Frozen Is A PSA About Love Bombing
Somehow, I managed to watch Frozen without the twist villain being spoiled for me. Now, I knew there was a twist villain, but I hadn’t cared enough at the time that Frozen came out to listen to people closely enough to know the reveal.
Here’s where it gets interesting: I watched it after getting away from my abusive husband, and I thought Prince Hans was creepy. I literally chalked it up to bad writing and a bad voice actor. Princess Anna’s and Prince Hans’ musical number together, which is supposed to establish their whirlwind romance, had me wrinkling my nose.
Prince Hans’ voice actor just sounded… off. His performance was flat, and there was a little sarcastic laugh behind some of his words that reminded me — instantly and off-puttingly — of my husband, whom I had separated from, using his intent to throw me out of the house to my advantage by fleeing to my friends’ house several states away. I literally bought a one-way plane ticket. The next year, I finally watched Frozen, one of my best friend’s favorite movies. (Especially recently, adults can unironically love Disney movies.)Like I said, I thought Prince Hans’ voice actor, Santino Fontana, had a bad attitude and was phoning it in. I was a little upset that Fontana’s disdain was ruining the movie. I jerked bolt upright on my best friend’s couch when Prince Hans locked Princess Anna in a room in her own castle to leave her for dead.
Santino Fontana is a genius.
I had heard it: all the subtle disdain that got past initial audiences, all the too-easy agreements he handed Anna, who didn’t know him and couldn’t call him out, the sarcasm in his laugh disguised as playfulness. He didn’t love her. He hated her. He wanted to destroy her.
What worries me is that people think the moral of the story is to not be naïve and that fairy tale princes don’t really exist. To me, that’s not it. The moral of the story is that when we’re in a vulnerable position, we’re a prime target for what’s known as love bombing.
Love bombing is a catchy term for someone pretending to fall in love with you at first sight. Yeah. Ouch.
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