Frozen Is Cool! Elsa the Snow Queen Rules!

I read your analysis on how Lady Tremaine only cared about improving her social status and it made me wonder how things would be like if either Drizella or Anastasia becomes Prince Charming’s wife. Let’s face it: the Tremaine girls are awkward, vain, selfish, spoiled & on top of it all, lazy. And considering the kind of people they are, it seems so likely that when their mother told/ordered them to study in order to master a skill (or to polish them in Lady Tremaine’s view), they did it out of reluctance. So once their mother is satisfied, they would just completely forget what they learn. Like when we were in elementary/middle/high school and we have to study for upcoming exam(s) (especially if the subject(s) was/were our least favorite), we would just study said subject(s) for the purpose of passing the exam(s) only. Once we pass, we completely forgot it, because for us, those aren’t important. But if we love the subject(s)-and passionate about it/them, we would learn over and over again, at every chance we got, even if there were no upcoming exams. Now it’s hard to say about both Drizella & Anastasia regarding the example I stated above, since they’re not the main focus. And it’s unknown whether they have any hobbies/interests, since it was never spoken of. But I have a feeling that they don’t have any, due to their upbringing, being extremely spoiled & pampered by their mother. Meaning they lack common skills, which would be disastrous in the future. If we keep on practicing our hobbies, it could develop into skills, which would be useful & necessary in the future when we’re searching for jobs/interacting with other people. Given the time period the film is set, it’s likely that the Queen wouldn’t have to worry about things the King always deal with, like taxes/economics, politics, geography, history, philosophy, diplomacy, etc. It’s possible that the Queen lives the life of leisure: making appearances, attending balls/parties, socializing, sumptuous foods, music/poetry/art, etc. But what if the King has an unexpected thing outside the kingdom that he must take care of? The Queen must take temporary responsibility of the kingdom of course. And here’s where skills are highly needed. Say the King retires so he can rest. His son Prince Charming becomes King Charming and either Drizella or Anastasia becomes Queen. But then King Charming has an urgent business and he’s required to leave his kingdom. So he left his wife in charge until his return. And here’s where things started to go downhill. Knowing what kind of people the Tremaine girls are, we can be certain that when people came to them, telling their problems, the Tremaines would just ignored them. And if they insisted to be heard (especially if they’re really in desperate need of help), the Tremaines would completely dismissed them, and worse, calling the guards to kick them out. And then they realize how terrible their new queen is. They told their horrible experience to other people. Other people who had experienced the same thing would confirmed it. Words began to spread through the people that their new queen is untrustworthy. And when King Charming returns, his people began to demand him to find a new queen. When Lady Tremaine hears about it, she would realize that her royal status as King Charming’s mother-in-law could be in danger of plummeting to the bottom. Oh the horror… On a different scenario, still related to the Tremaine girls’ lack of skills, I wonder what would happen to them if Lady Tremaine died. They would have no one to support them. I read your analysis on how they’re completely dependant on their mother, and it makes sense. Say Lady Tremaine dies, both Drizella and Anastasia no longer have someone to rely on. And because they have no skills, they just rely on the leftover fortune, which eventually would ran out & the girls had no choice but to sell the chateau & everything in it. And eventually, they would ended up becoming beggars on the streets. This is all because they don’t know how to spend money wisely.

I absolutely agree! If there is a good synonym for lazy, it would be a better description of Anastasia and Drizella. And yes, I don’t believe the girls have any hobbies except for bossing Cinderella around because we never see them do any skills that they would improve over time. They just don’t know how to take care of themselves, think for themselves, or really do anything at all! They have no sense of independence because only Cinderella or their mother has done everything for them growing up, further adding to their extreme laziness.

You make a really excellent point at how poorly Drizella or Anastasia would do as a queen and taking care of the kingdom if they had to do it. I think they only think that being the queen means that they will always look good, can do whatever they want and go wherever they please, order people around for their own amusement, and only do leisurely, fun things that involve no work whatsoever. But the girls never had any real responsibilities of taking care of others and listening to problems and concerns. So not only would they not know at all of what to do in such times, but the worst part of it is that the Anastasia/Drizella would not care, and this is because they’ve never cared about anyone except themselves! 

Being a princess or a queen doesn’t mean having an image of being wealthy, bossing others around, and doing whatever you want. It’s a commitment that involves being responsible for the kingdom and everyone in it. A good princess/queen is fair and kind, and that’s what makes people love her. But Drizella and Anastasia show none of that, so they would do to people exactly what they did to Cinderella and worse, and those people would hate them for it. So yes, the more people to whom they were mean or ignored, the more they would tell more people, making their words absolutely honest, and then complain to the prince and his father about how awful they are. And everything would eventually come to it being their mother’s fault due to her being a poor influence on them and not a better enough teacher to educate them on being royalty.

