#yes this goes on the main blog because ELSA and LET IT GO

[yumeka36]

Frozen 2 review

I’ve seen Frozen 2 twice now and feel like I’m ready to review it (somewhat) objectively. Obviously there will be spoilers so read at your own risk.

I’ve looked at a number of reviews of the movie both from fans and general critics/moviegoers, and it made me realize exactly what kind of movie this is: pretty much all of the criticism I’ve seen has to do with the plot being unfocused and rushed at times, with points made about the convolution of the mythology elements. On the other hand, the praise I’ve seen has to do with the growth of the characters, how appealing Anna and Elsa’s development is, and the overall message of accepting change, righting past wrongs, and being who you’re meant to be. It’s almost like the critics who didn’t like the movie and the fans who did had completely different expectations for what they wanted to see, with the former expecting some intricate fantasy plot that all clicks together and is fully fleshed out, while the latter is expecting to see their favorite characters face new adventures while growing their relationships and personal identities. And this latter interpretation is the defining point of Frozen’s appeal, even more so in the sequel: the franchise is all about the story arcs of Anna and Elsa and how their bond as sisters helps them grow stronger together as well as individually. In Frozen 2, it’s the characters that are driving the plot instead of the plot driving the characters. And because of this, the movie would rather spend more time focusing on character songs and interactions (not just Anna and Elsa but Olaf and Kristoff too) than exposition and fleshing out of story elements. It would rather spend time showing Kristoff singing about his pining for Anna’s love, give Olaf scenes showing how his new-found knowledge has made him view the world, and give Elsa a follow-up to “Let It Go” in “Show Yourself,” than to spend time explaining, say, the Northuldra culture, how the spirits can make decisions like giving Elsa powers, or exactly how the magic of Ahtohallan works. Yes, this does make some story points lacking and hurried, but I feel that the filmmaking team relies on the fact that we’re so in love with these characters that not understanding every detail in the lore and plot won’t ruin our enjoyment. And, from the acclaim the movie’s getting, I’d say they’re right.

Frozen has always been about quality character story arcs as opposed to quality world-building, but the reason this is more prominent in Frozen 2 is because the first movie had a smaller scale story with minimal lore to focus on, so the character arcs stood out more. Because the sequel brings in more world-building elements, it’s easy for someone who’s not invested in the characters to focus on and judge the movie based on the fine details of the plot. Of course it would be nice if we could have both: intricate, solid world-building as well as character development, but that would probably make the movie too long – it could work for an ongoing series but not for a time-restricted Disney movie that only has a degree of creative liberties and still has to adhere to certain story flows and formulas. So then the questions are, did I feel enough was explained in Frozen 2 to make sense of the story even if a handful of things were lacking? Did the quality of the characters and their developments and relationships make up for a plot that was a bit messy and unfocused? I’d say the answer to these questions is yes.

With that in mind, as a fan judging the movie based more on how the characters are handled rather than the plot, and considering the hype the movie had to live up to and the insane number of directions they could have gone with the story, I think the final product turned out to be very good. The few things I had issue with are as follows:

-as I discussed in most of this post, I admit that the movie is a bit rushed at times, with certain scenes and plot points that needed more focus being glossed over. An extra 5-10 minute runtime would have benefited it immensely: a few more scenes of Agnarr and Iduna in Ahtohallan, more discussion in the finale of Anna becoming queen and what Elsa’s role as the fifth spirit is…even just another 30 seconds for each of these would have made a big difference. But at the same time I feel enough is explained to satisfy a general audience and the main appeal of the movie – the character arcs and relationships – is very well done.

-Kristoff’s failed proposal in the wagon felt way too forced. Anna was just way too quick to misunderstand him, making it feel very unrealistic and it only made their relationship look regressing rather than progressing. The other attempt in the forest was a bit forced too but not as bad as this one. These scenes definitely could have benefited from another rewrite. But thankfully they’re short.

-the new characters like Matthias and Honeymaren contributed virtually nothing to the plot: they could have been replaced with just nameless Northuldra and Arendelle soldiers and nothing would have changed in the story. I think the only reason these characters were made is because there’s some rule that Disney sequels have to have new characters and can’t just rely on the strength of the old ones, so these guys were created even if the movie didn’t necessitate them. Even the four spirits were more plot devices than actual characters. As cute as Bruni is, as soon as I saw him I was like “yeah, he’s just there to sell toys, not gonna contribute anything to the narrative flow” and I was right. This again goes back to what I was saying before about how Frozen 2 chooses to focus more on its (star) characters than world-building through new characters. So in a way, having these new characters isn’t a flaw and it actually shows just how good the original Frozen characters are: they still have so much depth and personality that hasn’t been explored that they can carry this new story on their own without the help of new characters.

