tvtropes.org

Frozen (2013) - TV Tropes

  • ️Sun Mar 23 2025

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ArcSymbol/Frozen2013

Arc Symbol

Go To
  • The crocus is a symbol of spring and rebirth and is part of the official crest of Arendelle and is seen adorning various props and official regalia.
    • It is found on the scepter and orb Elsa takes as part of her coronation ceremony, her gloves, and her coronation dress and cape, as Sigil Spam, but also contains thematic significance. Elsa throws away her gloves and cape and replaces her dress with an ice dress when she flees Arendelle, signaling her leaving behind both the responsibilities that tied her down and her home and much of her hope, but the symbol still appears embedded within the walls of the ice palace she constructs, indicating they are still a part of her.
    • It is also heavily associated with Anna, who wears it on most of her clothing, including her formal princess dress, her blue winter dress she finds at Oaken's, and her casual summer dress. They are also found on much of her bedroom furniture. This fits her Hope Bringer role, fitting for a character who brings back the sun. Crocuses are also an official symbol of Arendelle and denote her devotion to the kingdom.
  • Doors, both open and closed, represent the state of relationships:
    • After the accident when the princesses were children, the castle doors were ordered closed, and a closed door constantly divided Anna and Elsa. Anna is overjoyed that the doors to the castle will be open for Elsa's coronation, while Elsa wishes she could keep them closed to protect her secret. After all is well at the end, Elsa decrees that the doors will never be closed again, denoting that she no longer feels she must conceal her nature and can open up to people.
    • Elsa's "I Am Becoming" Song "Let It Go" has the lyric "Turn away and slam the door" and concludes with her doing just that. The theme of slamming doors shut is brought up again in reprise of "For the First Time in Forever", in which Anna begs Elsa to not shut her out from her life again.
    • The duet between Anna and Hans is called "Love Is an Open Door". They use the door motif in conversation, discussing their trouble connecting with their siblings. Anna laments that "Elsa and I were really close when we were little, but one day she shut me out, and never told me why," to which Hans responds that he'd "never shut you out." When they begin their duet, Anna sings her life has "been a series of doors in my face" until Hans, and shuts the door on the party (including her sister) she had been longing so desperately for, now believing love lies with Hans instead. Hans locks Anna in the drawing room once his duplicity is revealed.
  • Falling, and catching people:
    • In the beginning of the film, the sisters lovingly play together in the snow, and Elsa creates snowbanks that catch Anna as she jumps around, but then slips and falls, resulting in her missing and in Anna also falling without anyone catching her. This accident leads to the separation of the two girls, Elsa growing up repressed and Anna, who is Locked Out of the Loop, growing up feeling unloved.
    • Anna turns to inanimate objects to catch her in "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and "For the First Time in Forever," including an empty suit of armor, because no one else is around.
    • Anna's first encounter with Hans knocks her into a boat, and he uses his horse to stabilize it before she falls into the water. She falls twice more due to the movement of the boat during the meeting, literally into his arms, signifying that someone who will offer her support has arrived and foreshadowing that although he appears helpful and caring, Hans is really more trouble, actually exacerbating Anna's problems.
    • When her conversation with Elsa at the coronation ball ends with Elsa turning away again, Anna walks away dejected and is nearly bumped to the floor by a dancer, and Hans swoops in and catches her.
    • When Elsa flees, Anna slips on some of the ice created and falls to the ground.
    • Kristoff catches Anna when she comes down from the cliff she was climbing, signifying that they're growing closer. Anna even compares it to a trust exercise.
    • When Elsa is captured, she stumbles and falls.
    • After "Fixer Upper", Anna collapses as her frozen heart worsens, and Kristoff catches her.
    • Anna literally falls into Hans's arms when she goes to him for a curse-breaking True Love's Kiss, but he lets her fall off the couch when he reveals he was Evil All Along and decides to just let her die, signaling he will no longer offer her support because he no longer has anything to gain from her.
    • Elsa falls to the ground when Hans tells her Anna, her only supporter, is dead. She then collapses again onto Anna's frozen body after Anna makes her Heroic Sacrifice to save Elsa.
    • Anna slips on ice again after Elsa makes an ice rink in the castle courtyard at the end, but Elsa supports and holds Anna up before pulling her along to help her skate and Olaf, the physical embodiment of the love between the two sisters, catches and supports her.
  • Gloves are associated with hiding one's true self. The king gives Elsa a pair as she begins to conceal her powers, and she temporarily removes them for her coronation ceremony, for which she also opens up the gates and lets herself be somewhat vulnerable for the day. When she and Anna fight, one comes off and her powers come out, and she throws the other one away in "Let It Go", when she's decided to embrace her magic. Hans also wears gloves throughout the film, only removing them for The Reveal scene, which is the only time he shows his true self. He puts them back on when he declares he will be "the hero" of the story and puts his mask back on to meet with the dignitaries.
  • Hands in general. Hans offers his gloved hands to Anna repeatedly, pretending to open up to her while really concealing himself, and Elsa attempts to both cover hers and keep them away from people, not touching anyone or, in contrast to Hans, even giving the appearance of connecting with people. She looks at them in horror when she's terrified by her power, and in amazement when she realizes she can create life, and often uses them to make gestures as she casts magic, although her Power Incontinence establishes that they're unnecessary for it to work.
  • Elsa's signature snowflake symbolizes the beauty and danger of Elsa's power. They Sigil Spam her dress and her ice castle. They also appear as pock-like marks on Anna's skin after she is accidentally cursed with a frozen heart.
  • Boats are associated with hope. The girls lose their parents when their ship is overtaken by a storm, Anna looks longingly at the ships coming into the harbor during the excitement of "For the First Time in Forever" and is knocked into an unsteady boat when she meets Hans, their Falling-in-Love Montage includes a shot of their shadows on the sail of a boat as the two dance in a lighthouse, a ship nearly falls onto Kristoff and Sven as they race to rescue Anna, and when Elsa thaws the Endless Winter and the fjord melts, they are all find themselves standing on the deck of one.
  • Light is also associated with hope. The girls' joyful play in the beginning of the movie is spurred by the presence of Northern Lights, but after the accident the lights are no longer visible in the sky. The lighting grows progressively darker during "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and completely fades at the end, after the parents' ship sinks at night. The light returns after a Time Skip for Coronation Day, when Anna sings "there'll be light" again "for the first time in forever." Anna and Hans dance on a lighthouse during their Falling-in-Love Montage, Elsa concludes "Let It Go" and rediscovering the beauty in her powers at the break of dawn, wolves attack Anna and Kristoff at night and challenge their resolve, and they meet Olaf note  in the daytime. Elsa reveals she doesn't know how to thaw the Endless Winter and accidentally freezes Anna's heart at sundown; the trolls give hope for a cure at dawn. Hans extinguishes all light sources at The Reveal of his Evil Plan to kill the sisters and take over the kingdom, and sentences Elsa to death at night with one of the lights in the chandelier out. Elsa then breaks out of her cell and Kristoff makes the choice to return in day. When Olaf finds Anna, he relights the fire as he brings back hope of her surviving the curse. When Elsa thaws the Endless Winter over Arendelle, it's sunny, and the film's last shot is of light glinting off a snowflake at the top of the Arendellian castle.