14 DAY TRIAL // After the success of last year’s “Frozen,” which was Disney’s first film with 2 strong female leads and a story that was groundbreaking for how subversive it was of the studio’s own age-old narrative, we’re getting a follow-up short film in theaters with “Cinderella,” called “Frozen Fever.”
The other day, Disney released the first photos from the short animation, along with details about the plot, which was reason enough for Fox News and Steve Doocy to dig up the original film and explain how it villainized masculinity and made men look bad.
Not enough male heroes in Disney films, Hollywood in general
To illustrate his point and add some weight to his argument, Doocy invited over Penny Young Nance, the CEO of Concerned Women for America, who was lucky enough to have her kids allow her to be on TV instead of at home, preparing lunch “or whatever.”
Their message, as you can see in the video below, is that Disney movies like “Frozen” and Hollywood films in general are trying to empower women at the expense of men, who, this way, become mere caricatures of what they’re like in real life.
“Frozen” isn’t a movie young boys should see, Young Nance says, because it sends the wrong message to them, while teaching young girls to see boys in only one way: as the bad guy, the nincompoop who is always around to embarrass or make things difficult for them, the guy at whose expense all jokes must be made.
“It’s not just Disney, but Hollywood in general has often sent the message that men are superfluous, that they’re stupid, that they’re in the way, and if they contribute anything to a family it’s a paycheck. And that is not true, and it’s not good social science,” she says. “We want to raise heroes. We want to raise real men.”
She then draws a parallel to the hero who, during the Aurora shooting, threw himself in the line of fire and covered his girlfriend’s body with his own, to protect her from harm. Clearly, he would not have done this if he’d watched “Frozen,” she seems to say.
Flawed argument that has absolutely nothing to do with reality
This is how one could best describe the conversation in the video below. Even in “Frozen,” which is considered an empowering production for women, the men are still heroes at the end of the day: Kristoff races to save Anna, Olaf almost kills himself trying to save her and even Hans seems like the perfect man until the end.
There is no villainizing here except in the case of Hans, and that too is for very practical reasons, namely that every production, whether it’s a Disney animation or a feature film, needs a villain.
Then there’s another, even more important aspect to consider: “Frozen” is a rarity, storytelling-wise, in Hollywood and with Disney. Most releases have strong male characters, heroes. Also, most of them resort to stereotypes in their portrayal of women, who are rarely anything more than objects used within the narrative to make the male character look better. It’s just the way things are right now.
Doocy and his guest talk like “poor men” can’t get a good portrayal on film no matter what, and it’s simply not true. They would have made more sense if they just came out straight saying they hated “Frozen,” instead of making up stuff that’s not accurate. They wouldn’t be the first or last to dislike it, by the way.