WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Word to the Wise: Should you "Let it Go?"

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

Join Ariel and Judah McDowell as they decide whether or not to "Let it Go," when it comes to Disney's cultural significance, and its not-so-subtle cultural messaging.

Hello everybody. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 and this is Word to the Wise, where we critically and humorously scrutinize anything significant in pop culture today. My name is Ariel McDowell, and I'm here with my brother Jude McDowell. We're super excited to be talking to you guys today. Yeah, what's up, guys? This is Judah. And yeah, me and my sister are super excited to get going here. We've been thinking about doing this show for a while. And so, yeah, let's hop into it. Today we're going to be talking. about Let It Go from the movie Frozen. It's cultural significance, and it's not so subtle cultural messaging. I know Let It Go might seem like a bit of a strange choice for two adult college students, but I think the messaging on the part of Disney was really intentional, that the lyrics are really deep and meaningful and say something about where we as our society are at regarding morality. I don't think they're just random.

I don't think it's just a little kid's song. I think it had way more meaning and way more cultural. impact than one might expect. So when Frozen came out in 2013, kids all over the country fell in love with the movie and the Ice Princess and her sister. They just adored it to no end. Everyone did. I think even a lot of adults did. And an entire generation of kids had let it go playing in their heads for about like two to three years. Yeah. So I'm sure most of you have probably already seen the movie. But for those of you who have been living under a rock for a little while, let me just summarize this part real quick for you. So basically, the movie starts off with Elsa,

a princess, and her sister, Anna, and Elsa has ice powers, and she accidentally hurts her sister with her powers, and so she's forced to hide them from the entire kingdom and her sister. At her coronation, when she's going to become queen, she accidentally releases them on the kingdom and frees the kingdom and scares everyone. So she's scared, she runs away, and then she goes by herself up on a mountain. And that mountain by herself, that's where she sings this song. So we're going to go ahead and just play this clip for you so you can get a feel for it, what it sounds like. So obviously Idina Manzell's voice is just stunning. The music is super catchy.

So many people adore this song. I kind of love listening to it myself because her voice is so beautiful and the melody is so well written. But just for a second, let's take a look at how society responded and what people thought. Okay, so NPR or the National Public Radio had an article titled, For Many with Disabilities, Let It Go is an anthem of acceptance. Nothing's really wrong with just this title, but the fact that someone wrote this article shed some light on how important the song was. So I thought we could take a look at one segment of this article that I think is particularly important.

The article reads, stories abound of gay, lesbian, and transgender people, people in prison, people with eating disorders and chemical addictions, and plenty of others on on the margins, all identifying with the tale of a queen in hiding who learns to shed her shame and accept the things that make her different. Yeah, okay, so this paragraph just kind of cracks me up on a number of levels. It's just really ironic. Chemical addictions are just objectively negative, and so is quite arguably being in prison. Though NPR classified this with other personal identity categories, as,

something that, quote, makes people different. And something tells me that other groups in this list might resent being categorized with the other groups in the list. But I digress. The point is, these are just destructive lifestyle patterns. And NPR is calling them, quote, what makes people different, which is just hilarious and self-incriminating and undermines their own point for the same reasons we're about to discuss in regards to the song, Let It Go.

Yeah, it's funny. it just kind of gives me this like picture in my mind of like some prisoner like running onto like a mountain in their orange jumpsuit and screaming like yeah it just seems kind of ridiculous to me to like make that something I'm a prisoner yeah exactly I'm addicted to cocaine amazing this is who I am yeah exactly it's kind of funny okay so we're Christians and scripturally we know all the things NPR just listed are things that usually have something to do with sin and things that really are totally worth being free from. But that's not what the paragraph was saying and that's not what let it go is about.

