We saw Frozen 2. Some observations about decisions that were too tactical. SPOILERS
For the most part, if you like the original Frozen then you must see Frozen 2. I would not try to dissuade you. I just thought the music was less inspired. In that regard, Olaf had the song that best resonated. It was about knowing everything once he got older.
Also, cute twists with the concept that water has memory.
Okay. Here's the thing that soured on me. Elsa is depicted as an idyllic blonde, blue eyed nymph-like character -- which was okay, at first, because it is a story of the North. But Frozen 2 is about her origin story and there are leaps of faith. First of all, both girls are children of the same parents. The father is a dirty blonde man in youth, but brown haired in mature life. The mother -- and here's the spoiler -- is from an indigenous race that lives in the Northern region. All the indigenous people have that eskimoish-indian appearance of high cheekbones and a pale yellow skin-color. But Elsa's mother looks NOTHING like them. She looks more Caucasian like the father, so you never see this twist coming.
And then, to further confuse the gene pool connections, we come to find out that Elsa is a divine element in nature, which might explain why she is so radiantly beautiful. But Disney's depiction of divine beauty is the traditional one. Blonde, blue eyed and a voice that raises above human timbers. Okay, I'll go along, because it is a Northern story.
But then, Disney really confused me with the addition of Lieutenant Mattias, who is a black man. I would have to watch Frozen 2 again to confirm it, but I think he is the only black person in the entire town. What? Is this some attempt to ease white guilt?
As I grow older the one thing that really pisses me off is how many of us were treated as tokens in predominantly white environments. We were included as a tactical show of support in communities where our numbers would never really create problems for the dominant culture. The only real requirement was to show up for the group photo shoot.
Once, I was talking to friends, one who was black and one who was white, and the photographer snapped our photo. I wasn't sure what they were going to do with that picture, but I was surprised when it was one of two photos that was used to promote the event. They never acquired approval from any of us.
So Lieutenant Mattias bothers me. For the time frame it would have been alright if Disney had limited a very Northern story to an Anglo town and an indigenous population. But to include a black man is puzzling, since it could only be an attempt at PC. Now I feel like we need Lieutenant Mattias' backstory.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Like I said, it would have been fine if they had kept to the indigenous culture and the fictional town of Arendelle.
Sámi people. ... The Sámi people (also spelled Sami or Saami) are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway and Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Kola Peninsula within the Murmansk Oblast of Russia.
This is how the Sami are depicted in Frozen 2:
If you do find any other black people in the movie, let me know.