But other than a few missing and rushed plot pieces and a little poor writing in Kristoff’s scenes, I thought the movie delivered very well. The love Anna has for Elsa is so amazingly conveyed in this movie that you don’t even need to see the first movie to understand it. All of their interactions and conversations felt so genuine. Olaf was very funny even if all of his jokes didn’t hit their mark. Most of the songs were great and really felt like they were written to move the characters and story forward and not just to be earworms kids will always want to sing. “The Next Right Thing” is one of the darkest moments I’ve seen in any Disney movie, but also one of the most emotionally moving and I have to give kudos to the creative team for keeping it in. “Show Yourself” is the true successor to “Let It Go” (why do they keep pushing “Into the Unknown”?) and is such a beautifully sung and beautifully animated sequence. Speaking of the movie’s animation, it’s gorgeous and it’s so amazing how far the technology has come since the first Frozen. There’s so much detail and nuances in the characters’ expressions and actions that only multiple viewings can pick up on.

Of course, I can’t complete this review unless I discuss the elephant in the room – the ending. Anyone who’s been around the fandom the past couple months knows how bent out of shape everyone got once a vague description of the ending leaked online. Now that I’ve seen it for myself and know all the context, I’m okay with the message: Because Iduna did the right thing and saved Agnarr despite him being her enemy, the spirits gifted their child with powers that could be used to correct the past wrong, should she choose to. And because Anna did the right thing by choosing to destroy her kingdom to save the forest, the spirits freed Elsa who, in turn, was able to save Arendelle. Elsa fully embraced herself and is able to live as she wants, but still able to see her family when she wants. It’s not that she didn’t like being queen of Arendelle and living with Anna and the others, but now that she knows exactly what she is – the fifth spirit – she wants to explore that, but is still able to have a life with her family too. Likewise, Anna has found a purpose she never had before. Even though it’s a major change, she’s happy because she knows Elsa is happy and they can still see each other whenever they want. But as I said, exactly what Elsa does as the fifth spirit should have been explained more (hoping it does in future installments). For what we got though, it was a happy ending, but I won’t say it’s satisfying until we get some more information in future books, filmmaker interviews, and, hopefully, future animated shorts and sequels.

I’m still trying to get over the shock, not just of the fact that a movie I’ve been speculating and daydreaming about for six years is finally here and known, but also the fact that it ended up being very different from what I ever imagined in my theories and headcanons. But now that I’ve watched it twice, I understand the direction the filmmakers went and can appreciate the message they wanted to convey even if the execution was a bit messy. I’m hoping I’m high on Frozen 2 for a while because once it wears off and, assuming, there’s no announcement of new Frozen content by then, I’ll have to figure out what to do with my life! This movie is all about coming to grips with change and I’ll definitely be doing that in reality depending on what the future holds for the Frozen franchise. But as of now, I’m still willing to follow Anna and Elsa into the unknown.

Art credited to @pacota22ma on Twitter

*Crossposted from my main blog, Yume Dimension*

#frozen #frozen 2 #frozen 2 spoilers

[laststandx3]

My two cents on frozen 2:

Anyone who has seen my blog knows I am an Hans stan (and also a former Helsa shipper) and yes I was kinda disappointed when there was absolutely no Hans in the new movie. But above all the discussions I'd like to tell all those who are much more disappointed than me (and posted complaints and eventually started arguments about it) what happened and why it's important.

So what happened exactly in Frozen 2:

most of the female characters wore trousers. This sounds like nothing I know, but the only others disney female characters who had this privilege were Jasmine in aladdin (1996) and Mulan (1998). So yes it took 23 years for a Disney princess to wear pants again.

ok lets forget about the trousers, what I'm trying to say is that we live in a ridiculously awful time (ridiculous because one would think that in the 21st century people understood the basic human needs):

-right wings are being more popular than the last 30 years with them there's growing racism, xenophobia, all minorities (lgbt+, ethnic minorities, religious ones.. ) they are living one of the worse possible scenarios.

-Also the rising of the feminist movement create a public backlash of those who consider women nothing more than housewives.

-Climate change exists and is our fault.

