favorite song friday: subverting the princess

I have always loved fairy tales, but I'm not a huge fan of the Disney princess, especially in its recent hyper-marketed form. I never prevented my daughter from seeing any of the animated films featuring fairy tale princesses like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc., but was happy that she was just as impressed with Hercules and the Aristocats as she might have been with the Little Mermaid. Not to mention Fiona from Shrek, a more subversive (and secretly Mommy-approved) princess.

Idina Menzel and her alter-ego, Elsa

We both liked the recent Disney riff on The Snow Queen, Frozen, but I don't think I realized until hearing Idina Menzel belt out the ubiquitous "Let It Go" for the umpteenth time that Disney may have finally offered up a truly subversive princess. Pixar's attempt to have a new kind of princess, Merida from Brave, may shoot arrows and resist an arranged marriage, but her future still seems to be rooted in such enterprises. But Elsa walks away from not only her kingdom but her past and her future.

Don't let them in,
don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel,
don't let them know
Well now they know

...

Let it go, let it go
And I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand
In the light of day
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway!


Idina Menzel as Elsa in Frozen


With Jimmy Fallon and The Roots (and classroom instruments)

It is heartening that such a strong female, one yearning to be free, is the focus of the film. Maybe little girls will put aside the pink ball gowns and dreams of princes and instead think about what it means to feel as free as Elsa while she creates her own world upon that mountain top. And Idina Menzel's amazing, soaring vocals help young listeners to aspire to such dreams.

oscar congrats all around

Some may have found last night's Oscar telecast a little tame or subdued. Or even boring. But I think it was more a reflection of a desire (and need) for Hollywood to lighten up, and that the nominees were all pretty deserving. Honestly, anyone could have won and it wouldn't have been considered an upset.

Ellen Degeneres was the perfect host  for such a laid-back, upbeat vibe. She only made a few real digs, in her opening monologue, at Jonah Hill and Liza Minnelli, and while those might have been a bit more acidic than her usual shtick, they were also understood to be good-natured ribbing. The rest of the time she tried to get a rise out of the usually stiff celebrities, by corralling A-listers in a goofy record-breaking selfie, and ordering pizza for the first two rows of the tuxedo and bejeweled crowd.

The selfie tweeted 'round the world

Favorite moments:

Pharrell Williams's opening number, "Happy." The multi-talented Pharrell got the audience on their feet in the theater, and (at least here) at home, too. Pharrell also helped showcase another of Meryl Streep's hidden talents (around the one-minute mark of the video below).


There were quite  few more-entertaining-than-usual acceptance speeches, from Best Actress Winner Cate Blanchett, Best Supporting Actor Winner Jared Leto, Best Supporting Actress Winner Lupita N'yongo, and Best Actor Winner Matthew McConnaughey.

There has to be one completely weird and inexplicable moment, and John Travolta obliged, with his strange introduction of "Adele Dazeem" singing "Let It Go" from Frozen. The crowd watched in confusion as Broadway veteran Idina Menzel, who performed the song in the movie as well took the stage. Travolta introduced himself as a big fan of musicals, which made the gaffe even more bizarre. The song was the Oscar winner, too.

Bill Murray's sly, slipped-in tribute to the fabulous Harold Ramis was also a high point. Ellen's celebrity-pack selfie was fun (and it's already generated a web page where one can insert oneslef into the mob), but this image from the red carpet is my favorite of the night.

Cumberbatch photobomb — say that three times quickly

Congratulations to all.

favorite song friday: this year's oscar-nomnated songs

The obvious frontrunner is "Let It Go," from Frozen, written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and recorded by both Idina Menzel and Demi Lovato. Menzel will perform the song at the Oscars.

"The Moon Song," from Her, by Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O.


"Ordinary Love," from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, by U2 (already won a Golden Globe).


And the song I'll be rooting for, and which I can never get enough of, "Happy," from the Despicable Me 2, by Pharrell Williams.

frozen

The kid and I checked out Frozen the other day. It only shares the slightest similarity to the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Snow Queen, so fans of Gerda and Kai may need to adjust their expectations before attending. Instead of a girl-power story of a young girl, against all odds and an evil Snow Queen, rescuing her young male friend Kai, Frozen features two strong female heroines, a pair of sisters (and princesses, of a northern country dubbed Arendelle) named Anna (Kirsten Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel). Elsa has a special ability — she can create ice and snow with the wave of her hand. But after some childhood play goes horribly wrong and her younger sister Anna is injured, their parents rush them to some friendly trolls, who take away Anna's memory and doom the fearful parents and Elsa to hiding their older daughter's gift away from the world — and her sister. "Conceal, don't feel," is the mantra they insist Elsa adopt.

Elsa, the Snow Queen - it's lonely at the top of a mountain of ice

Par the usual Disney fairytale adaptation, the girls' parents soon meet a tragically convenient end, leaving the sisters to grow up orphaned and estranged — as Elsa fears that she will lose control and seriously harm Anna and others. When Elsa comes of age there is a glimmer of hope at her coronation that the two sisters may finally grow closer, but that hope is quickly dashed when the impulsive Anna falls immediately for a visiting prince named Hans (Santino Fontana), and Elsa loses her temper and control of her powers, to the horror of her sister and coronation guests. She flees the scene, unwittingly covering Arendelle in ice. She may be forced into a life of isolation, but she is finally free, and no longer hides her ability but exults in it, constructing an enormous mountain castle made of ice.

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care what they're going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway 

"Let It Go," music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, performed by Idina Menzel

An intrepid Anna sets out after her sister, sure she can convince her to come home and "fix" everything. She is joined on her quest by some comic (and potentially romantic) relief — Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and his lovable and loyal reindeer Sven, as well as a magical snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad).

