Faith in Frozen

Faith in Film: FROZEN

We are a movie-loving country. In many ways the cinema has supplanted the Bible as our reservoir for shared images and stories, familiar quotations and lessons. But what amazes me is how much religion remains deeply embedded in popular films, intentionally or otherwise, and how most of us never notice it. This month I’d like to talk about Disney’s latest film, Frozen. If you haven’t seen Frozen yet, you’re in the minority. Since last Thanksgiving, this Broadway-style Norwegian fantasy, loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “Snow Queen,” has broken the $1 billion mark to become the highest grossing animated film of all time. It seems especially beloved by Minnesotans, who know what it is to live in Little Scandinavia.

Religious imagery thoroughly permeates Frozen. The film’s opening song, “Vuelie”, is based upon the Danish Christmas carol “Fairest Lord Jesus”. The grand castle of Arendelle is a gigantic stave church, instantly recognizable to anyone who has visited the Hjemkomst Center. One of the princess’ favorite paintings is an image of St. Joan of Arc. The trolls’ song about the nature of love is worthy to be sung at any church wedding. And the queen’s coronation takes place within a cathedral, at the behest of a bishop, with a church choir singing above them. (Frozen is set in early modern Norway, which ought to make that bishop Lutheran.) Should you bother to translate the Norwegian, the bishop actually chants about crowning the queen with the three Theological Virtues of the New Testament: faith, hope, and love. There’s even a golem or two, though, admittedly, that’s more Jewish than Christian. Still religious though!

(Some SPOILERS ahead here.) But ultimately what makes Frozen a deeply Christian film, despite the lack of any obvious crosses, is that it is the story of a young woman who goes to the ends of the earth in order to repair a broken relationship. In the process, she finds herself mortally wounded by the person she loves most. And when she voluntarily sacrifices her own life for the very one who has killed her, her selfless love leads to resurrection, forgiveness, and the thawing of winter into summer. The tagline of Frozen is, “Love will thaw”—thaw a frozen heart, thaw a broken world, thaw even the dead from their graves. In all seriousness, Frozen is a true Christ story. And a deeply beautiful one at that.