It's not about finding freedom from these things that are harmful and damaging and wrong. It's actually about freedom from being under scrutiny. Elsa is not singing about a freedom she finds in being control of her ice powers and not accidentally freezing over the kingdom and not being able to keep from hurting her sister and being able to be a good queen. She's not singing about anything she's actually achieved. She's just singing about freedom from being under scrutiny, being able to be accused of anything,

being able to be called a failure. Right, yeah. And Elsa actually, in having ice powers, isn't doing anything wrong. But the lyrics of Let It Go are really misleading for her, just as they would be for someone like a drug addict. So when I was looking up the lyrics to let it go, just to compile to get ready for this episode on my little Brave browser. I don't know if you guys have ever used Brave,

but it just sometimes when you look something up has this automatic pop-up AI summary of whatever it is you're searching about. And it did that for Let It Go. And it just formed conveniently for this episode what it thought the summary of the themes of the song are. So what it said, word for word, was, the song is sung by Elsa in parentheses Idena Mansell. As she lets her powers loose and rejects her royal duties, embracing her true identity and freedom. The lyrics reflect Elsa's journey towards self-acceptance and empowerment as she breaks free from the constraints of her royal upbringing and societal expectation.

I think, you know, these are not my words and they're not the words of the people who wrote the song. But I think Brave Browers AI did a pretty good job summarizing what Let It Go is about. I do think that's what Disney was going for. It's pretty accurate if you look at the lyrics. Some of the lyrics that we're in the clip we just played for you read, it's time to see what I can do to test the limits and breakthrough. No right, no wrong, no rules for me. I'm free.

Right. Okay. So in this verse right here, this is where the main problem is. No right, no wrong, no rules for me. That's just a wrong thing to say. It's not applicable to anyone at any time. It's not empowering. It's not good.

and it leads to the greatest despair there is. Proverbs 25, 28 reads, A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Elsa's problem isn't her ice power. It's not wrong that she has that. But her problem also isn't the fact that when she froze her all kingdom, people were very scared of her. That's a good reason for them to be scared.

Some of them were jerks about it, but that's how life is. She had a dangerous thing and people reacted accordingly. The thing is, she's caught in a place where she believes she either has to hate her ice powers that she was born with or hate the fact that people don't like the threat it brings and respond by controlling her. Remember, they're just trying to prevent her from hurting them. The only reason Elsa was required to hide her powers growing up was because she hurt Anna when they were little. But those are legitimate reasons to restrain her, even if her parents didn't do it in the best way.

Elsa's right, though, that that can't be a lasting solution. So she can't just pretend not to have ice powers. But the only alternative she sees is isolating herself, casting off all restraint, and exalting in her abilities. Meanwhile, her sister is alone and the kingdom is frozen. So she runs away, she hurts the kingdom in the process, she abandons her sister, and then she relinquishes all attempts to restrain herself

and completely sets herself free. Yeah, it's just a very modern notion that if you are being asked to be or not be a certain way in order that you may faithfully fulfill an obligation or responsibility that you have, that that's some sort of restraint on your freedom, that you shouldn't be ever being asked to do that that's wrong and oppressive to you. So Elsa's real problem is pretty simple. It's that she

cannot control her powers. Her problem is not that she has powers. Her problem is not that people are legitimately fearful of these powers with justifiable reasons to be scared. Her problem is just that she can't control them. That's the part that actually needs to be fixed and solved. Okay, so the rest of this probably isn't going to make sense without the rest of the story. So for those you haven't seen it, I'm just going to finish it up real quick. So after Elsa runs up on the mountain and sings the song, Ana comes up to find her. And when Anna tells her that she froze the entire kingdom, she gets really scared and she ends up hurting Anna again. And her castle starts glowing red. And all of a sudden, that freedom she was singing about, it doesn't feel so free anymore.

All right. So in the meantime, there's, you know, all this turmoil going on in the kingdom because, you know, the queen's gone. No one really knows what to do. And so eventually, towards the end of the movie, we have Anna and she's dying because of, you know, what Elsa did to her and there's no way to save her and she turns into a block of ice. And as Elsa weeps over Anna's frozen body, Anna unfreezes because of Elsa's love. And, you know, Elsa kind of has this realization that love conquers all the fear of her powers and then she suddenly lifts the curse off the entire kingdom and helps everyone. Yeah, like the entire movie finally resolves when she has this epiphany that actually love. Love is the key to controlling her powers, love for her people, love for her sister. And so she has this, she says, quote, of course, love.

And then she just begins to lift the curse off of the kingdom and everything returns and the flowers are blooming and the people are smiling. And via love, she undoes what she had previously done to the kingdom. And for those of you just tuning in with us, you're listening to Word to the Wise on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. My name's Judah McDowell, and I'm here with my sister Ariel McDowell. And today, we're talking about Let It Go from the movie Frozen. So it's actually a really great message on its own. Like, the message of the movie is good. It's true also.