Frozen 2 touched these 3 major arguments in a fairytale way and it was the best thing they could ever do.

-They explicitly address the fact that the supposedly good side (Arrendellians) have committed slaughter towards a peaceful native tribe. What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had this year, where the usa couldn't hide behind the turkey.

The grandfather It is not even the main villain, the villain in the story are the consequences of hatred and lies, how it destroyed the forest, caged those who were not able to make peace and ultimately how it hid the truth about Elsa's magic origins.

- both Elsa and Anna are incredibly 3 dimensional character, they have passions, interests, ambitions, things they hate, things they love. They are NOT there to be pretty and poised. They have their own will in the second movie much more than the first.

Please dont forget the scene where the little girl asks Elsa for a scientific instrument instead of a toy, it was subtle, but how many women can't get close to sciences and math because they believe that is something for boys: Too many.

In Frozen 2 Anna faces the death of whats left her family and still has the strength to destroy the dam flint had problems with water too i guess which was the symbol of the oppression of the nourthuldras. She doesn't free Arrendellians, they might loose their houses, but they are already free. They can leave if they want, they can rebuild, they have possibilities. The Northuldra don't and she chooses to give away even her own house to fix 30+ years of unfair inprisonment in a magical forest without being able to see the sky

Elsa instead goes on a journey to find her true self, which is different than not believing yourself as a danger to others (see plot of frozen1). She finds she had much more power than she thought, show yourself is canonicaly an empowerment song. After that she finds her own freedom too. The freedom to choose where she wants to live, how and in which terms. Although she might even be siuted for being queen, she choses to live a different life than the one paved for her by her parents. And she does it without closing doors.

- how they addressed climate change, it was subtle yes, but it was there. The elements of nature dont answer anymore to the humans will. Well in truth they never did. But they didn't even rebel too much either.

In frozen 2 nature rebels willingly towards the people (Arrendellians, Northulrda, all of them). The spirits are clear: you either make peace with each other and fix the damage you caused to the forest, or f* you, we can't live without humans, humans without us, let's find out.

Elsa sacrifices herl life to find the truth on how to fix their relationship with the Northulrda.

I'd like to point out that granpa was all about killing the Northulrda, and not about killing the forest, but he ended up damaging nature in his way of genocide, because guess what, that's exactly what happens when you try to damage a population of any kind, you start by damaging their land.

Eventually being able to make peace with other humans was also the key to make peace with nature, as if not trying to destroy each other could bring benefits.

-and least but not last, the question far too many people ask about: Elsa sexuality. THE MOVIE DOESN'T EXPLICITLY ADDRESS IT. But the writers and Idina Menzel and probably the whole cast were totally cool with the giveElsaaGirlfrien hastag.

If they ever going to address it directly I don't know, but I glad that disny stopped teaching girls that their final goal is to find the love of their life.

Marrige is not your first purpose.

You can do anything in the world before choosing to be with someone. Im not saying do things alone, but do it knowing that you don't have to have a love interest to be happy. Find what you love to do for yourself, your passions your interests, everything that brings you joy, dont just end up with someone because movies shoved romance in your brain since you were 3. Have fun with your life. For yourself.

After this long rant, back to the starting point, having Hans in the movie would have made me a much happier human, but that's just not what the world needed. Writers knew hundreds of thousands would go watch the movie, and they will re-watch it again and again; it was their chance to make an impact on the audience, and those little boys who will grow up having Kristoff singing he missed his love maybe will be more open, maybe they won't have so much toxic masculinity in them because movies are changing the way they portrait even strong men. And maybe girls will identify with a powerful goddess who has a gentle heart of maybe they will find more inspiration in a very brave and loving new queen, who could chose to do the right thing despite losing all she had.

Hans would have taken away too much of the message they are trying to make.

Maybe there will be a Frozen 3 one day, who knows. But if I had to pick between a favorite character and a movie with a real impact on youth that is about changing the way we see ourselves as a society and how we can cooperate to make a better world. I'd pick the latter.

Hans is a rounded character, has personality and everything, but he's just not worth the world

So please stop bagging about hans not being in frozen 2 and stop insulting the authors.

Im referring to those in the hans fandom who are rude and act like spoiled brat. The others know they didn't do nothing wrong.

#Hans #frozen 2 #A frozen review #Elsa #Anna #Kristoff #Prince hans #Frozen #My two cents #Message me if you have questions #Frozen 2 spoiler

[niennavalier]

So I’m sure no one cares but

I’ve recently discovered genderbent Frozen covers and animatics and honestly I love these? Like, a lot? 