Beware, spoilers below:

Frozen has a lot to recommend it. The vocals by Bell, and especially Menzel, are great. I do think, however, that apart from Elsa/Menzel's big number "Let It Go," the songs were pretty forgettable. Does every Disney animated movie have to be a mini-musical? Maybe it's time to move beyond Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. Pixar and Dreamworks are making entertaining pseudo-Broadway song free animated movies.

Olaf the snowman is adorable and sure to have multiple spin-off cartoons, as his character of a snowman who yearns for sunnier days is just too great to resist. After the sisters have an unsuccessful reunion Elsa once again unwittingly injures her sister, lodging a shard of ice in her heart, You would think that after being able to build such an amazing palace of ice (a truly gorgeous sequence) she might pay a little more attention to what she does with her flying ice hands.)

Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven in a beautiful ice forest

When the trolls confirm that the only thing to melt the ice that is slowly freezing Anna's heart is an act of true love, it is assumed that true love's kiss will save the day. The audience knows that Kristoff, not Hans, is the candidate for that job. But there is a last-act plot turn that spoiled a bit of the magic for not just me, but my daughter. The screenwriters make Hans a truly nasty villain, robbing Anna of the ability to realize for herself that she doesn't really love him. They do minimize that blunder by having the love that saves the day be that between the sisters, and not dependent on romance, which, admittedly, is great. But the sour, clichéd character of Hans still hung over our movie-viewing experience as we exited the theater.

That said, I would still recommend Frozen. Making Elsa a conflicted and not evil Snow Queen was an interesting choice. Along with Tangled and Brave, Disney's princess stories are trying to take some forward steps. Teeny, tiny, baby steps forward. But next time let the girl be strong on her own and make her own decisions about love, and not let her get dumped and disappointed by a bad guy so that she then notices a good one. Let the conflicted, "dark" girl like Elsa be the main focus rather than her spunky, cute sister. Could Disney manage a story that didn't have princesses in it at all? The original Snow Queen didn't need Gerda to be a princess. Far from it — she and Kai were poor. Not every girl dreams of being a princess. Remember Lilo and Stitch? It's worth a try.

"be kind to one another"

Ellen has become one of the shows that we watch on a regular basis. I usually DVR it and we catch it later, as we're not usually home when it airs — plus I really hate to watch commercials if I don't have to. I have always liked Ellen DeGeneres and her laid-back, goofy style of comedy.  I liked (most of) her goofy misfire romantic comedy, Mr. Wrong (it's hard not to like a psychotic Bill Pullman). I regularly watched her sitcom Ellen, which co-starred Joely Fisher, Arye Gross, David Anthony Higgins, Clea Lewis, and Jeremy Piven. When Ellen came out I remember how big of a deal it was in the media, but I don't remember being surprised. Her sitcom struggled a bit after that. Sometimes her character's sexuality seemed a little forced into the plotlines of the show. But the characters and Ellen were still funny, and I was sad when it went off the air. I vaguely remember her dating Anne Heche, but I'm much clearer about Steve Martin's reference to their relationship in Bowfinger (supposedly Heche dumped Martin for Ellen).

I have really come to love Ellen through her talk show. It's not just that she has on guests that I want to see — Brad Pitt, Lenny Kravitz, Cee Lo Green, Colin Farrell, Idina Menzel, Squeeze, etc. It's Ellen herself. She's still goofy, the queen of the rambling digression, and still very funny. But what she also is, is kind. Multiple times a week Ellen will feature a school, or a family, or a person in need and then do something to help them. She is fortunate that she has some great sponsor tie-ins and the bankroll to actually help. But Ellen also inspires her viewers to do what they can — random acts of kindness — to each other, and to animals.

Ellen is also open about being vegan. A recent guest on her show was the President of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, who was not just there to hawk his new book, The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them, but to talk about the conditions that chickens in chicken farms are subjected to. It was a straightforward and emotional segment, and I'm sure a lot of people watching started to question where they purchase their groceries, if they never had previously. I doubt I could ever become a vegan, or even fully vegetarian. My Italian girl background is too attracted to the occasional salami, and I love to eat chicken salad and fried chicken from time to time. But I sure as heck could stand to be more aware of where any chicken I purchase comes from.

Her honesty about being gay and her marriage is another thing that I love her for. So many celebrities are guarded or phony when they talk about their lives. It's understandable, but still seems kind of ridiculous, considering they have placed themselves in a public forum to talk about themselves. Ellen's honesty is not just refreshing, it's who she is. She talks about how she is a homebody, her life with Portia de Rossi, her love of animals. When she talks about herself it never seems forced, or even intrusive. Apart from their net worth and celebrity, their marriage seems rather typical. What better example of marriage equality does anyone need?

Ellen loves to dance on her show — here she grooves with First Lady Michelle Obama

When Ellen helps a family build their first home, or a school buy computers, or visits Brad Pitt in New Orleans to show the audience what building projects he has been up to lately, she inspires. She also reminds us that we don't have to only participate in one-time big disaster-relief telethons. We can do a little bit every day to make our lives and the lives of others better. My daughter calls her Ellen Generous. I agree.

Ellen has become a major force, through her show, her website, her merchandise, her sponsors, her easy, breezy Cover Girl-ness. Much like Oprah, I suppose, but there is something gentler about Ellen that I like more. It's a testament to her likability that after recently becoming a spokesperson for J C Penney, a company that to many may seemed a bit dated, she not only helped revitalize its image, but she and JC Penney soon took a stand against bigotry. A group calling itself One Million Moms protested Ellen being a representative of the company and threatened a boycott — and then almost as quickly backed down when there was a huge outcry. That is how to deal with bullies.

But mostly I like Ellen's parting words at the end of each show, "Be kind to one another." It's a wonderful sentiment, and hopefully the many people watching will try to do just that.