Love for others is actually the best motivation for some. self-control. It encourages someone to channel their abilities in ways that help and encourage, rather in ways that harm. Love is a much better motivator than restraint and control even. It actually gets to the root of why someone does what they do and helps them change. So I think the message from the overall movie is actually way more applicable to say, as NPR was saying, a drug addict or a convict. Like this is actually, I mean, it's not the gospel. It's not the whole of the life-changing message of actually being changed by the love of Jesus Christ. But it's sort of closer to it in that love for others and selfless motivation can actually be the key to escaping sin.

Because other-centered love is actually truly freeing. Elsa doesn't need to be the queen of isolation feeding her inner monster through unbridled, chaotic, quote-unquote freedom. However, she also doesn't need to be outwardly wrangled into submission with chains that obstruct her responsibility to lead the kingdom and prevent her liberty, which is what basically the antagonists of the movie attempt. She actually just needs this inward change that shifts her heart into a place where she can be a good queen and a good sister. Right, yeah. And yeah, I think that's key because we're not here to look at the entire movie of Frozen and be like, yo Disney, you were trying to get all the kids to do whatever they want. Like, I think the movie has some great messaging, and it's overall a pretty good movie. It's just this song, which became so popular.

Like, just looking at the lyrics here is a lot more questionable. And I think the message from the overall movie actually undermines everything she says in Let It Go. Like, what we learn is what she realized in that song didn't fix anything. And what she learned at the end does. So going up, running away in frustration. and then just giving herself, unleashing any restraints on herself, didn't actually bring about the change. Love for Others did.

So the message of the movie is great, and the message of the song is the opposite of the message of the movie, and the message of the movie kind of undermines the song. So, yeah, so if we just jump back up to those two things, like the NPR article that talked about the song being an anthem for all these different types of people about their self-acceptance and being authentically themselves, and then also the AI thing that talked about Elsa's journey,

towards self-acceptance and empowerment. Those are talking about the song and what it means to Elsa, and we now just figured out that from what the movie even said, that actually didn't work. That wasn't the solution. It wasn't the freedom. She needed to learn control. She needed to learn to love, not to just be herself.

So now we look back at this article and these things and we're like, oh, maybe they're not right. Maybe that's not a good way to pursue your own feelings. Yeah, like, it's a little more convoluted with Elsa because they can make it seem like, oh, she was, so restrained before, but look at what she can do when she's free and she builds this beautiful castle and creates this cute little snowman. And there isn't anything inherently wrong in what she's doing. You can kind of unpack that a little bit. It is, it is dangerous that she can't control

her powers in a way that affects the kingdom, yada, yada, yada. She needs a better solution and we kind of already went over that. But what NPR's article does, it's actually really helpful to us because the examples they gave aren't convoluted or hard to unpack. Like, it's pretty obvious that for someone with a chemical addiction, just freely being more themselves is literally the opposite of the solution. Like, the message of the movie most applies to them. Like, you need to be controlled until you can control yourself. I know it's not a lasting solution, but that is the initial response to someone who's in that place.

And then eventually you do need to actually discover what it is to, through selflessness and love for others, achieve self-control. Like, that is actually the message. And let it go is so unapplicable to someone who is a prisoner because they committed crimes are so inapplicable to a drug addict. And if this were another episode, we could get into the LGBTQ categories. But I don't think we have time for that on this episode. So let's take a step back here for a second and play devil's advocate. Someone might argue that let it go is a great answer and a great theme. So what we have here is, you know, this thing where people leave you alone, no one should be restraining you.

You should be living, your authentic self, the way you want to, without people telling you what you should be. So if we're taking that position, then what Anna did, which is chasing her sister and trying to get her to do something she didn't want to do, that's wrong. Elsa finally found freedom in being herself. Why would you try and fix it? So what we're saying is really Anna should have just left alone. And if you take that position, basically you're saying that Anna should have just forgotten her sister and roll with the punches. And that's not really a good message for kids. And it would be pretty in line with postmodern messaging regarding people who are rebellious or self-isolated.