(Rambly thoughts under the cut, because I got invested in talking about Disney movies and ways they write characters and generalizing stuff, despite writing this all on a whim and doing not much research but hey, that’s what this blog is for. Random thoughts about movies and stories and Youtube comments)

I mean, I’ll admit that I’ve never been a big fan of Frozen - nothing against the story (cause it is good and for all I will criticize Disney for not generally being particularly uh...keen on taking any risks, I do appreciate the way they do break the mold here) or the music (it sounds like a Broadway musical, hell yeah) - but tbh Let it Go far overstayed its welcome and yes, I’m glad kids enjoyed the movie, but we heard it nonstop for way longer than we should have. The song honestly never felt like it went away for, what like, 2 years? I can listen to songs on endless loops, and this was still too much for me. Granted, I never hated it (my brother did, possibly still does, so I didn’t mind listening to it for the sole purpose of tormenting him) but still. It sorta turned me off from the franchise. I didn’t need to hear it every time I walked into a store.

And I’ll also admit to never being big on genderbending. Nothing against people who enjoy it, but it’s never been my thing, and the few fics I’ve read with it never felt like it used the swap for any sort of message or to explore anything particularly interesting. Which I would’ve preferred, because otherwise, I didn’t see the reason for the swap, personally. (and to be fair, I turned off of this pretty quickly, so I’m sure there are good ones out there, but it’s really just never been something I’m big on)

But like...okay. There is this animatic for Show Yourself, but with the audio dropped into the male vocal range and I love it so much. It’s wonderful and adorable (and the song is legitimately very good, so I’ve seen that part, despite never having actually watched Frozen 2). And also a handful of actual covers, which are absolutely amazing. And now I’ve found the same sort of thing with Let it Go (which I’m now okay with - I guess it just takes 7 years for me to get over the oversaturation of that song in society) and like holy shit, friends. Big fan.

Scrolling through the comments also gets all the “can we please get a Disney Prince movie” thoughts and hey, I’m so on board with this. I know, there are movies with princes (Aladdin, Hercules, Lion King, etc), but it’s less that plain fact of having a prince, and more of the arc for the character? Basically, I wanna destroy the trend of having male-oriented movies be more action-adventure-y. Let boys be soft and have feelings, that’s all I ask. Make that the character arc, have your main character be male and need to discover himself, all of the fears and insecurities included, I am begging you. 

(Sidenote because I did see some other interesting mentions: I haven’t seen Hunchback, back from what I’m aware of with that movie, that one probably fits closer to what I’m talking about. Also Treasure Planet, because honestly, that really is exactly the kind of arc that I’m talking about, and there’s a reason I love that movie with all my heart, it’s amazing, and go watch it if you haven’t. But like, it’s a coming of age story with some good ol’ found family and no romance! And while Jim is really smart and has some bad-ass moments, I love when we get insight into his emotional state. But I could gush about this movie forever, moving on. The one thing about these is not the lack of royalty (for me), but just...box office? I don’t know the circumstances for Hunchback, except that the numbers apparently aren’t great, and to my knowledge, someone over at Disney just didn’t want Treasure Planet to do great, and this goes to show what marketing does. Apparently, they did the same to Emperor’s New Groove, which isn’t entirely relevant, but my point is, whoever did this to these movies, screw you, they’re wonderful)

(Apologies for the tangent)

Anyway, I’m not saying remake Frozen, but doing the genderbend works really well here, I think? Obviously, I love that Elsa’s arc is entirely her own, and stories about opening up to family and accepting yourself have messages that everyone needs to hear, regardless of any barrier. So this isn’t a criticism, just a thought. Because (granted, I’m not doing research to write this, and I’m admittedly not 100% caught up on Disney movies) it feels to me like female characters do tend to have the more emotional arcs. Talking Disney Renaissance, this feels true in the female-lead movies, especially if you compare to the respective princes. In male-lead movies, it’s not entirely true, and I’m not calling the characters flat or emotionless, but that’s not the main thing going on in the movie. (ie, Simba has his reservations about returning and so he talks to Mufasa, and that’s a big scene and its important, but it feels more like it’s just a step to ultimately taking down Scar - tbh, compare the screentimes there). Again, the Renaissance movies are fantastic and I love them, but I just want to make some comparisons. And I don’t want to delve too deep into the more recent ones, because I haven’t seen them all, but the focus seems much more on the strong, independent female-lead (again, not a criticism because we can always do with more strong ladies who don’t need no man - I am just saying). 

