If you HAVE seen it, you know why I'm writing about this. From the depths of the Dark One's vault of magic too dark or unpredictable even for him, comes a young woman who removes her gloves and summons a blast of icy magic. Never ones for subtlety, Once Upon a Time tweeted this the same day:
Let's cut to the chase here. I know that they clearly just brought Elsa, Snow Queen of Arendelle, to Storybrooke. But I'm going to be stubborn and refuse to accept that as fact until I hear her name uttered on screen. Here's why: Once Upon a Time has been a show that has taken classic fairy tales and created their own interpretation of them. While they have used characters that Disney created (such as Grumpy and the rest of the dwarves, Malificent, Ursula, Jimminy Cricket, etc.) their formula has still basically been reimagining and combining the classic fairy tales we've grown up with. But Frozen does NOT fit this category; Frozen's story and characters did not exist until last November, no matter how inspired by Hans Christian Andersen they were. Now, if they were doing the Snow Queen, I'd be all for that. And there's still technically (if not realistically) a chance that our blonde woman sporting a long, over-the-shoulder braid and blue dress/cape combination will be "the Snow Queen," and not "Elsa, the Snow Queen."
But even as I type that, I realize how ridiculous it is. That hashtag literally says "Frozen," as in the proper noun, as in the movie millions have fallen in love with over the last few months. There's no way this Snow Queen will be associated with young, unassuming children named Kai and Gerda, as apposed to her younger sister, Princess Anna. There's no way the name "Elsa" won't be a part of the teaser trailers for Season Four. Even if I'm not going to accept it until I see it, I'm still going to prepare myself for what it will all mean.
First thing that it will mean: they had better find a good actress for her. This may be wrong, but I'm very particular about if I feel like the person they have portraying a character "fits the part," in appearance as well as acting style. This is especially true if it's a character I care about. If they choose someone who I feel isn't quite right for Elsa, I'll just be annoyed every time I see her. But if you wonder about the casting for Elsa, you also have to wonder about how Anna and the other characters will be involved in all of this, and how that casting will be handled.
Secondly, while I'm going to spend the rest of this post talking about what this all means for Frozen, I have to remember that this is still Once Upon a Time. Emma and her family are still going to be the main characters. We still have Regina's (who you just have to feel terrible for) romantic life to sort out, and Rumplestiltskin (who I'm currently furious at) will keep up to his tricks. Again, you have to assume to he and Elsa have some kind of history, if Elsa was found in his vault, which will be interesting to explore. But anyway, how prominently Elsa and the rest of the Arendellians will be featured is still yet to be seen. However, consider the last two times they teased the arrival of a new character at a finale: both Peter Pan and the Wicked Witch of the West became very crucial to the plot of the show. Granted, they were both unrepentant enemies, and they were killed off as soon as their story was over. I'd like to think that wouldn't dare hurt Elsa, but we know what these people are capable of. But even if she isn't killed off, she could be in the same situation where she's really important for a dozen or so episodes, and then she leaves the show entirely, hopefully to go live in peace with her family back in Arendelle. OR, she could become a Captian Hook, and slowly gain even more prominence on the show as time goes on, staying on as a main character. That possibility is much less likely in my mind, but if this is going to happen anyway, all I can do is hope that they do it right. And if they DO do it correctly, then I wouldn't necessarily mind her sticking around Storybrooke. I think worst case scenario is doing what they did with Ariel, and making a big deal about her joining the show and then only giving her a handful of episodes. But either way, this isn't becoming a show about Elsa by any means. Her role will still be secondary to the rest of the characters we've been dealing with for three seasons now.
But speaking of, what educated guesses can we make about her role in the show? Well her rather unflattering entrance and ominous music seems to imply a villainous tone. Now, Elsa from the movie is not a villain, but she does have a dark side, and that dark side gets a lot of people in a lot of trouble. I've read a bit about what the Once creators were saying about Elsa, and they thought that her qualities were similar to some of the villains they've created, especially Regina and Rumple. The difference of course being that Elsa was never really cruel towards the people she hurt, it was always a misunderstanding or mistake, with the possible exception of the Duke's guards, and even then it's hard to blame her because where self-defense ends and vengeance begins can be very tricky to see, especially in the moment. But anyway, I digress. The fact that Elsa was locked away in Rumpelstiltskin's vault in the first place implies that she's had an interesting past up to this point, and where she falls on the villain/hero spectrum will be interesting to see.
Although, this brings up one of the most important topics- how closely will this relate to the story told in the movie? Will they recreate Elsa's history, or take the story basically as it was told and then weave their own world into it from there? I certainly hope it's the former, both because I feel that recreating histories in a new light is this show's strong suit, and I want to keep a comfortable distance between their version of Elsa's story, and the original. See, this is why my initial reaction to the news was negative. Almost all the fairy tales they've pulled from so far are centuries old, and a lot of different retellings and interpretations have been done about them in that time, giving a lot of precedent for the kind of adaptation this series has taken to heart. But Frozen is barely half a year old- it has been told exactly ONE way. And again, by almost any definition, it's not a fairy tale. This is entirely new territory for the show, and when you're experimenting with a topic that's loved by many a fan, you really have to tread lightly. There's a good chance that this could end up being a huge mistake, which will reflect badly on both Frozen and Once Upon a Time. I mean, can you even imagine a live-action version of Olaf, Sven, or the Trolls going over well? And by the way, I really, REALLY hope they don't try to pull any of the music in, in any form.