In fact, even though it’s never portrayed in the film, if Drizella and Anastasia were faced with such big or scary challenges, completely unlike Cinderella, I think they would just act like cowardly fools. See, since their lives have always been easy, the girls have never dealt with pressure or stress like their stepsister. So if the opportunity ever came, they just would not know what to do because they’ve never experienced it before. In fact, Lady Tremaine thought she was helping her daughters by having everything done for them all their lives, but the truth is, she was helping Cinderella, not them. This is because they sorely lack independence and skills, have never done any sort of work, and have no ability to spend money wisely. Besides my headcanon that they are almost broke, I think Lady Tremaine was also demanding that one of her daughters marry the prince so that they would have someone wealthy to take care of them when she finally dies.

The Tremaine girls are definitely heading for trouble regarding their future, but Cinderella has the happy ending she completely deserved. It’s even because of her upbringing that Cinderella will be a wonderful queen who will be loved by all. She’s far greater at everything than her stepsisters will ever be, and more!

This is a long ask, so I put it in the “Submit” part.

Ok, so we all know that Cinderella had been reduced into a servant by her stepfamily. And when I read both your & Alan’s analyses on how Cinderella has no human friends, it got me thinking, “What about acquaintances?”

Here’s the thing: since the Tremaines had turn their only stepfamily member into their servant, I’m certain there were moments where they ordered Cinderella to go outside (town/market) to do errands for them, be it buying them things they demanded or buying ingredients to make something they demanded. And I’m certain they ordered her to go outside more than once (not on a daily basis of course).

Now, the scene where Cinderella gave corns to the animals for breakfast, one of those animals were a flock of hens (and a duck). So that means Cinderella has her own source to acquire eggs. But what about other ingredients? Like flour? Or salt/pepper/sugar/spices? Or milk? Butter? Potatoes? Cheese? Meat? Fruits? Vegetables?And many other ingredients that can be used to cook/bake. She doesn’t have the source for those, since the chateau doesn’t seem to have any crops that can grow wheat & veggies and/or any farm animals (like cows and/or goats that can produce milk). There’s also no trees that bear fruits. Therefore, the only way she could acquire them is none other than to buy them.

And since Cinderella is described as “gentle & kind”, I don’t think she had the heart to butcher the chickens that she owned. I think she would just go to the market & buy chicken meat instead.

Back to the first part, since the Tremaines ordered Cinderella to go to the market several times, though not everyday, I’m sure some of the shopkeepers eventually got to know about Cinderella & eventually became her acquaintances. And then there’s the possibility of them knowing about the Tremaines, since the Tremaines seem to be the only people of high class who aren’t royalty, while the rest of the town seems to be of middle and/or lower class. This clearly made them stand-out among the town people.

Now, how do I got this conclusion? Simple, I’m sure there are moments where the Tremaines were bored in the chateau, so they go outside (either told Cinderella to stay in the chateau & finish her chores or they brought Cinderella along just so they have someone to carry their expensive purchases).

Another thing is the people who used to work at the chateau when Cinderella’s father was still alive (before the Tremaines came & took over). I read your analysis on how Cinderella is a riches-to-rags-to-riches story & how the narrator described Cinderella’s former life (“every luxury and comfort”), my guess is that since Cinderella was taught to be kind & gentle, I’m sure she treated her (former) servants very well. Though this is absent in the 1950 animated film, it’s shown in the 2015 live-action version. Some of the servants even exchanged hugs with Cinderella after Lady Tremaine fired them, before they left the chateau permanently. This shows that Cinderella didn’t see her (former) servants as slaves. Rather, she sees them as fellow human beings & treated them on an equal level. But since they were not really close with Cinderella like her parents were, they can’t be considered as friends, though I’m sure Cinderella did consider them as friends (or even as part of the family).

That’s all I know, so I finish it here.

Yes, I have been thinking about that, with how part of Cinderella’s chores would have included going out into the market to buy food, clothes, and other needed items, more for her stepfamily than herself. And if they ever had guests at the chateau or had to go out with them, maybe there were acquaintances who noticed or thought that Cinderella might be abused by the Tremaines. Although I kind of wonder if Lady Tremaine did her best to keep a straight face in public, unlike her daughters. Notice how she does that with the Duke, but when only Cinderella is there, she shows nothing but harsh words and mental cruelty.

Now it’s hard to say since that’s not the focus of the film, but in that time, I have a hunch that no one maybe said anything because a lot of people would mostly mind their own business and didn’t want to get involved. People in the outside world who may have noticed this about Cinderella and the Tremaines probably didn’t want to believe that this could happen and that people can be so cruel to others, especially based on different social classes. Others may have been too afraid to do something, didn’t know what to do, or at worst, maybe they just didn’t care.

Another possibility is that Cinderella never told anyone because she was afraid that she could just get into more trouble. She has no human witnesses to back up her claims, of which Lady Tremaine would make sure didn’t happen if other people were around. Not to mention the Tremaines would just deny everything if other people and even the police or authorities were told by Cinderella. I guess as long as there was no actual physical abuse, they might not even take her abuse so seriously.