proof that they are not perfect for each other.

Now when it comes to Helga, she uses a defense mechanism of hostility, aggression, and rudeness, so it makes her appear to be all spice and no sugar. However, one benefit that comes from her mechanism, along with the fact that she is a prankster, is that she is much more cunning and clever. She is very sharp and witty, so she is not easily tricked or fooled. Helga is a very good judge of character and can tell if someone is lying or keeping a secret, such as when she realized the truth about Olga’s ex-fiancé Doug. This part of her personality makes Helga a great match for Arnold because she can help him avoid a potentially harmful or embarrassing situation, like when she warned him about Summer. Lila cannot do what Helga can do just because she is too much like Arnold in that way; if they tried to help one another in a bleak situation, they could both just get into trouble rather than get out of it.

If Arnold and Lila became a couple, there would be too much optimism and little realism present. Their strong similarities and few differences prove that few people like this would seldom be compatible with each other. Arnold needs someone realistic, someone who can keep his feet on the ground, be aggressive when necessary, and still simultaneously share facets of his personality while complementing his own differences.

Who else can do that but good old Helga Geraldine Pataki? ;)

Besides The Powerpuff Girls, my other major favorite cartoon is Hey Arnold! In that show, one of the longest, and most infamous, recurring storylines was Arnold’s crush on his friend Lila. This made Lila a target of hatred for Helga, and, not surprisingly, many fans of the ArnoldxHelga pairing.

I am definitely a major ArnoldxHelga shipper, but I do not throw harsh criticisms on Lila for being a rival to Helga. Admittedly, she is not one of my favorite characters, but I wouldn't say that I hate her. In fact, I really believe that Lila is hated for the wrong reasons. I think I can write a few different analyses detailing on what I think are the real problems about hatred towards Lila, and maybe I will. But for now, I wanted to start by explaining what I consider is one of the major reasons, if not the major reason, as to why Lila is not a good match for Arnold.

We fans know that Helga uses a defense mechanism of hostility and aggression in order to protect herself from being emotionally hurt. Lila does the exact same thing, except she uses a defense mechanism of excessive niceness and sweetness. As many of my old internet friends and I have said, Lila sees the world through rose-colored glasses, which means that she has an optimistic view on life and completely ignores the negative things simultaneously. In other words, she is a positive person, but also has an exaggeratedly, unrealistic view of the world.

I think a major problem in Lila using this kind of protection relates to the fact that she is nice and kind to everyone, even to those who don't deserve it. Being nice and sweet all the time makes Lila a very bland, even boring, character. More so, I think it can also make her very naive, ignorant, oblivious, and almost completely unable to suspect when something is wrong, so much so that she wouldn't be able to tell if she was being set up for a prank or a situation that would hurt or humiliate her. It may have never been shown on the show itself, but there would definitely be people out there who would just love to take advantage of Lila’s overly good nature, with Wolfgang being a possible example.

I describe all of this about Lila because it brings to my attention that Arnold can be the same way sometimes. Although he has no illusions that the world is perfect, he can sometimes stretch it with his optimistic and idealistic view of people, to the point that it can get him hurt. I just think that Arnold and Lila are both so kind and nice that they can be too nice as well, and that's something about them of which people can take advantage. Like Lila, Arnold can be naive and ignorant to the point that he cannot tell if he is being set up, such as when Summer deceived him and almost succeeded entirely.

Now with Helga, even though she acts aggressive, hostile, and rude to almost everyone, one good thing that has come from her defense mechanism and constant prank-playing nature is that she is much more clever, witty, and not so easily tricked or fooled. Case in point, she was able to tell that Olga’s former fiancé Doug was a liar and con artist when her entire family fell for his ruse. So while Lila does treat Arnold a lot better than Helga treats him, it doesn't mean that she would be the better girlfriend. Part of what makes Helga a much better match for Arnold is the fact that she can help him avoid a potentially harmful or embarrassing situation. Although she only learned about Summer’s lies because she overheard her talking about her plan, Helga still saved Arnold from further humiliation and heartbreak, had he entered the sandcastle competition with Summer and won. Lila just cannot do what Helga can do because she is too much like Arnold in being so kind, yet ignorant at the same time.