But anyway. Frozen. I like the idea of keeping Anna as herself, because the Hans twist and more slow-burn-y development with Kristoff is good - that accomplishes the idea of breaking down tropes. But Elsa as a male character is really interesting to me? Having an arc that centers on fear that’s born of isolation, and ends with self-acceptance and familial love, is something that I don’t recall seeing in male characters very often (not never, but not often)? But I can think of tons of male characters who appear confident and charismatic, even if that’s in their own way, and then even if we do peel back to find trauma and pain, I can think of more instances of it presenting as bitterness or anger rather than genuine fear (or at the very least, we as the audience don’t quite see that fear). I want to see a male character who was forced to repress who they are and has real fear as to who their true self is. I want this character to discover who that is and have a hard time coming to grips with it, and all that stuff because I honestly just really like writing a lot of self-deprecation. Won’t deny that. And then pairing that with magic is also just interesting IMO. I don’t know how magic tends to fall with regard to this sort of thing, but just the fact that it’s inborn and different (akin to D&D sorcery), rather than learned and understood (like D&D wizardry, or even HP wizards), is an interesting thought to me? Maybe because the “strange and different” type of magic reminds me more of the general conception of witches (or...the Salem Witch Trials) which is also more female-leaning, but I won’t stand by that super strongly, because it’s not something I’ve looked into all that much. But it means, to me, that it would be an interesting way to sorta...turn the tables in the way magic gets used.

Point being: I just think this would be a really solid message. That bravery doesn’t have to be saving the world or killing the dragon or even the self-sacrifice story that’s become more prominent in stories now. It can also come from battling your own demons and opening up to people to ask for help. Which is obviously something everyone needs to learn, but if we’re gonna fight the submissive female character trope with some badass heroines, then I say we also do the same thing in reverse for our male characters. Just a thought

#from the mind of niennavalier #long opinion post thing #ill also admit that i really like this idea cause the art is so goddamn good #pretty designs and flowy clothes are my favorite things when im coming up with dnd character designs #and combine that with non-stereotypically-masculine characters and im super down #(i have favorite character types okay? fight me) #but also instagram has been giving me all the frozen 2 stills now and like #elsa is just gorgeous and i dont think i need say more #like im very ace but that aesthetic is so good #(witness me paying attention to this fandom like 7 years late lol) #also i do just wanna clarify some stuff #cause thinking with the modern disney movies #like with moana im not saying that maui doesnt have an arc and good things that happen #i like his part dont get me wrong #but tell me who the titular character is #just sayin #and ive seen a bunch of stuff about kristoff having a song where hes confused about love #and again i think thats amazing! #i need to go find that clip but i legitimately love the fact that this exists #thats good content #im just saying that isnt quite on the same level because same as above #if i ask who the main characters in frozen are #i think you all know the answer #(and my other big ask for disney is to give us a gay character but my hopes there arent super high unfortunately) #(oh and self plug but the more i think about it im kinda doing this sorta thing with one of the characters i made for my short story class #the story itself is meant to be longer than a short story and i wont go into detail here but the idea just ended up being close #even though i started watching a bunch of the clips and having these thoughts after id come up with my character) #(maybe said character is why im having Opinions on this now tho) #(and dumb sidenote but the more i look up fanart the more i realize that the people who are saying that it basically looks like anime #are totally right it really does which is really just interesting to me cause i didnt think of that initially)

[frozenartscapes]

Do you have any Frozen Superhero AU ideas? I don't think I've seen any on your blog but you seem good at AUs and I was curious what you might have.

I actually started a Superhero AU like, years ago but I hit a dead end with it. Looking back, it’s kinda your typical cliche superhero origin story. I don’t think I’ll ever finish it.

But what I did enjoy about it was that Elsa, the one who becomes a superhero, didn’t start with her powers. She was normal, working as an environmental scientist, who comes in contact with a supernatural comet made completely out of ice that doesn’t melt. She studies it for a few years, and then one day it just kinda...explodes. And very much like what happened to Captain Marvel, Elsa absorbs all that energy and gains her icy powers.

