Writing villains is always a challenge for me. I walk the line between creating a character who is so hated that they are one sided and shallow or so wishy-washy that you are never really sure if they are bad, or just confused. I was watching Frozen for the hundredth time (ah kids...) and it occurred to me that Frozen suffers from a similar problem. Unlike previous movies where step-mothers transformed into dragons or tricked their daughters into taking poison or locking themselves in a tower, this movie is missing a true villain.
Sure, sure that Hans guy is evil...except he also kept the people of the town safe while the princess and the queen battled it out in the mountains. Did he have an ulterior motive? Sure! But does that make him evil? Does he try to kill the queen in the end? Well yeah, so maybe that does make him the bad guy...And what about Elsa...she doesn't seem to have intent behind her actions but all that means is the court would get her for manslaughter instead of first degree murder if Ana had stayed frozen. Is that evil? Does freezing your home town and then running off the mountains and refusing to fix the problem make a you a villain? And then there is the little guy from Weisledon. He outright says he wants to exploit the country's resources and certainly seems to be behind the plot to kill the queen...yet he never evokes enough anything to be feared.
So what is the larger implication of this? I know the first time I watched Frozen I walked away feeling disappointed. Was it because for the first time the hero didn't save the princess? That true loves kiss was not the answer to thaw a broken heart? Or was it because without someone to root against how do we know who to root for?
Life is made up of shades of gray...do we want our movies and literature to mimic this? Or to provide us with the black and white, cut and dry world of good and evil? Where things may not always work out, but its usually because there is a sequel in the works...