Now given the very hesitant reaction I've expressed so far, you may be thinking "Yeah, but Jeff, you love Once Upon a Time AND Frozen! How are you not excited about them coming together?!" First, let me make something clear: if someone asked me which one I would choose if I could only have one, OUaT would be out the door before they could dot their question mark. It's an enjoyable and creative television show, no doubt, but it's nothing compared to the emotional resonance I've felt with Frozen. My next post about Frozen (which is coming eventually, I promise) will explore that more. But anyway, I bring that up because the worst thing you can do with such a masterpiece as Frozen is exploit it. I know that sounds silly, because Disney's empire is built on the art of exploiting masterpieces. But if they do it right, they can kind of leave their creation on a pedestal and let it be art in it's pure form, and make their enormous gains by selling Olaf dolls to kids on their way out of the theater. When they do it wrong is when they take the art off the pedestal to tinker with it, or add to it, thinking that "Hey, if everyone likes this, we can make that much more money by making MORE of it." That idea is the death toll for a good piece of art (Case in point: Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. First movie was brilliant, but after that, it became such a sad disappointment). Yes, Frozen, Once, and every other Disney show was made to line shareholder pockets, but I think Disney still remembers from time to time that nothing will put them in a better position than sponsoring people who can create a quality, artistic production.
So, I think you can understand my fear. Thus far, the characters of Frozen exist within 102 minutes of almost flawless storytelling. If you create any more material that involves them, at best, you continue that streak. And don't get me wrong, more of what we got in Frozen would be amazing. But you also run the risk of ruining their so-far almost perfect record, and forever marring the franchise and the characters who made it once great, relegating it to the dustheap of ruined stories. This is why I'm terrified of a sequel; yes, there's a lot we could gain if it was done right, but we don't need anything more from Elsa, Anna, and the rest; at least for me, they've accomplished more than many fictional characters could ever dream of. And I think that we have a lot more to lose from continuing their story and taking it downhill then we would have to gain from continuing it and being successful. Because
I can't think of any potential outcome that is worth the risk of lowering the status that this story has earned. All of this is to say, why mess with a good thing?
Now all that said, I don't think that anything they can do in Once Upon a Time would actually count as tinkering with the Frozen that is still resting comfortably on its well-deserved pedestal; not like a sequel would. The main reason is that (and I say this with no disrespect to the writers of Once) I'm basically going to file whatever they're going to do with the characters away with any other piece of fan fiction. I don't have anything against fan fiction; in fact, the line between "fan fiction" and "professional adaptation" is so blurry that you could argue the only difference is how much money and influence the author has. Isn't that exactly what BBC's "Sherlock" is? Or, for that matter, almost every Disney Princess movie? But the point is, whatever the writers have in mind will use Elsa, but it will be their own Elsa, not the Elsa we know and love. I get very particular about what is canonical and non-canonical with my fictional stories, and Season 4 of Once Upon a Time will fall strictly in the latter category where Frozen is concerned. Which means, I don't really have to care about it one way or another.
So, if that's the way I feel about it, then why am I uneasy about what they're doing? Well, even if they're not taking the original Frozen off it's pedestal to tinker with it, it kind of feels like they're putting their own version right next to original, forcing you to compare them even if you don't want to. I mostly feel this way because they've adapted it so quickly- Season 4 will start less than a year after Frozen was released. So even though they're not making any additions to their original story, that fact that Disney is letting authors that are still technically employed by them take another whack at it so soon makes me worry about how far they're willing to go to get more out of the franchise. And that, my friends, is a very slippery slope.
See, I still feel kind of protective of Frozen. I know that's kind of ridiculous, but whenever I feel like someone is being disrespectful of it, I get annoyed. As I'm exploring in this blog, this movie does actually have quite a bit of importance to me. It's almost like a sentimental item that I don't like placing next to something unappealing, just because it ruins the view of my beloved thing. The kind of item that you always make sure to be careful when handling, that you clean immediately if you notice some kind of blemish. Something you like to keep pristine in your sight and mind. That's the sort of attitude I have towards Frozen.
So, basically, I know I don't have to care about it one way or another, but I probably will. Even if you're creating a new, unrelated version of these characters, they are still going to be tied closely in your mind to the originals. So if they mess up their OUaT version of these characters, I'm going to have a messed up version of Elsa in my head right next to amazing original one, and that's going to bother me one way or another.
But there's no need to fear the worst, right? I'm willing to admit that there is some potential here. Not of what Once can bring Frozen, but what Frozen can bring to Once. Once is always looking for new, interesting characters to explore, and while Elsa may fit the "new" requirement a bit too literally, she's exactly the kind of interesting character that would fit in this world well, if she's done right. In the day or so since I heard the news, I've slowly been able to admit that, all my fears aside, this might be fun. I'm willing to accept a little excitement about this, albeit cautious excitement. But I can't really talk nearly as much about that, because I don't really know exactly what kind of Frozen incorporation would work well in Once Upon a Time. If I did, then that would kind of ruin the surprise, don't you think? I'll leave that weighty responsibility up to the show writers. They took this task upon themselves, so I'll give them a chance to make good on their promise that they'll do justice to Frozen. Now all there is to do is wait until Fall, and see if they will.
EDIT: Alright, several official sources have confirmed that Elsa is definitely the name of the upcoming character. So, we're definitely taking the plunge.
EDIT: Alright, several official sources have confirmed that Elsa is definitely the name of the upcoming character. So, we're definitely taking the plunge.
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