It starts with her feeling progressively colder, like she’s stuck in a freezer she can’t get out of. Then she changes. Appearance-wise. I had her originally with her non-magic look with brown hair, hazel eyes, etc. But then as the powers slowly settle in, they start to change her appearance to the Elsa we all know and love with that near-white blonde hair and blue eyes. And needless to say, she kinda freaks out about it. Anna also doesn’t really help the situation, largely because she’s too much of a nerd freaking out about getting a superhero for a sister.

I’d be happy to share that scene. I still don’t think I’ll ever post the full story but honestly this scene was why I started writing it in the first place. So here it is, under the cut:

When Elsa reached her bedroom, she wasted no time changing into more comfortable clothes before flopping face-first onto her bed. She had suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion, and the bed felt so nice and soft underneath her that she began to drift off right away.

Then she shivered. It was a little cold in her room, seeing as Anna liked to blast the A/C in the summer months. With a small groan, she shifted so that she was partially covered by her sheets and comforter.

Just as she was about to fall asleep again, another much more violent shiver tore through her body. This time she buried herself in her bed, but she still felt uncomfortably cold. She reluctantly got up and staggered over to her closet, where there were a few spare blankets. She chose a thin knitted one, believing it would be enough seeing as it was summer and being cold now of all times was a bit ridiculous.

The blanket was not enough, and with an annoyed grumble she got up again and grabbed another blanket. This ritual continued for about twenty minutes. At one point she paused to throw on a thick wool sweater and socks, along with her warmest sweatpants. She curled up in a tight ball under a mountain of soft, warm fabric but still found herself shivering as if she was trapped outside in a blizzard.

Eventually, she rolled out of bed, temporarily giving up on sleep, and decided to go in search of the thermostat. She selected the softest, biggest and thickest blanket she owned and wrapped it around herself before heading out the door.

Downstairs, Gerda was busy making dinner for the girls while Anna was watching television. She left during commercials and walked into the kitchen to grab a soda from the fridge. “So she really wants to go back to work so soon after that incident?” Gerda wondered.

“Yeah, she’s kind of nuts,” Anna sighed with a shrug, “She has a terrible fear of ice because of one stupid accident that happened years ago, but she nearly gets herself blown up and it doesn’t even faze her. Go figure.”

They then heard someone coming down the stairs, and since Kai was in another room on the main floor, they knew who it was. Anna, still with her head in the fridge, could hear her sister coming, so she greeted, “Hey, Sleeping Beauty! How was your–”

She straightened up and closed the fridge door, revealing a very cold looking Elsa. “…nap? Um, you ok?” she asked uncertainly.

Elsa glared at her. “It’s f…freezing in here,” she stated coolly.

Anna quickly glanced down at what she was wearing herself: shorts and a tank top. She felt perfectly comfortable in it, too. “I think that’s a problem only you seem to be having, Els,” she told her shivering sister.

“Great,” Elsa said sarcastically. She then shuffled into the family room and flicked on the gas fireplace before plunking down in the chair closest to it. Anna and Gerda both watched in confusion as she wrapped herself up even more in her blanket and continued shivering.

“I’ll make her some tea,” Gerda suggested in a whisper. She then quickly went on to her task.

Anna slowly made her way back to her spot on the couch, and sat down. She no longer focused on the T.V., but instead stared at her sister. Elsa did not seem to notice, and if she had, she did not care. She was too busy trying to get warm again.

Anna was in deep thought. Her eyes then flicked down at one of her notebooks resting on the table, and suddenly an idea came to her. She discreetly reached for it and a pencil, and flipped it open to a page where she had drawn a rather complex flowchart.

“Hey, Elsa?” she asked carefully, “I was just wondering if, you know, you ever thought about superheroes?”

“Wh…what kind of qu…question is that?” Elsa shot back through chattering teeth.

“Well, I don’t know…” Anna said slowly, wincing slightly as she put forth the possibility, “Maybe because you’re about to become one?”

At this, Elsa cast her a look. “Anna, s…superheroes and superp…powers, don’t exist,” she stated dryly, “You w…watch too many m…movies.”

“Yeah, I do, and I read a lot of comic books, and here’s the thing: I made a flowchart a while back that is basically the formula, like, every superhero story uses as an origin for their heroes. And I hate to break it to you, but you’ve pretty much struck every nail on the head so far.”

“Oh r…really?” Elsa questioned with an eyebrow raised.

“Yep. Here, I’ll prove it,” Anna said confidently before looking down at her book, “Let’s see… You weren’t born with your power, which means you had to gain it. And so out of the different ways you could have gained it… Ah, here we go: lab accident.”

