When our family saw Frozen for the first time my two daughters chose their favorites. My oldest followed the rest of the world and chose Elsa, but my youngest immediately latched onto Anna.
"You Elsa and I Anna!" She would enthusiastically yell each time she wanted to play Frozen. It was the cutest.
About two months ago my little peanut started moving more towards Elsa's side. It started innocently enough. At first she just wanted to sing, "Let it Go" more often than "Do You Want to Build a Snowman." But soon it became "You Anna and I Elsa." Sad.
For Christmas we gave her a simple Elsa dress and a tricked out Anna dress. The Anna dress has a button that plays the first few lines of "For the First Time in Forever" and causes the dress to light up like a Christmas tree. My husband and I were desperately trying to get her to like the Anna dress more, but it hasn't worked. She wears the Elsa dress twice as much as the Anna dress.
And in the end it saddens me. All the little girls everywhere love Elsa but I think that they should love Anna. In a battle of role models Anna beats Elsa into the ground. And as a parent I would much rather my daughters aspire to be Anna instead of wanting to be like Elsa. Let's take a look at them shall we, and you'll see my point.
Elsa (for most of the movie): Spends her entire life pushing everyone away from her. Is so afraid of what she is capable of that she does nothing. She is in charge of an entire kingdom and her entire focus is on herself. She doesn't think about how her actions are affecting others, nor does she try to do anything to help anyone else. She runs away from responsibility. She is cowardly, selfish, and of little good to anyone. (I know I'm being harsh.) Why do little girls everywhere worship her? She is beautiful, has great clothes, has one talent, and a catchy song. (Your typical pop star.)
Anna: Is the ultimate optimist. She looks for joy and happiness in everything around her and tries to share that joy with others, even if she is shot down again and again. She is courageous, adventurous, and full of life. She risks her life to save her sister and her kingdom (more than once). She faces her fears and doesn't take crap from anyone (not even Marshmallow). She is warm and loving. And she believes in true love. And even though true love with Hans doesn't work out, I still love that she believes in it so sincerely. Plus, she jumps right back in the game with Christoph even though her last boyfriend left her to die, tried to take over the kingdom, and almost slayed her sister. Not a lot of women could do that. She is the kind of woman that I want my daughters to become.
So what do I do about my littlest daughter's switch in allegiance? I'm not exactly sure. But you just might start hearing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" and "For the First Time in Forever" a lot more at our house.
Anna is My Hero!
This YouTube video sums things up pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buem1Yhtkxs