Simultaneously, even though she is rude, aggressive, and pessimistic, Helga is still realistic, because she knows that you're not always going to face positivity in the real world. But Lila just does not want to face her problems or the world for what it is because bad things can and do happen. She would much rather block out and ignore the bad, and view things as being “ever so perfect.” In doing so, Lila may appear optimistic, but she can also become very out of touch with reality.

While it’s obviously not shown on the surface, the truth of the matter is, if Lila and Arnold became a couple, Arnold would eventually become bored with her, primarily due to her being annoyingly repetitive in the things she says and does. And as optimistic as he is, there’s no question that he would also become annoyed with Lila because of her inability to come to terms with reality. Whenever problems come her way, Lila would much rather ignore them and pretend they didn't exist. But Arnold clearly knows that running away from problems don't help, that it’s better to face them and make the best out of them in order to be happy.

This is definitely the major difference between Arnold and Lila in their relationship, and it doesn't make them at all compatible. Arnold needs someone who can share common ground with him and complement his differences with her own. And the only girl who can do that is none other than Helga Pataki!

Among the songs that were deleted from Frozen, "Life's Too Short" was one that had a version recorded with the voices of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel. The song was written during the time when Elsa was going to be the villain, but was replaced with the reprise of "For the First Time in Forever" once "Let It Go" was written. Although I enjoy listening to the song with Bell and Menzel's voices, even when I watch that version, I can see why it wouldn't have tied in very well with the completed film.

The song starts off with Anna and Elsa appearing to agree to make amends and form a new beginning in their relationship since Elsa's secret is finally out. They sing the exact same lines, in that they finally understand and that life is too short for them to not be a part of each others' lives: Anna longs to know Elsa, who, in turn, wants Anna to see who she really is. Elsa even asks Anna if she would like to stay in her palace instead of insisting that she leave. She is also seen holding hands with Anna and touching her shoulder, which is ironic, considering that in the film, Elsa constantly refuses to touch Anna or be touched herself.

However, a major turning point occurs after Elsa learns about Arendelle. The girls shift 180 degrees from how they were previously acting, and what they say and do makes them seem out of character in comparison to their personalities in the final film. Elsa and Anna have a heated argument about each other, even literally turning their backs on one another at one point. Some of the things they say and do include the following:

As a great contrast from how happy, friendly, and open they were to each other at the beginning, the song ends with Anna and Elsa, who are now mad at each other, saying that the other person doesn't know what life has been like for them. Anna begins to run after Elsa when the latter runs deeper into her palace and creates ice obstacles as she does, hoping to turn Anna away. After Anna finds Elsa behind a door, Elsa waves her hand, shooting ice from it, which strikes Anna in the chest.

Based on what the girls do and say when they start to fight, especially how it contradicts a few of their previous lines and what they are like in the final film, "Life's Too Short" would have been very out of place had it been included in the film. In particular, it sounds like it was meant for the movie when Elsa was supposed to be the villain. While the version with Bell and Menzel's voices does sound amazing, rewriting Elsa's character and not including "Life's Too Short" was the right way to go entirely.

request by minervadeannabond

In Frozen, the only song that is sung by both Elsa and Anna is "For the First Time in Forever," along with its reprise. Both versions show the major personality differences between the two sisters, including their vocal tones when they sing, the lyrics they each sing, and their actions. Also, in both versions, whenever the two sisters sing at the same time, one voice sounds stronger than the other. This is meant to show that one version is more about one sister over the other.

Original

The first version is performed on the morning of Elsa's coronation. Once Anna wakes up and is reminded about the day, she quickly gets dressed and wanders around different parts of the castle during the song. Her first words refer to the film's theme of doors, with "The window is open! So's that door! I didn't know they did that anymore!" While she sings in a fast, upbeat tone and dances and leaps around the castle, Anna expresses her happiness, excitement, and optimism at this new change, since the castle gates will open for the first time in years and she will get to meet lots of new people. She is especially hopeful that she will meet a man and fall in love with him.

While Anna sings the majority of the song, Elsa has a few lines of her own. In stark contrast to her sister, Elsa sings in a much slower and calmer tone. She is still very much consumed by fear due to a chance of her powers being exposed since she will be around so many people. She worries about how they might react if they discover her secret.