“Anna, just because I–”

“Ah! No interrupting! Now, in the lab, were you working with any of the following: something from space? Yes. Something radioactive? Yes. Something with strange properties that don’t normally exist in the physical world? Yes. See my point so far?”

“Superpowers aren’t real,” Elsa repeated in annoyance.

Anna continued, choosing to ignore that comment. “And when the accident happened, it did so in a way that left people wondering how you were even able to survive in the first place… Interesting, isn’t it, sis?”

Elsa rolled her eyes. “I’m not getting superpowers, Anna,” she stated firmly, “If anything, I’ve probably got some sort of radiation poisoning…” She paused for a moment before the full weight of that statement struck her. “Oh God, I probably have some sort of radiation poisoning!”

“Relax, Elsa, this is just the stage when your powers begin to manifest. Every superhero goes through this. You’ll be fine,” Anna said nonchalantly.

“Fine?” Elsa demanded, “I’m not going to be fine! Look at me! I’m freezing in the middle of June! This has to have something to do with being exposed to the energy that comet released when it exploded!”

“Well, duh! That’s part of the chart, too! ‘Are the powers related to whatever it was one was working with in the lab?’ You were working with weird space ice, and now you’re suddenly really cold. Coincidence, I think not!”

“Anna, this isn’t a game!”

“Of course it’s not, this is awesome! Now, are you experiencing any physical changes to appearance?” Anna studied her increasingly worried-looking sister. “You’re paler than normal.”

“Wh– Of course I am!” Elsa sputtered, “I’m about to have a panic attack here and you keep going on about superheroes? Besides, my complexion should be the least of my worries!”

Anna’s eyes suddenly widened. “Uh, yeah, you’re right,” she said blankly, “Worry about your hair instead.”

Elsa gave her another confused and annoyed glare. “I don’t really care so much about how I look at this moment, Anna!”

“Oh, I think you should.”

With an eye roll, Elsa reached for her long braid and brought it over her shoulder to see what her sister was going on about. Her eyes suddenly bulged and her jaw dropped open in shock as she stared at what should be pure, dark brown hair, which was now dark brown with white-blonde streaks running through it. She even had the luck of watching another chunk of hair suddenly turn white – from root to tip as if the platinum was a dye flowing out of her head.

“What?” she gasped.

“Um, I hate to alarm you, but your eyes are doing it, too,” Anna said nervously.

“What?” Elsa exclaimed. She leapt out of the chair and raced to the nearest bathroom. She got there just in time to watch the last of the brown be consumed by the off-white colour. Then her hazel eyes, which suddenly seemed more green than amber, changed hues completely and became a striking, sapphire blue.

“Anna!” she called in a strangled voice, “G…get in the car, now! We…we have to go to the hospital.”

“Whoa, Elsa! Look at you!” Anna gasped when she spotted her sister, “You look good as a blonde.”

“Just stop talking,” Elsa commanded as she staggered out of the bathroom and headed for the front foyer.

“Just what are you two going on about?” Gerda sighed as she came into view, “Oh my word… Elsa, what…happened, dear?”

Elsa wrapped her arms around herself. “I…I don’t know, but I think I should go to Emerge…now.”

“Alright, dear, alright,” the maid said as calmly as she could, “I’ll get Kai to take you. Kai!” The butler appeared and gasped when he saw his young charge’s new appearance. “We need to take Elsa to the hospital,” Gerda ordered.

He nodded, but before he could head off, Anna said loudly, “Would everyone calm down! There’s no need to take her to the hospital! Besides, comic book history sort of shows that doctors are normally worse than useless when it comes to superpowers.”

“Enough, Anna…” Elsa muttered as a warning as she made her way to the door.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Gerda demanded Anna.

Anna took a deep breath, and explained as quickly as she could, “Elsa doesn’t believe me, but I’m convinced that she’s getting superpowers because she meets all the requirements to do so. She just had a lab accident with something weird and radioactive from outer space, she survived something that would normally kill a person, she has been developing weird symptoms all relating back to the thing she was studying in the lab–”

Elsa, at this point, was done hearing Anna’s ramblings about nonsense. She was scared, and annoyed, and cold, and feeling something really weird swirling around in her head, heart and gut. “I said enough!” she yelled angrily. She whipped around and swung one arm out in a finalizing action, hoping that it would shut her sister up.

