The Spare - Frozen Cut song

[Shenzi]

I happen to come across this while on a quest unrelated to Disney.
Kristen Bell performed a cut song from 'Frozen' at a fan expo called 'The Spare' which was about Anna being determined to be more than just Elsa's runner up for Queen. It was originally set to the music of 'Love is An Open Door' suggesting that 'Love is an Open Door' was it's replacement.

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dKUGDQCzGz0

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

I really wish Disney would start giving the home releases the elaborate treatment they used to. Frozen is a film that went through so many changes. I would love to know more about the process that went into creating this film especially since the finished version tapped into the cultural zeitgeist in a way rarely seen in movies period.

This song is a prime example. It helps show the process of making a movie and how a movie arrives at the finished product. Just because a song was discarded early on or changed significantly doesn't mean that it isn't a valuable insight into the character development.

[Shenzi]

You make a very good point there Brair.
Disney wasted a lot of potential with Anna, in my honest opinion, they had something really unique going on with her being the first princess who is the younger sister of the heir. This would have made a far more interesting storyline than the Elsa storyline.

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

I understand what you're saying, but I think the decision to center the story on Elsa strengthened the film considerably.

Frozen was in preproduction at Disney for years under the title The Snow Queen, based off the famous Hans Christian Andersen story. But as recently as 2010 after the box office disappointment of The Princess and the Frog, Disney announced the cancellation of The Snow Queen. Following the success of Tangled, they decided to put the film back into production. At some point during the production of the film, they apparently ran into story problems. The story was not working. At this point in time, Elsa was very much the villain of the piece, following the footsteps of the Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, Maleficent, Ursula, and so forth.

However, once they heard Let It Go the filmmakers changed their mind. They realized that Elsa could not be the villain of the story. Here's why I think Elsa's story resonates so strongly with many. It can be argued that the Disney fairy tales depict the heroines as classic archetypes of good. They're kind, virtuous, beautiful, etc. The threats to Snow White, Cinderella, et all are external.

Elsa is different. Her threat, if you will, is internal. She's afraid of what her powers will do to somebody. She's already seen her powers threaten to kill her little sister that she loves dearly. So her struggle is very much internal as she tries to balance her powers with her concern for the safety of others. And on top of that, she understands that at some point she has to emerge from isolation and become a visible monarch, all while trying to keep her dangerous powers hidden.

I believe that this aspect of her character resonates so very strongly with so many different people from all walks of life. Snow White and her successors let their personality shine through and it would help them to win their dreams in the end. But Elsa fears that letting her powers shine through will endanger someone because they already have. So she bottles everything up. She internalizes years of her fears and doubts. I think a lot of people identify with Elsa for that reason. Did I commit some great evil to have this terrible burden in my life? Or why do bad things happen to good people? Why do the innocent sometimes have to suffer so much? These kinds of questions that many of us may well have asked ourselves at least once in our lives.

So when she takes off into the mountains and lets everything loose, that moment is cathartic for her. She's finally come to peace with her life or so she thinks. But underneath all of this is the loss of her relationship with Anna. While she believes that she doesn't need her sister in her life, nothing could be farther from the truth. It is that relationship which allows Elsa to learn how to control her powers and lead a happy life surrounded by family and friends.

All that said, it doesn't happen without Anna. I believe that she is so popular because she is not the graceful, elegant princess like her predecessors. She's socially awkward at times. She's clumsy. She leaps long before she looks. Yet, like her royal predecessors in previous Disney fairy tales, she is kind and loving. In spite of the pain and hurt that Elsa caused Anna through years of essentially ignoring her, Anna still choose to forgive Elsa. To love her sister. And was willing to give her life to save her sister from death. These very themes are why I believe the story resonates so strongly with so many. To some degree or another we all need mercy and forgiveness in life. Either for something we've done to another, ourselves, or even something done to us that we certainly did not seek or want.

[Shenzi]

I'm aware of the original direction the piece was being taken. In addition, Anna was NOT Elsa's sister but a peasant girl who'd approached her requesting to have her broken heart frozen. Throughout the course of the piece, Elsa would come to develop affection for Anna to the point of regretting that she'd granted the request but by then her death was inevitable because the curse was too far along to take back.
Interestingly, I've noticed that quite a few fans would have preferred the final film to have ended this way, with the tragic atmosphere of Anna's death. There is even a Youtube edit of it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMH2nG01Ih4&index=1&list=PLfntUdWRvOz9XC6L8-bs909EjSq3PitRj
This isn't a solid close that I believe an actual execution of this direction would have had and needs but this person put together a very well done glimpse of the idea with what exists to work with, the tone was nailed indefinitely.

What I should have suggested instead of Elsa being entirely backgrounded is that Anna's storyline should have focused more on her wanting to make her own mark in life instead of just being the runner up heir. Not that I don't appreciate the unique elements of her chasing after Elsa and marrying a stranger storyline, but there wasn't much substance there. What exactly did she learn other than don't get engaged on the first date? While her character was strengthened when she broke her own curse, that could have still fit into the 'the spare' storyline. Anna could have been summoned back to the palace when Elsa fled to assume the throne, but with the whole not wanting to have the label of 'the spare' thing is what inspires her to go looking for Elsa. This also would have made the Ice Castle scene between them more intense and meaningful as Anna could have insisted that the kingdom was Elsa's responsibility and she needed to uphold it. To have gotten to that point where Anna forgave Elsa by first having a dark resentment of her that clouded her rational mind from considering her powers to me would have added strength to it.

Alright, I didn't mean to throw so many detailed ideas out there, this is all very rough of course. To be honest, what bugs me to death about Elsa's storyline is how her powers have no backstory to give it foundation. There are other backstories lacking, but this is the one I can't look past.