Frozen Is Cool! Elsa the Snow Queen Rules!

😄 😭 😠 😨 😝 Elsa and her Inside Out emotions throughout Frozen II. 😝 😨 😠 😭 😄

Companion to this set of Elsa’s emotions from all three preceding films.

😄 😭 😠 😨 😝 Elsa and her Inside Out emotions throughout all three Frozen films. 😝 😨 😠 😭 😄

Partially inspired by this similar gif set by @briannathestrange and this one by @arendellekingdom.

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.

Okay, maybe this seems obvious to people by now, but I still want to share my honest opinion: in this scene, Elsa wants to tell Anna about her magic.

The fact of the matter here is that Elsa is dismayed and frustrated that Anna has made an impulsive and not-so-smart decision to marry a man she doesn't even know. Due to her experiencing these feelings, Elsa knows that she could still accidentally release her magic in a dangerous way, even though her body is almost completely covered. She is also worried that if they discuss this in front of people, their conversation could get out of hand, and Elsa does not want to attract unwanted attention. Lastly, since Anna and Hans's engagement is a very big deal, but more so because this one isn't a good idea, Elsa believes this, and she does not want people to overhear what they have to say about a matter that she thinks is very private and serious.

And if Elsa could talk to Anna alone, she would reveal her secret for a couple of reasons. One, Elsa is probably starting to realize that she truly can't keep her powers a secret forever, especially from Anna. Two, Elsa's magic is unleashed by her emotions, and she thinks that Anna has to see just what good and bad could come from it, depending on what Elsa is feeling. And third would be that Anna needs to know about Elsa's powers because it is why they were separated for so long. Part of why Elsa has avoided Anna is because when Anna is upset with Elsa, she can get very stubborn and persistent. In doing so, she spurs Elsa's emotions, which can cause a bad situation to worsen and leave Elsa unable to control her magic.

But since Anna refuses any private conversation, despite her still-growing frustration, Elsa is left with no other choice: she flatly and somewhat coldly tells Anna that she can't marry Hans because they just met.

So then from there, everything that Elsa had feared would happen happens: Anna argues with her and insults her, pulls off Elsa's glove, and persistently badgers her about shutting her (Anna) out, culminating in Elsa trying to silence her, but accidentally exposing her magic (from her bare hand) to everyone in the room.

As a queen, Elsa acts like a typical one by being calm, reserved, and regal, with great experience in grace and poise. She is most iconic in being the Snow Queen, and with her magical abilities, Elsa can conjure up various things from snow flurries to blizzards. Most of her powers are unleashed from her hands, and their appearances are represented by her emotions. If she's happy and at peace, her powers are under her complete control and can create beautiful work. This especially shown in "Let It Go," when she creates her ice castle, a staircase for entrance, Olaf, and her signature ice gown. These examples make it seem as if Elsa can create whatever she wants with her powers and how they appear is done through her imagination, including how her movement of her hands manages to create the appearance of the ice palace. The only apparent way to conceal her powers is by wearing gloves on her hands and even covering her entire body with clothes, since they appear to keep her magic from forming snow or ice on other objects whenever she touches them.

But if Elsa is stressed, nervous, or fearful, her powers lose control, take on menacing appearances, and cause great harm to those around her. When she mourns the deaths of her loved ones, all the snow particles in the air stand still as if time has stopped (such as when she is alone in her room after her parents' funeral and out in the fjord when she believes that she had killed Anna with her magic). Since the night Elsa's magic nearly killed Anna, Elsa lived in fear for a great amount of her life, worrying that she will never be able to completely control her powers. As a result, Elsa became very pessimistic and desired isolation from everyone she cared about, including Anna, out of fear that she could hurt them. She also chose to keep things to herself rather than communicate with them, most especially with Anna.

Despite her fear, Elsa is shown to be a very caring and selfless person who cares about the well-being of others, particularly her family, and sees her kingdom as more than just a position, as she was evidently frightened when she realizes that she had created a winter over her kingdom when she had tried so desperately to avoid them from her danger. Yet the influence of Elsa's magic is dominant and constantly causes her fear and uncertainty to completely overwhelm her. This shows that she does not like to confront things she has caused, for she has always believed that she can only create winter, not remove it, and thinks that just running away from her problems is the best solution.

These emotions make Elsa sensitive towards other people and their well-being, always feeling that she had to be far away from people as much as possible in order to keep them safe. As such, she felt that she could not truly rule a kingdom due to this flaw. This would also be a direct cause to her interaction with Anna being cut, as she especially could not control her abilities due to the powerful emotions she would experience when Anna was around to provoke them. 