It did much more than that. She barely registered what was happening when something flew out of her hand when she swung it in front of her. There were audible gasps from Gerda, Kai, and Anna, along with a sound that reminded her of ice crackling and glass breaking. And suddenly she was staring at a strange, very sharp-looking formation of glowing ice just feet in front of her.

The silence that followed was broken by Anna: “…And that. She can also do that.”

#frozen #superhero au #fanfic #l-egionaire

[shortandsmallstories-blog]

Judith’s Answers for Questions 1-5

Judith rapidly responded to our questions with detailed answers. As they are so detailed, we thought we will analyse them in two parts, so this blog will be discussing the more general questions 1-5. The next blog will answer the questions specifically on story telling.

Judith’s Answers to the first five questions are:

1)  What made you want to work with children?

I left school and started working in an optician’s as a receptionist. Sixteen years later two friends and I opened a Specsavers in Hexham and I became a company director. I had a baby and a friend of mine worked in a school. The teacher she worked with needed a Mum and baby to visit her class so I took my son James into school. The teacher told her husband about me. He was a head teacher, he contacted me and offered me a position in a special school. Twenty years later I still work in education as a SEN Teaching Assistant. I have never looked back and my only regret, I wish I had done it sooner.

The fact that Judith is still working with children after twenty years and wishes she had started sooner, says a lot to us as people who want to work with children. It tells us how rewarding and inspiring it is to work with children. Which gives us more motivation to work hard to develop our company so that we can work with children too.

2) To you, what are the main benefits of working with children?

I get paid for doing a job I love and for having fun. Helping children to learn and see them taking little positive steps is fantastic. Not many jobs give you the opportunity to get dressed up as Nanny McPhee, Cruella de Vil, A Punk or a Hippy for the day. Working with children never gets boring. Different challenges every day. I believe if children are in a happy place, they will learn. Learning has to be interesting and fun, no matter what the lesson. With having a young son in education, in the early days, having the same holidays worked out really well.  I have made many friends and have many lovely memories of the children.  I now see their children going through school. I have to say the pay is not a benefit, so we certainly do not do this job for the money!

This really solidifies that working with children is a hugely rewarding job. As a company, we want the children to have fun, whilst exploring their imagination and boosting their reading skills. We know that to do this we need to create a happy place to be, as Judith states. We also know we need to make every day interesting and fun so that the children have fun every time that they come. Money is something that we need to think about so that we can make our company the best we can.

3) What strategies do you use to help encourage the children to focus?

Show the children you are genuinely interested in them and want the best for them. Get down to their level. Find out what they are interested in and use this knowledge to help them learn. Make it fun, challenge them, give them 'THE LOOK followed by a little smile' if a child goes off task. Reward stickers, time out, house pluses, raffle tickets. I have a little reward box which is full of black pens, rubbers, pencils etc and if a child does an act of kindness out of kindness no matter how small, I will reward them. I also give them 'Time Out' to play a game or make something or if they just want to talk, that is also fine.

This has given us some great ideas of ways to help children focus without coming across strict. It is very helpful to us as new facilitators of ways to let the children be happy and to have fun whilst being focused on the task/story we are doing.

4) What do you think helps create a safe environment for the children?

Being a role model, respecting the children, our colleges, the school and the local area. Behaviour can be mirrored so follow the rules and most importantly show the children respect, give them your time and listen to them, hear what they have to say. Let them know you are there for them and encourage them to learn and enjoy learning. Breaking down work so they understand what they have to do. Keep the classrooms tidy, colourful and a nice place to work. Stay in control, keep control of a situation and I don't like raising my voice to be heard. By creating classrooms where children feel safe.

Usually people don’t usually think about respecting the surrounding area of the building you are working in; however, we think it is a really important point. This is because if we teach the children to be respectful to everyone and everything, it will create a more exciting, fun and more importantly safer environment to be in. We agree with Judith’s point of not raising your voice to be heard. This is because we want the children to trust us and to feel comfortable in all activities we do. If we raise our voices, this may scare the children into not speaking up or being as creative as they want.

5) Are there any specific games/activities that you enjoy doing the most? Why is this?

Yes. I love using games and craft when working in small groups. During social skills, fine motor skills and speech and language sessions I use many different props to make the session interesting. I use Makaton sign language in fine motor skills, Colourful Semantics in Speech and Language and Elsa in social skills. Every so often we have a craft or games session. These are brilliant as they allow me to see the children interact without me taking the lead.

This has influenced us on certain techniques that we should learn in order to make our company open to children of all abilities.