Reel Talk

Hey guys guess what SURPRISE special bonus post? I was reading kristoffbjorgman's post about Frozen's Hans and it brought up some interesting things, and since I briefly mentioned Hans in my review tonight I thought I would weigh in real quick. In the post which you should totally read because the analysis is ON POINT Kristoff B. talks about how people should in no way be surprised that Hans was evil because that shit was set up, and guess what IT TOTALLY WAS. However when I was watching the movie myself what bothered me was not the twist itself, or even the fact that he was EVIL which was actually pretty cool; it was that as soon as he turned into a villain I knew exactly how the rest of the act was going to go.

          See the problem is that LITERALLY the scene before the reveal I finally gave up on him being evil and was like ‘wow, since he’s not a villain I really don’t know what’s going to happen now!’ Because obviously Anna can’t have both Kristoff and Hans (though she probably wanted to, girl is a PLAYA) and if Hans wasn’t evil then that kind of would have presented a problem when she has already promised to marry Hans but now she is kind of falling for Kristoff? Also there has to be an act 3 climax so what happens when there is no obvious villain, is the final showdown between Anna and Elsa? How does she get out of that one? Is she going to have to fight the sister she LOVES? I don’t know! But as soon as it’s revealed that Hans is just in it for the sweet, sweet, serf royalties then we know that now OF COURSE he is going to betray both Anna and Elsa and OF COURSE Anna is going to have to wreck that plan because she is the HERO and by law it is required that heroes go alone to confront the villain.

          Now when this happens it is so late in the film that you could argue that we are in ACT 3 now so all gloves are off and it’s time for reveals and screw any guesswork, and I would be inclined to agree with you. And yet the problem remains that act 3 is the part of the film where you should be the most invested because shit is getting REAL and everyone and everything you’ve just come to love is in TURMOIL: BUT! If you know exactly what is going to happen then it’s kind of hard to care, right? Because once we know the general plan that gives our brain the o.k. to go ahead and coast through these next few scenes, because in our minds we have already seen it happen! This is why in most films act 3 is actually the LEAST interesting to me because by then things are pretty set on their rails and it is hard to throw in a twist. I think the goal here should be to have your character so LITERALLY SCREWED that the audience has absolutely no clue how the hell they are gonna pull out of this one, but after it happens it still has to make complete sense in retrospect? Ya I never said this was easy to pull off, although at least long-standing payoffs can help (remember how in ICO you spend the whole game helping Yorda? Remember in the last scene how she sacrifices herself to save YOU? I’m getting a case of the feels just thinking about it!) I cannot offer a solution to the Hans conundrum because right now it is a choice between film analysis or passing the fuck out for me and that bed is looking pretty sweet. Also because it is a legitimately TOUGH problem. But I still think it is an element worth considering.

(Side note: BLESS YOU DISNEY for finally making a film where the central focus is two women ONE OF WHICH DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A LOVE INTEREST? And becomes a NON-EVIL QUEEN? Thank you for reminding me that miracles are real!)