The only lines both girls sing throughout the song is "It's only for today, it's agony to wait." But while they sing the very same words, the words provide two individual, different meanings. Since the gates will only be opened for this one day, Anna is just enthusiastic that they will be at all, and she can't wait for everything to begin. But Elsa is relieved that they will be open just for one day, because she hopes nothing will happen that could reveal her powers, and she is eager for when it all ends and the gates are closed again. 

When the guards open up the gates at last, Anna happily runs outside and scurries by everyone. At the same time, inside the castle, Elsa opens the doors to the library (where she has been staying until now), then walks slowly and gracefully down the hall and to the window to look outside. Anna skips into the town square as she sings about her chance of finding true love, while Elsa steps out onto the balcony and repeats her father's words of "Conceal, don't feel."

While during this moment that the two sing simultaneously, Anna’s voice is the one that is stronger and more audible, which makes Elsa's voice sound softer and more silent. It ties in to the fact that the song revolves more around Anna’s happy feelings during this summer day, bringing out her summer-like, cheerful, and fun demeanor. She continues to act all happy-go-lucky even when the song abruptly ends due to her running into Hans's horse.

Reprise

The reprise is sung at Elsa's ice palace after Elsa asks Anna to leave, insisting that she's only trying to protect Anna from her magic. But Anna follows her, singing that she's not afraid and just wants to help since she finally understands why Elsa did what she did. Like the original version, Anna sings the first lyrics and refers to doors: "Please don't shut me out again! Please don't slam the door! You don't have to keep your distance anymore." And even though she happy to see Anna, Elsa just wants to be left alone since she is free and able to be herself without harming anyone, believing that Arendelle and Anna are better off without her.

When Anna reveals to Elsa that she has caused an eternal winter in Arendelle and everywhere else she has been, Elsa, who clearly did not know, is in shock. Anna insists (and even persists) that Elsa can unfreeze it, but Elsa says that she doesn't know how. When they start to sing again, their differences are shown just like in the full version of the song.

Anna sings optimistically, confident that she and Elsa can work this out and end the winter. But having been gloomy about her powers since the day she hit Anna as a child, Elsa grows fearful and guilty once more, so she sings pessimistically, lamenting over how she feels she can never be truly free with her abilities.

Now this time around, when the two sing, it is Elsa who sings with the more audible voice, which makes Anna's voice less audible. The reprise of this song is now about Elsa and her depressed feelings. Her growing nervousness and agitation is not only represented by the winter she caused, but by the snow flurry that forms and intensifies in the room while she sings.

While they sing together, Anna continues to spur Elsa because they act the complete opposite about the situation. Finally, Elsa loses it and abruptly ends the song by yelling, "I CAN'T!" With a combination of negative emotions, from fear to anger, Elsa's outburst makes her lose control and send dangerous ice flying from her body to all around the room. When some of this ice hits Anna in the chest, the ending music plays the melody to the last verse of "Frozen Heart." This is because it was a foreshadowing of when Elsa strikes Anna in the heart.

While Kathryn Beaumont was one actor who voiced two heroines in two different Disney films, Eleanor Audley was another actress who did the same thing, only in her case, it was two different villains: Lady Tremaine, the main antagonist of Cinderella, and Maleficent, the main antagonist of Sleeping Beauty. In fact, it was because of her chilling vocal performance as Lady Tremaine that Audley was chosen to play Maleficent, since Disney wanted a powerful voice for someone as evil as Maleficent. And like Beaumont, Audley was the physical model for her characters, too.

Besides being the main antagonists in their respective films and ones to have the same voice actress (they are probably the only main Disney villains who do), Lady Tremaine and Maleficent have a few other things in common:

And then the two villains have some significant differences:

After having already written a couple of posts about Hans, I can say with so much certainty that he really is unlike any Disney villain I have ever seen. From the moment he first appears onscreen, he is believed to be the heroic prince of the story. He is not set up to be the villain from the very beginning, unlike other Disney villains, and part of his deception includes how he does not have a sinister appearance at all.

Another trait about Hans that differs some from other Disney villains is the characters with whom he interacts. While he interacts with some minor characters, he conceals his true nature and never flat-out reveals his secret to anyone except the person who is the pawn in his plan: Anna. Even though he speaks to Elsa a few times, Anna is the only major character with whom he interacts the most. He never interacts with the other major characters, which includes Olaf, Sven, and Kristoff. At the same time, it is even more interesting because, once we learn about these characters, we see that Hans is essentially the complete opposite of all of them.