At the same time, Elsa loves Anna dearly and never stopped loving her during the years they were separated. Initially, though, her desire to keep Anna safe appears to be her downfall as well, since she constantly pushes Anna away and is very uncommunicative towards her, which only makes Anna more upset every time Elsa does this. Although she feels responsible for the chaos she has caused, the bond Elsa shares with Anna is stronger than she knows, as if the feeling itself is her reminder that she is not truly alone when there is someone else who cares for her as well. With love, the thought allows Elsa to have a stronger control over her abilities in order to save those she cares about. From this, Elsa confronts her fear, and learns how to use her powers for good instead of bad or imbalance, and in doing so, she gains the will to control it.

While Elsa had originally thought she could not undo the frosty effects she creates, it is revealed that that she is capable of removing such curses through her love for others, since it is (in this case, quite literally) the warmest emotion of all. It was because of Anna's sacrifice that Elsa was able to remove the winter, and that especially helped to prove how love, even love between family members, truly does conquer all.

Many past Disney animated movies have used color personification to differentiate evil and good, where red symbolizes evil and blue represents good. Such an example is Beauty and the Beast: Belle and the Beast both wear blue, while Gaston wears red. This color personification appeared again in Frozen, although rather than characters, they were used to represent Elsa's emotions.

In Frozen, "Let It Go" is the song that really has a lot of interpretations besides those in "Frozen Heart."

After Elsa accidentally reveals her powers, she runs away from Arendelle and continues to run until she comes to the North Mountain, where she sings the song "Let It Go." As she begins, she expresses her guilt over everything that just happened, and repeats some of her older lines, such as "Don't let them in, don't let them see," "Be the good girl you always have to be," and especially "Conceal, don't feel." However, Elsa also comes to realize that she is now alone and free for really the first time in her life, away from people whom she believes she will only harm with her abilities. With this in mind, she begins to feel happy and releases her magic how she wants. Now that her secret is out, she no longer has to hide it, and since she is far away from people, she does not care what they will say or think of her (or so she says).

As Elsa begins to release her magic, she is briefly seen recreating Olaf. It is an expression of how hard her isolation from Anna was on her (Elsa). Building the snowman that Anna asked her to do many times over the years is the first voluntary act she performs with her powers (as soon she decides to "let it go"). As Elsa creates Olaf, she sings, “Can't hold it back anymore,” which reveals how much she really wanted to do this with Anna whenever she was asked. She creates him during a moment of relief, self-empowerment, and newfound freedom, and also out of the cheerful memories of being with Anna before the accident. These, and the sheer intensity of her long-held desire, are likely the reasons why Olaf was brought to life. If so, Elsa's later surprise when she discovers Olaf is alive may indicate that she never even admitted to herself how just badly she wanted to rekindle her friendship with Anna. Additionally, he represents what she is capable of doing with her powers when she’s not letting her fear and insecurities take over her.

Every time Elsa sings "Let it go," she is not only singing about releasing her powers after years of repression, but about her own happiness. The more Elsa sings, the happier she becomes, since she can finally be herself, so she fully embraces her powers and uses them to create beauty and wonder. This is shown especially when she creates her magnificent palace made entirely out of ice, and her beautiful, sparkling, crystal blue gown with matching shoes and transparent blue cape. The beauty and size Elsa creates both in and of her new palace clearly represents the happiness and freedom that she has been suppressing for many years, which seemingly causes her fears to vanish. This is also shown with the appearance of her dress. But even more so, Elsa's feelings and emotions correspond to the way her magic appears, and it also seems that she can make her magic the way she wants it to appear if she uses her imagination and puts her mind right to it.

Since she is finally free, Elsa also discards the three accessories she wore during her coronation because she views them as restraints: her glove, which holds back her magic; her cape, which is purple (the traditional color of royalty) and represents her responsibility and authority over others as the queen; and her tiara, which represents her queenly title. She also pulls down her hair from a tied-up bun to one loose braid, showing that she wants to wear her hair this way. Even more so, Elsa's transformation to her signature dress very much reminds me of the transformation in Cinderella, when her torn dress is transformed into her beautiful ball gown. That particular moment is what I consider one of the most beautiful and coolest (pun intended! XD) sequences in the entire movie.

Finally, during and after completing the creations of her castle and dress, Elsa rejects her fate as the queen of Arendelle for her own freedom. This is shown when she tosses away her tiara, which is her last restraint item. As the sun rises in the sky (it was still night when Elsa came to the mountain), Elsa walks out to the balcony and sings, "Here I stand in the light of day." This refers to the fact that she is emerging from darkness (referring to her past repression) and stepping out into the light (referring to how she is starting her new life by being her true self). Once Elsa finishes singing, she magically slams her balcony doors and goes back inside the palace. With this new beginning of her life, she is determined to put the past behind her (another example of her "letting it go" XD), remain in her palace, and never return to Arendelle, no matter what.

As a note, today is my birthday, so this is a gift to myself, since I love Frozen! :D