Yeah. It would really fit in because that is what our culture says about people who are in very self-destructive, self-focused places. It's really like, let them do what they're. they want to do, you know, why, why you got to interfere? Why you got to be all up in everyone's business? And if you actually think about it, it's a very unloving stance. Like, if I'm on, I am going to chase my sister up there and I'm going to help her and I'm going to have her get to a plate like, you can unfreeze the kingdom and this is your responsibility. And we're going to do this together. But I'm not just going to leave you up here to do whatever you want to do.

So again, it's a thing where the messaging of the movie is great and quite applicable to real-life relationships and the message of the song is just not. And for those of you just tuning in, you're listening to Word to the Wise on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Judah McDowell and this is my sister area and we're talking about let it go from the movie Frozen. This movie has a lot of great stuff, even that like we haven't mentioned yet, I love the sisterly affection. I love the way Anna learns that romance built on friendship is better than immediately giving everything to a man she just met. I love the cute little snowman. name Olaf, so much I love about this movie. But I hate the song for just people in general.

Everyone is surrounded with so much emotional indulgence. All forms of media are just screaming about it. People are being encouraged to live as far from reality as possible. Media just encourages people to be as fantastical, as emotional, as illogical, and as feeling-based as they can. And not only are they teaching this as a possibility or something that's okay or it's fine. They're teaching this as morality. This is their new definition of morality. Their new definition of kindness is synonymous with dishonesty and flattery. Their new definition of courage is synonymous with defiance to authority and deference to one's own passions.

They are teaching morality as your heart, yourself, what you're. you want. Yeah, totally, exactly. That's what it is. And, you know, this isn't the only place we see this in Disney, right? And this is a common theme we see in other movies, which is that, you know, sometimes the characters

who are the most realistic or the most, you know, on the ground are often the annoying ones. You know, you can think of, like, Zuzu from, like, the Lion King, or King Triton from the Little Mermaid, or, like, the Queen and Brave. Like, I'm not saying all those characters do everything right, but they certainly are trying to be logical, and they're often portrayed as super annoying.

Right. The rational characters are just, they're prudish, they're annoying, what's wrong with them. Why can't they understand that all that matters is what this protagonist feels? Right, exactly. And then I just want to touch on who this is touching, because obviously, you know, everyone's heard this song, but who is this really getting into? I mean, adults probably aren't really going to be affected by a song in a Disney movie. And then, you know, most of the boys I know are like really just making fun of the song. but like really the little girls. How many girls dressed up as Elsa for Halloween that year? And years to come, I'm sure there's probably going to be more even this year.

2024. Tons of girls were touched by this character and especially this song. It was their favorite. They adore it. Yeah, they adore it. So it's really getting into them. This message of the song hits more than the message of the whole movie for these girls. So what is that teaching them?

Well, what it's teaching them is it's teaching them to obey their passions. But today's daughters don't know. more emotional reactivity and passionate self-interest, what they desperately need right now are critical thinking skills. And the postmodern left talks endlessly about strong women, but I don't think they actually support the idea of women who are strong critical thinkers, who reject faulty ideas without apologizing or yielding, women who aren't tossed around by wishful thinking, and who boldly laugh at the ridiculous, women who laugh at a man wearing a skirt or anti-racist seminars, no, Hollywood loves foolish women. Whether it's a tough, no-nonsense warrior-tight black

pants or Princess in Pink, either of these characters, Hollywood's women are always in consort with the irrational, madly in love with the fake and wishful. And their annoying parents or whoever is holding them back are the ones who are usually grounded in reality. So my, if I were to walk away with anything, I would say, come on, Gallowed. Let's take a break from the ice powers and no right, no wrong, no rules for me, and have little girls who are just empowered with self-control. If Proverbs says a man without self-control is like a city with no walls, let's teach little girls the best strategy of ideological defense that the postmodern secular world has ever seen, with walls of discernment so thick and high that even Elsa can't sing her way in. Don't raise daughters who aspire to be Elsa. were his daughters who laugh at the make-believe of an ice queen and aspire to be so much more.

Exactly. So to wrap up, guys, we're not telling you that you shouldn't go out and watch Frozen or watch these movies. They're good movies. Enjoy yourself. Have fun. I just think that when we're taking in this media, we need to think critically about what the youth of today are consuming and hearing and believing. Yeah, exactly. Well, thank you so much for joining us, you guys.

This has been Word to the Wise on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Ariel McDowell. And I'm Judah McDowell. And we hope you'll join us next time.